Problems with cuemaker?

Let me explain what ebay told me was an EXTORTION attempt against me 7 years ago.

Buyer gets 3 cues and wants extras for nothing, including that I produce a shaft with a tip at 9mm.

He said that if I didn't do it, he would leave me with bad feedback.

I simply asked that he send the cues back, he refuses, he knows they play so good that he won't give them up. He begins to berate me and tells me that he is a writer for a place called AZBilliards, a place I had never heard of.

I check out AZ, looked awesome but I am not happy with them so I emailed the owner.

Owner of AZ calls me personally and starts to laugh, then I got to laugh with him as he explains how they have no writers, just awesome members.

I forward all information to fleabay and they cancel his account. They removed the negative feedback he had given me only minutes before.



This is why AZ seems like a great place where we hold people accountable both ways, this is why I believe the Cuemaker should have the opportunity to explain his side of the story, otherwise it looks like the OP is trying to get ahead of the story and control the narrative.

Just my opinion, fire away.
 
JMiller1975 said:
Hi everybody! I'd like to get an idea on how to proceed with a cuemaker that I'm having problems with.

I ordered some things from a very well known, and highly regarded, cue maker about 8 months ago and have been getting the runaround ever since. After 4 moths of saying he was just about finished, I finally received my order. On top of changing the overall design we had agreed on (without asking) he also said that other things we agreed on (and was already paid for) he was no longer going to be able to do it.

If those things weren't bad enough, the workmanship that I was expecting from this person was the absolute worst I have ever seen, from anyone. It was so bad, in fact, that it felt like it was done on purpose.

His response to the whole thing? "send everything back and I'll refund your money" No explanation. Nothing.

Because I felt like I was lied to, repeatedly, I feel like this is a lie as well. I sent everything back, and as soon as he receives it, he's supposed to refund my money. We'll see. I don't have much faith...

Has anyone else dealt with something like this from a cuemaker? What did you do? how was it resolved? Any tips for the future?
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I got this from Sly. He is a real full of bull chit operator. $550 sneaky. 5 weeks became 5 months. Did not follow instructions. Might send to Proficient Billiards to refinish. Has visible sanding lines. Will never buy a custom from anyone ever again unless it’s finished and in front of me.
 
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Brookeland Bill said:
I guess I’m lucky. I’ve been trying to get a full splice butterfly cue made and price is no object. I can’t get a response from the several cue makers I’ve contacted over the past year. Your experience makes me feel better. I have had a good experience getting a sneaky pete from a Houston cue maker.
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I think the guy at Castle Billiards does full slice butterfly cue
 
GoldCrown said:
I got this from Sly. He is a real full of bull chit operator. $550 sneaky. 5 weeks became 5 months. Did not follow instructions. Might send to Proficient Billiards to refinish. Has visible sanding lines. Will never buy a custom from anyone ever again unless it’s finished and in front of me.
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Once Rob Harris stopped building Leon's cues, the quality fell way off
 
JMiller1975 said:
Hi everybody! I'd like to get an idea on how to proceed with a cuemaker that I'm having problems with.

I ordered some things from a very well known, and highly regarded, cue maker about 8 months ago and have been getting the runaround ever since. After 4 moths of saying he was just about finished, I finally received my order. On top of changing the overall design we had agreed on (without asking) he also said that other things we agreed on (and was already paid for) he was no longer going to be able to do it.

If those things weren't bad enough, the workmanship that I was expecting from this person was the absolute worst I have ever seen, from anyone. It was so bad, in fact, that it felt like it was done on purpose.

His response to the whole thing? "send everything back and I'll refund your money" No explanation. Nothing.

Because I felt like I was lied to, repeatedly, I feel like this is a lie as well. I sent everything back, and as soon as he receives it, he's supposed to refund my money. We'll see. I don't have much faith...

Has anyone else dealt with something like this from a cuemaker? What did you do? how was it resolved? Any tips for the future?
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Take him up on the refund asap. Get his promise of full refund in writing/email. Ship fully insured signature required. Should that fail... out his ass.
 
CuesDirectly said:
Let me explain what ebay told me was an EXTORTION attempt against me 7 years ago.

Buyer gets 3 cues and wants extras for nothing, including that I produce a shaft with a tip at 9mm.

He said that if I didn't do it, he would leave me with bad feedback.

I simply asked that he send the cues back, he refuses, he knows they play so good that he won't give them up. He begins to berate me and tells me that he is a writer for a place called AZBilliards, a place I had never heard of.

I check out AZ, looked awesome but I am not happy with them so I emailed the owner.

Owner of AZ calls me personally and starts to laugh, then I got to laugh with him as he explains how they have no writers, just awesome members.

I forward all information to fleabay and they cancel his account. They removed the negative feedback he had given me only minutes before.



This is why AZ seems like a great place where we hold people accountable both ways, this is why I believe the Cuemaker should have the opportunity to explain his side of the story, otherwise it looks like the OP is trying to get ahead of the story and control the narrative.

Just my opinion, fire away.
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And, just HOW LONG is the cue maker given to post their response?

A day, a week, a month, a year?

If you tell me that you are returning my money, I expect it to get back to me just as fast as you got it from me. Same goes for returning cues.

If you are making a cue, make it, that is why you were paid the money and, hopefully, gave an estimated completion date.

If you can't complete it by that date, don't wait until the day before, or after the date has passed, to tell the customer.

Communication is THE KEY.

Give the customer some feedback and things like this may occur less often.

When you tell the customer that "things" have prevented you from doing whatever was promised, DON'T BULLSHIT! Tell them straight up what the deal is and give a new estimated completion date and attempt to complete it by that date. If you don't think you can do it, give the customer the option of opting out and getting their money back.

Look over the cue BEFORE you send it to the customer. If you see any FLAWS, fix them before you ship the cue. Don't expect your customer to be blind to the flaws or too timid to complain or return the cue. If you ship a cue with flaws, YOU pay all the shipping costs every time the cue comes and goes out of your shop.

I've taken back brand new cars after a month of driving them and gotten back EVERY SINGLE CENT I paid for the car. It wasn't because I didn't like the brand or model of the car...it was because the car had FLAWS and I wasn't going to accept some BS repairs on a brand new car.

Aloha
 
HawaiianEye said:
And, just HOW LONG is the cue maker given to post their response?

A day, a week, a month, a year?

If you tell me that you are returning my money, I expect it to get back to me just as fast as you got it from me. Same goes for returning cues.

If you are making a cue, make it, that is why you were paid the money and, hopefully, gave an estimated completion date.

If you can't complete it by that date, don't wait until the day before, or after the date has passed, to tell the customer.

Communication is THE KEY.

Give the customer some feedback and things like this may occur less often.

When you tell the customer that "things" have prevented you from doing whatever was promised, DON'T BULLSHIT! Tell them straight up what the deal is and give a new estimated completion date and attempt to complete it by that date. If you don't think you can do it, give the customer the option of opting out and getting their money back.

Look over the cue BEFORE you send it to the customer. If you see any FLAWS, fix them before you ship the cue. Don't expect your customer to be blind to the flaws or too timid to complain or return the cue. If you ship a cue with flaws, YOU pay all the shipping costs every time the cue comes and goes out of your shop.

I've taken back brand new cars after a month of driving them and gotten back EVERY SINGLE CENT I paid for the car. It wasn't because I didn't like the brand or model of the car...it was because the car had FLAWS and I wasn't going to accept some BS repairs on a brand new car.

Aloha
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WHY ARE YOU ADRESSING ME IS SUCH A MANNER?

It was NOT ME.

Please say you're sorry, Thank you.
 
CuesDirectly said:
WHY ARE YOU ADRESSING ME IS SUCH A MANNER?

It was NOT ME.

Please say you're sorry, Thank you.
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I'm sorry if you thought I was addressing YOU, as a cue maker.

I was making a GENERIC comment about cue makers as a whole.

I was just responding to your post in which you said the cue maker should be afforded a response.

I have seen numerous occasions on here where cue makers, table repairmen, cue flippers, etc. have been called out for something by a customer and then the "culprit" is defended by his peers or others who want to remain in good favor with the "culprit".

I.e., "he is a good guy", "he may have just made a mistake", "don't worry, he will make up for it"...blah, blah, blah....

Prime example is RKC and the rail fiasco. Go count how many people are sticking up for him and his shoddy way of doing business. They aren't defending what he did, but they aren't condemning him, either.

If I were RKC's best friend (don't know him from Adam), I'd tell him that he needed to bring his sorry ass on here and do some 'splainin' on the situation.

From what others have said, he has been "lurking" on here very frequently and hasn't said a word.
 
trinacria said:
i had an issue with cohen cues. the guy was rude and short, maybe didn't like what i wanted done with the cue, maybe he doesn't like NYers but who knows
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And yet by buddy has ordered at least a half dozen of Eddie's higher end cues. They are beautiful and flawless and he delivered them on time and to spec. Eddie is trustworthy.

When they say you can't win them all, it's true. Nobody does. He refunded you, so you are squared away. I don't know when this happened but Eddie is one of those cue makers who you could actually see get better and better with each cue that he made. From what little I know about him, he seems like a very bright guy who doesn't easily humor people. That's just the way he is and being so forthright is refreshing to me but insulting to some.
 
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HawaiianEye said:
And, furthermore, I've never heard anything but nice comments about your cues and the way you do business.

:)
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Thank you for the nice response, no problem. I will use this as an opportunity to let all the Lurkers and fine readers here understand how I do business.


I don't take deposits.

If someone is unhappy with a cue, I am more than happy to give a full refund regardless of the reason.

I accept Credit/Debit cards and Paypal, either way, buyer gets full buyer protection.

Need more? Give me a call anytime after 8 am East Coast time.

Thanks again, Dave.
 
CuesDirectly said:
Thank you for the nice response, no problem. I will use this as an opportunity to let all the Lurkers and fine readers here understand how I do business.


I don't take deposits.

If someone is unhappy with a cue, I am more than happy to give a full refund regardless of the reason.

I accept Credit/Debit cards and Paypal, either way, buyer gets full buyer protection.

Need more? Give me a call anytime after 8 am East Coast time.

Thanks again, Dave.
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I can't wait to get mine. Dave does really cool conversions. We're working on some oldies but goodies!
 
TATE said:
And yet by buddy has ordered at least a half dozen of Eddie's higher end cues. They are beautiful and flawless and he delivered them on time and to spec. Eddie is trustworthy.

When they say you can't win them all, it's true. Nobody does. He refunded you, so you are squared away. I don't know when this happened but Eddie is one of those cue makers who you could actually see get better and better with each cue that he made. From what little I know about him, he seems like a very bright guy who doesn't easily humor people. That's just the way he is and being so forthright is refreshing to me but insulting to some.
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it is what it is. it happened, im not gonna apologize for someone that gave me a bad experience, he could build the greatest cue ever of all time, hes still a shit cue maker to me. left a bad taste. if your buddy has had a good experience six times, hes obviously a good cue maker to him. that's life. I never made a big deal about it, didn't start a thread, just relaying my experience. I got my money back, and bought a flawless schon for half the price that played better. sold it for a profit eventually.
learned my lesson, I loved a sectional handle cue he had with copper rings when he first started, when he used the Hebrew text as his name, so I had him made me one but added points to it and a hoppe ring. I saw the talent, so I jumped at it without doing research on him, wait time wasn't bad, price was too much for an inexperienced cue maker but I figured if he becomes something Ill only make money. didn't pan out for me. what are you gonna do. took a risk and it failed. for others it works out.
 
You sound like the guy who calls every other day in the morning and evening to check the status of their cue, and once a week to change something.

JMiller1975 said:
Like I mentioned before, I posted this as a way to see what other people have done, and how it turned out for them when they were confronted with similar problems.

I really like Omen cues and even though Pete lives all the way on the other side of the country, I never have a problem with his cues. And even if I did, I know he would make it right. If there was someone near me with cues that I actually liked, I'd give them a try. Rich Chudy lives near me (he usually does my tips) and we play together every week, but I'm not a huge fan of his style (Sorry Rich!) even though he makes beautiful cues. Again just not my style.

Anyway, the point is I tend to lean towards cuemakers who make what I like first, and who have a good reputation second. If they have neither, I pass them up, obviously.

I went into Bill Teeter's place about 2 years ago and had him put a couple tips on some cues and I wasn't too impressed with his work. He had a couple cues he was selling pretty cheap, but even at those prices I didn't buy anything. He had what I liked (wrapless, sneakys, etc) I just didn't care for the quality.

The cuemaker I complained about in my OP was chosen because of his reputation first. I find that in this industry at least, that seems to be the thing that drives customers, which is why I've been reluctant to "name names"
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u12armresl said:
You sound like the guy who calls every other day in the morning and evening to check the status of their cue, and once a week to change something.
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You nailed it. I started emailing about two months after he said everything was ready to be shipped and I still hadn't received anything. lol
 
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