Dealing with John from JB cases

I've contacted John several times for issues not involving any money. I basically wanted free advice about some leather equipment I have and a few case questions. He responded the same day or the next day in all instances.

John has been responsive and kind to me at all times. He even advised me on how to fix an issue I had with a case that was not one of his. I have only good things to say about him. Opinions vary but John has been a straight up good guy with me.
 
I too don't have a dog in this fight but I will say that John has always been excellent to deal with in my opinion.

Someone mentioned he may be sick? so that alone would explain the delay in answering. As far as the part for $35.00, from what you said I would imagine that price was contingent on the purchase of the new case.

Maybe he can sell it separately, or maybe he chooses not to, that's his choice. You also have to take into consideration the shipping. For $35 it will get a 'free ride' to the states shipped with your new case. I know JB usually charges $75 for shipping and handling from China to the U.S. for a regular case. On something like the insert, it may just not be practical to sell it for $35 and then have to charge more than that for shipping.

Just my thoughts ;)
 
Don't ask for opinions and experiences if you've already made up your mind. That doesn't make any sense. If you're just upset, and you actually want opinions and experiences, then here's mine:

I have a case I ordered in a custom configuration from him in 2008. He was easy to work with and understood exactly what I wanted the first time. I wanted economical, flexible configuration (I got one of the early 2x4/3x5 ones), and handle on the right to accommodate carrying with the left hand with the pockets out. I don't remember how much it was, but it was a prototype I think. The glue holding the insert failed after a year, but I fixed it myself with some Elmer's and it's been fine since then. I've used and abused the case for four years and other than the glue it has held up 100%.
 
John

He's a great, stand up guy. I bought a Flowers case from an online retailer some time ago. The dye faded almost immediately in some areas, and when I called the dealer I got a run around.

I sent John an email and some photos of the case, and as he put me in touch with one of his sergeants, who promptly arranged for a replacement.

Nothing but good things to say about John and JB Cases, particularly the Flowers which was replaced.

Don
 
Can anyone share the experience dealing with John from JB cases

PM sent to you....

To those who have had a problems like this, John posted in a thread the other day about getting behind on emails. I have talked to him several times on here and its true, it may take a bit to get a reply but he has always returned messages. It seems they have a lot of business so its probably just a simple misunderstanding, overlooked email or message...etc. Anyway, thats just my experience.
 
Is paypal an option? Is this post new and unused, or is there a slight wobble to it when posted in the wrong section? Please advise, willing to trade + add cash, thanks.
 
Not that this belongs in a for sale thread, but I have known John since 2001. I've worked with him for a few months and been friends since we met. His customer service is second to none; he would do whatever it takes to satisfy a customer, whether it's a custom order or a repair/replacement.

I do not know why you haven't been contacted but I guarantee you will not get that insert for $35 shipped, that was offered because he could bundle it with the case's shipping costs. Not sure what the shipping costs would be for the insert but cases are like $75. He was trying to help you out if you didn't get that part.

Good luck.

Dave
 
Can anyone share the experience dealing with John from JB cases, I contacted John about three or four weeks ago. I wanted to order a Jb butterfly case. I sent the first email and waited a couple of weeks with no reply, I sent a second message and waited till he finely replyed. (I'm sure he is a busy person) I told him I wanted to order a case he gave me a price and said send payment. Later that week I got layed off from my job and had to forget about spending that kind of money on a new JB case for a while. I just could not spend that kind of money on a toy for myself when I have home,wife and kids to think about first. But was planning on ordering the case when I was back to work.. I dont think that was to hard to understand in these hard times the country is in now. Any way I sent John a message telling him I had to wait a while on the case, I told John I havae an instroke butterfly style case that I like but I dont like tha way you load the cue butt and shafts in this case. There are just like rubber bands on eack end of the devider of the case and you just slide your butt and shaft through them. I asked John if He/JB cases sold or made any kind of insert for a instroke case that would be more like the sleeves he currently makes for his JB cases.

