Generic 'stuff' ?

[TheBasics]

Howdy All;

I get these emails every so often from Cue Components and they are hawkin' generic
knock-offs of such things as Elk Master & Triangle tips. They refer to them as Blue Master
and Triad. Carries a bunch of other 'stuff' and does the generic deal as much as is possible.
Anyone had a worthwhile experience with any of their wares? I'm interested in the 2 tips
that I'd mentioned above. Just trying to test the water before I (maybe), jump in.
Thanks for thoughts and or suggestions.

hank

 

[measureman]

The real Elk Master and Triangles are cheap enough.
Why bother?

 

[garczar]

The real Elk Master and Triangles are cheap enough.
Why bother?

Plus you don't have to deal with that psycho. I tried some of his layered tips and all came apart on the lathe. He said it was my installers fault(it wasn't btw) and then went smooth off on me and my installer. Guy is completely off-the-air.

 

[TheBasics]

Howdy All;

Thanks everyone for confirming my thoughts.
But, in these days and times ya never know till
ya ask.

hank

 

[boogieman]

I bought some milkduds from him on his ebay store. Seemed to be good quality. No clue on the rest.

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

The real Elk Master and Triangles are cheap enough.
Why bother?

Great point.

 

[Dave38]

The guy is a lunatic....plain and simple. You can get the originals which are the same quality as the crazy guy has....without the crazy part

 

[GoldCrown]

The shipping will be around $18. Bought stuff one time. Said actual shipping costs. It was actual. Actual rob job.

 

[surffisher2a]

When I first started I bought a couple tips from that place and they were all junk. The water buffalo tips I got all mushroomed to hell and back. After only two or three breaks the tip would mushroom out the sides almost the thickness of a credit card. I trimmed down that tip about 10 times thinking it would finally settle in and it never did, so I replaced it. Thought maybe it was just a bad tip so I tried another one, same thing. Also the LePro tips I got from there nearly blew up the moment my cutter touched them, they looked like a shaggy dog. As others said, I was a little put off by the shipping costs due to the fact he promises to only charge what it costs. however everything I bought could have easily fit in a USPS flat rate box and I got charged almost double that.

 

[Joe Barringer]

Hello Gentlemen…..

It’s been a while since we’ve chimed in. I know many of you miss us so I thought we’d make our presence known. After over two decades of being in business, we’re still here despite many of the wonderful reviews and pleasantries so many of you have expressed and bestowed upon us over the years. Business has spiked the last few weeks and as usual, we have all of you to thank for it. We love the publicity and want to thank all of you. That’s what made us take a look here at AZ.

We’d also like to address a few statements.

Yes, Elkmaster and Triangle are “cheap enough” and Blue Master and Triad are even cheaper. If you like to $ave money then they’re for you. If not, then Elkmaster and Triangle are the way to go. We sell all 4 at the lowest pricing.

“Crazy”, “Psycho” and “Lunatic” – perhaps so but if we go off on someone there is good cause. No one just out-of-the-blue goes off on people. Many lie and try to get something for nothing. For example… some try to state that we left something out of an order. This can happen but when we pack and weigh a similar order and the weight is on, the buyer clearly lied or tried getting over. That’s just one way that can tick someone off. We can mention many, many others but we’ll leave it at that for brevity. I can write a book on the excuses we receive.

Our tips are “junk” and “mushroom”. If we’ve said it once we’ve said it a thousand times. Tips on their own do not do anything until a human intervenes. The reason a tip would mushroom or blow up is improper installation. If you take a triangle and cut it improperly, it will blow up and swell. That’s just a fact. It’s really quite easy to do and experience will solve that issue over time. When someone says, “when I first started”, is the first clue to their inexperience and why a tip will not act properly. It’s really very easy to damage a tip, a one piece or a layered tip. It’s not the tip’s fault. It’s always the installer’s fault.

Many installers blame the tip especially if a player brings their own tip to a mechanic. It’s so much easier to blame the supplier and/or the tip than to admit that it was the actual installer’s fault. Many installers are hand to mouth and lack the funds to do a correction because, plain and simple, they can’t afford their own mistake(s). It’s easier to blame the tip and/or supplier.

