artworkdoctor.com BEWARE

[Zakk]

Just a head's up. 

I tried to e-mail scott at mamemarquees (about 5 emails in total) and when he just didn't bother replying, I found artwork doctor online.  Long story short they (he) is a slikkstik style scam.  Nice frontend system, good e-mail when he's fishing for your cash, then nothing from them on.  google checkout closed his business account a little while ago, but he's likely just started up another checkout system  (he had said he used google because he didn't like paypal.  Now I suspect paypal had turfed him too).

So beware to buyers, and thanks to scott for costing me $150 and 2 months time.  (Hey scott, if you're out of business, shut down your ---goshdarn--- web page, eh bud?) 




Anyone else able to print a couple of cocktail underlays and has an e-mail addy that they actually check? 

[Malenko]

emdkay (spelling fixed) Ginsu has him in his siggie.

I feel your pain on mamemarquees, and I know everyone defends him saying "he does it in his spare time" but when you have an issue trying to give a guy money, somethings a miss.

[deweyhewson]

MameMarquees is still in business (or, at least, was 3 weeks ago when I ordered my marquee from Scott), but yeah, Scott is -censored- horrible at responding to e-mails. He only ever responded to my e-mail ONCE when I ordered from him, and a few days after I got my marquee I asked him for dimensions on his Smash T.V. control panel art so I could use the dimensions to match my control panel and he never responded.

It's pretty obvious this is his side business. Still, the products themselves are fantastic and I'd still recommend him for that reason. Just don't expect much communication beyond the form e-mails.

[Zakk]

Yeah, when I first posted about why scott doesn't respond, everyone was "ohh his work is teh awesomes!11!!!  Just keep trying him"  but after 5 e-mails, the guy can go blow his dog.  I have had a guy's cab here since way before christmas waiting for a simple custom underlay, (that I even had ready-to-print in photoshop).  Needless to say, my excusis to him of "he didn't respond...he says he shipped it...I'm arguing with the credit card company" are wearing thin for him AND me.  Hell ninjaepisode did that custom wall decal for me in about a week, and that's GOT to be tougher than sticking a piece of paper in a big printer and pressing "print".  

and to think I laughed at all the people that ordered from slikstik and got burned.  karma is a b*tch  

[Zakk]

  

***edit - post removed at scotts request.  Let it be known that Zakk is not mean.   

[Malenko]

this is the link in Ginsu's siggie:  http://emdkay.net/catalog/index.php?ref=2&affiliate_banner_id=2

[Ginsu Victim]

this is the link in Ginsu's siggie:  http://emdkay.net/catalog/index.php?ref=2&affiliate_banner_id=2

That's me.

[garnerb350]

Ginsu vouches for emdkay constantly, and over the years Ginsu been a trusted "forum" friend to me...

I know that the dealings Ive had with emdkay have been excellent. I was requesting some artwork from him so i could do some custom work that i am trying to do and it was alot...(4 gig worth) Emdkay sent me a message shortly after to contact him via Gtalk and he sent me the files, right then and there. Just that alone told me "Man! What a great guy!"...

5 unresponded emails...dang, I feel your pain...I'd be ticked off too...
(This makes me worry because I'm not for sure myself ,but does anybody else do the polycarbon laminate?)

Sorry to hear about your bad news...hope you are able to find a remedy...

[Ginsu Victim]

 

[scottp]

Zack - I just want to clear things up:

You emailed me 5 times and I did not respond for some reason (send me your email and I will look for them they may have went to spam)

you then ordered from artworkdoctor, who was GREAT with email but did a shotty print job and you are now contesting with your credit card. 

I am sorry you had could not reach me, I have actually been really good with responding over the past year, even with some of the more difficult request I can get from people on this forum. 

I am still in business and growing every year, and I can tell you if you would have put an order in with me, you would have been more then happy with the product.

Scott
www.mamemarquees.com

[Ginsu Victim]

I've only done business with Mamemarquees once (sideart), but that one experience was great and I will do more business with them again in the future.

[HaRuMaN]

That Zakk is just mean! 