His reply to me was yes he does make an insert for instroke cases butterfly They are $35.00 plus shipping, I can ship it to you with your new case. I replyed saying I had to hold off for now on the new case but would like to buy the insert now, I asked him if they where already made and ready to ship or does he have to make them and if so how long would it take before the insert was made and ready to ship ?

Well I have not herd back from john since, It's been about three weeks and I have send more then one message asking for a reply. I have seen some post and storys on AZ about John and his replys/customer service.
Seems like he is in no rush to reply to people untill they post something on here then he is more then quick to reply and act like he is more then willing to do what ever it takes to make a customer happy.

Maybe John is a little upset with the fact that I got layed off from my job and had to put a hold on a new JB case. Some times things happen in our lives that we dont have control of and this is one of them.

It seems like John is not interested in selling me an insert for my instroke case since I had to put a hold on the new JB case.

At this point I have lost all respect for John and JB cases, Not that his reputation was perfect to begin with, This was to be my first time dealing with John and JB cases and I can tell you It will be my last,
I would rather do business with a company that has more respect for it's customers then John and JB cases does.

Can anyone share there experience dealing with Jb cases.???

Just a few days ago John weighed in on a can you identify this case thread and sent him a Pm about a case I got on here a few years back that I always wondered if it was one of his. I was pleasantly surprised when he got back to me the next day . He asked me to send him some pictures and got back to me the next day, again.While I admire his work and would love to get a case of his when I can afford one, he had nothing to gain except some good will and helping me out. Instroke, JB, GTF, he has my respect. As always 3 sides to a story you just shared one.
 
Really? You have lost all respect for John and had to come on here and complain because he has not replied to your request for a $35 part?

It is possible that he was only going to charge you $35 because you we're buying a case. I would t be surprised if they were more expensive by themselves.

Either way, pretty lame to come here and bad talk him for $35.[/QUOTE]

You obviously didnt understand the issue. Dont misunderstand I am not saying JB is in the wrong, but the price of the item is not the issue and it should never determine how you treat a customer. The value of any item be it 1 dollar or a million dollars should never determine the type of service the customer receives.

I don't have a dog in this fight. I have not ordered anything from John, and over the years, we have had many differences of opinion on matters and have discussed them openly in the forums, as well as privately.

Whether or not you agree with John's positions on matters or not, he is the consumate business man. I believe that he "hangs out" on AZ for the simple reason that he enjoys it and enjoys the feedback that he gets, along with the fact that many of us have experience with different cases, etc, and can share some of that experience with John, although he certainly doesn't need it.

I did not see in the OP's post anywhere that he actually committed to purchase an item. I see requests for information, etc, but nowhere that a payment was made. I can certainly see where John might be slow to respond for a variety of reasons...the OP wanted an item (which John's employees might have started on, or not), only to have that order cancelled. No biggie, happens all the time, which is why John often has spare cases available on here.

What I personally find interesting is that John, the CEO of a large manufacturing company, actually took (or takes) such a personal interest and involvement in an order, even down to a $35 item. That shows a lot of interest in attempting to satisfy a customer, IMHO.

I have no idea why he has not contacted the OP, but I believe that he will, although it obviously won't be on a schedule that the OP favors. We can try to guess why that contact has not been made yet, but I am sure that John has his reasons.

Joe

Joe I could'nt agree more, and I dont have a dog in this fight either. I have met John once and he was very polite and we had a pleasant conversation, he did not know me for squat, he didnt try and talk down to me or make me feel like I was not worthy of his time.

Thanks JB many of other people in your position would not have done this.

Don't ask for opinions and experiences if you've already made up your mind. That doesn't make any sense. If you're just upset, and you actually want opinions and experiences, then here's mine:

Well said, this doesnt belong here or any other place on the forum for that matter, if you dont like the service, then find someone else to deal with enough said.

Happy Halloween all
Sean
 
Not only is this thread in the wrong section, but now you're breaking the bumping rules for this forum. Since you decided to post here, you should at least abide by the "one bump every 48 hours" rule. In actuality, this thread should either be deleted or moved to another forum.

