LBS rant...
So I think I'm through dealing with bike shops. The shop I have been going to to is the best so far but still they're slow and they make mistakes that cost me time and money. This whole wheels saga is just too much.
I gave them few months to build those wheels. I gave them the specs, everything. After nagging them for the last few weeks it turned out they couldn't find 36-hole Shimano XT hubs. What the heck? Those are everywhere.
OK, so I ordered the hubs and dropped them off today. He showed me the rims. Wrong rims. They were supposed to be the latest Velocity Cliffhanger, all-black with reflective paint. He ordered ones with machined sidewalls. Wrong spokes too, not what I asked for: I wanted straight 2mm, he got me "comp" butted that costs twice as much.
I'm too tired to continue this so I said "OK, just build these wheels for tomorrow". I really want this over with. So after waiting for a long time and paying $450 for wheels I could have gotten from Universal Cycles for $350 weeks ago I will end up with something I do not like. I would give him hard time and make him eat the cost or the rims, but first, I don't want to wait another two weeks for the rims, second, I don't want to burn bridges, I may still need them.
But I'm not happy. Getting stuff custom built is about getting stuff built the way you want.