I spoke with Scott yesterday as I'm very concerned about this issue. Scott is capable of doing great work and in my experience he has always delivered that. IMHO he doesn’t charge enough and that brings him quantity rather than quality.
A lot of guys on here know Scott's story and know his father Mike that unfortunately passed away a few years ago. I think everyone including myself wants Scott to be successful and carry that family torch in the custom cue business and I think he will.
Scott has probably worked on loads of cues and had a great reputation. Unfortunately a few bad marks and it can all go by the wayside. Example, lets just say for a round number he's worked on 1,000 cues and has had 5 bad experiences. That's a 99.5% satisfaction rate with only .5% not happy. Just saying, that's not bad. I have no clue what those numbers realistically are but they are pretty damn good. No one wants a single bad experience but they're bound to happen unfortunately. Some people just can't be pleased. 9 of 10 people that had a great experience tell one person maybe, a person that had a bad experience will tell 1,000 and that is just how it is unfortunately.
After speaking with Scott briefly and as I thought before he's having some growing pains which sucks, not only for him, but for you as a customer as well. However, I can definitely say that most small businesses go through this in some way or another. It doesn't make it okay but try to be understanding, shit does happen. I understand Scott refunded you due to the issue. Did you get a refund?
So many issues come from lack of or poor communication. I know this very well being i own a small business, order customs often, deal customs and not to mention I have a career job, wife, 2.5 year old and 4 month old girls, I'm busy and there just aren't enough hours in a day and times that I can be on the phone are not enough… I usually go to sleep around 1:00am just to catch up and wake up at 6:00am. However, it is also not a cuemakers MAIN priority to sit on AZ, FB, text phone and take calls and email all day but it is part of the job. They want to be doing what they do best as priority, which is turning wood and building/refinishing cues.
My advice would be to pay half down and half at finish going forward as it keeps everyone motivated. The message above mine is very good advice as well...
My advice to Scott was/is to set the proper expectations, under promise and over deliver and try and set aside a little time to communicate with customers on a set time each or every other day or something of that nature and just be proactive. I personally think he does a great job and everything I have ever sent him went very well and so did the jobs I referred people to send to him.
I know that I will continue to use Scott for most of my refinish jobs…
