Some questions for cuemakers

[cyberrot]

Dear Cuemakers in AZB forums,
Although I have ordered custom cues from custom cuemakers before, I wish to have some understanding of how cuemakers deal with things that are related to an order, but not really directly related to cue making.

Here are my questions:

****************************************
Question 1:
For a wrapless plain jane order, if a customer has decided on the 2 woods for his cue, do you send pictures of the 2 exact pieces of wood before starting work?

Question 2:
The customer says that there is no need for show him progress pictures of his order during the build process for his cue.
When you have completed the cue and it is ready to be shipped to the customer, would you send pictures of the completed cue before sending the cue out to the customer?

Question 3:
If things happen during the build process(for example, wood cracking or warpages) or problems(personal, shop-related), would you tell the customer the real reason or would you just inform the customer that his order will be delayed?

Question 4:
If a customer has fully paid for the cue and you know that the order would be delayed for a long period(maybe more than 3 months), would you inform the customer about the delay?

Question 5:
If the customer has fully paid for his cue and you did not do the following:
a) Send customer photos of the completed cue
b) Inform the customer that his cue has been shipped
c) Send customer tracking number of the shipped package

Would the customer be in a position to ask for a full refund if the cue does not reach the customer after 10 months after the shipped date of the cue?

Question 6:
This is more of a question for folks who ship things out of USA.
I am sure that DHL, UPS, Fedex does provide tracking number for all their shipments, be it a document envelope or a 50 pound package.
I am not sure about how USPS work though, but would it be possible to send a cue out of USA via USPS WITHOUT a tracking number?

****************************************

Sorry for the long list of questions.
I appreciate your patience in reading this long post and I do hope to hear some replies.

Thank you in advance for your replies.

 

[BHQ]

Question 6:
This is more of a question for folks who ship things out of USA.
I am sure that DHL, UPS, Fedex does provide tracking number for all their shipments, be it a document envelope or a 50 pound package.
I am not sure about how USPS work though, but would it be possible to send a cue out of USA via USPS WITHOUT a tracking number?


WITHOUT????? no.
but........ there's always a but.....
it's my understanding,
as told to me by more than one usps supervisor,
the package cannot be tracked once it leaves USA .
kinda makes a tracking number useless dont it?

 

[whammo57]

I always send some pics of the wood and/or pics of the progress. I never take any money in advance. If something goes wrong during the build. I back up and make it right I usually tell the buyer about it.

I have 28 cues on order. When I hand the new cue to the buyer I tell him/her..You are under no obligation to buy it.. if you don't like it please don't buy it. I will try to make you something that you like better. I can sell any cue I finish in less than a week.

Kim

 

[bdcues]

Dear Cuemakers in AZB forums,
Although I have ordered custom cues from custom cuemakers before, I wish to have some understanding of how cuemakers deal with things that are related to an order, but not really directly related to cue making.

Here are my questions:

****************************************
Question 1:
For a wrapless plain jane order, if a customer has decided on the 2 woods for his cue, do you send pictures of the 2 exact pieces of wood before starting work?

Question 2:
The customer says that there is no need for show him progress pictures of his order during the build process for his cue.
When you have completed the cue and it is ready to be shipped to the customer, would you send pictures of the completed cue before sending the cue out to the customer?

Question 3:
If things happen during the build process(for example, wood cracking or warpages) or problems(personal, shop-related), would you tell the customer the real reason or would you just inform the customer that his order will be delayed?

Question 4:
If a customer has fully paid for the cue and you know that the order would be delayed for a long period(maybe more than 3 months), would you inform the customer about the delay?

Question 5:
If the customer has fully paid for his cue and you did not do the following:
a) Send customer photos of the completed cue
b) Inform the customer that his cue has been shipped
c) Send customer tracking number of the shipped package

Would the customer be in a position to ask for a full refund if the cue does not reach the customer after 10 months after the shipped date of the cue?

Question 6:
This is more of a question for folks who ship things out of USA.
I am sure that DHL, UPS, Fedex does provide tracking number for all their shipments, be it a document envelope or a 50 pound package.
I am not sure about how USPS work though, but would it be possible to send a cue out of USA via USPS WITHOUT a tracking number?

****************************************

Sorry for the long list of questions.
I appreciate your patience in reading this long post and I do hope to hear some replies.

Thank you in advance for your replies.

Have a feeling that you have a cue gone missing and therefore the questions. As BHQ stated we have no tracking outside the US with usps and the information you might get from your postal service may or may not be helpful.

 

[PocketPooler]

I sold a Phillippi on ebay a few months back and didn't realize he was in Italy. I wasn't bothered too much by it as he agreed to the extra $56 to ship it there, using USPS, After it sat in customs for two weeks, I began to get nervous and started searching for how long it takes to clear customs in US side, and Italy side. I only found horror stories about how the Italian postal system in extremely corrupt, forging signatures, "Losing" packages, etc., and the USPS can't do anything about it after it leaves US Customs. In the end, my transaction ended up positive, but I was sick to my stomach for a few weeks for not looking into shipping overseas prior to selling the cue. I won't do it again.... Also, got his payment in my paypal on 9/26. Finally could withdraw the money, well half the money on 10/28 as it was over my "monthly allowable withdraw" amount. lol..... what a joke.

