I've heard that you did have an "interior" (new term for me) with some of the old Instroke cases that caused this, so when you come to Denver we can go see Ernie together.
I thought it was Ernie and Terrry's finish until he said it so many times I got rid of the case.
It happened to old cues and new cues, and the last thing I considered was the "interior" causing the problem.
I would never complain to anyone, I just deal with things my own way.
If it cost's me a few bucks, oh well.
What I don't do is take a case with 8K to 10K worth of cues and lift it upside down with the lid un-snapped.
I didn't hear that about the interior. On tube cases there are two parts, the exterior covering and the interior cavities. I ran Instroke out of Colorado for 3 years and owned a few Martinez cues and never had the same problem you did. So I consider it to be something of an anomaly.
Anything can happen and if it was happening with all of your cues then somethign was obviously wrong with the case and not the cues.
As I stated previously I did have a man come to me with the complain that the "case" was making his cues sticky.
Upon inspection, which included dissection, we found that some sugary liquid had been spilled into the case and had coagulated inside the cavity.
The man agreed that this was not our fault, he accepted the free new interior with profuse apologies and thanks and it was done.
Again, sorry you had a problem, if you had come to me then it would have been resolved through inspection and if our case was found to be causing this damage with no external influence, which we should have been able to duplicate, then I would certainly have paid for your cues to be repaired or even replaced.
But, you didn't come to me even though I was probably just down the road from you when this happened. So your story doesn't really need a reply. If you had then your story would have had the ending that we worked it out and figured out the problem and everyone walked away happy.
I will never say that it's impossible for a cue to be damaged in our cases. There are too many variables. But I do my best to make sure that there is very little chance of anything happening.
And with over ten thousand cases on the market bearing my designs and only a very few such stories like yours I feel that such stories are the exception rather than the rule.
As for your last comment,
No one does this on purpose. But things happen and that's why I build the cases the way I build them. It's really simple, you have all the choice you could ever want in cue cases. I am certain that you bought your Instroke case because you knew other people that were happy with them and were using them without problems. The same goes for any case maker. The point is that if you choose mine you get a certain protection level that goes beyond what some others choose to provide. You can adjust your behavior according to the case you buy.
Like I said, it's like insurance, you don't know the value of it until you need it. So you don't unsnap the case and turn it upside down. Ok, but if that situation ever occurs like maybe some crackhead tries to grab you case and run away and you fight them off and in the process your lid comes unsnapped then you will be grateful that your cues stayed put in the case.
Thanks for the story, I wish you had come to me and then I guarantee it would have had a happier ending. Next time call the company if you think that their product is defective and you will probably get taken care of.
John Barton - former owner and designer of Instroke Cue Cases.
P.S. For those that don't really know me.
I did the road for a decade. Me and my cases went everywhere from local touraments to regional ones to national event to booths at the World Championships. I also took a tool kit along and fixed many cases of ours as well as many cases from other brands during that time. I have always been accessible through these forums and someone always knows how to find me. Hundreds of customers over the years can attest that I took care of their problems and they walked away happy and satisfied. With a few I dogged it and took too long but in the end everyone was covered.
I immediately lay the Justis case onto the sidewalk to cushion the blow, as I started swinging the Jb case to get my cue back out. It finally came loose after I accidentally dropped it from five feet onto the Justis case. In the end the cue suffered some U.V. ray damage as it was quite sunny out that day. What a nightmare!