[t3design]

I've only done business with Mamemarquees once (sideart), but that one experience was great and I will do more business with them again in the future.

+1

I've only done business with Scott 3 times. All for the same cab (which I still haven't managed to finish) and I was very happy with both his communication and his product. I ordered a marquee and the plexi to sandwich it; looked great and arrived on time and well packaged. I ordered a CP overlay (the polycarbonate laminate job cause I'm not doing plexi on the CP) and it too arrived on time and was outstanding quality. And finally I ordered full custom side art and I screwed up the order and accidentally ordered and paid for 2 of each side and he contacted me to make sure I really wanted 2 of each. I didn't! So he printed one of each side and refunded the difference.

Count me as a satisfied customer.

[DeLuSioNal29]

I've only done business with Mamemarquees once (sideart), but that one experience was great and I will do more business with them again in the future.

I've done business with Scott many times, and I've ALWAYS been happy with the product.  He is very accommodating to my requests, including custom ones that are not listed on the website.

Never had any issues here with communication.

D

[shateredsoul]

I did have an issue with communication unfortunately. He may respond faster to trusted customers (he probably doesn't want to loose them) but I think no matter who you buy from.. it will probably take longer than you'd like since most these are side business. Honestly, if I had received faster responses I would have bought from mameroom (same scott right?).  It's hard for me to say anything other than that.  I may have missed out on a great experience because of my decision, but I am very happy with my experience so far with arcadesrfun.

Arcadesrfun has been very responsive and accommodating.  Sure there's times where I'd like to have a response that same day and it takes a bit longer, but I have to remind myself that he probably has many other orders on hand, a fam, and a day job.  But sure enough I do get a response to all my e-mails (he's gone one by one and answered each question) and even advised me on how to do the overlay. Great experience so far. Sometimes the e-mails are short and to the point sometimes they go into more detail... personally I can relate because I do that with my own e-mail.  If I have time I write a longer e-mail, if not I write a short one, if I think an e-mail can wait I may decide to respond later and accidentally forget about that e-mail. If there were an option on e-mail to click "check later" (and an automatic reminder) that would be a great way to not forget these e-mails.  

Anywho.. my point is that I can't comment on the quality of Scott's works (looks great from pics), arcaderfun is a great alternative, and not responding to customers may cause you to loose business (even a "I'm too busy to take on another project" e-mail would be helpful).  I also tend to notice that sometimes it's hard to tell what is better than another thing because people do tend to fiercely defend their favorites.

and another point..

I often feel that in the USA, consumers feel very entitled to many things when making a purchase.  I know that most of us don't ever feel bad asking for a refund, yelling at customer service reps, or complaining to a big corporation.  We pay them so they better do it as fast as possible, the best quality, and if I don't like the end product I will complain without any consideration.  We treat everyone as if they were our waiters. Lets keep in mind that in this case, these are not big corporate companies and are family run businesses with real people behind them. It's not Scott's fault that you got ripped off, even if he did loose your business for not responding.  Lets take this as a lesson that we better double check with board members and their experiences with companies.  If no one has heard about a certain seller, then avoid him.

[Zakk]

That's awesome for all of you.  Fortunately, even saint can vouch that I did indeed try and contact the guy, and more than one person said "keep trying, he's awful at returning e-mails because this is a side business for him".

I don't doubt scott's work is awesome.  I wouldn't know because I instead decided to send my cash to a scammer.  Oddly enough, I got the same result from each person, artwork doctor's just cost $120 more.  

So please note that I am not complaining about mamemarquees quality, or in any way shape or form calling him a crook (which obviously he is not).  What I AM saying is he really should get a business e-mail or something, or maybe from time to time, some dooshbag idiot such as myself might come along and complain about it.  

[shateredsoul]

or hire someone to help with e-mails.  Not sure how this would cost. but I  it doesn't take too long to train someone and have them help. Maybe even a family member, cousin, nephew could do this (a teenager would cost less  )

[DashRendar]

Or put a message on the site that says "I do not sit watching my Inbox 24/7, since I am one person (with a life).  Please allow 2-3 days for me to respond to your emails."

