Aramith 100-Year Anniversary set - now an AAR thread

A

atx48

Registered
About 2 months ago, my local billiard retailer got a new set of Aramith 100s in for me. I had waited almost a year for them. They were not sealed when they arrived at the store. When I closely examined them, there were very small milky-looking spots on at least 6 of the balls. The spots were mostly round about 1mm in diameter. Three of those 6 balls had just a few spots (3-5) in very close proximity to one another while one ball in particular had like a wavy line of these spots about 3/4ths of the way around the ball. We could not feel the spots no matter how we tried, and we could not change their appearance with a microfiber cloth. At first I thought they might have been played with or be some kind of contact mark from a leather pocket, but those types of spots usually rub off and exhibit a more random pattern than the spots that I observed. The retailer contacted Aramith, but Aramith took a long time to respond, and their reply was basically try polishing the balls, and they did not offer any other kind of solution or feedback. At the time, I refused to take delivery, so I was not stuck with them. Now, the retailer called me today to say that a new set had arrived in the store, and I will be going there tomorrow (Tuesday) to examine them. They are still sealed in the plastic.

Here's my question... Has anyone else experienced something similar with these sets? I've never seen marks like these on a new set of balls regardless of the price. I would think that Aramith would want these to be perfect, especially at this price point. If this is "normal," then I guess I'll just go ahead with the sale, but any other premium ball that I've seen brand new has been flawless. I'm in the Austin, TX, area if anyone nearby has a set that I could look at. If anyone else already has a set, please look at them very closely and see if you can see any kind of spots that seem to be in the surface of the ball itself.

Eventually, I would like to get a second set to actually play with while I keep the first set as part of my collection. I might ask if the retailer will discount the flawed set. I will not use the cue ball from either set since it takes too much abuse, and I really like the design of the cue ball.

Thanks in advance for any and all help and/or suggestions!
 
Kind of hard to see what you have without pictures.

Perhaps the first set was used for a quick moment before making it to you?
 
atx48 said:
About 2 months ago, my local billiard retailer got a new set of Aramith 100s in for me. I had waited almost a year for them. They were not sealed when they arrived at the store. When I closely examined them, there were very small milky-looking spots on at least 6 of the balls. The spots were mostly round about 1mm in diameter. Three of those 6 balls had just a few spots (3-5) in very close proximity to one another while one ball in particular had like a wavy line of these spots about 3/4ths of the way around the ball. We could not feel the spots no matter how we tried, and we could not change their appearance with a microfiber cloth. At first I thought they might have been played with or be some kind of contact mark from a leather pocket, but those types of spots usually rub off and exhibit a more random pattern than the spots that I observed. The retailer contacted Aramith, but Aramith took a long time to respond, and their reply was basically try polishing the balls, and they did not offer any other kind of solution or feedback. At the time, I refused to take delivery, so I was not stuck with them. Now, the retailer called me today to say that a new set had arrived in the store, and I will be going there tomorrow (Tuesday) to examine them. They are still sealed in the plastic.

Here's my question... Has anyone else experienced something similar with these sets? I've never seen marks like these on a new set of balls regardless of the price. I would think that Aramith would want these to be perfect, especially at this price point. If this is "normal," then I guess I'll just go ahead with the sale, but any other premium ball that I've seen brand new has been flawless. I'm in the Austin, TX, area if anyone nearby has a set that I could look at. If anyone else already has a set, please look at them very closely and see if you can see any kind of spots that seem to be in the surface of the ball itself.

Eventually, I would like to get a second set to actually play with while I keep the first set as part of my collection. I might ask if the retailer will discount the flawed set. I will not use the cue ball from either set since it takes too much abuse, and I really like the design of the cue ball.

Thanks in advance for any and all help and/or suggestions!
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If they were not sealed when they were delivered to you, they should have been, mine were. I would’ve asked the dealer why they were unsealed and if they had been used? Hopefully he will be honest with you. You made the correct decision by not accepting and not paying for them. Any premium balls I have always received over the years from our Aramith dealer have always been sealed and have always appeared perfect when opened, not even any sign of fingerprints on them.

If you saw any imperfections in the finish on the balls, at that premium $ price I would not have accepted them either. I can’t help you as far as our mine look, as I am keeping them sealed.
 
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Someone played them. I don't have that set, but did buy 5 or 6 new Aramith/Centennial sets. They were all absolutely flawless in the box. Not a smidge, not a spot, not a fingerprint, nothing on them except a mirror shine.
 
iusedtoberich said:
Someone played them. I don't have that set, but did buy 5 or 6 new Aramith/Centennial sets. They were all absolutely flawless in the box. Not a smidge, not a spot, not a fingerprint, nothing on them except a mirror shine.
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This is correct for new balls every time.

Collision marks are a indication of used balls

Best
Fatboy <——-aspiring ball inspector
 
Black-Balled said:
Kind of hard to see what you have without pictures.

Perhaps the first set was used for a quick moment before making it to you?
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I tried taking multiple pictures, but the spots don’t show up, or they don’t show due to the glare of overhead lighting and/or focus issues. The imperfections are like fuzzy, round, milky dots. If I can post pictures, I’ll try to post the best pic of the worst ball. Thank you for your input!
 
ChrisinNC said:
If they were not sealed when they were delivered to you, they should have been, mine were. I would’ve asked the dealer why they were unsealed and if they had been used? Hopefully he will be honest with you...
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I did ask him why they weren't sealed, but he didn't know why. His Houston store had 3 sets in stock. They sent him the one that had been opened for display. I mentioned earlier that I had been waiting for a year. Well, the biggest reason for that wait was that he had totally forgotten about them until I walked back in his store after almost a year. Anyway, I asked him if they had been played with, and he said 'no,' but I had the feeling that he really had no idea. He had really dropped the ball (pun intended) many different times throughout this whole process that I didn't want to weigh down the original post with a lot of other unnecessary information. I then asked him to get one of the other sets from Houston, and when I contacted him 2 weeks later, I could tell that he had forgotten (again), but he gave me some other excuse. At that point in time, he checked his system, and he saw 5 new sets coming to his regional stores (but not his store even though he is the regional manager), so he redirected one of those 5 new sets to come to his store in Austin. That one was supposed to have arrived on the 6th. He never called me back one way or the other. I finally called him back yesterday (11/18), but he wasn't there. Someone else called me back and said that the set was there waiting for me, but he had no idea when they had arrived.

While I am definitely upset with this retailer, I did not want to buy a set by mail sight unseen. That is the only reason that I continued on with them. They have 14 stores in 4 states (9 in Texas), so they are not a small outfit. I am also greatly disappointed in Aramith's lack of response to this issue. I would think that this would stand out to them, and they would want to at least have a trusted U.S. dealer examine them. I can understand them not wanting to be shipped back and forth internationally though. Maybe I'm way off base here though.

Thank for you for your response and taking the time to reply!
 
Is this really an OMG ASAP issue? I mean come on, it sounds like you have a good relationship with your retailer (except the fact that the first set was opened before you had it in hand, bad form on their end) and they got a new / replacement set that is sealed. I would open the second set in front of the retailer and if the balls look to have the same issue refuse the set and send them back to Aramith. I think their balls are over priced (not as bad as predator products) and I've been very happy with my dynaspheres set.
 
atx48 said:
I did ask him why they weren't sealed, but he didn't know why. His Houston store had 3 sets in stock. They sent him the one that had been opened for display. I mentioned earlier that I had been waiting for a year. Well, the biggest reason for that wait was that he had totally forgotten about them until I walked back in his store after almost a year. Anyway, I asked him if they had been played with, and he said 'no,' but I had the feeling that he really had no idea. He had really dropped the ball (pun intended) many different times throughout this whole process that I didn't want to weigh down the original post with a lot of other unnecessary information. I then asked him to get one of the other sets from Houston, and when I contacted him 2 weeks later, I could tell that he had forgotten (again), but he gave me some other excuse. At that point in time, he checked his system, and he saw 5 new sets coming to his regional stores (but not his store even though he is the regional manager), so he redirected one of those 5 new sets to come to his store in Austin. That one was supposed to have arrived on the 6th. He never called me back one way or the other. I finally called him back yesterday (11/18), but he wasn't there. Someone else called me back and said that the set was there waiting for me, but he had no idea when they had arrived.

While I am definitely upset with this retailer, I did not want to buy a set by mail sight unseen. That is the only reason that I continued on with them. They have 14 stores in 4 states (9 in Texas), so they are not a small outfit. I am also greatly disappointed in Aramith's lack of response to this issue. I would think that this would stand out to them, and they would want to at least have a trusted U.S. dealer examine them. I can understand them not wanting to be shipped back and forth internationally though. Maybe I'm way off base here though.

Thank for you for your response and taking the time to reply!
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In your original post, I thought you said you refused these balls, but if you are going to take photos of them, I assumed you have taken possession of them? If so, I definitely would not use them until you get this resolved.

If you did accept them, I would simply take them back and exchange them for the sealed set they got in which they have offered you. In my opinion, there is no reason for you to purchase more than one set unless you really want a second set and they give you a substantial $ discount on the opened set.
 
sbrownn said:
Is this really an OMG ASAP issue? I mean come on...
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No, it wasn't - not in the grand scheme of things. It was just that I had 12 hours between my post and when I was going to pick up the new set. I just wanted some immediate feedback and hopefully those who had some experience would chime in within that 12-hour time frame. I certainly did not intend to convey any kind of alarms.

ETA: I figured that some people might wait a few hours or even days to give an answer, and I just wanted all of the information that I could obtain before I went to view the second set. If I didn't make it to the store today, it could possibly have been another 2 weeks before I could have made it there again with my work schedule.
 
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ChrisinNC said:
In your original post, I thought you said you refused these balls, but if you are going to take photos of them, I assumed you have taken possession of them? If so, I definitely would not use them until you get this resolved.
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I did refuse them, but I took pictures of them at the first time that I viewed them. I hope that clears up any confusion.
 
atx48 said:
I did refuse them, but I took pictures of them at the first time that I viewed them. I hope that clears up any confusion.
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You were smart to refuse them and take photos. Hopefully you will pick up your new sealed set very soon, and if you do open them, you can report back to us as to how they appear in comparison to the tampered set you were originally offered.
 
Mine were pristine. No spots. You are getting a new set, so I wouldn't worry about a defective set. What number set were they?

-td
 
atx48 said:
I tried taking multiple pictures, but the spots don’t show up, or they don’t show due to the glare of overhead lighting and/or focus issues. The imperfections are like fuzzy, round, milky dots. If I can post pictures, I’ll try to post the best pic of the worst ball. Thank you for your input!
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Sounds to me like spots from collisions between balls with polish residue on them.
 
ChrisinNC said:
You were smart to refuse them and take photos. Hopefully you will pick up your new sealed set very soon, and if you do open them, you can report back to us as to how they appear in comparison to the tampered set you were originally offered.
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AAR:
I got to break the seal on a brand new set. There were the exact same kind of spots on some of these balls as there were on the first set. The good news is that they were nowhere near as numerous on the balls that I inspected nor were they as prominent. One thing that I think caused the marks given their position in the box was they picked up marks from touching the inside of the wooden box. I assume that I can use Aramith ball polish to remove these marks even though I still could not remove them with a dry microfiber cloth at the store. I think another possibility is the balls could have easily contacted each other repeatedly in shipment, especially if they were handled roughly. The 9-ball even had 2 "dirt marks" on it which we were able to remove with a little bit of cleaner. I don't know how those got by quality control. One new thing that I noticed were concentric lines about 3mm in height going almost completely around the 3-ball. My first thought is that these are some kind of machining marks. Hopefully, I can reduce or eliminate the appearance of these with polish.

In the final analysis, I did end up taking them because I figured these were as good as it was going to get. I am not impressed by the quality of this set. I intend to contact Aramith and see if they have anything to say about this issue after I make a good-faith attempt to properly clean them. The store manager said that he had heard nothing else from Aramith, and he believes that the marks are actually in the surface of the balls.

I would like to thank everyone again who replied to me today. Your input was indeed helpful.
 
IMG_1111.jpeg
 
This 6-ball was the worst ball from the first set. You can see a series of spots around the left side to the top-left and left of the reflection of the front door. There were still many more spots on this ball, but this is about the best that I can get them to show up. Please keep in mind that there were at least 6 balls in total that exhibited these spots.
 
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