The Pocket Fisherman has been on sale for the low,low price of $19.99 for 30 years.
"But Wait"
John Barton us open ban
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"But Wait"
I bought an Acme case and I'm very happy with it. I needed another case like I need a hole in the head, but I have always liked Barton's Red/Black combo simple case, I think in nylon material. However, he and I have had a lot of back and forth over the years on here, I did not want to give Barton any of my money. I also didn't want to spend 200 and change. When I went to the DCC 2 years ago and saw the Acme case, I chuckled inside, that they knocked off Barton. So I went to check them out at the booth, and I thought they were great! The price was also right for me at 100 and change for a simple 2x4. I bought it on the way out from the DCC, transferred all of my cues into it on the spot, and walked to my car to drive back to Atlanta laughing out loud at the whole situation.
YMMV
I would have given you a discount for the silly bet you made and lost to me.
Thanks for adding to the evidence I need to prove it's a knockoff. Sometimes in jurisprudence you have to prove what everyone already knows.
Mike challenged me to a 20k lie detector bet. I raised to 50k. He called. We went and got money. I followed him to a lawyer of his choice. Wrong lawyer.
Some arguing.
I said I am leaving and if you figure it out call me.
He then claimed I hit him and made a police report without me present.
US Open and APA banned me personally from their venues based on the bogus report.
I will see him in court where he will have to answer for the crimes he has committed.
LOL, damn first Lou for 10, then Mike for 50, just curious when we playing bud?
Doesn't that mean dead money players can make up accusations against elite players to get them banned so that dead money can win the US Open ?
That is if they have a lot of free time on their hands
Seems that way.
Mike didn't win. And he is now at risk for losing much more than that.
If you want to bet on something I have a dead lock on winning then you're certainly welcome to tilt at that windmill.
As for playing pool for big money, that's out of my system. I have pretty much quit gambling on pool because it's a type of activity that doesn't turn a profit at the end and the time lost is never recovered. I did it and can say I did it but that "thrill" is gone.
I was just joshin, I ain't a big money player, more like tabletime and beers.
I am not suing anyone over their false advertising.
Great point.
Actually, if you want to LOSE another bet to me you can bet on the outcome. I will put up $5000 that the story is EXACTLY as I have told it and that I will prevail in court. Tell me when and how you are ready to post.
I don't know what he says.....I have heard the word "headbutted" but I have not see his statement. He was not touched in any way.
Yes he was pissed I imagine because I told him he is a hack who copies everything he thinks he can get away with and has never had an original thought in his life among other colorful and factually descriptive assessments of him.
And I didn't state that I would have no beef IF he sold the cases at $150. I said he could make MORE money on them if he sold them at $150 (just an arbitrary price) and made no CLAIMS about them that are not true. If he sold them at $97 and made no false claims then I wouldn't have an issue with him. But he wants to make false claims to promote his product to our quality level then I have an issue.
I can't help you if you are now in a state where you being lied to is ok with you. That's on you. I choose NOT to lie to you about my product to sell it. I choose to call out those who do. If that bothers you then that is YOUR problem and not mine.
And no everyone does not know that MSRP means nothing. If that were true then nothing would ever be sold at retail. But it certainly is not a true price when the retail listed is NEVER charged.
To go the absurd I could make a banner that says SALE $1997 any case any size - regular price $226,000. Hey you're "saving" $224,000 so it must be a great deal right?
We have actual laws that govern how people can be advertised to and false advertising and unreasonable markup/discount schemes are covered under those laws. They are however mostly unenforced because the FTC cannot possibly handle every case that is reported and certainly does not goes around looking for violations. That said I don't care what price he sells for, $97 cases don't hurt our business at all. In fact this whole show our booth remains full and his stands empty most of the time. The only people he hurts with the bogus retail scheme is the other vendors selling in the $100 price class.
I admire your tenacity. You constantly take the losing side and still keep coming. If you put that effort into practicing you might become a decent player.
Ok the video I did was off the cuff, LIVE, unplanned and the tester was a random guy. The cases being tested were a MUCH older JB Case, a NEW Acme, and a NEW JB Case.
The problem with Acme's zipper heads was revealed a year earlier. A year LATER they still had not fixed it among other things that they didn't fix. In fact ANOTHER year later, NOW, they STILL HAVE NOT FIXED IT.
For the JB Cases as soon as I find something to be a problem the fix is implemented within a few days and the cases being built have that fix.
What you can't really see in the video is that even our older zipper pulls were tougher than ACME's current ones. The "effort" with which he pulled off a zipper pull that had been in use for years was still more than it was with a BRAND NEW acne case.