And lastly, our shipping costs. If you don’t like our shipping costs, then feel free to shop elsewhere. The fact that we charged $18 is because the package was heavier and larger than usual. It probably had liquid bottles in there and that’s why the cost was so high. Additionally, we put insurance and tracking on every package because if a package gets lost, stolen or misdelivered, many of the cry babies out there (of course we don’t mean any of you upstanding citizens of the billiard community) will squawk and complain. We do this for everyone’s protection. Insurance and tracking costs money and the buyers are the ones who pay in every business. In most cases our shipping is $5.95 and well under $10; except when heavier items like 16oz bottles are included along with other liquids.

Free Shipping. This is a misnomer. There is no free shipping anywhere. Shipping is never free. It costs someone at all times. Granted some sellers include shipping but the buyer pays for that “free shipping” in a higher-than-normal price per item. Remember, nothing is every free and free is worth exactly what you paid for it.

Of course, we’re not referring to any of you fine, upstanding, pillars of the billiard community when we state any of this but just want to get our 2¢ in here.

We’d like to close out by saying a very hearty thank you to all of you for your kind words and publicity. We’d like to especially thank Dave and Garczar for keeping our name out there and alive in this thread and so many others. Where is the baby Kangaroo and Ideologist to name just a couple of our admirers.

The fact that we’ve been in business over two decades and have sustained all the kind words here on AZ, is proof that we’re doing a splendid job with our business and the vast and overwhelming majority of our clients.

This will be our only post as we have a life and quite frankly, we don’t have the time anymore. Being retired is wonderful and we’re too busy traveling in our 45’ Diesel Motor Coach and fishing. Life is grand and too short. Enjoy yourselves!

God Bless, stay safe out there and have a great summer!

 

[GoldCrown]

Thanks for breaking down the shipping. I feel better now. A few tips and CD’s. I did not realize how heavy they were. The $5.00 handling charge on top. Did not realize how much work it is to package the items.

 

[surffisher2a]

Hello Gentlemen…..

It’s been a while since we’ve chimed in. I know many of you miss us so I thought we’d make our presence known. After over two decades of being in business, we’re still here despite many of the wonderful reviews and pleasantries so many of you have expressed and bestowed upon us over the years. Business has spiked the last few weeks and as usual, we have all of you to thank for it. We love the publicity and want to thank all of you. That’s what made us take a look here at AZ.

We’d also like to address a few statements.

Yes, Elkmaster and Triangle are “cheap enough” and Blue Master and Triad are even cheaper. If you like to $ave money then they’re for you. If not, then Elkmaster and Triangle are the way to go. We sell all 4 at the lowest pricing.

“Crazy”, “Psycho” and “Lunatic” – perhaps so but if we go off on someone there is good cause. No one just out-of-the-blue goes off on people. Many lie and try to get something for nothing. For example… some try to state that we left something out of an order. This can happen but when we pack and weigh a similar order and the weight is on, the buyer clearly lied or tried getting over. That’s just one way that can tick someone off. We can mention many, many others but we’ll leave it at that for brevity. I can write a book on the excuses we receive.

Our tips are “junk” and “mushroom”. If we’ve said it once we’ve said it a thousand times. Tips on their own do not do anything until a human intervenes. The reason a tip would mushroom or blow up is improper installation. If you take a triangle and cut it improperly, it will blow up and swell. That’s just a fact. It’s really quite easy to do and experience will solve that issue over time. When someone says, “when I first started”, is the first clue to their inexperience and why a tip will not act properly. It’s really very easy to damage a tip, a one piece or a layered tip. It’s not the tip’s fault. It’s always the installer’s fault.

Many installers blame the tip especially if a player brings their own tip to a mechanic. It’s so much easier to blame the supplier and/or the tip than to admit that it was the actual installer’s fault. Many installers are hand to mouth and lack the funds to do a correction because, plain and simple, they can’t afford their own mistake(s). It’s easier to blame the tip and/or supplier.

And lastly, our shipping costs. If you don’t like our shipping costs, then feel free to shop elsewhere. The fact that we charged $18 is because the package was heavier and larger than usual. It probably had liquid bottles in there and that’s why the cost was so high. Additionally, we put insurance and tracking on every package because if a package gets lost, stolen or misdelivered, many of the cry babies out there (of course we don’t mean any of you upstanding citizens of the billiard community) will squawk and complain. We do this for everyone’s protection. Insurance and tracking costs money and the buyers are the ones who pay in every business. In most cases our shipping is $5.95 and well under $10; except when heavier items like 16oz bottles are included along with other liquids.

