Many people have the idea these days that it’s not “classy” for one maker to compare their goods with another maker’s goods.

I have been accused of this lack of class many times because of my tendency to get on a soapbox and preach about protection and where I feel that my competition is lacking in that regard.

Then when I praise one of my competitor’s cases I am perceived to be insincere.

People just can’t understand that competitors can admire each other and still compete hard in the marketplace.

You don’t think anything of two professional players who play like they hate each other when they compete and then after the match they hug and go out to dinner.

But if two case makers compare their respective products, or better said if I compare mine to a competitor’s then I am said to have no class.

Let me ask you as a consumer whether you would prefer to have no information whatsoever and have to just buy with nothing to go on or would you prefer to have something to start with?

I prefer to have something to go on. For me that starts with the manufacturer’s claims, why do they claim to be better? When they claim a competitor is inferior then I go and check out the competitor’s information and try to see if the claims have any merit.

In the world of pool however you as a consumer don’t have the luxury of being able to find many good reviews of products. You don’t find any Consumer Reports style, dissect and report type of reviews. What you find are personal testimonials given by people who bought the products and very very few of those will ever be negative no matter what the product is.

Someone who spends $800 on a Justis case will NEVER EVER say it’s bad in any way as long as they hope to sell it someday. The same goes for Murnak, JB Cases (ours), Swift, etc….

So here I stand as a maker of cases knowing that my product is superior in protection and build quality and I am supposed to just go head to head in the “looks” department and the “reputation” department only because it’s just not “classy” to dissect my competitor’s cases and show that our construction and protection is far superior?

On what planet does that make sense? There is a reason it’s called competition. We are competing for your business. As such we SHOULD be competing with each other to offer the best product for the lowest amount of money possible. If a product’s deficiencies are kept secret then it means that you the consumer are not getting the best value for your money.

IF the billiard industry really did have a Consumer Reports type of body who would thoroughly review cue cases as to their construction and protection and fit and finish vs. the price charged then some case makers would find that they ended up with a negative rating.

But luckily for them and unluckily for me there is no such independent body to do reviews. So it falls to me to dissect my competitor’s cases and show you exactly how they are built so that you may understand exactly what you are paying for. That some people see this method as lacking class is too bad. To me it’s classless to charge very high prices for insufficient cue protection and shoddy construction.

To me it’s in poor taste to cut corners and use marketing “gimmicks” like giving away cases to professionals while insisting that they “chose” the case. Professionals will take every free product thrown at them. In my life I have given away cases to the world’s best players. You don’t see me splashing their names all over to influence my customers into thinking my cases are good because so and so uses them.

So I compete hard when it comes to laying out the details of what we make vs. the competition. If we do it better then I want you to know it and to understand WHY we are better. And it’s not enough to say it, I have to SHOW it because no one else will.

At the end of the day however I can admire a lot of what my colleagues, who are also my competitors, do. That’s why I can praise their work on some aspects and condemn it on others. Now if I happen to talk bad about a case you are in love with then it’s no different than if I talk about your girlfriend or your wife. Love is blind and you will be upset with me for putting down what you love. I get that.

But it’s not going to change and the cue case is not your girlfriend. A high end cue case should be a well made piece that protects your cue to the highest degree that is possible within the type of case it is. You might love yours and think it’s well made when it’s really not. If I expose that it’s not I understand that I am not going to be your favorite person. But as someone who has to think of my bottom line and the families I have to support I am duty bound to show why my case provides better protection and is the better built case.

That’s how competition works. If you choose to ignore all the good things I have to say about your case and focus on the criticisms instead then that’s on you. For me it’s all about being able to appreciate all the good things my case making colleagues do while also being able to point out the things that I feel we do better.

Thus, you dear consumer, can better see how our respective cases stack up, you can go out and look a little deeper at our cases as well our competitor’s cases and you don’t have to rely on just the exterior appearance and other people’s gushing reviews of their new baby.

Sincerely,

John Barton
Case Maker