 

[Zakk]

Or put a message on the site that says "I do not sit watching my Inbox 24/7, since I am one person (with a life).  Please allow 2-3 days for me to respond to your emails."

 

Well, I spent about a month trying to get him, so maybe alter that a bit? 


AGAIN, NOT A POST AGAINST SCOTT!!! FOCUS PEOPLE!!

[mwong168]

I've dealt with Scott only once last year in June/July 2009 and initially it took a while for me to establish initial contact with him via email.  I sent him 1-2 emails to start with some questions which I thought were pretty simple to answer but didn't get a response after a few days and a week so I feel everyone's pain.  But there was another thread I was monitoring at the time about artwork and scott did post in there every few days so I made a comment in there asking him to check for any emails from my email addy.  Maybe my email did get filter to his SPAM folder because the next day I got a reply to my previous email and I pretty much had to repeat this cycle of posting in a thread every time I sent Scott an email and didn't get a reply after 1-2 days.  Then I finally asked him about why he takes so long to respond to emails and it is not like I am asking him to write me a story or be my pen pal, a simple yes or no would suffice for some of my questions.  So here is what replied to my question about responding to emails:

As far as how quickly I respond, my priorities are:

1) Printing the orders at the highest quality possible
2) Packing and Shipping and getting them out the door
2) Respond to the simple questions
3) Respond to the more complex questions and work on customer requests (where you were...)

I know it is not ideal, as far as a business model, and the custom request are about 10% of my business (not including customer designed items) but that 10% takes up 50% of my time with emails and mockups.

it is just too bad because a lot of the people I have referred over to him have gotten so frustrated at not getting any response that they went elsewhere for their artwork.  Which I suppose is fine because no money was collected which would be even worse when you pay and then literally get ignored.  It is unfortunate because his work is top notch and his customer service in my one dealing with him was excellent and quick to rectify any problems.  He printed my marquee with the MAME logo but on the wrong background and he shipped me the proper replacement a week later free of charge which I thought was very nice.

Here is some sample of what I ordered from him





Control panel artwork applied



The polycarbonate laminate or whatever material he uses is very durable and beats having to protect artwork that is printed on high quality paper with plexi.  Here is the reason why I ordered from him because I had these dynamo control panels from my friend who had the artwork printed from Scott so I was sold




I was going to use him again back in December for my bartop art but didn't get a reply for almost 2 weeks so I managed to source out someone local to print on a high gloss adhesive paper for my side art, control panel and marquee for $60 cash so I just decided to give it a try.  Needless to say I am happy but could be happier with Scott's work but the frustrations of playing email tag but really the cost of the product and shipping sort of put it out of my budget I had intended for my bartop.

My post is not to knock or promote Scott but just simply listing my experience in my one time dealing with him.  I was skeptical at first but my friend with the dynamo control panels said just be patient and once I finalized everything with Scott via email regarding dimensions of the artwork the rest of the process went very smooth.  If you read this Scott sometimes a simple reply can go such a long way in maintaining a professional business relationship and future repeat business.

[scottp]

There has been a few times over the past couple years that my replies get caught in the customers spam filter, typically they are using yahoo or hotmail.com

I think once I get my new site online,  I will get a ticketing system, so even if a mail gets caught up in a spam filter either on my side or on the customers side, they can still log into the ticketing system to check for a reply.   I know some people hate ticketing systems, but I think it will help keep me organized and resolve the spam issues.   Plus, I can then have my wife login and respond to  questions.... she will love that.

Scott

ps. I am surprised you did not see Frizzlefried posts about artworkdoctor... he went through a similar situation not that long ago.

[shateredsoul]

Great idea!

There has been a few times over the past couple years that my replies get caught in the customers spam filter, typically they are using yahoo or hotmail.com

I think once I get my new site online,  I will get a ticketing system, so even if a mail gets caught up in a spam filter either on my side or on the customers side, they can still log into the ticketing system to check for a reply.   I know some people hate ticketing systems, but I think it will help keep me organized and resolve the spam issues.   Plus, I can then have my wife login and respond to  questions.... she will love that.

