Stolen cue!!! Barry Stewart has my cue.

[mia]

Ken,

As you well know, the reason those people won't come out and support you or say anything publicly is because they think it will affect whether or not they'll get their cue that's on order with cuemaker X, Y, and Z (feel free to insert/imagine whatever big name makers here). And that's the sad truth about the custom cue industry.

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Completely agree.
Some people will take to the forums and any other means they have to (rightfully) slam the cuemaker.

Others will tell you how a great a guy he is or just keep their mouths shut because.... they don't want to lose their shot at a cue from the same guy. And for the guys with LOTS of money, you'll hardly ever see this happening because the cuemaker KNOWS that's money in his pocket, in many cases, several times over. To this day, I'm still SHOCKED that Tony Z. would rake guys like Tommy (wawa), Tikkler, and others when those are guys that are often repeat buyers with LOTS to spend. Talk about dumb.

But you'll see situations like this more and more because:

1) there are like a dozen new "cuemakers" virtually every day taking new orders they may not be ready for
2) Its easy to rip off a few faceless people several STATES away over several hundred bucks
3) Its easy when there are hundreds of others who will say "There's two sides to every story! So-an-so always did right by me
4) Others keep their mouths shut because they don't want to make waves and risk not getting their order

 

[alstl]

Hope everything works out.

So far we have the Zinzola Case, (That one is called the Ben Dover, or the Ben Zola Case), The Stroud Case, (Strouded Forever Case), and now Scott Gracio, (Hence Forth known as the Fall From Gracio Case).

I would have expected more from Scott as he seems to be a good guy, the 2 others not so much.

I disagree about Stroud unless there is something other than the free cue he didn't give away because he retired. Did he ever take people's cash and not deliver?

 

[Ken_4fun]

It's funny watching a guy order a custom from someone, put up a thread on the progress of the build, all the excitement and testimony of how it's the best hitting cue they've ever seen...then within a week it's up for sale. Then it's sold again three or four times within a year. All involved say it's a monster cue, but must be sold "to make room for another project". Maybe true, but makes me wonder if it's truly a great cue or a dud.

I’m guilty as charged.

But I think you are missing something.

A few years ago, I was commissioning a couple cues a year to be built. I like working with the cue makers and taking my ideas and meshing them with the cue makers to come up with new cues. It was fun.

I usually played with all of them some, some for a long time, and eventually I sold (or traded) most of them. I almost always made a little, sometimes I just about broke even.

I used to buy and sell a lot of second hand cues too. Not all of them were commissioned cues.

So yes, I have commissioned cues, some played awesome, some not, some I picked up on the secondhand market were the same.

It used to be fun, but I don’t do it anymore. For several reasons, one is the Showman tobockle, it just soured me. Secondly, the market has really dumped so selling is rougher. Third the folks on AZ has changed too, they seem broke or at least less money to spend.

I see at Jimbo Army that they say we "Pump and Dump" on cues, and that may be true but that is the exception instead of the rule, IMO.

The more I see threads like this; I think I have made the right decision.

Ken

 

[maha]

it would stop if no one would pay more than a smallish deposit and pay the rest on completion. to many get taken in by the cuemaker and pay in full or close to it. even if he delivers it on time you got screwed for paying in advance.

if a cuemaker cant build a cue on his own money and then deliver it after payment he is a fly by night and shouldnt get the job in the first place. you wouldnt give a worker that you never met money in advance to fix your roof, so why give it to a cuemaker. most of them dont have a business or a store front or even employees.

besides if they are so good that they can demand payment in advance their cue should sell anyway quickly if the customer forfeits his deposit.

and only pay so you are within the credit card or paypal period that you can challenge your claim. same as you do when you buy anything else on line.

 

[KRJ]

it would stop if no one would pay more than a smallish deposit and pay the rest on completion. to many get taken in by the cuemaker and pay in full or close to it. even if he delivers it on time you got screwed for paying in advance.

if a cuemaker cant build a cue on his own money and then deliver it after payment he is a fly by night and shouldnt get the job in the first place. you wouldnt give a worker that you never met money in advance to fix your roof, so why give it to a cuemaker. most of them dont have a business or a store front or even employees.

besides if they are so good that they can demand payment in advance their cue should sell anyway quickly if the customer forfeits his deposit.

and only pay so you are within the credit card or paypal period that you can challenge your claim. same as you do when you buy anything else on line.

BINGO. We have a winner. Good Post. No cash up front. That will slow the bad ones down just a tad. Of course, the exception to this rule is if you order anything with turquoise in it In that case, buyer beware !!!!

 

[Blue Hog ridr]

I disagree about Stroud unless there is something other than the free cue he didn't give away because he retired. Did he ever take people's cash and not deliver?

Yer right about that part Al. I included Stroud because when reading threads like these, I wonder if the cue maker ever had intentions of delivering the cues or just collected money
knowing that the customers would be out of luck.

So it was with that, that I included Bill as no one will ever know if he had intentions of making and sending out the cue.

Whether you receive money for an item and make a promise to deliver or just a promise, the end result is the same for the person.

If your Buddy asks you for a hand doing something on the weekend and you say yes, your word should be good for something, right?

People that participated in that contest were thinking that Bill's word was good.

 

[ChopStick]

BINGO. We have a winner. Good Post. No cash up front. That will slow the bad ones down just a tad. Of course, the exception to this rule is if you order anything with turquoise in it In that case, buyer beware !!!!

What's the deal with turquoise? I never had a cue with it in there but I like it and would consider buying one.