I didn't SPIN anything. I said EXACTLY what I have been saying FOR YEARS. And guess what, all JB Cases have a lifetime warranty and that INCLUDES the zipper pulls. So even on the ones that were not as strong as I prefer if they come off then we replace them. You won't get that on the acne cases. If it happens on day 185 so sorry you're screwed.
I did a LIVE demonstration where I didn't know if the tester would be able to tear off our zipper pull or not. I thought he might not be able to but when I saw those arms I was a little scared that my impromptu demonstration would backfire. But it held up and I was proud that it did. It is sad that your animosity towards me leads you to be the contrarian out of spite but I am actually ok with it as it gives me more opportunities to address the features and benefits of our cases in comparison.
At the end of the day I think what really matters is that consumers get a protective case that holds up and is comfortable to use. If a consumer such as you THINKS that you got all that for $97 then great for you. But not all consumers have the same experience and when the case is REALLY a cheaply made piece of crap then a lot of those consumers will experience the downside of buying cheaply made crap. And in the worst case suffer broken cues because of a case that promises protection where you can see and feel and then takes it away beyond where you can inspect it.
With us you get what we told you you would get and it's backed by a lifetime warranty. If that's not worth an extra hundred to you then that's your choice to make.
Each maker has their own formula to determine pricing. Some makers put in quality parts that cost more but DO NOT raise the retail price because they were able to save in another area. And often the fix is not nearly as expensive as one thinks. The biggest problem is that resellers (not makers) don't know the actual construction of what they are selling and they don't really care as long as the complaint/replacement level stays below an acceptable percentage.... AND that they often are pushing the factories on price and this creates incentive for factories to use the cheapest crappiest parts they can in order to increase their own profit. They know that the reseller doesn't know the difference anyway.
Our prices have gone up 20% in the past 10 years. Mostly because of across the board increases in labor and materials cost. Not because I spent $1 more per case on extremely tough zippers and zipper pulls.
I fully agree.
Well then it's great to find a brand like JB Cases that has a price where the customer gets far more value for their investment. And we have seen that the resale on our cases tends to be around 80% of retail when you can even find on for sale.
Markup schemes are actually illegal in a lot of places. However enforcement is lax to nonexistent.
Lol. People ought to be very grateful that I am not crazy given the amount of provocation that comes my direction. In this situation though there is one case maker, me, and one knockoff reseller who lies to his customers. And there was no trade show altercation. Nothing happened at the show.
When I owned Instroke I had made a business card that read on the back, "Instroke cases give every other case the 7 ball and we have the royal lockdown hungarian nuts."
Then I met Dan Whitten and showed him my card and he chuckled. THEN I saw a Whitten case and tore it up.
No when I say I build a better case it is based on facts. Objective criteria that is testable.
You owned a JB Case and you praised it UNTIL we disagreed on other topics. Then you started knocking them. So forgive me but your words are completely hollow and your motivation is purely to knock with no honesty.
Also your experience isn't everyone's experience. I build cases to withstand rougher than normal treatment because that's how it goes in the REAL WORLD. I don't build cases to be babied and if they are owned by someone who does then great. If not then I want it to hold up for a long time and do the job it was built for.
You are correct. The overriding point for me is that the consumers are being lied to about the product. They are being sold an inferior product that is touted as a superior one. The REAL acid test would be how many would they be able to sell at the (fake) $226 retail price if they had to compete on the merits instead of the price? My bet would be very very very few is what they would sell.
Mike sought me out with a 20k challenge posted on FB. He agreed to go find a lawyer and write up a contract covering the bet. There was a lot of arguing OFF SITE and the alleged incident was also off site.
I am not the most banned member of AZB but I am one will stand up and say clearly that anytime I was banned it was because of some a-hole attacking me personally and I got fed up and let him have it. I don't regret a single one.
IF any of you want to BET HIGH on wins this ultimately I will take your action. I am FULLY covered on this one. I think that the US Open and the APA made the wrong choice but I am not holding them liable.
Other shows made the right choice to say it didn't happen at the show so have a good and incident-free show.
At the end of all this the person who made the false accusation will have to stand before a judge and either stick to his story or not. He will be cross examined and have to prove his story and he will not be able to do that. OR if he settles it will be with a full retraction and exoneration publicly posted.
JB Cases is allowed to exhibit. And we are KILLING IT!
Our booth stays packed and theirs stays empty. I am doing the support role, doing laundry, bringing food, taking cases to UPS....because we are STILL KILLING it with custom and online orders!
That's the best part, he thinks he is hurting us with the false accusation but all he has done in increase my motivation and our sales are not suffering in the least.
