Anyone ever deal with arcadeshop.com?

[nickbuol]

I talked to Steve from Arcadeshop.com about swapping out my brand new 3" white trackball for a black one.  He says no problem.  Things are going well.  I tell him the day before I ship it to him that it is coming, I tell him the day it shipped that it went out the door and what the tracking number was, I wait a day after he gets it to confirm that he got it and to ask for an ETA on when he will be sending out the black one, and nothing.  All of the email communication that was going so well just stopped.  I asked again 2 days later for an update (being very polite in my email) and still nothing.  I email again today (a few days after that) and wonder if I will get a response.  I asked him to email me to at least let me know that he got my message.

I thought that he was a respectible arcade guy, and I know that we all have times when things happen, but I didn't know if others had experienced problems with him in the past.

Thanks!

[javeryh]

I've had no problems but the response time isn't the best - he's probably just really busy.  I'm sure your trackball will arrive soon enough...

[88mph]

In my experience, they are quite slow, but they are reputable, and the quality of their products is top notch. 

-88mph

[ponyboy]

Nickbuol, If you don't get a response I have a black unit in stock.  I can work something out for you.

Ponyboy

[nickbuol]

Thanks everyone. 

Ponyboy, I'd work with you on this one, but I already sent him my white ball....

Bummer...

[DreamArcades]

I think they are just slow. I'd wait a week and then start threating him. -J/K

[daywane]

I think that just stinks.
no kidding. thanks for the heads up. If he is that busy, he can not respond to a email, and just lets you hang there and wory about your track ball, stinks

[vader]

I've ordered from him a couple of times with no problem at all, have you tried calling him ?

Tim

[nickbuol]

I finally got a response from his today.  Get this, he agrees to swap out my white trackball for a black one, each time we email, it includes this agreement in the history of the email message, now, today, after having my trackball for almost a week, he says that since I was not a previous customer, he is going to charge me $7 for the black trackball (plus shipping, which I knew I would pay anyway)...

I never claimed to be a customer, and never said that I got the white ball from him or anything.  But now I am stuck.  It cost me $5.60 to ship the ball to him (priority mail with tracking since I was in a hurry), and if I just want my white ball back so that I don't have to pay the $7 charge that he now wants, I will probably have to cover the shipping back to me, plus still be out my original $5.60 to get it to him, and STILL have the white ball instead of a black one.

I am feeling a little cheated here, but have little choice but to pay the $7 since it will cost me more to swap out FOR FREE with PonyBoy just in shipping fees lost.

ARGH!!!  Can you sense my frustration??? 

[AlanS17]

What to really feel cheated? Here's some food for thought...

It probably would have cost you about that much to flat-out buy a black ball. There would have been less hassle in the transaction, and you would have gotten to keep you white one!

(Do you feel sick in the stomach yet? That's my job!) 

[CheffoJeffo]

he says that since I was not a previous customer, he is going to charge me $7 for the black trackball (plus shipping, which I knew I would pay anyway)...

I never claimed to be a customer, and never said that I got the white ball from him or anything.

ARGH!!!  Can you sense my frustration??? 

I can't believe that he would just offer to swap the balls for free if you didn't buy from him in the first place (swapping between BYOACers makes sense, but a vendor offering to swap for no gain ?).

Cheers.

[88mph]

Well, if he said he would straight up, even steven swap you the ball, no strings attached, he should stick to his word.   

That said, you're still not getting that bad of a deal on the black trackball.  He's selling black trackballs on his site for $15.  If he's willing to do the swap for $7, plus shipping of $5.60 x 2, your grand total is going to be $18.20. 

If you just bought one straight up, it would have cost you $20.60.  The way I see it, you're still saving $2.40.  Are you getting cheated?  No. 

I am however starting to understand why these parts guys get so busy..   

-88mph

[ponyboy]

Nickbuol, I will help ease your pain.  I have the following trackball in stock a Happ 56-0300-16.  Please check out the specs on Happ's Web Site.  If this is what you need let me know and I will work something out for you.

Ponyboy

[nickbuol]

What to really feel cheated? Here's some food for thought...

It probably would have cost you about that much to flat-out buy a black ball. There would have been less hassle in the transaction, and you would have gotten to keep you white one!

(Do you feel sick in the stomach yet? That's my job!)

[nickbuol]

I can't believe that he would just offer to swap the balls for free if you didn't buy from him in the first place (swapping between BYOACers makes sense, but a vendor offering to swap for no gain ?).

Cheers.

I thought that it was an awesome deal for me, and figured that I may end up paying something to someone, but when he offered to do it for free (plus shipping) I jumped on it.  I even told him in one of my messages that I had never ordered from him before and I had a lot of questions.  I was asking about several different parts before I even asked about the trackball, and when I did ask about the trackball swap, I had already said "no" to the other parts.  He says that he was confused and since we had emailed back and forth "so much" (about 4 times), he just thought of me as an existing customer.  He did NOT tell me that before, during, or after the agreed "deal" until today, almost 3.5 weeks after first talking to him.

When he finally got around to getting ready to ship to me is when he noticed that my name was not in his "system", even though I gave him my name and address in about my 2nd email after asking about shipping of some of the parts above.

At this point, I don't want to smear this guy's name through the mud.  Things happen, and I have heard some good things about him (exept for being slow) after I started this message thread...  In the big scheme of things, $7 in the middle of what is becoming a $1300+ arcade is no big deal, just the principle of the whole thing.

[nickbuol]

Well, if he said he would straight up, even steven swap you the ball, no strings attached, he should stick to his word.

[nickbuol]

Nickbuol, I will help ease your pain.