Mostly I feel like he considers me a second-class customer that 1) can wait longer for a ball (he has no concept of first come, first served), 2) he doesn't need to remember our conversations because he knows what "people like me" want. Here are some examples of what I'm talking about:
The average wait time for a ball for me is about 2-3 weeks. He will tell me a specific day it will be done, which is usually in about 3 days, but it just keeps not getting done because he has a bunch of preferred customers he takes care of right away while I have to wait in line.
I took a Warlock XV to him with a specific dual angle layout I wanted. When I finally got the ball he told me he drilled it differently because he didn't think the layout would work well, but he never bothered to let me know beforehand that he was changing it. Not even a phone call, and I was working at the bowling center his store is at.
Last year I got my hands on an undrilled Granite Gargoyle I wanted to use for the city tournament. Once again, I gave him a specific dual angle layout I wanted to use and he drew it on the ball. A month goes by, during which I kept touching base with him and it's still not ready. The day before the tournament I call him and tell him it needs to get done today, because as we had discussed I wanted it for the city tournament. He tells me it's next on the press, long and strong, pin above the bridge, just like I wanted (which was nothing like the layout we had discussed, which was 1 1/4" Pin to PAP, waaaaay to the side of my grip). I get him to fix the layout and he tells me he'll bring the ball to the desk when he's done since I'm working there all night. Ball doesn't get done until an hour before the tournament the next day.
I bought 2 Brunswick Slingshots through him once to see how 2 different layouts on the same ball would affect the motion. We chose the layouts together, and he ordered specific top weights for each one. Later on I took one to nationals. Despite having him double check everything to make sure it was legal before I left, the officials told me the weight hole was too big (he actually said it was a freaking crater and was too big to be fixed in time). I wasn't thrilled.
Three weeks ago I took him a new spare ball, a(nother) Brunswick Slingshot, and a VBP Purple Executioner. No specific layouts, just generally long and strong on the Slingshot and control drilling for the Executioner, and ITs in all three. I get the balls, there is no IT in the spare ball (even though he specifically asked me if I was sure I wanted to bother with it), and the other two balls are both the same: pin 1" above the ring finger, cg kicked 30* or so, weight hole 4" dead right of the ring finger (I'm not 100% sure I should be annoyed about this one, but it feels like our conversation went in one ear and out the other). Furthermore, I still use the pinky hole I used when I was a no-thumber, but he didn't drill that in any of the balls, even though he has it listed on my spec sheet in his system.
I'm not here to flame the guy, and he is really good when he feels like it, I guess. I've never had a span or pitch problem, and when we discuss a new layout together he has some really interesting ideas of things to try. I'm just trying to figure out if I want to try to find another PSO in NorCal.
