i screwed up using customers materials

desi2960

desi2960

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
customer buys 2 of my cues and is very happy, he decides he wants me to make another cue using his materials. i make the mistake of building the cue he wants.

i also make an error having him rush me, i get emails everyday wanting me to hurry, hurry and finish the cue

2 months later i get an email wanting to return the cue because it warped, he wants the price he payed me for the labor and the price he payed someone else for the materials.

i learned a very valuable lesson, " the customer is not always right". i will never again let a customer talk me into doing something out of my comfort zone. never again will i use a customers materials, never again will i ship a cue out the usa.



chuck starkey
 
Hi,

Never let them rush you is a good idea. Using their wood is a bad idea. If they insist tell them at least 6 months and take small cuts over time.

I had a similar experience and it was not worth my time and aggravation.

Rick G
 
Hey Chuck,
While we're on the subject, I have a piece of ivory for some rings, a few sapphires (crystal blue! looks like glass) to inlay, a few different kinds of freshly harvested burls for butt and forearm designs, and a nice young square piece of maple I want you to use for the shaft in my new cue. Thanks buddy!

P.S. Can you get it to me by Thursday? I have a tournament on Friday and I want to show it off to everyone.
 
Chuck. Youre right. The customers is rarely right and anything rushed is wrong. Personally I won't warantee a cue I make for an overseas buyer. Just too many variables. Alot of cuemakers kinda get a bad wrap for being a jerk. I know I do but some ppl don't understand. Anyways I hope u come out right. You're a great guy. Will u be at sbe? Give me a call. We have to talk about the cue. 609-442-5811. I didnt forget about you.
 
Materials

Hey Chuck,

I have some extra porchwood & fencewood I want to send you for a backyard conversion full splice.

You can take as long as you want, I won't need it for at least a week or two.

Peace

Ted
 
I know.......

I have had a similar problems with customers wanting me to rush when doing a repair and it has cost me. I can say from experience NEVER let someone rush you into doing anything. If they want you to do something you are not comfortable with...PASS. Its your rep out there not their's and bad work or a bad cue build will come back to haunt you in a second where as good jobs and cue builds take time to get around. We (cue builders) sometimes get labeled an a$$ but again its my rep if a cue isn't right and the customer can wait or find someone else.
 
desi2960 said:
customer buys 2 of my cues and is very happy, he decides he wants me to make another cue using his materials. i make the mistake of building the cue he wants.

i also make an error having him rush me, i get emails everyday wanting me to hurry, hurry and finish the cue

2 months later i get an email wanting to return the cue because it warped, he wants the price he payed me for the labor and the price he payed someone else for the materials.

i learned a very valuable lesson, " the customer is not always right". i will never again let a customer talk me into doing something out of my comfort zone. never again will i use a customers materials, never again will i ship a cue out the usa.
chuck starkey
Click to expand...

I'm sure he is but just in case, I'd make sure he sent the cue back to you first before you refund any money. Could be a scam. Worst case, you get the cue back and learn something from it or at least you have a guinea pig for a new idea or experiment.
 
I agree with Campos, first get the cue back for you to examine before any refund. Then, if you feel the defect is in your workmanship refund the customer the cost of the labor. If the customer has some excuse why he cannot send it back, consider it a scam, and forget about it. I would not consider refunding the materials cost because it took you extra time to cut "one of's" to size and hurry them along for an impatient customer. If you used your own wood supplies you would have known the pedigree and dryness of each piece and surely would have had no problems with warpage.
The one time I used the customers own wood I never even considered the extra time I would expend. I will never do it again. This is a good job to send to another cuemaker with a smile!
 
Your reaction is a bit harsh.
Just because you screwed up with these materials, shouldn't mean you can never use customer supplied stuff. You just need to learn which materials are going to be usable, and learn not to let a customer dictate your schedule.
 
Sorry you had to take it on the chin Chuck. You don't deserve that. Whadayagunnado.

I sure like my new 16oz purpleheart!
 
