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Poolshootindon

Poolshootindon

Registered Pool Offender
Silver Member
Hello Fellow AZers...Some of you may remember that in Oct of 05 i was in the market for a new high end cue..(High end by my standards).. Many of you sent me pics and were very helpful in the purchase of my cue.. I did purchase a "New" (more on new in a moment) cue from Erik Lee and the transaction was fast and cordial. When i did get the cue a few days later i was very excited to see that the pics did not do justice as to how nice the cue looked in person.. Over the course of about a month of playing with the cue, and letting several of my friends give it a try we noticed that there was a ticking sound coming from one of the shafts..I contacted Erik and he suggested that i contact Mike Bender (the maker of the cue) and see if he has any thoughts..I did..He suggested that i change out the tips and see if that makes a difference. I did as he suggested..Had Greg Sowder in Washingtion State put on 2 new Moori's and the ticking was still there in the one shaft.. I again contacted Mike Bender and he said that he was very backed up with work and could i wait about a month and give him a call about an inspection..I waited about a month and he said to send him the cue and he would take a look at it..Shipped the cue via Fedex Experss 2-3 day..It ended up at the USPS and was not in Mikes hands for 8 days from time of shipment..When i finally got a reply from Mike that he did have the cue i was made aware that cue had been made for Danny Basavich..Now if the cue was made for Basavich i am sure he must have used the cue..But Erik claims that he bought the cue from JJ Cues and JJ Cues assured me that the cue was new when Erik purchased the cue from them..Mike says that when he got the cue it was extremely dirty at the joints and that may be the problem..My question is that since it made the noise from day 1 it has to be a used cue...I doubt that Danny Basavich ( if he is the actual original purchaser) just left the cue lying around and didn't use it..Mike Bender may make a hell of a cue, but his followup on emails is very poor...Sent many emails to him (saved them all for those of you who i am sure will not like this posting), and got few replys..This is the last cue i will ever purchase online..It is the most helpless feeling to know that you have a $2000 cue with a problem and you are at the mercy of emails to get it corrected.. .So there you have it..Still no cue although Mike said it would be shipped to me overnight on Tuesday or Wednesday and it is now Saturday...Must have some awful long nights up there in Alsaka...Hope this helps anyone in the market for a new cue..Don :mad:
 
well thanks for the headsup..........i too will be in the market for a higher end cue here before too long, its good to get a feel for who to deal with and who not to deal with. As a business person myself........theres no excuse for this kind of stuff. i do my best to deliver perfect service.......and anything less than that i try to make right with my customers.....if they have a legitimate complaint I make it right or make them happy. I would look for a similar attitude in a cuemaker or seller.......and im sure the majority of them go by that credo.
 
I wouldn't stress out too much about it. A noise in one shaft is not exactly a disaster. In fact, it's very common. If it's not the tip, it's probably just a loose ferrule. Bender will fix it.

It's not Erik's fault for sure. He disclosed who he bought the cue from, a reputable dealer, and they confirmed that they told him the cue was new.

A lot of pro players get cues off of makers for a discount and sell them for a profit right away. It was probably sold to J and J as a new cue. I actually have no reason to doubt that the cue was indeed new, if it fooled them, Erik and you.

Is it that you no longer want the cue? What would make it right?

Chris
 
Don,

I have even seen a few cues along the way that 'tick' where the metal trim rings have broken loose (well, the glue holding everything together failed). At any rate, I'm sure that would also be something Mike would more than likely take care of. Some cuemakers are notoriously bad about getting back via email. Mike has a phone number....why don't you just give him a call?

Cues aren't perfect, cuemakers aren't perfect, and neither are dealers 100% of the time. Brand new cues will have a noice from time to time. Many pro players are 'given' cues as favors, and they simply turn around and sell them to generate cash. Just because it's made for him is not necessarily an indication that it's used.

Sorry for your situation, but I wished you would have given this whole thing a chance to play out before posting this here about Erik. He's been one of the good guys. [You can't take words back.]

Hope this works out for you.