Chris
 
Oh.. I am sure you have heard negative things about John...he has his rabid detractors...but as to his cases...try to find a better built, quality case at the price anywhere.

I highly doubt he is avoiding you ...he self-admittedly sucks at emails. However, there was/is a better way to get his attention than this.

Lisa

Sent from my HTC One V using Tapatalk 2
 
Lol

Can anyone share the experience dealing with John from JB cases, I contacted John about three or four weeks ago. I wanted to order a Jb butterfly case. I sent the first email and waited a couple of weeks with no reply, I sent a second message and waited till he finely replyed. (I'm sure he is a busy person) I told him I wanted to order a case he gave me a price and said send payment. Later that week I got layed off from my job and had to forget about spending that kind of money on a new JB case for a while. I just could not spend that kind of money on a toy for myself when I have home,wife and kids to think about first. But was planning on ordering the case when I was back to work.. I dont think that was to hard to understand in these hard times the country is in now. Any way I sent John a message telling him I had to wait a while on the case, I told John I havae an instroke butterfly style case that I like but I dont like tha way you load the cue butt and shafts in this case. There are just like rubber bands on eack end of the devider of the case and you just slide your butt and shaft through them. I asked John if He/JB cases sold or made any kind of insert for a instroke case that would be more like the sleeves he currently makes for his JB cases.

His reply to me was yes he does make an insert for instroke cases butterfly They are $35.00 plus shipping, I can ship it to you with your new case. I replyed saying I had to hold off for now on the new case but would like to buy the insert now, I asked him if they where already made and ready to ship or does he have to make them and if so how long would it take before the insert was made and ready to ship ?

Well I have not herd back from john since, It's been about three weeks and I have send more then one message asking for a reply. I have seen some post and storys on AZ about John and his replys/customer service.
Seems like he is in no rush to reply to people untill they post something on here then he is more then quick to reply and act like he is more then willing to do what ever it takes to make a customer happy.

Maybe John is a little upset with the fact that I got layed off from my job and had to put a hold on a new JB case. Some times things happen in our lives that we dont have control of and this is one of them.

It seems like John is not interested in selling me an insert for my instroke case since I had to put a hold on the new JB case.

At this point I have lost all respect for John and JB cases, Not that his reputation was perfect to begin with, This was to be my first time dealing with John and JB cases and I can tell you It will be my last,
I would rather do business with a company that has more respect for it's customers then John and JB cases does.

Can anyone share there experience dealing with Jb cases.???

I am sure he will PM you but I don't see where this thread is going to help! If I were a case maker and you ordered a case from me, then cancelled it. I doubt I would sell you a $35 Sleeve...I have ordered cases from Jack Justis at $3000 had my hours cut in half but I still went thru with the purchase because I asked him to make the case and he did what I asked. I am older and my word means alot to me! I hope you luck with a new job and I hope you luck on getting someone to make a case for you when you are ready for one...I think I would erase this thread as I don't think it is going to help you get a sleeve or any future orders from any case maker...
 
:-) Well this is one way to get attention. Ignore your customers until they write long rants on the form.....

I wake up this morning to this and the news that the US Open has once again stiffed it's players. Maybe Barry Behrman and myself are too similar, little guys with big dreams who bite off way more than we can chew.

Well at least I know that this is the case in my case with cases. I always dreamed of having a shop that could make any sort of case I could think of. We I have it now along with all the bills and issues that come with 15 employees. And in China some of those issues are downright weird from a western perspective. But what does this sob story have to do with not answering someone's inquiry?

Well simply that sometimes I am just overwhelmed with queries and I don't have an answer ready. When it comes to tangibles like when is my case going to be done? Can I put this order in with you? I am not always ready with a good answer because I simply don't control my staff. When you own a business like this and you do get a lot of orders you find very quickly that you can't simply walk in and demand that everyone cater to your whims. Well, you can but you end up with two major problems if you do, and those are that you end up with delayed orders and two you end up with upset staff.

