Well here's my take on it.....I work in a pro-shop with just two regular employees in it....we have some different beliefs on things but most of the time we agree with what one of the other is doing....I try my best not to step on his feet and the same with him.....one thing we both do agree on is online sales....the only reason they are so cheap is the bulk they are bought in....now for this reason online shops can offer them at low prices....but most charge between 38-50 dollars to drill it(inserts and slug most of the time).....average local pro-shop charges the same thing.....plus with online pro-shops you have to pay shipping on most.....and the dreaded "ONLINE WARRANTY".....they don't have a shop to take it to....you have to ship it back and then have to wait for them to send one back and that can take upwords of 2 weeks or more.....the thing is....people see low price and want to jump right on it....but lets flash back a minute....that customer came in and asked me questions for about 30 minutes a night for a week before they bought that ball....now who provided the customer service me or Buddies(example)....I did so they took what I info I gave them and ran with it over to someone else.....ANYONE and I mean ANYONE that is in any type of customer service business has to be a little peturbed at the moment....another example of that is your customers going somewhere else to get it(another shop)....had the same thing happen....guy asked me questions bout the Rule GP2 for a week or two....I told him we couldn't get it just yet cause it was not released for the general public yet....so what does he do....he goes to another city (bout an hour away from our shop) and has some staffer for that company drill him one up....not to mention his buddy did the same thing but we had the ball he wanted he just heard the big words that guy was using and probably went ohhhhhhhh ahhhhhhhh.........and as far as plugging I don't care where you get them from you bring it in and I plug it......but back to the point....I believe that your local shop offers 10x better service....reason....you can LOOK at them.....when's the last time you stood across the counter with someone from Buddies....we offer a warranty that pretty much guarantees if you have a ball and it messes up on you(bridge cracks or something) we will replace it witin a week or less.....I CARE about my customers so when they take their business elsewhere after asking me questions and me working with them patiently and carefully then yeah I AM GONNA BE ALITTLE HOT....because who is being rewarded for that....me or someone else???
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Bowling and women are one in the same....you never know what you gonna get from night to night.....www.chatbowling.com

I agree completely with what you guys are saying:
If you spend the time with the customer, you should get the sale

My problem is that mine was not available to the pro shop, its been discontinued for years! He even told me my best bet would be to find one on ebay or somewhere. THEN he acts pissy cause I find one. oh well..

Jason

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Email: Jbelcher337@charter.net

Gee, I just wish I knew now what you guys do

No my driller is great. I used to drill as a partial owner so I/We would never ever get pissy or turn down any business.
Some people are on tight budgets and they have to do what they have to do financially.
I was more than happy to give advice oin what to buy even if i knew they were not ordering from us. it's better to be like that then lose potential future business.

I know the guy that does my equipment right now does get great prices and gets deals on discontinued equipment through his connections.
To support him I buy my equipment only from him.
He is a good guy and I don't mind paying a few extra bucks to him.
He cuts me a good deal because I do this and send people to him for work.

Plus when you find a great driller, hang on to him/her.


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I'll stone no head pins before their time.
Sr. K will. He gets tapped like that all the time.

My driller doesn't get upset at me for bringing in used balls to plug and re-drill, because when I do buy new balls to replace some of the older ones in my lineup, I buy them from him. I've also brought some extra business his way, so he's happy all around. He charges fair prices for the plugging and re-drilling, and when I buy multiple balls at the same time I get a reasonable discount for buying a lot of equipment at the same time.

I'm happy all around as is his pro shop.

Matt

Just a follow-up, got my pulse back yesterday (sunday). Thumb was still too tight, driller was VERY nice this time, overly helpful(if possible). He suggested I try a little easy slide in the thumb until he could fix it. That worked wonders, due to the tightness of the thumhole I did not grip the ball at all, my release was MUCH better. We talked about it a little and decided to leave it alone until summer (or whenever my thumb swells too big). Going to go give it a shot tonight and see how it goes.

Jason

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Email: Jbelcher337@charter.net

Gee, I just wish I knew now what you guys do