Scott

ps. I am surprised you did not see Frizzlefried posts about artworkdoctor... he went through a similar situation not that long ago.

[RayB]

I'd like to ask Zakk what exactly is a "business email"?  Are they somehow, magically spam-filter-proof?

[javeryh]

Scott has been very very good to me.   

[Zakk]

I'd like to ask Zakk what exactly is a "business email"?  Are they somehow, magically spam-filter-proof?

I run a multi-unit, international short-term rental business.  99% of my business comes from people who are coming to town from other countries and need a furnished apartment for a month or so.  Anyway, almost all of that is e-mail.  I have an e-mail account that is paid for, and dedicated to, the business.  I don't log onto game servers with it, I don't sign up for free wallpapers with it, just incoming e-mail.  The mail addy itself is hidden in a javascript thing that can't be collected by spambots (supposedly).  I've been doing it for 5 years, and yes, honestly, I get no spam, and I get all my mail.

Let me put it this way.  If I e-mail microsoft about an issue I'm having, I honestly, really do expect an answer from them.  Same goes for my bank.  I'd be pretty pissed if I tried to get a hold of the bank, and they ignore me for a month, and finally when I DO get them, they shrug their shoulders and say "hmm, well you must be in the spam filter".   So I'm guessing that yes, there is a oooohhhhhhh magical cure for the spam filter excuse.  

[shateredsoul]

Yes, but with a bank you have an account (so you're already their customer)...

Let's say you wanted to apply for a loan with a bank you didn't previously have an account with. and when you get to there the line is sooooo long that you don't get in before they close.. and on top of that they were almost never open and didn't return your calls? What would you do?

You'd move on to another bank that's what you'd do. You'd ask friends about their recommendation... but instead you went to the creepy loan shark in the ally.

[patrickl]

You cannot keep a customer service e-mail address hidden. It will end up in spam collection eventually. Even if you keep it well protected, someone else might not ("Hey do you know how I can reach Zakk?" "Sure it's zakk@verysecretemail.com"). Or they get a virus and their mailbox is harvested.

I own a small software company and I used to get hundreds of spam e-mails a day. We switched to e-mail servers which use a grey listing filter. I have to say that works amazingly well. Not sure for how long, but it eleminated the spam problem completely. Maybe 1 a day at worst.

[Zakk]

You cannot keep a customer service e-mail address hidden. It will end up in spam collection eventually. Even if you keep it well protected, someone else might not ("Hey do you know how I can reach Zakk?" "Sure it's zakk@verysecretemail.com"). Or they get a virus and their mailbox is harvested.

I own a small software company and I used to get hundreds of spam e-mails a day. We switched to e-mail servers which use a grey listing filter. I have to say that works amazingly well. Not sure for how long, but it eleminated the spam problem completely. Maybe 1 a day at worst.

Well, for my business, I use a form, and the form e-mails the results to me.  That e-mail never goes public.  I use a regular e-mail to respond to people, and yeah, that gets a spam every once in a blue moon, but not the incoming one.  I suppose that if I was big enough, something would target the form page and get the info out, but not as of yet.  Seems to me a pretty easy way of eliminating that problem, no?   

[DeLuSioNal29]

Honestly, if I had received faster responses I would have bought from mameroom (same scott right?). oject" e-mail would be helpful).  I also tend to notice that sometimes it's hard to tell what is better than another thing because people do tend to fiercely defend their favorites.

Two different Scotts.

[HanoiBoi]

That's awesome for all of you.  Fortunately, even saint can vouch that I did indeed try and contact the guy, and more than one person said "keep trying, he's awful at returning e-mails because this is a side business for him".

I don't doubt scott's work is awesome.  I wouldn't know because I instead decided to send my cash to a scammer.  Oddly enough, I got the same result from each person, artwork doctor's just cost $120 more.  

