Cuemakers that don't answer their phone

[mdavis228]

If no money has changed hands , go buy some women's underwear ... if you have paid notify all authorities via email and writing (registered) ... Let everybody know you have been scammed . If not ..... please .....:boring2::angry:

This is the kind of response that could be regretted in the morning...

 

[HOB Weert]

Ed Young

I paid Ed $400,- in May 2006!
He told me the cue would be ready in 18 till 24 months.
It is now almost 60 months!!

MH
HOB Weert

 

[Highmiles]

I paid Ed $400,- in May 2006!
He told me the cue would be ready in 18 till 24 months.
It is now almost 60 months!!

MH
HOB Weert

That really sucks. Send a registered letter to get your deposit back for breech of contract, and then contact someone else to make it. Right now, you're stuck stressing yourself out, and all that will do is make you miserable. I understand your anger, but taking action will do more for both of you. You'll get your cue, and he will lose a customer.

 

[icem3n]

I paid Ed $400,- in May 2006!
He told me the cue would be ready in 18 till 24 months.
It is now almost 60 months!!

MH
HOB Weert

He was one of the cuemaker that I plan to get a cue from. With all of what I read, not anymore.

 

[Quesports]

Fortunately not ALL cuemakers are such butt heads, BUT when your caught up with one it must suck. I have had no bad experiences, I guess I'm just lucky. I have dealt with Mike Lambros, Dave Kikel, Jerry Olivier and Skip Weston and had nothing but good service with them all..

 

[KJ Cues]

I see this is turning into another bash the cue-maker thread.
What a treat.
Even the newbies and wannabies are joining in to proclaim their superior business practices. Free advertising at the sake of another.
How well do any of you know this man?
Before you consider the final critique, you might want to walk a mile in his shoes. Guaranteed that someday they'll fit.
Life is funny that way. What goes around, comes around.

 

[J$Cincy]

If your on a list without a deposit then your out nothing. The top of the food chain are always backed up and have 50 e-mails waiting and their phone numbers go to voice mail which also gets filled.if they answered all calls an e-mails they would not get anything done. I know this is a drag but waiting for the best takes patience.In the meantime buy yourself another cue. Maybe one day you will receive that call maybe not.

Bob, if you would stay out their shop and stop harassing these poor underappreciated fellows they might actually get something done......... HAHA :thumbup:

 

[SK Custom Cues]

The way I see it, there's one of two choices you can pick from:

• Top cue makers generally have long wait times, so you just have to wait patiently. There are a great deal of cue makers who are not necessarily in it as a 'business' and do not treat it as such, but rather as a life style or craft that they love, and the live their life by their own rules. Maybe your cue is no where near completion. Sometimes, things come up that induces a ripple effect which forces him to make adjustments all the way down the line. Maybe he got 95% done with your cue and dropped it on the floor cracking it in half and he's not in the mood to deal with it right now, or maybe he just forgot about it, or maybe he had a death in the family, or ended up in the hospital himself... you just have to ask yourself how bad you want this cue.
  
  or
  
• Chalk it up to a lesson learned, cut your losses, if any, and move on. If you ever do order from a custom maker in the future, do your homework and investigate the person's character, cross reference owner's testimonials and see if it is compatible with yours.

I know it sucks, and I am not rooting for this cue maker by any means, but rather providing a perspective that might help you more readily accept the situation as opposed to rejecting it which will help you to deal with it in a much less frustrating way.

Good Luck.

I'm sure I'm not the only one, but... I was curious about what I should do. I have a cue on order, that should have been completed a long time ago, over a year already. Each time I talk to him the date obviously gets pushed back. He is a top cuemaker, but hardly ever answers the phone, I haven't been able to reach him for a few months. I wonder if he'll ever complete the cue actually. I understand everyone wants a cue from him, and he's very busy, but if I have a cue that should be near completion, should he want to talk to me? Any advice on what to do?

Thanks

 

[qbilder]

I see this is turning into another bash the cue-maker thread.
What a treat.
Even the newbies and wannabies are joining in to proclaim their superior business practices. Free advertising at the sake of another.
How well do any of you know this man?
Before you consider the final critique, you might want to walk a mile in his shoes. Guaranteed that someday they'll fit.
Life is funny that way. What goes around, comes around.

I don't always agree with you, but in this case you are spot on. Pack dynamics at it's finest. Pups trying to take the alpha, not understanding what it even takes to be alpha.

All I can say is that when you go chasing a builder, then your ball is in his court. Just because he agrees to build a cue for you doesn't mean you own his time & he's obligated to adhere to your business expectations. What if he doesn't need your money or even care about the money aside from fair compensation for the work in order to sustain his craft? Maybe, just maybe his satisfaction is the build itself and not the payment? That would mean your money doesn't mean jack to him so he doesn't feel obligated to kiss your ass or make your demands a priority. That doesn't mean he's being a jerk. He's just not depending on your money so it doesn't matter to him as much as you think it should. The "customer is always right" notion doesn't apply in this situation. If you want a cue from that guy, you'll wait for it & get it when you get it. Can't hate on him about it. If it's not the type of deal you are after then go elsewhere. Easy.