Sean
 
In addition to the above, I have noted a few things regarding Mike Bender's cues, as some people claim that they have shafts that have warped. Where Mike lives it is probably 50 degrees below zero as I type this message, not sure, but probably pretty low humidity as well, considering you have to heat everything so it doesn't freeze. I live in Louisiana and it was 70 degrees with 85% humidity when I left this morning. When you subject any extremely dry wood to such a humid environment, it will inherantly absorb some water, resulting in warpage in some cases. As long as it does not affect the playability of the cue I usually don't worry. The glue example noted by Sean above could possibly be explained in the same way. I think Mike makes a hell of a cue.
 
cuenut said:
In addition to the above, I have noted a few things regarding Mike Bender's cues, as some people claim that they have shafts that have warped. Where Mike lives it is probably 50 degrees below zero as I type this message, not sure, but probably pretty low humidity as well, considering you have to heat everything so it doesn't freeze. I live in Louisiana and it was 70 degrees with 85% humidity when I left this morning. When you subject any extremely dry wood to such a humid environment, it will inherantly absorb some water, resulting in warpage in some cases. As long as it does not affect the playability of the cue I usually don't worry. The glue example noted by Sean above could possibly be explained in the same way. I think Mike makes a hell of a cue.
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i have built high end furniture for many years.any time a woodworker builds a piece they should properly dry out the wood in their shop before building anything.wood can absorb moisture.that is why a finsh is put on it to slow down the process of absorbing moisture.when i hear about people sanding their shafts to get them smooth one has to wonder how many shafts warp from this abuse.also improper storage.just a few things to think about.
 
I bought the cue from J&J and it was stated on their site as new. When I received the cue, the shafts were clean, tips were unplayed. Everything looked brand new. I also have a 2 day return policy. In my multiple emails with Don, he stated that he noticed the tick right away and he should have contacted me immediately to get a full refund. But that didnt happen. He contacted me a month and a half later. At that point, theres nothing I can do but to have him contact Mike personally. Im not a dealer of Mike's. I just get cues from other dealers that I trust. In this case its J&J vs Mike. J&J said the bought the cue from Mike and Mike said he made the cue for Danny. But that is not the point here. Don noticed something defective right away with the cue, he should have contacted me with 48 hours but he didnt.
 
bender

Sounds like you had a either an air pocket or a loose ferrule, making the ticking noise. If the cue was new then it should have been fixed for minimal charge by bender or an aggreement with him and your local repair guy. But saying this is a bad experience is reaching. Annoying, yes. I understand your disappointment with having this problem with an expensive cue but to blame it on Mike Bender or Erik Lee is wrong several things can cause the problem you have, from temp change to a bad batch of glue.
Do we blame loctite for this?

Just my .02
 
did you use your cue to break with..i don't care what anybody says but when you have an expensive cue ($2,000.00) you should break with a break cue..i am not saying in YOUR case this happened i am only giving out a good suggestion..
 
i am pretty sure urs has a loose ferrule...
i had 2-3 shafts that had the same problem.
Cuemakers are notorious for slow email response, cos they are very busy and i think whatever time left they rather spend on the family. So if u wanna deal with cuemakers u really have to have a lot of patience.
The fact is, cuemakers are artists, and they sometimes(or mostly) dont make good businessmen. They will tell u a very idealistic timeframe, in an effort to please u.. but shit happens u know...
There was once i sent a cue to be converted, which was supposingly delivered in 3-4 months as he promised. Turns out it took 3 years.

What Bender do, is pretty common in the industry.

if u want a fast turnaround time. i recommend Jim Buss n Scott Sherbine .
 
This message was not meant to to point fingers at just anyone person..It is the failure of the whole process..At the beginning when i heard the noise i was told that ivory has a different sound and that this may be the problem..But as i let some of the top players in my area shoot with the cue they all said that this is not normal..Tate..as far as not wanting the cue. you are dead wrong..It is a beautiful cue and plays just great with the other shaft..I am not in the business of buying and selling cues..I am strictly an avid player who wanted a nice looking higher end custom cue..I spent 2months checking out and shooting with every kind of cue i could find..Since the local cue dealers had limited cues i went to the internet and started looking..I feel that i did do my homework on this cue purchase..In fact i had the guy at IndyQ tell me that i needed to step up and buy a cue..Let me remind you that when you purchase any item that is new you will usually get some kind of warranty with it..A 2 day return policy such as Erik has is a very short time to make sure that everything is right..I am not pointing fingers at Erik or JJcues..I am only going by what information that Mike Bender gave me about the cue..I have many emails that i sent to Erik,Mike and JJcues..And most of them were not answered..Like i said before, i felt pretty helpless knowing that all i had was a few email replys and just had to wait out this process..If i had made the purchase at a local dealer i would have been able to take the cue to them and say "fix it or replace it"..I know that many of you in here have had dealings with Erik..Its not about Erik..Its is about the whole process..All i can say is live and learn..Don
 
Annoying???

Poolhall...Your point is well taken.. Mike built the cue..The cue was supposed to be NEW..What would you have done? I doubt if you would have just said "Oh Well bad luck on my part"..As i can see by the replys to my post, several of you may disagree with the way this was handled..But this is what i felt had to be said and i said it..It truly is buyer be ware..I dont want to get into a full scale war in here so this will be my last post on this..If you feel like PM'ing me feel free to give me your opinion...Good day all and shoot Str8...Don
 
Poolshootindon said:
Hello Fellow AZers...Some of you may remember that in Oct of 05 i was in the market for a new high end cue..(High end by my standards).. Many of you sent me pics and were very helpful in the purchase of my cue.. I did purchase a "New" (more on new in a moment) cue from Erik Lee and the transaction was fast and cordial. When i did get the cue a few days later i was very excited to see that the pics did not do justice as to how nice the cue looked in person.. Over the course of about a month of playing with the cue, and letting several of my friends give it a try we noticed that there was a ticking sound coming from one of the shafts..I contacted Erik and he suggested that i contact Mike Bender (the maker of the cue) and see if he has any thoughts..I did..He suggested that i change out the tips and see if that makes a difference. I did as he suggested..Had Greg Sowder in Washingtion State put on 2 new Moori's and the ticking was still there in the one shaft.. I again contacted Mike Bender and he said that he was very backed up with work and could i wait about a month and give him a call about an inspection..I waited about a month and he said to send him the cue and he would take a look at it..Shipped the cue via Fedex Experss 2-3 day..It ended up at the USPS and was not in Mikes hands for 8 days from time of shipment..When i finally got a reply from Mike that he did have the cue i was made aware that cue had been made for Danny Basavich..Now if the cue was made for Basavich i am sure he must have used the cue..But Erik claims that he bought the cue from JJ Cues and JJ Cues assured me that the cue was new when Erik purchased the cue from them..Mike says that when he got the cue it was extremely dirty at the joints and that may be the problem..My question is that since it made the noise from day 1 it has to be a used cue...I doubt that Danny Basavich ( if he is the actual original purchaser) just left the cue lying around and didn't use it..Mike Bender may make a hell of a cue, but his followup on emails is very poor...Sent many emails to him (saved them all for those of you who i am sure will not like this posting), and got few replys..This is the last cue i will ever purchase online..It is the most helpless feeling to know that you have a $2000 cue with a problem and you are at the mercy of emails to get it corrected.. .So there you have it..Still no cue although Mike said it would be shipped to me overnight on Tuesday or Wednesday and it is now Saturday...Must have some awful long nights up there in Alsaka...Hope this helps anyone in the market for a new cue..Don :mad:
Click to expand...

"Shipped the cue via Fedex Experss 2-3 day..It ended up at the USPS and was not in Mikes hands for 8 days from time of shipment..When i finally got a reply from Mike that he did have the cue"

IMO this is just disrespectful of a cuemaker to leave it at the USPS for that period of time, no one should have to worry about there cue not being cared for on the other end when shipped! especially when he said to ship it.

have any of you shipped a cue to a cuemaker and not here back from them about having it in there possesion, well I have and it doesn't feel good and you can't do anything about it.

I bet it's an air pocket in the shaft that's making the noise as someone mention above here!

but don't be supprised if it comes back warped!


Steven
 
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