Free Shipping. This is a misnomer. There is no free shipping anywhere. Shipping is never free. It costs someone at all times. Granted some sellers include shipping but the buyer pays for that “free shipping” in a higher-than-normal price per item. Remember, nothing is every free and free is worth exactly what you paid for it.

Of course, we’re not referring to any of you fine, upstanding, pillars of the billiard community when we state any of this but just want to get our 2¢ in here.

We’d like to close out by saying a very hearty thank you to all of you for your kind words and publicity. We’d like to especially thank Dave and Garczar for keeping our name out there and alive in this thread and so many others. Where is the baby Kangaroo and Ideologist to name just a couple of our admirers.

The fact that we’ve been in business over two decades and have sustained all the kind words here on AZ, is proof that we’re doing a splendid job with our business and the vast and overwhelming majority of our clients.

This will be our only post as we have a life and quite frankly, we don’t have the time anymore. Being retired is wonderful and we’re too busy traveling in our 45’ Diesel Motor Coach and fishing. Life is grand and too short. Enjoy yourselves!

God Bless, stay safe out there and have a great summer!

I have put on 100's of tips when I was first learning and I never had a single problem with any tip other than the ones I purchased from your site. I still have some of them and have issues with them. You can try and blame my technique all you want, call me all the names in the book, it still doesn't change the fact that only the tips I got from you are causing me issues.

Your tirad about shipping costs is totally false. You have a whole blurb on your website about being fair in shipping costs and promising only to charge exactly what it costs you. Now your hiding behind some nonsense about how others are ripping people off on shipping and nothing is free. I seel a lot of things online and even without a business account I can ship a LOT of stuff for $18 dollars via USPS. I know for a fact that shipping some tips doesn't cost $18 dollars, even if it did have 16oz of liquid.

You sure do like to assume things and try and place blame on the customers, I am sure as hell that i am not lying and trying to get stuff for free off of you, I never even contacted you after I got my order years and years ago, I simply just put you on the do not buy tips from there again list.

 

[Joe Barringer]

I have put on 100's of tips when I was first learning and I never had a single problem with any tip other than the ones I purchased from your site. I still have some of them and have issues with them. You can try and blame my technique all you want, call me all the names in the book, it still doesn't change the fact that only the tips I got from you are causing me issues.

Your tirad about shipping costs is totally false. You have a whole blurb on your website about being fair in shipping costs and promising only to charge exactly what it costs you. Now your hiding behind some nonsense about how others are ripping people off on shipping and nothing is free. I seel a lot of things online and even without a business account I can ship a LOT of stuff for $18 dollars via USPS. I know for a fact that shipping some tips doesn't cost $18 dollars, even if it did have 16oz of liquid.

You sure do like to assume things and try and place blame on the customers, I am sure as hell that i am not lying and trying to get stuff for free off of you, I never even contacted you after I got my order years and years ago, I simply just put you on the do not buy tips from there again list.

Unfortunately, your tirade (please notice how 'tirade' is actually spelled and not the way you spelled it) is not factually correct. It's very convenient for you to quote what you think you read but unfortunately, you weren't able to comprehend exactly what you read. You stated, "promising only to charge exactly what it costs you" but you left out the additional important part where it also states we charge a minimal packing fee as shown below. For your reading pleasure, we've copied and pasted below exactly what our policy states when you check out.

"Due to the varied items, weights and combinations, it is virtually impossible to automatically calculate a fair shipping charge. As such, shipping is calculated when your order is actually shipped. Rest assured that we are extremely reasonable and fair with our shipping charges. We charge actual UPS or USPS rates plus a minimal packing fee of $2 to $4 (does not apply when just ordering tips). Our UPS & USPS rates are lower than those rates published at the their respective web sites. We will save you money. You'll be pleasantly surprised and we've never had a complaint about excessive shipping rates. We're a family run business and we charge you the way we'd like to be charged. Thank you."