 

[jazznpool]

With regard to usps shipping, ONLY Express Mail or International First Class Registered Mail are trackable but not always trackable outside the USA. This is by far the most reliable international shipping there is in my experience and I will usually not ship cues overseas by any other method. I have shipped many packages to assorted overseas destinations in the last 9 years with ZERO PROBLEMS. I am super grateful to all the postal workers involved.

I'm sorry to hear that you have what sounds like an unfortunate cue ordering experience Marcel.

Martin

 

[pdcue]

Question 6:
This is more of a question for folks who ship things out of USA.
I am sure that DHL, UPS, Fedex does provide tracking number for all their shipments, be it a document envelope or a 50 pound package.
I am not sure about how USPS work though, but would it be possible to send a cue out of USA via USPS WITHOUT a tracking number?


WITHOUT????? no.
but........ there's always a but.....
it's my understanding,
as told to me by more than one usps supervisor,
the package cannot be tracked once it leaves USA .
kinda makes a tracking number useless dont it?

I got essentially the same info - tho I practically had to take hostages to
get any specific answer.

FWIW - to shippers. Paypal "protection" virtually ends at the border.
So, shipping out of the USA can be risky business.

Dale

 

[DaveK]

... it's my understanding,
as told to me by more than one usps supervisor,
the package cannot be tracked once it leaves USA .
kinda makes a tracking number useless dont it?

Hmmm .... I have purchased a few cues from nice folks in the USA over the years. They ship USPS. I can track the package on www.usps.com until it is handed off to Canadian customs. After that time I can track the package using the same waybill # on www.canadapost.ca ... right to my door.

Hope this helps. It is a myth that you can't track outside of the USA, I have seen proof many times.

Dave

 

[BHQ]

Hmmm .... I have purchased a few cues from nice folks in the USA over the years. They ship USPS. I can track the package on www.usps.com until it is handed off to Canadian customs. After that time I can track the package using the same waybill # on www.canadapost.ca ... right to my door.

Hope this helps. It is a myth that you can't track outside of the USA, I have seen proof many times.

Dave

not to ALL countries dave
try it
cue shipped to spain , took 3 months, no one knew wtf it was, missing in action after leaving usa
cue shipped to phillipines , took 5 weeks , no one knew wtf it was, missing in action after leaving usa
on both occasions told the same thing, by several "bosses" at usps
cannot be tracked after leaving usa
perhaps once it arrives and enters the recieving country's system ? it can be ? depending on the country ?

 

[bdcues]

Hmmm .... I have purchased a few cues from nice folks in the USA over the years. They ship USPS. I can track the package on www.usps.com until it is handed off to Canadian customs. After that time I can track the package using the same waybill # on www.canadapost.ca ... right to my door.

Hope this helps. It is a myth that you can't track outside of the USA, I have seen proof many times.

Dave

As the person in the other country you can track through your post office. What can not happen is that as the shipper from this country I can not track through your post office as I can not get the information from my post office to be able to do so. So while you can track it to your door I can not.

 

[DaveK]

As the person in the other country you can track through your post office. What can not happen is that as the shipper from this country I can not track through your post office as I can not get the information from my post office to be able to do so. So while you can track it to your door I can not.

You can't browse to www.canadapost.ca and type in a number ?

As I said Bob, I track Canadian post office deliveries in Canada using USPS waybill numbers. You do not need to "get the information from my post office to be able to do so", you have it, the waybill #.

Here is a USPS waybill # : CW563565254US

This was a shipment from Jim Baxter to me, a beautiful Ernie Omori full splice that Jim finished. Try entering that # in the USPS site (data is archived) and in the Canadapost site to see what I am talking about.

If you want / expect www.USPS.com to track into Canada then I can see your confusion.

Dave

 

[DaveK]

not to ALL countries dave

I understand that completely. However you made a blanket statement that you could not track outside the USA and that is simply wrong. I suspect that there are other countries that can track USPS packages within their systems using the USPS waybill, but I have no first hand experience with any. I do have a fair bit of first hand experience having bought three cues this year .... it's a sickness :thumbup:

.... on both occasions told the same thing, by several "bosses" at usps
cannot be tracked after leaving usa
...

Perhaps the issue is the ignorance of the USPS employees. I posted up a test, you can prove them wrong for yourself. I'd like to hear if in fact you in the USA can track USPS shipments on canadapost.ca.

Dave

 

[erriep]

I understand that completely. However you made a blanket statement that you could not track outside the USA and that is simply wrong. I suspect that there are other countries that can track USPS packages within their systems using the USPS waybill, but I have no first hand experience with any. I do have a fair bit of first hand experience having bought three cues this year .... it's a sickness :thumbup:
....

