John Barton (JB Cases)

[Okie]

It is the other way around. It is you who does not want to do business with me. I have told you several times that I will make you a great case and put extra work into it because of being late. However I fully understand if you don't need want to wait.

Many of my colleagues are fully capable of making you a nice case using the concepts we discussed. I hope you get one of them to take care of you.

Sorry that we are not able to do your case in the time you want at this time.

Sent from my DROID Pro using Tapatalk 2

I waited almost a year. Your inaction communicates loud and clear my importance to you.

Every debate you get into you turn it around but that doesn't work here. Maybe the sooner you quit lying to yourself the sooner you can be honest and forthright with others.

Ken

 

[JB Cases]

I waited almost a year. Your inaction communicates loud and clear my importance to you.

Every debate you get into you turn it around but that doesn't work here. Maybe the sooner you quit lying to yourself the sooner you can be honest and forthright with others.

Ken

Enough. You can save it. You have no idea what my life is like here. You said you don't care about what my issues are you just want to see "the baby". Ok I told you several times what I can do and when I would be able to get busy on your case. If that's not fast enough then go somewhere else. So you have waited a year for a sketch. Sorry, I have clients who have been waiting two or three years and they have precedence over you at this point.

Maybe the sooner you discover how to be patient and accept that good things come with time you will be able to get those really special things made. Also in case you were not paying attention what did I say above?

I said very clearly that if after May1st we don't get all orders out in the quoted time then the case is free. So I have stated clearly that after May1st when I confirm an order and I quote a time (and take money) then if I don't make the delivery date the case is free. So what could you want more than the case of your dreams and to get it for free?

All you had to to is WAIT until I got my shop in order which we are doing RIGHT NOW and you would get a case that I am sure would blow you away. But no, you are insistent on forcing me with some kind of public shaming WHEN I NEVER ASKED YOU FOR A PENNY into putting your order in front of other people's who have been waiting longer than you.

You know full well I could have taken your money a year ago but I asked you to wait until I got back and when I got back things in my shop fell apart with the loss of several key people. So don't act like we haven't talked in the interim.

But anyway, take your business elsewhere until you are ready to apologize to me. I have apologized to you profusely in private and had promised to take care of you. Apparently that wasn't enough for you and you feel a public whipping is in order.

Next time in in OKC we can get together and you can berate me in person if you like.

 

[Okie]

Enough. You can save it. You have no idea what my life is like here. You said you don't care about what my issues are you just want to see "the baby". Ok I told you several times what I can do and when I would be able to get busy on your case. If that's not fast enough then go somewhere else. So you have waited a year for a sketch. Sorry, I have clients who have been waiting two or three years and they have precedence over you at this point.

Maybe the sooner you discover how to be patient and accept that good things come with time you will be able to get those really special things made. Also in case you were not paying attention what did I say above?

I said very clearly that if after May1st we don't get all orders out in the quoted time then the case is free. So I have stated clearly that after May1st when I confirm an order and I quote a time (and take money) then if I don't make the delivery date the case is free. So what could you want more than the case of your dreams and to get it for free?

All you had to to is WAIT until I got my shop in order which we are doing RIGHT NOW and you would get a case that I am sure would blow you away. But no, you are insistent on forcing me with some kind of public shaming WHEN I NEVER ASKED YOU FOR A PENNY into putting your order in front of other people's who have been waiting longer than you.

You know full well I could have taken your money a year ago but I asked you to wait until I got back and when I got back things in my shop fell apart with the loss of several key people. So don't act like we haven't talked in the interim.

But anyway, take your business elsewhere until you are ready to apologize to me. I have apologized to you profusely in private and had promised to take care of you. Apparently that wasn't enough for you and you feel a public whipping is in order.

Next time in in OKC we can get together and you can berate me in person if you like.

I am not berating you, John. I am speaking my mind. I waited almost a year and never got as much as a rough draft. That has nothing to do with your shop falling into a black hole...that is you not valuing my business. I am not mad nor will I be.

I have not said or done anything which would require an apology. I stand by my actions.

Ken

p.s. All communication with you will remain public.

 

[JB Cases]

I am not berating you, John. I am speaking my mind. I waited almost a year and never got as much as a rough draft. That has nothing to do with your shop falling into a black hole...that is you not valuing my business. I am not mad nor will I be.

I have not said or done anything which would require an apology. I stand by my actions.

Ken

p.s. All communication with you will remain public.

Please. It has everything to do with my shop. When we are down in manpower and we get critically far behind then it makes zero sense to take on more "big" cases that we have no chance of completing in any reasonable time frame.

I can sketch out a case for you and then what? It languishes until such time as I have the people to complete it. This is the major difference between my shop and those of makers who do everything by themselves. I hire people to tool and draw and build. When everything is right we can turn out monster cases and when things aren't right we can't. That's the bottom line and every custom shop like mine on the planet has to deal with it. People are not replaceable parts where I have a bin full of them ready to pop one in when another one quits.

We don't have to communicate any more at all Ken. You're the one quitting on me here and venting online. The one overriding thing about my work that I can be proud of is that the overwhelming majority of people who have gotten a case have said that the wait was worth it.

