Baffling news

[LWB]

Ok thanks mate, see what I can get for my £££

[BITTER]

Good post's from Mike And Trevor

.
John Parris's reputation seems to have declined a bit in recent years, due to largely the fact that a lot of people now believe that John Parris cues are not really made by John Parris himself, and the quality is not as consistent as before. .

I don't think John Parris claims to make many cues, if you look at the wedsite pictures you will clearly see a number of people doing strange things to cues.

One man can only make so many cues in a working week.

I have just given two cues away yes Mike for FREE so I too must have fallen into this marketing game.
However the one is for a 10 year old boy who has just started playing pool at mens county level in South Wales.

Don't think it will make me the next John Parris ltd but sometimes it's about more than money.

[ADR147]

oh paul - you are becoming the commercial animal !! i am waiting till i see on your website as used by...... !!!

[BITTER]

Already done it Andrew, just take a look

[ADR147]

lmao looks good now mate http://www.welshpooltrading.co.uk/

- good for you. i might start advertising all the people who get tips from me!! - which reminds me i might be doing better on that front i will let you know.

[keith auld]

Hi Mike - this is the first oppotunity I've had to read all the other threads - I applaud your sentiments regarding treating everyone as equal and maintaining a standard irrespective of the client !
Just a word of warning for you regarding cloning of cues - I recently had one of your cues brought to me for repair where it had cracked at the joint - the guy had tried to contact you but said he got no reply, he was from Southampton and had bought the cue complete with case and 2 extensions from you bearing your name. Quite by chance the same week I had a lad from Eastleigh snooker club contact me with the exact same problem and when he brought it round it had the same joint same 2 extensions, identical splicing on the butt, but bore the name 'Victory' cues then ironically I received a cue this week for a retaper from a guy who had bought a cue complete with the same 2 extensions and case as those mentioned above - different splicing on the butt, but with the self same joint. I showed the joint to Mick Rees who has made and fitted joints for me for the past 30 years and he was amazed by the complexity of the joint and said that this had to be produced by a high turnover factory to invest in tooling of this magnitude. Clearly, knowing your reputation, someone must be copying you in the far east, so a suggestion for what it's worth, it may be worth your while to have and alternative joint fitted to your cues, in case you get tarred with the brush as someone who buys in blanks and just does the finishing - after all you've spent a long time building your reputation but like anything in this world people are slow to praise but quick to ctricise.
Keith

[jb134]

As recently as yesterday, I spoke to a chap who said he had seen a "Wooldridge" cue that he was fairly sure had been made in the far east.

[ADR147]

mike is already aware of copies, we spoke about it on the phone a few weeks ago after i came across one. and he is in the process of changing his joints. I suppose if you are good at something somebody will always want to copy you and make money from it!

[LWB]

I know how Mike must feel, that damn Stephen Lee copied my cue action lol. There's always gonna be a lot of copies out there and we've all got to be carefull when forking out are money. I bought tips from ebay that were supposed to be elmaster but weren't, and that's very small scale and even that was very annoying.

[ADR147]

there are a lot of fake tips on ebay, its not a good idea to buy from some sellers unless you know who they are, its a relatively new problem but i have seen plenty of cheap talisman copies that are wooden in feel and damn near the same money as the originals!

[LWB]

The way I got done was buying them as part of a tip kit with a lot of other things, so I wasn't burned money-wise much, but still a pain in the ass. So it's got to be 100 times worse if you shell out for a top quality cue and it's a knock off.

[ADR147]

yes if you buy a cue for £500 and it turns out to be a £20 chinese cue you would not be pleased!

[platt]

I think sick is the word,

[keith auld]

That's why people should be very careful before putting their name on something they haven't made - apart from cheating the customer, they're also obtaining money by a fraudulant description. So called makers (and I use the term very loosely) can get away with it with the general public, it's when the item comes to an expert for repair or alteration they get found out. So any of you contemplating or having already gone down this road beware, you will eventually be found out !!

[ADR147]

i have never seen a fake cue yet that would convince me yet other than maybe a tony ions replica and they cost the same if not more than the originals!