custom cue

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jnwilliams70

New member
Just need some advice I ordered a cue in April 2007 and paid in full at the time I ordered it here it is January 2011 and to this day I still have no cue or my money refunded to me I have sent a number of emails to the cue maker who continues to give me excuse after excuse I have also tried to contact him by phone several times with out success. I just wanted to know if anyone had any advice for me? I'm stuck because I have $ 850.00 tied up with him and I'm unable to buy another cue because of this I lost my orginal cue in hurricane Katrina and it took me a year and a half to find someone to deal with and now here I'm almost 4 years later. Thank u in advance for any advice u can give me!!
 
Have you done a search on AZB yet to see if that cue maker has similar complaints? Not asking you to name him, but he could be a well known person for doing this.

Brian
 
jnwilliams70 said:
Just need some advice I ordered a cue in April 2007 and paid in full at the time I ordered it here it is January 2011 and to this day I still have no cue or my money refunded to me I have sent a number of emails to the cue maker who continues to give me excuse after excuse I have also tried to contact him by phone several times with out success. I just wanted to know if anyone had any advice for me? I'm stuck because I have $ 850.00 tied up with him and I'm unable to buy another cue because of this I lost my orginal cue in hurricane Katrina and it took me a year and a half to find someone to deal with and now here I'm almost 4 years later. Thank u in advance for any advice u can give me!!
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Have him send you pictures of progress on your cue. But april 2007 till now and still no cue :( something sounds fishy. Post the cuemakers name and see if there are simular issues regarding this cuemaker.
 
Got to give you some tough love here.
I am astounded that you or anybody else would pay up front for anything.
Cue makers are known (not all)to be a pretty unreliable breed.
Heres all the money for my cue. OH 5 year wait no problem. Insanity and very foolish.
I hope it works out for you but you have no one to blame except your own poor judgment.It's your responsibility to protect your self.
 
Paying up front.....

measureman said:
Got to give you some tough love here.
I am astounded that you or anybody else would pay up front for anything.
Cue makers are known (not all)to be a pretty unreliable breed.
Heres all the money for my cue. OH 5 year wait no problem. Insanity and very foolish.
I hope it works out for you but you have no one to blame except your own poor judgment.It's your responsibility to protect your self.
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There is nothing wrong with paying upfront for a cue from a reputable maker. I just paid Bill Stroud in full for a new JW. You can't expect them to start on a cue on someone's word off the internet or on the phone 3,000 miles away. You can pay in installments alot of times and they will work on it, I just wen't ahead and paid full with my extra Christmas cash. Anyway, goodluck, maybe he will come through for you....
 
Peanut1pool said:
There is nothing wrong with paying upfront for a cue from a reputable maker. I just paid Bill Stroud in full for a new JW. You can't expect them to start on a cue on someone's word off the internet or on the phone 3,000 miles away. You can pay in installments alot of times and they will work on it, I just wen't ahead and paid full with my extra Christmas cash. Anyway, goodluck, maybe he will come through for you....
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How long did he say until you actually get it
 
I paid in full in March or April for a Paul Drexler cue. I am still waiting but I have no doubts about the transaction. Paul has kept me informed of the progress of my cue.

I can't wait to get it by the way.

Ron
 
Paid in full....

ronshirley said:
I paid in full in March or April for a Paul Drexler cue. I am still waiting but I have no doubts about the transaction. Paul has kept me informed of the progress of my cue.

I can't wait to get it by the way.

Ron
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If it takes him longer than what he originally thought, than it does.The last thing I want to do is rush him. My point is what Measureman said about paying in full is ridiculous, if from a reputable cue maker. I hope it works out for the guy.
 
The good cue makers only make so many cues a year....And they don't like to "rush" wood into being a cue.

I have a cue on order since February.....It gets done when it gets done.

Even though brutal....the wait can be worth it in some cases.

I was lucky and only waited about 5-6 months to have IMO the top table mechanic in the country visit my house for work on my table.

Others have waited longer......Part of it was just that the timing was right and he was going to be in my area anyway.

The wait was well worth it.....and I would have waited much longer if I had to.

Now I am just waiting on that cue from a cue maker that does some of the cleanest work in the country. :)
 
Advice next time around.........