Dave

as for example , an EMS parcel to France is perfectly tracked from sender to delivery , using the usps.com or chronopost.fr (french EMS mandatory) , using the same tracking N° , it isn't converted . very reliable service.
USPS registred parcels are tracked until the US border , then can be tracked after the border until delivery using colissimo.fr (mandatory) , but the tracking N° is converted after the border (ya have to call the customer service to obtain the new N° )
of course, weidness of the tracking system can always occure , but it works sometime well in both country ..to France, USPS priority mail sendings are less reliable than EMS sendings, IMHO .most of time because the local USPS mandatory's customer service sucks.

 

[pdcue]

You can't browse to www.canadapost.ca and type in a number ?

As I said Bob, I track Canadian post office deliveries in Canada using USPS waybill numbers. You do not need to "get the information from my post office to be able to do so", you have it, the waybill #.

Here is a USPS waybill # : CW563565254US

This was a shipment from Jim Baxter to me, a beautiful Ernie Omori full splice that Jim finished. Try entering that # in the USPS site (data is archived) and in the Canadapost site to see what I am talking about.

If you want / expect www.USPS.com to track into Canada then I can see your confusion.

Dave

Fine and upstanding as our northern neighbors may be, you don't seem
to be aware of the fact that the USPS in USA can NOT tell you which
countries are 'trackable' for us.

The fact that Canada may/or may not be ONE of some 200+ countries
you can track means it is still a bad bet, at best.

Dale

 

[DaveK]

Fine and upstanding as our northern neighbors may be, you don't seem
to be aware of the fact that the USPS in USA can NOT tell you which
countries are 'trackable' for us.

Never relied on the USPS to tell me ... figured it out on my own ... silly me.

Dave

 

[pdcue]

Never relied on the USPS to tell me ... figured it out on my own ... silly me.

Dave

I don't think so - you can not figure out on your own which countries
are trackable from the USA.

Is this really that hard to understand?

Dale

 

[DaveK]

I don't think so - you can not figure out on your own which countries
are trackable from the USA.

Is this really that hard to understand?

Dale

We're drifting. I appreciate that your USPS has no clue when it comes to matters outside your borders. This is not atypical of US organizations. You can also ask your customer, we likely know more about these matters as we deal with the USA all the time. Trouble I've found is that with the size of the US domestic market, our tiny market can be ignored with little penalty.

The blanket statement that you can't track a USPS package outside the USA is wrong, you can to Canada and apparently France. I am sure there are others. I am equally sure there are countries you cannot track within. An excellent idea for a thread would be a survey. But frankly my interest is in making US suppliers less reluctant to ship to Canada. When respected folks say "you can't track outside the USA" on a large Internet forum it can make suppliers more reluctant, and of course the basis is incorrect in our case.

Anyway, bottom line, no problem shipping and tracking USPS packages into Canada :thumbup: Now you know.:wink:

Dave

 

[BHQ]

We're drifting. I appreciate that your USPS has no clue when it comes to matters outside your borders. This is not atypical of US organizations. You can also ask your customer, we likely know more about these matters as we deal with the USA all the time. Trouble I've found is that with the size of the US domestic market, our tiny market can be ignored with little penalty.

The blanket statement that you can't track a USPS package outside the USA is wrong, you can to Canada and apparently France. I am sure there are others. I am equally sure there are countries you cannot track within. An excellent idea for a thread would be a survey. But frankly my interest is in making US suppliers less reluctant to ship to Canada. When respected folks say "you can't track outside the USA" on a large Internet forum it can make suppliers more reluctant, and of course the basis is incorrect in our case.

Anyway, bottom line, no problem shipping and tracking USPS packages into Canada :thumbup: Now you know.:wink:

Dave

i stand corrected
my blanket didnt include the exceptions

you cannot track usps packages outside of usa ,
except to france & canada and god only knows where,
because the post office themselves cant even answer the question

good luck with that , it's worse than talking to paypal or ebay


my two experiences where no one,
me the shipper or xxxx the shippee,
or the post office,
knew where the gdamn packages were for almost 3 months for one and 5 weeks for the other
they must have went thru the bermuda triangle
spain
phillipines


both were about 5 yrs ago
maybe it's changed since then

 

[rch]

usps tracking

hi
some dispatch are trackable, some don't

 

[pdcue]

We're drifting. I appreciate that your USPS has no clue when it comes to matters outside your borders. This is not atypical of US organizations. You can also ask your customer, we likely know more about these matters as we deal with the USA all the time. Trouble I've found is that with the size of the US domestic market, our tiny market can be ignored with little penalty.

The blanket statement that you can't track a USPS package outside the USA is wrong, you can to Canada and apparently France. I am sure there are others. I am equally sure there are countries you cannot track within. An excellent idea for a thread would be a survey. But frankly my interest is in making US suppliers less reluctant to ship to Canada. When respected folks say "you can't track outside the USA" on a large Internet forum it can make suppliers more reluctant, and of course the basis is incorrect in our case.

Anyway, bottom line, no problem shipping and tracking USPS packages into Canada :thumbup: Now you know.:wink:

Dave

Fine. He made a statement that was only 99.999% correct.

Let's just kill him. Or better yet, make him move to Canada.

Seriously Dave, are you sure one can track mail in Canada from within the USA. Just because you
can track it, doesn't ensure that we can.

Dale