All true enough, but if one looks at it from my (the customer) point of view, I knew I had paid for the best built rails in the Country, yet the table was not playing that way. I'm just an average pool player but I can afford a nice playing table and by gosh, that's what I wanted. I feel bad that the business Mark is in is totally dependent on the guy at the end that sets up the customer's table. Mark isn't going to fly from Atlanta to Salem, Or. and wouldn't have the tools he would need even if he did. So, that leaves the local yokel table mechanic. I'm already worried about the need to recover the table some day.
I think the answer is for the powers that be (AZ Billiards, Pool Magazines, etc.) to set up a society of pool table mechanics with stringent requirements to get the certificate. Watching and demonstrating an understanding of the DVD installing Simonis would be the starting point. Then, if the pool community stuck together and refused anyone work on their tables that doesn't have the credentials. Reward the credentialed members by them charging more for their work. Once the list of certified table mechanics is out there, guys like Mark could insist that the only way he'll build rails is if the customer agrees to use one on the guys on the list. Is this possible? Glen could start a thread and get a 'sticky' for guys that want on the list. If the guys not on the list starve, maybe it'll get some interest. All kinds of examples out there for just this kind of society; Try to work on an aircraft electronic device without a certificate. Of course, that's life and death but still....aren't our pool tables that important too? Just my two cents.
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