As I just told you in a PM there is no way that I want to have frustrated customers. There is no planet on which it makes sense that I work so hard to get people interested in our cases and then frustrate them with delays. You seem to think that I enjoy having frustrated customers.

I don't.

I enjoy getting orders and getting them out on time or earlier. After the order is set I enjoy only hearing from the customer that they are pleased with the progress.

I do NOT enjoy getting emails asking me for status updates.

BUT

I am a terrible manager.

Again.

I am a TERRIBLE manager. Awful, beyond bad. I couldn't manage a lemonade stand. I might make the world's best lemonade but I couldn't be trusted to order sugar and lemons.

So I hire for my weaknesses and that is what I have done. I explained all this to everyone in public and to you in private and still it's not enough for you.

So go ahead and continue the public flogging you think I deserve. Just remember you didn't pay a dime and as far as I am concerned those who have paid and are waiting have precedence over your expectations.

Phil Eastwood, Marc Turcasso, Gil Castillo, Volturi, and several others can surely do something you like. Go to them. They will be happy to get your business and you can rave about the case when it's done.

In the meantime I will continue to build my shop to the point that we can take and process orders in the times we quote to our customers.

Keep shooting well.

 

[Okie]

I have had a few comments behind the scenes. Some for some against my methods. I had one goal when I brought my requests public. To receive an answer. Up to this thread I did not receive anything other than reason why it would not be ready soon or complete silence. I knew John would react if I brought it public and he did. I got my answer. It was not acceptable and I said thanks but no thanks. So it is me who has decided to end this agreement. I didn't consider that I was buying a pablo picasso of cases. I just thought I had found one which happened to hit me right in the wheelhouse. I guess if I was to consider this case a world class work of art then waiting a few years would be expected.

So everyone is clear on where I stand. JB Cases are the nuts! I have not seen a better case. My intent was not to blemish his company or his reputation. I felt like everyone knew John to be a procrastinator so I wasn't bringing up anything new.

If I did offend anyone I apologize.

Call me when you're in town. First one's on me! Maybe we could record a 4 hour video on our view of TOI for everyone to laugh at!

Ken

 

[JB Cases]

I have had a few comments behind the scenes. Some for some against my methods. I had one goal when I brought my requests public. To receive an answer. Up to this thread I did not receive anything other than reason why it would not be ready soon or complete silence. I knew John would react if I brought it public and he did. I got my answer. It was not acceptable and I said thanks but no thanks. So it is me who has decided to end this agreement. I didn't consider that I was buying a pablo picasso of cases. I just thought I had found one which happened to hit me right in the wheelhouse. I guess if I was to consider this case a world class work of art then waiting a few years would be expected.

So everyone is clear on where I stand. JB Cases are the nuts! I have not seen a better case. My intent was not to blemish his company or his reputation. I felt like everyone knew John to be a procrastinator so I wasn't bringing up anything new.

If I did offend anyone I apologize.

Call me when you're in town. First one's on me! Maybe we could record a 4 hour video on our view of TOI for everyone to laugh at!

Ken

The thing that perhaps you and a lot of people don't understand is that with the type of custom orders we do and the amount of requests we get there isn't really a good way to go from concept to case without a good team in place OR one man doing all the work by himself.

You guys see me as the figurehead and assume that everything we talk about can be done quickly. Sometimes it can and sometimes it can't. But the important thing to remember is that you aren't the only person we are talking to.

Each email I answer generates more emails. With some customers I have a chain of emails that is over 40 emails back and forth spanning several conversations. I have had five hour chats to nail down case details. I have sketches that I have paid for $50-$200 that have been rejected and modified many times over, some of which were scrapped altogether with me absorbing the costs of mine and the artist's time.

Also I know that I procrastinate. I don't follow a linear path. I operate on whim and whimsy. That's part of what makes me creative enough to find solutions and build what the customer wants. As I have said several times I have tried to hire people to help me with this. Some remotely and some locally. So far none of them have worked out except hiring my wife. But it's too much for her as well to manage the myriad of details and now two kids. So I have hired someone else now and this man I believe will be the compliment to me that we need.

I don't think of myself as an artist. Far from it. And I am not an engineer either. I guess I am sort of a designer but more aptly tinkerer is probably the best description. I just like to to think of ways to do things that are better than what's already out there (in my opinion).

To that end I study, I think, I dream, I tinker. I love the creative process and hate the paperwork that goes with it. I think that this is a realm where other people excel and like to do it. Now, I know full well that I could buck-up and force myself to be more diligent and linear and have great follow-through.

But simply put I don't want to. I want to run this business the way I am already and figure out how to make it work with a good team in place so that it's beneficial to everyone from my employees to my customers. If you are my customer I promise you a great case.

And in two months there will be an ironclad guarantee in place that delivers FREE cases if we miss quoted ship dates. So I will either make it work my way or I will go broke and JB Cases will fade away.

After May 31st there will not be another thread like this one ever again. You can bet on it.

Meanwhile, these are the cases we have made and delivered.

www.jbcases.com/casesbyname.html