Billiard Factory Review: Pool Table Stores

Would you believe us if we told you that Billiard Factory was founded by a man named Larry Stick? No joke: this pool table store has been in business since 1975, when Mr. Stick himself opened the original location in Houston, Texas. Over the years, ownership passed down to the second generation of Sticks, with numerous locations throughout Texas, several in Arizona, Las Vegas, and Florida, and a robust online store as well.

Prices from $2,499 to almost $34,000

There were 135 pool tables in Billiard Factory's inventory during our most recent visit to the site, ranging from $2,499.99 to $33,399.99. Let's take a look at those two options on the ends of the price spectrum here:

• Bevro Pool Table: Billiard Factory's most entry level table comes in a wide range of felt colors and can be either 7 or 8 feet long. It uses a solid wood foundation and a 1" thick, 3-piece slate playfield. The legs and aprons use engineered wood, so that you can maneuver the pool table a little more readily. It comes with the Diplomat accessory kit at no extra charge (two 2-piece cues, bridge stick, 6-cue wall rack, premium pool balls, plastic ball racks, brush, cue tip shaper/scuffer, rule book). For delivery to our area, we'd pay $299 for curbside drop-off, $399 for curbside/liftgate drop-off, or $799 for white glove installation.
• X-Base Pool Table: hand-crafted in the USA, this table lets you customize to your heart's content. You get to pick the hardwood, the length (from 6-9 feet), the cloth color, and even add a drawer for storage of your pool cues and balls. This table also comes with the Diplomat kit or with two optional upgrades. In our area, the X-Base Pool Table was also available for curbside drop-off at $299, liftgate curbside delivery at $399, or white-glove installation for $799. And what's that when you're already spending at least $34K on a pool table?

Easy to see details and upgrade options

Whichever table you select here, it's easy to see what your options are. Some felt colors come at an extra cost; just hover over the colors and you'll see the price to upgrade (if any). Specifications are clearly spelled out, so there's no need to worry that your table might not fit.

You might get gifts

There was also a promo in place at the time of our visit that offered up to three free gifts with any pool table purchase. For orders up to $3,299, customers could choose between a premium felt/cloth upgrade or a platinum accessory kit upgrade. On purchases from $3,399 to $4,999 (no, we're not sure what happens for orders of $3,300 to $3,398, but we assume it was a typo), orders would automatically get both the felt/cloth upgrade and the platinum accessory kit. And finally, for purchases of $5,000+, shoppers would get the felt/cloth/accessory kit upgrades and a Spyder conversion ping-pong table top or free local delivery instead.

Pop-up discounts and price matching

Also, when you first stop by the Billiard Factory site, you might get a pop-up discount of 5% off your first order. You'll have to sign up for email marketing, and some brands are excluded, but why not save a bit if you can? The pool table store also has a price match guarantee, in case you find a table you like at a lower cost on a rival's website.

Customer service is accessible

And, customer service is easy to reach too: call the toll-free number at the top of the site, use the live chat (though that usually consists of filling out an online form and waiting for a rep to get back to you), or reach out to the location nearest you.

No returns on pool tables

While technically Billiard Factory has a 14-day return policy, it doesn't apply to anything that has been personalized. Since most pool tables involve some degree of customization (even if it's just choosing the color of the felt), you can pretty much assume that once you've bought it, it's yours for good (unless the table was damaged during transit or installation).

BBB gives this store a failing grade

Unfortunately, Billiard Factory's reputation has gone from "bad" to "worst" since our previous review - if you look at the Better Business Bureau's rating falling from a "D-" to an "F". Although there were only a handful of complaints filed with the BBB, reps from this pool table store failed to respond to any of them. When you look at the store's Facebook profile, you'll have to sift through a bunch of spam reviews for bitcoin to find what real customers have to say - and that's pretty mixed too. The only bright spot seems to be on Yelp, where some Billiard Factory locations have earned a solid 4-star average.

Last on our list of pool stores

Although it's possible that you could have a great experience buying your pool table here, there's not enough evidence to convince us that this retailer is at the top of its game with respect to customer satisfaction. It's not a great sign that Billiard Factory's BBB rating dropped to an "F", and that there aren't many positive customer reviews that might balance that out. You've got other options for buying a pool table, and we'd recommend looking at those rival stores instead.

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On the Billiard Factory website