*** Uncle Vit - Selling 4-Arrow Shaft ***

[Bigmeek]

ADR147 If only it was a perfect world and everyone conducted their business like us Brits!!!
Its a real shame that Suvit's neice sent you a cue that had not really been properly QC'd. It's damaged his reputation. It looks like its common practice for Unclevit to stick on any old badge! Worth mentioning that at the end of the day you have a nice cue.
Personally I would love to order up another C-brand but I would need to have some assurances that delivery dates and adherance to the spec were kept to. (within reasonable tolerances). Being specific if you promise a cue within 6 weeks it shouldn't take 6 months!!!
PS I bought a fake Rolex in Thailand in 1984 (cost a fiver!!) and its still going strong today!! lol.

[ADR147]

ADR147 If only it was a perfect world and everyone conducted their business like us Brits!!!
Its a real shame that Suvit's neice sent you a cue that had not really been properly QC'd. It's damaged his reputation. It looks like its common practice for Unclevit to stick on any old badge! Worth mentioning that at the end of the day you have a nice cue.
Personally I would love to order up another C-brand but I would need to have some assurances that delivery dates and adherance to the spec were kept to. (within reasonable tolerances). Being specific if you promise a cue within 6 weeks it shouldn't take 6 months!!!
PS I bought a fake Rolex in Thailand in 1984 (cost a fiver!!) and its still going strong today!! lol.

i can buy better cues for less. the issue is of course that in order to sell it i have to work on it so the cue costs me £209 plus say an hour maybe 90 minutes of time plus materials so what is that in real terms?

[The Stig]

i can't deny that with an hour or so spent on it, that it will be a nice cue

Did you stand it in a grow bag for an hour ? Didn't it arrive shorter than was advertised with a different sized tip and the weight was different, you have done well in an hour to get it back to the original spec

[ADR147]

Did you stand it in a grow bag for an hour ? Didn't it arrive shorter than was advertised with a different sized tip and the weight was different, you have done well in an hour to get it back to the original spec

lol fair point well made, but different people want different specs, that said yes it is not the cue advertised.

[Bigmeek]

i can buy better cues for less. the issue is of course that in order to sell it i have to work on it so the cue costs me £209 plus say an hour maybe 90 minutes of time plus materials so what is that in real terms?

Yup, I forgot that the price you paid was a lot more than me and some of the other Forum members paid for their C-brands. Mine was about £160 all in (including customs) and that was for a fancy "multi-splice". Bargain as far as I'm concerned compared to what I got from Mastercraft and Craftsman although I wouldn't hear a bad word against either of those UK companies and would deal with them again. I don't think you should add your own costs on for comparison purposes as for normal Joe Bloggs Forum members having to do the work that comes for FREE! Agreed, however, for a business person like yourself who's looking to move the cue on for a profit then your effort needs to be accounted for and added on somewhere. Without your costs I feel you still paid too much and if that's what Unclevit is currently charging then the cues are less of a bargain. Still would like another one tho!

[unclevit]

would you rather they spend time taking pictures of half finished cues or actually making and finishing them? taking pics is probably the 200th on the list of 'things to do'...

Thanks Deepscrew. Taking the picture halfway does not give a clear look of what the shaft will look like when finished. I accept the fact that there are delays. At certain stage, if we don't think the shaft will come out that good, we'll use it for club cue grade, and start looking for new ones. Sanman's cues experienced this twice last December. We are trying to deliver the best shaft we can find within those waiting weeks. That's why you regularly see nice arrows, blank belly, good playing quality shafts from us. When we get the order, we'll try to keep the schedule in time without even having the shaft in our possession. Then I'll go out and visit some wood sellers trying to find the ideal shaft for each job. I'll buy in big boards, then back to workshop to cut off into shaft's working size. In most cases, we have to waste more than half of the cut outs to get the ideal shaft (nice arrows for ash, blank belly, etc.) for the job. One only needs a good playing quality cue to use for their years of games, and I am trying to deliver the best shaft I can to fulfill that need. Yes, I can do a custom cue in 5 days if one does not care how the shaft will look like, or stiff action with dead feel, etc. I am late for plenty of custom orders, while trying to deliver the best shaft we can during those weeks. Perhaps, this hobby trying to let players have quality playing cues at a Thai price is now hurting me and ruin my intention to serve players with a budget. I have been buying expensive, or very expensive, cues for quite sometimes in the past, and many of them did not offer me the shaft's playing quality that I want. This is why I started this project in the first place. Sanman knows that I am doing this for a passion, not for money. He used to visit me personnaly in Thailand, and he knows me quite well. There are plenty of forum members who are very, or even very very, happy with my cues and still sending their new orders to me even after this cue commenting thread started. Of course, there are also a few unhappy buyers who hate my cues too. I believe my cues are the worst in the snooker world as people start to have fun talking bad about them. Workshop is now having problem with me talking too much here. And their agents are not happy with me now. Workshop may not be able to take future custom orders through me anymore (a person will start a party at his/her house hearing this). This is fine for me. What I worried is that there are plenty of players out there who still want good playing cues, but with a budget. If any player is looking for a fine playing cue, with a budget, and can wait, then welcome to email me.