Good thing I am honest or I might talk about how he cupped my balls in the elevator.....that would have been a really uncomfortable sexual assault if it had really happened. But unlike him I don't make false accusations to the police and take up valuable resources and thus make it harder for people who ACTUALLY were victims to be heard and get justice.
Correct. But it is just a report. I have not been arrested, charged or ticketed. In fact when the security at Mandalay Bay called the police and said that they had detained me the police said they weren't going to come over for this.
I have been to the police station twice voluntarily and they didn't bother to talk to me or detain me in any way.
Two of these shows took the proper course of action in my opinion and said to me have an uneventful show.
The other two erred in my opinion on the side of caution but only because of a fairy tale told to them.
I would have given you a discount for the silly bet you made and lost to me.
Thanks for adding to the evidence I need to prove it's a knockoff. Sometimes in jurisprudence you have to prove what everyone already knows.
ha ha. If you give me a price to buy out of the Siming bet, I'm in
I made a bad bet there.When I bought the Acme case, I asked the guy are these the same as JB cases. He said no, they designed them themselves. I don't remember who the salesman was, I might have even talked to two different ones, I forget.
ha ha. If you give me a price to buy out of the Siming bet, I'm in
When I bought the Acme case, I asked the guy are these the same as JB cases. He said no, they designed them themselves. I don't remember who the salesman was, I might have even talked to two different ones, I forget.
I will let you out of the Siming bet for nothing. I am glad you are at least convinced that she can play. Also, I had forgotten about that bet.
The way we understand it is that what people are told there varies greatly. Yesterday two friends went to their booth separately and one friend was told that the warranty was 180 days and the other one was told it is lifetime. The first friend bought one of our cases and they reported these conversations. I have no way of knowing if it's true or not or there was miscommunication. I have heard that they said a few years ago that the ACME cases were made in the same factory as JB Cases. (JB Cases are not made in a factory and no other brands are made in our workshop)
And of course they are going to say they designed the cases....very few people will have the sack to say that they are selling knockoffs. As well the owner of that company sat across from me at dinner two years ago and said point blank that they are not knockoffs. I said even my four year old can see that they are knockoffs. So maybe the owner's delusion on that point has translated into de facto policy for the staff if asked about design provenance.
Most of the time a couple days but once in a while they get neglected and lost.
Message me on FB or otherwise (not here) with the last four of your order # and I will look it up if you have an order in with us.
As for cases doing the talking. I understand but I just can't depend on people to know the differences by themselves. Truly, you can't imagine the number of people who tell us at shows that the acme cases are just as good until they take the time and are shown exactly how our cases are built. When others tell lies about their goods then I have to speak up for our cases. ;-)
You can depend on anyone who knows anything or anybody who is going to spend $200 plus on a case to know the difference.
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Thank you. Yes, I now think her rating is correct after watching her play several times. I will mail you a donation check next week. Maybe you can use it for your juniors training....
No need to do that. If you feel like sending something to someone send something to the Billiards Education Fund.
I wish that were true. Last year I had a man show up at my booth and proceed to tell me that he has 100s of thousands in cues and he knows cases and there was no way that our case was better. I said ok I will give you $200 for the case you just bought if you will stand there while I take it apart and prove it to you. He agreed and when I took the $96.99 knockoff apart and showed him a 2" gap between where the bottom ended inside the cavity and where the fabric ended - and showed him how the cue can clack with that gap - and how the extra foam rubber at the top and the thin fabric from a couple inches on down was actually worse for the cues when they were being bounced around because it creates a sort of clothespin effect - he was not only convinced but he was extremely pissed off that anyone would sell a case with that much potential to damage a cue.
It's kind of like the studies of Chess grandmasters which showed them to be no better than an average person who does not play chess at remembering the positions of the pieces when the pieces are not in positions that followed normal play. In other words even smart people are sometimes stupid depending on the subject. Regular people actually have little chance to figure out bullshit from truth in purchasing situations. They are so inundated with information about the product and all the things happening around them and often friends jabbering about what they think....that they rarely make a truly rational decision. Most purchasing decisions are far more emotional than people want to admit.
Trust me on this. I would LOVE for my cases to "speak for themselves" but the fact is that it is only through my constant attempts to educate on this subject do I get people to take a chance and then to see that I wasn't BSing them. We have now reached a point I think where I might be able to depend on satisfied and happy customers to give enough positive testimonials whenever someone asks for a case recommendation that I might be able to back off.
But, as we have seen in this thread there are those who will engage in product equation, either naively or maliciously, which has the effect of multiplying if left unanswered. I prefer to have our (my) answer on the record should anyone happen on the "story" later.
It will be interesting to see how the rugged case will evolve in the case making industry as many will incorporate this line.
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