It's much easier for me to discuss things on a intellectual level, to talk about pool and it's issues or show off things we have done than it is to talk about ongoing orders and new orders. I love making cases but I hate the paperwork aspect of it. And that's what the taking of orders, the answering questions, the emails/pms back and forth are, that's the "paperwork" side. And I know that this is really not a good way to be in my business. Will Prout said it pretty plain when I was at his house earlier this year, he owns more of my cases than anyone, (only one custom ordered so far), he said, "you have to do what pays the bills". And he is right but that still doesn't make it easier for me to deal with people when I don't have good answers for them right at the moment I read their questions.

I think everyone here knows I have struggled with this these past couple years, well in honesty the past couple decades. I am a dreamer who likes to imagine what can be, solve technical problems in case building, show off what we did and play pool. So without another boring biography we are here where I do have a shop capable and willing to do just about whatever a customer wants. The last piece of the puzzle is finding some people to handle the paperwork aspect of it. That turns out to not be very easy at all but I am working on it.

Anyway, usually people get what they want from me and usually they say it's worth the wait. I don't like these threads, no one does. But if the worst thing that people can say is that I am late with the cases but the cases are still worth it then that's not too bad. We can only improve from here and we are GOING to improve from here. As I told my wife if we can figure out how to promise a delivery date and get the case there a week sooner then we will be heroes in this business. Underpromise/overdeliver is a winning formula no matter what the business is.

But getting there, especially in a true custom shop like ours hasn't been as easy I think it should be.

John
 
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Like I said I'm sure he is a busy man but I still dont understand why a person should be expeted to wait Three weeks or more for a simple reply.
There where many comments about the insert costing only $35. It should not matter If I was going to spend $10,000 or $10.00, My intent was not to trash John at all. Even though there are far to many posting that people troll just to add there two cents into. It's no different then walking into a store and waiting to be served. Some say that John is slow to reply to and is backed up on email. That may be very true but come on three weeks.

There was one poster that said the only way John offered the insert to me for $35 was because he could have sent it with my case. I was fully ready to pay what ever John wanted for he insert plus shipping.

I dont know much about JB cases and John, Thats why I posted here I wanted to here from others about there experience with Jb cases so I would know what to expect thats all. To be very honest I have herd more negative and bad things about John and JB cases in the last two days then I care to mention. But I did not let that stop me from trying to buy an insert.

If you will post those negative things you say you have heard then I will give you the insert for free.

You don't have to post names. Just post the PMs verbatim and let's get it all out in the open.

I have never been afraid to face my shortcomings on the forums. So instead of beating around the bush go ahead and post what you have. Lots of people can whisper stories via PM but let's see how stories stand up to inspection in public.
 
Just part of the reason that I like John.....


:-) Well this is one way to get attention. Ignore your customers until they write long rants on the form.....

I wake up this morning to this and the news that the US Open has once again stiffed it's players. Maybe Barry Behrman and myself are too similar, little guys with big dreams who bite off way more than we can chew.

Well at least I know that this is the case in my case with cases. I always dreamed of having a shop that could make any sort of case I could think of. We I have it now along with all the bills and issues that come with 15 employees. And in China some of those issues are downright weird from a western perspective. But what does this sob story have to do with not answering someone's inquiry?

Well simply that sometimes I am just overwhelmed with queries and I don't have an answer ready. When it comes to tangibles like when is my case going to be done? Can I put this order in with you? I am not always ready with a good answer because I simply don't control my staff. When you own a business like this and you do get a lot of orders you find very quickly that you can't simply walk in and demand that everyone cater to your whims. Well, you can but you end up with two major problems if you do, and those are that you end up with delayed orders and two you end up with upset staff.

It's much easier for me to discuss things on a intellectual level, to talk about pool and it's issues or show off things we have done than it is to talk about ongoing orders and new orders. I love making cases but I hate the paperwork aspect of it. And that's what the taking of orders, the answering questions, the emails/pms back and forth are, that's the "paperwork" side. And I know that this is really not a good way to be in my business. Will Prout said it pretty plain when I was at his house earlier this year, he owns more of my cases than anyone, (only one custom ordered so far), he said, "you have to do what pays the bills". And he is right but that still doesn't make it easier for me to deal with people when I don't have good answers for them right at the moment I read their questions.