Now, in addition to this, you have us at a disadvantage because you're anonymous. It's very easy to castigate someone when hiding behind your computer. We'd like to know who you are so that we can look up your order and see why you were charged $18 and explain it for the whole world to see the truth. Please supply us with your last name, phone and your zip code when you ordered and approximate date of your order. You can post it here or PM us.

As far as the tips that you are having issues with, we find it very surprising that only you are having issues with the tips and no one else. When you supply us with your name and zip code, we can further look into your claims as well as look to see if you ever emailed us about these problems you're having. And, if we charged you $18 there was a lot more than just tips in your order and not what you state that, "shipping some tips doesn't cost $18 dollars". You're correct, shipping tips doesn't cost $18 unless you had a multi hundred order and/or it contained heavier items. So, when you supply the info we requested, we can research it to see exactly what you ordered.

Additionally, we never said you were lying or trying to get free stuff. I don't know where you got that impression. Once again, you misread our tirade as you assumed we were talking about you when in reality you were all confused about our statement which clearly did not pertain to you.

We are looking very forward to find out who our mystery complainer is.

 

[surffisher2a]

Unfortunately, your tirade (please notice how 'tirade' is actually spelled and not the way you spelled it) is not factually correct. It's very convenient for you to quote what you think you read but unfortunately, you weren't able to comprehend exactly what you read. You stated, "promising only to charge exactly what it costs you" but you left out the additional important part where it also states we charge a minimal packing fee as shown below. For your reading pleasure, we've copied and pasted below exactly what our policy states when you check out.

"Due to the varied items, weights and combinations, it is virtually impossible to automatically calculate a fair shipping charge. As such, shipping is calculated when your order is actually shipped. Rest assured that we are extremely reasonable and fair with our shipping charges. We charge actual UPS or USPS rates plus a minimal packing fee of $2 to $4 (does not apply when just ordering tips). Our UPS & USPS rates are lower than those rates published at the their respective web sites. We will save you money. You'll be pleasantly surprised and we've never had a complaint about excessive shipping rates. We're a family run business and we charge you the way we'd like to be charged. Thank you."

Now, in addition to this, you have us at a disadvantage because you're anonymous. It's very easy to castigate someone when hiding behind your computer. We'd like to know who you are so that we can look up your order and see why you were charged $18 and explain it for the whole world to see the truth. Please supply us with your last name, phone and your zip code when you ordered and approximate date of your order. You can post it here or PM us.

As far as the tips that you are having issues with, we find it very surprising that only you are having issues with the tips and no one else. When you supply us with your name and zip code, we can further look into your claims as well as look to see if you ever emailed us about these problems you're having. And, if we charged you $18 there was a lot more than just tips in your order and not what you state that, "shipping some tips doesn't cost $18 dollars". You're correct, shipping tips doesn't cost $18 unless you had a multi hundred order and/or it contained heavier items. So, when you supply the info we requested, we can research it to see exactly what you ordered.

Additionally, we never said you were lying or trying to get free stuff. I don't know where you got that impression. Once again, you misread our tirade as you assumed we were talking about you when in reality you were all confused about our statement which clearly did not pertain to you.

We are looking very forward to find out who our mystery complainer is.

i am not a complainer, i was just stating my experience when others asked in a thread. Quite frankly, seeing how you respond and treat people i am not comfortable giving you my personal information. You seem to have a very combative, vindictive, narcissistic personality. If I truly believed you wanted to correct the problem I would be happy to oblige. You pointing out a typo trying to belittle me on the internet is just further proof of that add on unnecessarily bragging about your RV when it had zero relevance to this thread.

Instead of calling customers who have issues names and ranting about them, you should be trying to resolve their issues by helping them instead of trying to blame them. No matter how successful you have been, think of how much more successful you could have been if you just learned some customer service skills and actually looked to resolve problems instead of casting blame. Just looking at your website again for the first time in a long while, i see you have an issue with lots of people and suppliers, you might need to look in the mirror. Clearly i am not the only person who has issues with your tips, if you think its an installer error, why not try and be proactive about it and include instructions on what or not what to do with your tips. Maybe come up with some custom packaging with the instructions on it. I know, I know, let me guess, its not your job to teach people how to do their job and doing so will only waste your time and raise costs.