I'm not a cue maker but a customer. My advice is build your own stuff with your own materials and you know how they have been prepared. You know if the materials have been properly aged and dried and you know if they are good materials to work with. Warpage is a tricky warranty anyway because you have no way to control how the customer treats the cue. I've seen people leave them in the trunk of a car for ages. Bottom line you just have to decide what is and isn't your problem and the heck with what some of these people will say. Do good work and the business will be there. Besides there are 5-15 percent of the public you're better off not doing business with anyway
 
learned long ago

I had to learn long ago to trust my own judgment. If I'm not comfortable with what a customer wants I turn them down.

Hu


desi2960 said:
customer buys 2 of my cues and is very happy, he decides he wants me to make another cue using his materials. i make the mistake of building the cue he wants.

i also make an error having him rush me, i get emails everyday wanting me to hurry, hurry and finish the cue

2 months later i get an email wanting to return the cue because it warped, he wants the price he payed me for the labor and the price he payed someone else for the materials.

i learned a very valuable lesson, " the customer is not always right". i will never again let a customer talk me into doing something out of my comfort zone. never again will i use a customers materials, never again will i ship a cue out the usa.



chuck starkey
Click to expand...
 
ShootingArts said:
I had to learn long ago to trust my own judgment. If I'm not comfortable with what a customer wants I turn them down.

Hu
Click to expand...
I have been accused of being arrogant, because I have held onto this way of doing things for many years now. But I totally agree with you on this one. I once was asked to change the design on a cue to a way that I did not like the look of and I pulled out the couple of hundred deposit and handed it back to the guy. He refused to take it back and got the cue. He loved the way it played but was never happy with the way it looked, so he sold it. But at least I know where ever that cue is that it looks like one of my cues, instead of like a plain jane broing cue.
 
This is what I love about this forum, an average joe like me, interested in becoming a cuemaker, can come here and learn from the mistakes of others. Perhaps with this forum and the fine cuemakers here, I might stand a chance. : )) I am curious tho, if I may, if a customer had a piece of exotic wood that you don't have and would take a while to to get, and once you had it delivered/mailed etc, you still wouldn't know the condition of that piece of wood, right? What would be the best way to handle that? Thanks.
 
someone who wants a custom cue made in rush does not deserve a custom cue. as one good US cuemaker once told me: "if he wants it rushed and all, just tell him to go buy a production cue off the shelf." :)
 
could be a scam

at the start i said i made an error in judgment, so this deal is all my fault, i was just trying too hard to please a customer.
BUT, i received a pm asking me if this is a wood pin cue that i sent overseas, and telling me the guy's name, and that he has had the same problem. SO !!!!!
 
thought someone more experienced than I am would answer

Monk Slayer said:
This is what I love about this forum, an average joe like me, interested in becoming a cuemaker, can come here and learn from the mistakes of others. Perhaps with this forum and the fine cuemakers here, I might stand a chance. : )) I am curious tho, if I may, if a customer had a piece of exotic wood that you don't have and would take a while to to get, and once you had it delivered/mailed etc, you still wouldn't know the condition of that piece of wood, right? What would be the best way to handle that? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Not that I am expert myself but all wood is "green" when it gets to my shop. If it is from a well known and respected supplier it has to sit at least six months under my control before I do any real cutting on it so it is about a year out from being sellable. If it comes from an unknown source even if they swear on their mother's grave that it has been in their climate controlled care for twenty years it is still green for a full year. It is eighteen months to two years out from being sellable. The wood I'm starting to cut now has been in my control for three or four years.

If a customer wants to use his wood it is at least eighteen months before I can make him what he wants from it. Unless the wood is really unique for some reason he is better off letting me choose a piece or choosing a piece off of my shelf.

Hu
 
ShootingArts said:
Not that I am expert myself but all wood is "green" when it gets to my shop. If it is from a well known and respected supplier it has to sit at least six months under my control before I do any real cutting on it so it is about a year out from being sellable. If it comes from an unknown source even if they swear on their mother's grave that it has been in their climate controlled care for twenty years it is still green for a full year. It is eighteen months to two years out from being sellable. The wood I'm starting to cut now has been in my control for three or four years.

If a customer wants to use his wood it is at least eighteen months before I can make him what he wants from it. Unless the wood is really unique for some reason he is better off letting me choose a piece or choosing a piece off of my shelf.

Hu
Click to expand...

Very nice, naturally it requires a lot of patience to build a cue, and this certainly shows how long it takes.
 
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