I think everyone here knows I have struggled with this these past couple years, well in honesty the past couple decades. I am a dreamer who likes to imagine what can be, solve technical problems in case building, show off what we did and play pool. So without another boring biography we are here where I do have a shop capable and willing to do just about whatever a customer wants. The last piece of the puzzle is finding some people to handle the paperwork aspect of it. That turns out to not be very easy at all but I am working on it.

Anyway, usually people get what they want from me and usually they say it's worth the wait. I don't like these threads, no one does. But if the worst thing that people can say is that I am late with the cases but the cases are still worth it then that's not too bad. We can only improve from here and we are GOING to improve from here. As I told my wife if we can figure out how to promise a delivery date and get the case there a week sooner then we will be heroes in this business. Underpromise/overdeliver is a winning formula no matter what the business is.

But getting there, especially in a true custom shop like ours hasn't been as easy I think it should be.

John
 
:-) Well this is one way to get attention. Ignore your customers until they write long rants on the form.....

I wake up this morning to this and the news that the US Open has once again stiffed it's players. Maybe Barry Behrman and myself are too similar, little guys with big dreams who bite off way more than we can chew.

Well at least I know that this is the case in my case with cases. I always dreamed of having a shop that could make any sort of case I could think of. We I have it now along with all the bills and issues that come with 15 employees. And in China some of those issues are downright weird from a western perspective. But what does this sob story have to do with not answering someone's inquiry?

Well simply that sometimes I am just overwhelmed with queries and I don't have an answer ready. When it comes to tangibles like when is my case going to be done? Can I put this order in with you? I am not always ready with a good answer because I simply don't control my staff. When you own a business like this and you do get a lot of orders you find very quickly that you can't simply walk in and demand that everyone cater to your whims. Well, you can but you end up with two major problems if you do, and those are that you end up with delayed orders and two you end up with upset staff.

It's much easier for me to discuss things on a intellectual level, to talk about pool and it's issues or show off things we have done than it is to talk about ongoing orders and new orders. I love making cases but I hate the paperwork aspect of it. And that's what the taking of orders, the answering questions, the emails/pms back and forth are, that's the "paperwork" side. And I know that this is really not a good way to be in my business. Will Prout said it pretty plain when I was at his house earlier this year, he owns more of my cases than anyone, (only one custom ordered so far), he said, "you have to do what pays the bills". And he is right but that still doesn't make it easier for me to deal with people when I don't have good answers for them right at the moment I read their questions.

I think everyone here knows I have struggled with this these past couple years, well in honesty the past couple decades. I am a dreamer who likes to imagine what can be, solve technical problems in case building, show off what we did and play pool. So without another boring biography we are here where I do have a shop capable and willing to do just about whatever a customer wants. The last piece of the puzzle is finding some people to handle the paperwork aspect of it. That turns out to not be very easy at all but I am working on it.

Anyway, usually people get what they want from me and usually they say it's worth the wait. I don't like these threads, no one does. But if the worst thing that people can say is that I am late with the cases but the cases are still worth it then that's not too bad. We can only improve from here and we are GOING to improve from here. As I told my wife if we can figure out how to promise a delivery date and get the case there a week sooner then we will be heroes in this business. Underpromise/overdeliver is a winning formula no matter what the business is.

But getting there, especially in a true custom shop like ours hasn't been as easy I think it should be.

John

J,

am feelin ya, BUT, don't blow this golden PR opportunity.

Send the OP his insert (no charge), plainly state this is a one time occurance and wallow in the accolades.

keep up the good work, a
 
If you will post those negative things you say you have heard then I will give you the insert for free.

You don't have to post names. Just post the PMs verbatim and let's get it all out in the open.

I have never been afraid to face my shortcomings on the forums. So instead of beating around the bush go ahead and post what you have. Lots of people can whisper stories via PM but let's see how stories stand up to inspection in public.

:grin::):):eek::cool::wink:
 
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