Sugartree cues (Eric Crisp)

i am oh maybe 50 or more miles from him and had him do some work years back I asked up front if he was willing to barter for some high end leather for a joint conversion and in the beginning, it went well but soared after a bit to where I would have him do anything ever again in fact found out the pin he installed was not 100 percent dead nuts. he would show up over in the builder section and bag on other makers if someone had a complaint of the work produced as if he walked on water. at the time there was a possibility that he was going to have to relocate back to New Mexico, so maybe he has and is not responding!
 
Eric Crisp aka Sugartree Cues has never had great customer service reputation.

All one has to do is read his track record, then say self should I take a chance dealing with him?

I would choose not too, as too many people build Cue who understand customer service, and communicating with customers.
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
Well there is a Couple of SugarTrees posted on form now, if you can not live without one.
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I couldn't imagine buying one of his cues, even from a third party, at this point. What if it needs to be repaired? Would you be willing to gamble on sending it back to him? I wouldn't touch anything with his name on it.
 
DryFlyTrout said:
I couldn't imagine buying one of his cues, even from a third party, at this point. What if it needs to be repaired? Would you be willing to gamble on sending it back to him? I wouldn't touch anything with his name on it.
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Well I was being diplomatic saying if you can not live without. I also know people personally who
Own Sugartree’s can only sing praises.

If a Cue-maker makes world class Cues, can not deal with people, correspondence, & customer service.

IMHO they have one choice to keep people happy, hire part time, or fill time person to do what the Cue-maker hate, dislike, or can not do effectively.

Or get💩reputation for the thing you do not do well.
 
I am sad to hear this experience about Eric and have only had great experiences with him. True he was slow in getting the cue to me, but he also made me a second cue because the first was slightly off spec. He also agreed to add an extension which he hadn't tried before at the time and didn't even charge me for it. He responded to my texts the same day other than when he was moving from NM to TN. If I'm driving through TN, he's at the top of my list to meet in person. I can only offer some guidance to be polite, persistent, and patient. If you can stay on his radar, I would expect him to take care of you eventually. I have three amazing STs, two that are some of the best playing cues in my collection and will never be sold. The custom ST with the extension that Eric built for me is my best playing cue, even over my DPK. I hope Eric gets those of you waiting on his list taken care of, but I just wanted to offer my great experience with him and his cues in support of Eric and his ST cues.
 
DEGAMO88 said:
When I contacted Eric back in 2008, I was relatively new to working with cuemakers and I also lived in Hawaii where there wasn't a whole lot of choices if you wanted a custom cue.

Sugartree cues has quite a following and is very popular with players and collectors so keeping tight-lipped about a bad deal could be the difference between getting your cue made in a timely manner or not. Sugartree cues is kind of like Southwest, in a sense, with a very long wait list and he stopped taking custom orders years ago. I was very naive in believing that Eric was a man of his word and I had hoped that Eric wasn't stringing me along with all of his promises.

I'm at a point in my life right now where I'm cutting the BS out of my life and dropping negative things that no longer serve me and I've stopped caring about owning a Sugartree cue. That's why it's taken 13 years.
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I'm very sorry about your experience. Unfortunately, I am not the least bit surprised based on the many, many stories I've heard about him. I played with ST cues for years, but could never get a response out of him, so I finally sold them and got an off-the-shelf cue with CF shaft that costs half as much and plays just as well (although, admittedly, isn't quite as pretty).

Also, for people who might draw an incorrect conclusion from what's written above: Southwest Cues does have an insidiously long waiting list. However, the high demand for cues is the only comparison between SW and ST cues. SW is absolutely on top of their game. They communicate, they answer the phone, they keep their word, and they in fact go above and beyond. I lived in Las Vegas for years and Laurie was an absolute saint to deal with every time, even when there was little to no money to be made. I've never dealt with any cue maker who does customer service as unbelievably well as SW. (OP, I know you weren't saying SW was bad, but I just felt I needed to clarify in case someone skimming might jump to a conclusion.)
 
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