NEVER...I repeat..NEVER pay in full for a cue that isnt completed. 20-30% down and the rest when its finished....If the cuemaker requires full payment upfront, You better have 5 pages of paperwork with stipulations as to what would happen if he didnt finish the cue at suggested date and a requirement of signatures from the cuemaker and yourself in agreement for the work as well as a lawyer present to be the witness....all in all.. NEVER PAY FULL UPRONT. It don't matter if your mama is makin you the pool cue....people oddly enough seem to actually get work done knowing that the fruits of their laber ill be rewarded with dinero AFTER the work is done..BUT if said people have money in hand already for a job that has yet to begin...odds are they wont remember that there was a job to begin with..probabaly too busy spending that money??
 
jnwilliams70 said:
Just need some advice I ordered a cue in April 2007 and paid in full at the time I ordered it here it is January 2011 and to this day I still have no cue or my money refunded to me I have sent a number of emails to the cue maker who continues to give me excuse after excuse I have also tried to contact him by phone several times with out success. I just wanted to know if anyone had any advice for me? I'm stuck because I have $ 850.00 tied up with him and I'm unable to buy another cue because of this I lost my orginal cue in hurricane Katrina and it took me a year and a half to find someone to deal with and now here I'm almost 4 years later. Thank u in advance for any advice u can give me!!
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Cue makers have slower clocks than the rest of us do, thats a fact.

i typically dont put deposits on cues that I order, I have 2 times-one time worked out great, the other i'm waiting(but I know him well) otherwise i wouldnt put a deposit on a custom cue period. The materials to build a cue are not so much $$$, so I let the cue makers build them on their nickle and I pay when they are done. I did however do a pay as it was built cue one time but it was $43,000 cue, reason being there was a lot of gold and it was expensive to build. it took 5 1/2 months to build.
 
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My opinion on the subject is this: I do not see any reason for a REPUTABLE cuemaker to ask for full payment up front. If he is as good as his reputation says he is, even if the buyer backs out of the purchase, he will still be able to sell that cue for the same price to SOMEONE by advertising it on his website. He loses nothing. OTOH, a person such as the OP in this case (and other similar cases heard about on this forum) has apparently lost $850.

On the other side of the coin, I have no problem with a cuemaker, reputable or not, asking for a 10-25% down payment to insure a commitment that the buyer is seriously going to go through with the purchase. Kind of a "materials cost", so to speak. That being said, the more reputable the cuemaker, the more I'd be willing to put down on the cue (up to @ 25% of course).

I personally would never be comfortable paying anybody full price up front for any product/service that is going to take any amount of TIME before the result/delivery is achieved. Especially if the producer of such product is many miles away in another state, which makes it more difficult to prosecute should the need arise.

Just my opinions (I have plenty and a few of them are pretty good, imo :grin:)

Maniac
 
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jnwilliams70 said:
Just need some advice I ordered a cue in April 2007 and paid in full at the time I ordered it here it is January 2011 and to this day I still have no cue or my money refunded to me I have sent a number of emails to the cue maker who continues to give me excuse after excuse I have also tried to contact him by phone several times with out success. I just wanted to know if anyone had any advice for me? I'm stuck because I have $ 850.00 tied up with him and I'm unable to buy another cue because of this I lost my orginal cue in hurricane Katrina and it took me a year and a half to find someone to deal with and now here I'm almost 4 years later. Thank u in advance for any advice u can give me!!
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After this long you have every right to name him... here and now. It will not help or hurt your chances of getting the cue you paid for, but it may help others from making a mistake dealing with this guy.
 
FASTEDDIE427 said:
Mind boggle

The legendary bill stroud has an 8 week wait list while others have years and even stop taking orders.
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I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I hear a cuemaker say he has a 5 year waiting list. I know it's just BS.

Unless it is a new untested design using new technology 8 weeks is enough to make any cue. Most of the time is for the glue to dry properly.

I have taken longer myself but it is usually for a cue that I really don't want to make. I just didn't know how to tell the customer that. Sometimes I just don't like the design and believe it or not some people are easy to make a cue for and others are not. I don't know why.

Any traditional style cue should take no longer than 8 weeks. I don't care who is making it.

Bill Stroud
 
Wow almost four years!! At this point small claims court if possible. If court is not a option put a bag over his head.:grin:
 
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