For those Asian players who are looking for fine Payoong Woods (with unusual multi-color pattern) for their cue butts, get in touch with me again in March. I am having a big lot coming in (legal timbers) that will not be sold to furniture factories. Payoong means 'To Support' which has a good meaning, and now the rarest to find/buy here in Thailand. Jail sentence for those who cut & trade illegally. And very soon, 'no cutting' laws will be in action. Price is still good for me with that coming lot. But wait until March. BTW, though I am famous to deliver fine arrows ash shaft with blank belly, but may not be possible with the future orders. This is like shaping an ice cube for a certain figure, I have to lose plenty of the woods to get those nice looking shafts. In the other hand, if I continue to do this blank belly, nice arrows shaft cues, I will still have bad ash pieces for my Bar-B-Q evenings

Thank You Deepscrew and all those who stand behind my cues playing quality. Thank You for lots of emails sending to me after this commenting thread (please do not worry about the surviving of workshop when they don't get 'my custom orders'. They are still busy with the making of non-badge cues). Thank You for all kind comments. And Happy New Year to all of you. Can't do feedback on this thread anymore. Need to stay calm or else the workshop will be in bigger trouble.

God Bless You All,
(Alfonso) Unclevit

[eaoin11]

i can buy better cues for less. the issue is of course that in order to sell it i have to work on it so the cue costs me £209 plus say an hour maybe 90 minutes of time plus materials so what is that in real terms?

It's not a 209 pound cue ADR. They aren't only selling to UK customers. If you guys want to pay extra with postage when you have so much available locally that's entirely your affair.

Another point is that the shaft on that cue would cost a fortune from any of the top UK cuemakers and you would wait 6 months or more. In fact I think you would never get a blank underside and four even chevrons like this from any of them if you asked. This is reflected in the price and the shaft has always been Unclevit's selling point.

[Izzyfcuk]

This is undoubtly the Uncle Vit that we know, patience and ever apologetic.

It is good that he has come forward now and members are aware that Uncle Vit is still around.

I have also set my mind at ease as it was difficult to really know who i was dealing with in the email correspondence, that said i shamed him in public. Very uncharacteristic and i doubt it is really him.

Now looking forward to receiving the cue and an review.

[hotpot]

I suppose you can and will buy something that you are not entirely happy with from time to time whether that be a car or a tin opener . The really issue is how the complaint is dealt with and whether they are sympathetic , apologetic and do everything possible to resolve the issue .

[sanman]

If you bought it to review the craftsmanship and playability then I think you got your answers

Issues like fake badges and laquered butts are realy not such a big issue that it couldn't be sorted out with a little communication should you, as would apply in your case, want to continue doing business.

[Izzyfcuk]

Perhaps I should have left the last sentence out

Ne when I say review,simply just meant receiving what I ask for looking at the issues discussed

I have seen a fair amount of UT and C brand cues. Have to say never encountered any problems

[ADR147]

It's not a 209 pound cue ADR. They aren't only selling to UK customers. If you guys want to pay extra with postage when you have so much available locally that's entirely your affair.

Another point is that the shaft on that cue would cost a fortune from any of the top UK cuemakers and you would wait 6 months or more. In fact I think you would never get a blank underside and four even chevrons like this from any of them if you asked. This is reflected in the price and the shaft has always been Unclevit's selling point.

shaft is ok but not amazing - it would not pass MW's quality control.

[ADR147]

If you bought it to review the craftsmanship and playability then I think you got your answers

Issues like fake badges and laquered butts are realy not such a big issue that it couldn't be sorted out with a little communication should you, as would apply in your case, want to continue doing business.

agreed its not a bad cue at all - very well spliced up, just badly finished and for me not the spec required! and i have a huge problem with fake goods. anyway i think this thread has done it's time.

[Deepscrew]

shaft is ok but not amazing - it would not pass MW's quality control.

Did you expect it to?

[ADR147]

Did you expect it to?

i have learned to expect nothing!