I recently sent out a pair of cues that were custom ordered. I felt good about the cues. They were great. But the buyer quickly began pointing out things that I did wrong. He specifically asked for this & that and I totally dogged it. I accepted the totally custom order because I like the guy & I hate saying no. I genuinely like making people happy, and I love building cues. I don't need the money. Anyway, point being, I was so in to the build and craft that I missed a lot of the specifics he asked for such as diameters, weights, etc. I ended up building the cues the way I build all my other cues & it wasn't me being purposefully negligent, but more absent minded and doing what I love doing which is building cues.

So now i'm in a situation where I have to rectify my fault via a refund or completing the work the way I had agreed to. That's not the problem. The problem is that I tried being something that i'm not just because I wanted to please the guy. Now he's unfairly frustrated & i'm disappointed at myself. It could have been avoided if I had just told him from the beginning that i'm slow and I have my own formula for cues that I won't stray from. He could have agreed or moved on. But instead I tried to be something i'm not & I wasted years of his & my life with a cue build that wasn't correct.

Point being, cuemakers should determine for themselves who they are & they should make it known to potential buyers so the buyer will not be surprised or disappointed. It'll be better for everybody involved.

 

[JoeyInCali]

I see this is turning into another bash the cue-maker thread.
What a treat.
Even the newbies and wannabies are joining in to proclaim their superior business practices. Free advertising at the sake of another.
How well do any of you know this man?
Before you consider the final critique, you might want to walk a mile in his shoes. Guaranteed that someday they'll fit.
Life is funny that way. What goes around, comes around.

WORD!
Once you got more business than you can handle, once you get inquiries from all over the world, once some people bug you for work your mentor owed them or cue flippers telling you nice stories to get ahead on the list; you will probably know what EY is going through.

 

[KJ Cues]

I don't always agree with you, but in this case you are spot on.
Point being, cuemakers should determine for themselves who they are & they should make it known to potential buyers so the buyer will not be surprised or disappointed. It'll be better for everybody involved.

God forbid that you should always agree with me. You're not supposed to.
We are two entirely different people with different outlooks on life and the world in general. That's the way it should be.
Our commonality is in our craft and our love of building cues.
But even then, we have different ways of doing things and again, that's as it should be. I have no particular interest in building SugarTree cues and there's no space available on my cues for anyone elses name other than my own.

I appreciate that you went into greater length and detail concerning why we do what we do. It ain't for everybody. It's a different life and it isn't always the gravy that people make it out to be.
Whether you make a living at it or you do it purely for the love and the art, it takes dedication. It ain't always about the money.

To be honest, I don't always agree with you either but in this I concur.
You need to be true to yourself and who you are. It's hard to build something that's not you. It will never be right, at least not in your own mind.

Thanx also for sharing your knowledge of wood. It's one of my favorite subjects.

KJ

 

[Russell Cues]

God forbid that you should always agree with me. You're not supposed to.
We are two entirely different people with different outlooks on life and the world in general. That's the way it should be.
Our commonality is in our craft and our love of building cues.
But even then, we have different ways of doing things and again, that's as it should be. I have no particular interest in building SugarTree cues and there's no space available on my cues for anyone elses name other than my own.

I appreciate that you went into greater length and detail concerning why we do what we do. It ain't for everybody. It's a different life and it isn't always the gravy that people make it out to be.
Whether you make a living at it or you do it purely for the love and the art, it takes dedication. It ain't always about the money.

To be honest, I don't always agree with you either but in this I concur.
You need to be true to yourself and who you are. It's hard to build something that's not you. It will never be right, at least not in your own mind.

Thanx also for sharing your knowledge of wood. It's one of my favorite subjects.

KJ

In reading some post I see some common ground, as cue builders you have to love what you do, and its not for everyone. A little common courtesy is needed and making sure the customer is satisfied. Can you make eveyone happy ? Hell no ! There will always be someone who you just cant make happy no matter what you do. Knowing you tried everything humanly possible to do so, thats the key.

Always be true to yourself and the craft, I know who I am as a builder and I LOVE building cues. Does everyone like my style of cue ? no. And thats why there are so many builders out there and we are all selling cues, we are all a little different, and different is the spice of life.

I have build a couple of cues outside my normal range and even though the customer was happy I didnt like the build. It isnt about the money its the love of taking a square piece of wood and turning it into a solid hitting beautiful pool cue.

As KJ has said walk a mile in someone else's shoes and see if they fit, life can be a B@#$H sometimes and your bringing up the rear. :grin: