Cue Guarantee

jsaxman

jsaxman

It's all about ass!
Silver Member
Some cuebuilders guarantee their cues.
If a buyer comes back to you with a warped shaft.

Do you make a new one at no charge?

How do you know that the buyer did not leave it in the car
many times? ( baking in heat or freezing in cold )

I guess it is better to build a new one free.


Most pool players take care of their cues.


Anyone willing to discuss how you handle this issue?


Remember, Customer Service is number #1 .......one of the golden rules.

later,
sax
 
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jsaxman said:
Some cuebuilders guarantee their cues.
If a buyer comes back to you with a warped shaft.

Do you make a new one at no charge?

How do you know that the buyer did not leave it in the car
many times? ( baking in heat or freezing in cold )

I guess it is better to build a new one free.


Most pool players take care of their cues.


Anyone willing to discuss how you handle this issue?


Remember, Customer Service is number #1 .......one of the golden rules.

later,
sax
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I think because a cue is an organic thing there has to be an amount of reason on the part of the customer. Cues will not stay perfect no matter what. The cue maker can only be responsible to a point. Some customers can be completely unreasonable, then they come on a forum like this and complain.
 
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Partnership over guarantee

I'm thankful for the cuemakers who treat every cue they build as representative of their best work. When something fails, they want it back to make it right.

I have a cracked ivory ferrule on a 4 year old cue with a lot of play. Surely this has nothing to do with flaws in workmanship...what matters to me isn't that it will be fixed free, but that the original maker takes pride in making the cue right once more.

He built it well, I care for it, and together we strive to keep it ready to play.
 
The saying the customer is always right is not always true. If you crash your car should the dealer replace it? Better yet what if you leave it out all year round and the paint fades? Maybe there is a market for cue insurance? McDermott only showed how desperate they were when they started guaranteeing shafts against warpage. It's a good deal for the customer but it just shows how much heat the foreign companies are putting on American businesses. The whole situation is quite sad.
 
Most cue makers, that I know of, guarantee their cues for life of the cue to the original purchaser except for damage caused by warpage or abuse. Most cue makers feel they use the best materials at hand, they trust in their techniques and the woods have been incrementally turned to alleviate movement as much as possible. Some use stabilizers to help to alleviate movement even further where as others feel this detracts from the "hit" of the cue. Although a cue maker takes all of the steps he can to build a tool that looks good, plays well and will give long service to the purchaser he has no control over the environment the cue will be subjected to once it leaves his hands.

About 15 years ago I had my shop set up next door to a pool hall. A man came into the pool hall and bought the personal cue off a an employee there. This was a Schon cue by the way. A year or so later I seen this fellow at a bar box tournament and he got his Schon shaft out that was badly warped and wanted to know what I was going to do about it. I asked what he meant and he said the shaft warped and that I should replace it. I told him that I had nothing to do with his transaction and in fact, the pool hall never. Upon looking at the shaft I could tell that it had been sitting in water as the shaft was swelled much larger than the ferrule and was all stained. He said he had left it in his trunk and that it leaked and soaked the case but never the less, he felt if it was made correctly it should not have warped. When I told him I would not do anything about it he through a fit and started telling everyone that I was a crook and not to do any business with me.

A cue maker can only go so far to protect his image as some customers are just completely unreasonable. As a customer you should expect and demand quality but there has to be a limit somewhere.

Dick
 
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touchy subject. i want to make everyone happy. if they dont like a tip i change it for cost. if they dont like a ferrule i change it for cost. i dont mind being hands on. i let customers in my shop. i let them pick the products used. if someone leaves their cue in the car and the shaft warps i dont think i or any othercuemaker should be responsible

leaving it in the car is misuse in my book. like throwing your cue and it breaks and holding the maker responsible.

as dick said we all have our own techniques. we learned what works best for us. if i cut a shaft or handle and it moves i mark it with an "x" if it moves again i dont use it. if i cut it 6-8 times and it doesnt move and if maintained properly it will not warp. so if i get that shaft back warped i know there was misuse. 98% of the time

hope this makes sense.

with that being said i have refunded or fixed items i know were fine but my customer wasnt happy with. i wasnt happy about it but i did it. like the guy that wanted my shaft for his predator cue. he didnt like it bc it hit different. i told him 5 times before and after its not a 314... refunded
 
I've been very fortunate. I have never had a cue or a shaft the I have made for a customer warp. Some of my shaft wood is over 10 years old so a customer knows that he is getting the good stuff!!! Any thing that is not up to par is cut up for tennons or just cut in half and burned.
 
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For me, a lot depends on how the customer approaches the situation. I warranty warpage for a certain amount of time, after that, it is a case by case. Be cool with your cue maker and he'll be cool with you. :cool:
 
Wood moves. That is part of it's nature. I would not worry about it if the warp is not major. I play with a shaft that has a slight wobble in it and I don't worry about it. It is almost 20 years old and I am still playing with it.
 
tap...tap....

ratcues said:
For me, a lot depends on how the customer approaches the situation. I warranty warpage for a certain amount of time, after that, it is a case by case. Be cool with your cue maker and he'll be cool with you. :cool:
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I am the same way:thumbup: after all it's a piece of wood.
 
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It's all case by case. But that said, if my shafts are warping then I need to figure out how to stop it, no matter if's abused or not. Theoretically, cues should be shipped anywhere from anywhere & stay straight. If not, it's the builder's issue to work out. I get back cues for repair that have been severely abused & the shafts are straight. I have had some come back warped that were well cared for. But either way, if it's warpage then i'll replace under most situations. The only times I haven't is when the cue has been tossed from player to player like a nickel hooker & is 5 or more owners from original. Still then, I usually replace if it's a bad warp. But in general, I get back maybe one of every 200-300 shafts I send out, so it's not like i'm replacing a bunch.
 
as a customer i dont feel that a cuemaker is required to fix something if its been abused or if there is a warpage. i bought my main player from someone on this board and the forearm was a bit warped...enough to see it and know that its warped if u rolled it on a table. i never really care since it still played great. then i chipped some of the buttcap and decided to send it in for a refinish. i let him know about the warpage which kinda surprised him but he said he'd take a look. i dunno what was done to it but it came back straight as an arrow. i think even in cases where warpage was a result of abuse, cuemakers have every intention of working something out either to fix it, replace it or get u a new one at a reduced price unless it's clear u dropped it or damaged it extensively. i think that whether they actually help u or not depends on ur attitude when dealing with them. i know when i mentioned the warpage the cuemaker didnt quite believe me so i was just like well since it's coming to u anyways could u just take a look at it. he saw it and saw that it was a bit warped and fixed it for me free of charge. that was surprising since i am not the original owner and at least 4 other ppl had owned the cue before me. so its all a matter of how u address the situation.

on a side note, even tho the forearm are warped, it didnt affect my play nor did i notice a difference when i used it after it had been fixed so i think its all just a state of mind. i knew the warp was there but i didnt really care so it never bothered me. whereas i've seen people complain about how a shaft with a runout as thin as 3 piece of paper stacked together is destroying their game.
 
Danktrees said:
as a customer i dont feel that a cuemaker is required to fix something if its been abused or if there is a warpage.
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You are a rare breed and a welcomed customer, if you need anything.

Majority of my customers, whether it be for my cues or repairs, are very nice, honest, hardworking people. The problem comes with that "one guy" who is a complete A-hole. It spoils the process for everyone else, especially in the age of billiard forums, where he can flame the cue maker, whether it is the truth or not. I've been lucky so far.....
 
I have a cue that is only 2 years old. The front shaft now has a slight warp in it. I have been doing my best to look after it.
But how can I blame the cuemaker for the shaft warping?
He does not have a crystal ball to look 2 years ahead.It just happens.
But I don't think the slight warp is adversly effecting my game.
He has offered another shaft, but I like the way this one plays warp and all.
But a flaw in the handle, or a joint coming loose is another issue. In that case I would want that to be repaired.
Then the next question has to be, how many years of play is expected and then still expect the cuemaker to repair it free of charge.
For me if I get 10 years use and it then needs another joint pin or what ever,I don't mind paying the service charge to have the cue freshend up.

Neil
 
Customer service

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jsaxman said:
Some cuebuilders guarantee their cues.
If a buyer comes back to you with a warped shaft.

Do you make a new one at no charge?

How do you know that the buyer did not leave it in the car
many times? ( baking in heat or freezing in cold )

I guess it is better to build a new one free.


Most pool players take care of their cues.


Anyone willing to discuss how you handle this issue?


Remember, Customer Service is number #1 .......one of the golden rules.

later,
sax
Click to expand...
Customer service is a very fine line. The statement in your posting that most players take care of their cues is probably true but, not the vast majority. In 7+ years of working for a custom maker I can say without reservation there are a lot of people that carry their stick in the back seat or trunk of their car which due to the temperature extremes is really hard on pool cues. We have customers who come in with a broken or cracked ferrule that the tip is so thin it almost wont cover the end of the ferrule. Regardless of the care taken by the maker Mother Nature will have her way with wood & I do not believe it is the makers responsibility to absorb the expense of repairing everything Carte Blanc. We have had a couple of long distance buyers that have had unusual shaft dimension requirements and after making 2 or 3 additional shafts it became apparent we could not please them and we had them ship the cue back & refunded their money.
I guess my point is, each situation must be evaluated individually & must stand on it's own merits. There is no hard fast rule.
 
Customer service is a very fine line. The statement in your posting that most players take care of their cues is probably true but, not the vast majority. In 7+ years of working for a custom maker I can say without reservation there are a lot of people that carry their stick in the back seat or trunk of their car which due to the temperature extremes is really hard on pool cues. We have customers who come in with a broken or cracked ferrule that the tip is so thin it almost wont cover the end of the ferrule. Regardless of the care taken by the maker Mother Nature will have her way with wood & I do not believe it is the makers responsibility to absorb the expense of repairing everything Carte Blanc. We have had a couple of long distance buyers that have had unusual shaft dimension requirements and after making 2 or 3 additional shafts it became apparent we could not please them and we had them ship the cue back & refunded their money.
I guess my point is, each situation must be evaluated individually & must stand on it's own merits. There is no hard fast rule.
__________________
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welll said.
 
ratcues said:
It spoils the process for everyone else, especially in the age of billiard forums, where he can flame the cue maker, whether it is the truth or not. I've been lucky so far.....
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That is no coincidence, though.... You've earned it.
 
I once bought a cue made by a now days well known and respected cue maker from a billiards store in north St. Louis. I also bought a nice hard case to keep it in. I was travelling for work at the time so I only had it out to play a couple of times over the next month. The rest of the time it was in the case in the house. The butt warped, severely, right under the wrap. It only took about a month. There is no way this cue could be considered abused. It was not exposed to any moisture, heat or anything else that would cause it to warp. I called the store and they told me to call the cue maker.

He told me "I don't warranty my cues against anything for any reason". He did not even ask or listen about the condition of the cue. He did not care. I can say he bought himself twenty years of bad advertising but it didn't make any difference because he has become very successful. I have had hard feelings against this guy to this day and I would not give a dime to a cue maker that will not stand behind his work.

Let the buyer beware.
 
dont let one bad apple discourage you. there are bad ppl in every walk of life. customer or cuemaker.

wondering who it could be
 
As a player it is my responsibility to take care of the cue, period! Things do happen, but I bet 75% or higher that it is due to the player, whether it is leaving it in the car, smacking it on the table or ground, or something to that affect. Always do your research when purchasing a cue and if the cuemaker doesn't want to warrant (which is their right), then you do not have to buy from them. On a positive side, if a cuemaker is going to go above and beyond like replacing the tip for example, then I will be more likely to either buy from him again, or let others know he does good customer service which might get him business in the future.
 
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