So please note that I am not complaining about mamemarquees quality, or in any way shape or form calling him a crook (which obviously he is not).  What I AM saying is he really should get a business e-mail or something, or maybe from time to time, some dooshbag idiot such as myself might come along and complain about it.  

I believe it's d0uchebag.

I'm just sayin'....

[shateredsoul]

Honestly, if I had received faster responses I would have bought from mameroom (same scott right?). oject" e-mail would be helpful).  I also tend to notice that sometimes it's hard to tell what is better than another thing because people do tend to fiercely defend their favorites.

Two different Scotts.

Good to know

[versapak]

Interesting to see complaints of lack of contact from Scott.

When I ordered my marquee about 5 years ago, I ended up ordering from Scott at mamemarquees because I got a better response from him than I did from emdkay.

His work was indeed excellent.

[Zakk]

Well it does seem that at least one of the ploys I tried today spooked "Joe" out of his hole.  He asked for my shipping address again (this will be the third time he's asked, and the third time I've given it to him).  To me, it really seems like he's just dragging it out until I can no longer claim it with my credit card company, kind of like what (again) clliicckstikk did to people.

For the record, Scott did contact me via IM here, seems like a genuinely nice guy. He thinks I've really got it in for him, so I'd like to set the record straight that I would MUCH rather have dealt with him than my good buddy joe.

Oh...I'd best tell Joe not to open that 'free tv' box that I sent to his house! 

[scottp]

Thanks Zakk. 

I understand your frustration, I have been there with other vendors and I will take the hit and sincerely apologize for you never receiving a response from me. 

BUT I would appreciate if you could remove your comment on the quality of my work and the bird cage... that comment will show up in search engines forever and no one will know it is a joke just glancing at it in google, and it will cost me business.

All this over something I would not have printed anyways because another company has the rights already.

Good luck with Joe

Scott

[Zakk]

Thanks Zakk. 

All this over something I would not have printed anyways because another company has the rights already.

Scott

AH!!!!!!!!    Now I think I see what happened!  Because honestly I think the chances that you didn't get a single one of my e-mails are fairly slim. 

For the record, my initial (and subsequent) inquiry was:  I have a 100% custom (read no copyright characters) underlay I needed printed.  That should be no problem, right?  Well I also asked about mspac.  I have a mspac machine that needs an underlay, but the cabinet has been repaired over the years, and the top may not be exactly matching a namco cab.  So I would need a mspac done to different specs.  That's all I asked.

 I think this guy saw 'custom mspac' in the message, and instead of replying, just fluffed it off and deleted it.    I'm not a namco cop, I don't know what the legalities are about printing an underlay for a genuine mspac cab with a repaired top.  I just asked.  So I think the mystery is solved. 

I asked about the mspac because you offer the marquee below that clearly has a whole family of pacs on it.  I suppose there is some loophole for all that copyrighted material? 

All in all, you really should have kept this in PM, instead of dragging it out here. 

[FrizzleFried]

Well it does seem that at least one of the ploys I tried today spooked "Joe" out of his hole.  He asked for my shipping address again (this will be the third time he's asked, and the third time I've given it to him).  To me, it really seems like he's just dragging it out until I can no longer claim it with my credit card company, kind of like what (again) clliicckstikk did to people.

For the record, Scott did contact me via IM here, seems like a genuinely nice guy. He thinks I've really got it in for him, so I'd like to set the record straight that I would MUCH rather have dealt with him than my good buddy joe.

Oh...I'd best tell Joe not to open that 'free tv' box that I sent to his house!  

Joe Pastdouche is a lying bastard.  All I can say is FILE WITH YOUR CC RIGHT NOW... I did.  

You don't want his sub-par amateur print job anyway.  TRUST ME.  Get your dough back today.

[missioncontrol]

EMDKay is great... He did mine, communication was great, follow up was great. I was happy with it. One of these days I might actually finish my cabinet

[patrickl]

lol, it's amazing how similar "you" look in your avatar and that picture

[saint]

* saint steers this thread back(?) on track.

[MameMaster!]

Saint's crooked feet are pretty.