I also have no doubt that there are bad eggs out there that tried to rip you off, but that is part of running a business, you can't treat everyone else like crap just because of those few bad eggs.

 

[measureman]

I guess you can afford a 45' diesel motor coach from over charging on shipping.

 

[Joe Barringer]

i am not a complainer, i was just stating my experience when others asked in a thread. Quite frankly, seeing how you respond and treat people i am not comfortable giving you my personal information. You seem to have a very combative, vindictive, narcissistic personality. If I truly believed you wanted to correct the problem I would be happy to oblige. You pointing out a typo trying to belittle me on the internet is just further proof of that add on unnecessarily bragging about your RV when it had zero relevance to this thread.

Instead of calling customers who have issues names and ranting about them, you should be trying to resolve their issues by helping them instead of trying to blame them. No matter how successful you have been, think of how much more successful you could have been if you just learned some customer service skills and actually looked to resolve problems instead of casting blame. Just looking at your website again for the first time in a long while, i see you have an issue with lots of people and suppliers, you might need to look in the mirror. Clearly i am not the only person who has issues with your tips, if you think its an installer error, why not try and be proactive about it and include instructions on what or not what to do with your tips. Maybe come up with some custom packaging with the instructions on it. I know, I know, let me guess, its not your job to teach people how to do their job and doing so will only waste your time and raise costs.

I also have no doubt that there are bad eggs out there that tried to rip you off, but that is part of running a business, you can't treat everyone else like crap just because of those few bad eggs.

Case closed. We asked for your info to assist you and try to see what occurred and you refused to provide the necessary info under the guise of bla, bla, bla. So easy to write detrimental info when hiding behind a computer. This is now a non issue to us. We have issues only with those who are incompetent and refuse to take instructions. Suppliers? We have no issue with our suppliers. We have issues with some suppliers who we refuse to deal with. Try to learn how to interpret what you're reading.

And yes, in billiards there are many, as you stated, "bad eggs". We try to rid ourselves of the bad apples and sometimes it seems that many of them congregate here on AZ where they have an audience. It truly is wonderful that many have found each other and can share in their adventures and exploits.

Have a nice day.

And, to the gentleman who stated that we "can afford a 45' diesel motor coach from over charging on shipping" is sadly mistaken. The Motor Coach was affordable because we put in years of working hard and were successful in selling off several businesses. It would take a lot of $5 overcharging to accrue $750k for a Motor Coach so your statement is not only spiteful but quite ridiculous as well.

And you have a nice day as well.

 

[measureman]

Post #10 at 7:55 PM yesterday said it would be your only post.
You sure take the bait well.LOL.
I hope the the fish are biting as well as you do in your $750K motor home.
Smoke and mirrors is what i get from your posts.

 

[boogieman]

Case closed. We asked for your info to assist you and try to see what occurred and you refused to provide the necessary info under the guise of bla, bla, bla. So easy to write detrimental info when hiding behind a computer. This is now a non issue to us. We have issues only with those who are incompetent and refuse to take instructions. Suppliers? We have no issue with our suppliers. We have issues with some suppliers who we refuse to deal with. Try to learn how to interpret what you're reading.

And yes, in billiards there are many, as you stated, "bad eggs". We try to rid ourselves of the bad apples and sometimes it seems that many of them congregate here on AZ where they have an audience. It truly is wonderful that many have found each other and can share in their adventures and exploits.

Have a nice day.

And, to the gentleman who stated that we "can afford a 45' diesel motor coach from over charging on shipping" is sadly mistaken. The Motor Coach was affordable because we put in years of working hard and were successful in selling off several businesses. It would take a lot of $5 overcharging to accrue $750k for a Motor Coach so your statement is not only spiteful but quite ridiculous as well.

And you have a nice day as well.

Much too stale to get serious bites. The chum your leaving will only attract those more skilled at the art of b8 and you may get the hook yourself! Be careful!!! I know it looks tasty, but there's a hook hiding in there!

 

[measureman]

Much too stale to get serious bites. The chum your leaving will only attract those more skilled at the art of b8 and you may get the hook yourself! Be careful!!! I know it looks tasty, but there's a hook hiding in there!


View attachment 603414

Maybe he wont come back.
Heard bad things about him for years.