MAME Hoax

[mickortwein]

I just wanted to warn any other enthusiasts about a vendor
I found online named ARCADESHOPPERS.COM. The guy who runs
the site (Greg McGill) claims to put together MAME cabinets
and charges about $4k in advance. You can guess what happens next....

Greg came up with no less than 8 different lame excuses
about why he couldn't finish the cabinet and then refused
to refund my money even though he still couldn't deliver it.
I should not have trusted him, but chose to give someone
on the internet a fair chance versus going to real vendors
and I should have known not to pay up front. I imagine
enough people trust this guy that he makes a meager living
scamming folks who just want to buy a game. I am putting
posts on all websites associated with MAME and plan to
pursue legal action to have his site removed.

[RacerX]

$4,000??  Geez, I hope it wipes your @$$ for you if you ever get it.  Even Mr. Do-Rag doesn't get that much!

[AX]

$100 bucks for an oscar pro spinner huh.  lol.  anyway,  did you pay him cash?  paypal?  what.  as long as it wasn't cash you shouldn't have a problem getting your money.  if it was cash i hate to say it but your prob gonna never see that 4grand again. 4K !!!! sheesh thats a lot of bread.  I feel for ya dood.

[DeathMonk]

Ouch...  

[mickortwein]

Well the correct website is www.arcadeshopper.com
(not arcadeshoppers.com).

yes I am an idiot.  I paid with c2it (similar to paypal)
so does anyone know if there is any recourse?

The very least I want to do is spread the word among
gamers that this guy is a crook.  I think he figured
he had a live one so he keeps stringing me along
with lines like "I needed to degauss the monitor before
I send it to you...blah blah blah..."

[DeathMonk]

His custom mame cabs aren't anything to write home about either.  

[_Iz-]

I have seen his ads in the newsgroups. I had a good laugh when I saw one picture of a demo cabinet shown running crazy climber and the cabinet only has 1 joystick!

[2slk]

Caveat emptor!!!

1 - Why did you pay this guy 4K for something that is worth a fraction of that cost anyway? Did you do any comparison-shopping before buying?

2 - NEVER make a major online purchase unless you have some form of fraud protection (i.e. credit card).

3 - 4K and you didn't ask for a reference or research this guy's products? It would seem logical that you could make a few posts to inquire about something before paying instead of posting after getting ripped off to complain.

 I'm sorry but if this is the case, then you are either his competition trying to spread false rumours regarding his business practices or one seriously naive consumer.  

[DeathMonk]

If indeed he is the competition, he sure came to the wrong place...

[2slk]

DeathMonk,

 LOL!!!!!

[SNAAAKE]

I just wanted to warn any other enthusiasts about a vendor
I found online named ARCADESHOPPERS.COM. The guy who runs
the site (Greg McGill) claims to put together MAME cabinets
and charges about $4k in advance. You can guess what happens next....

Greg came up with no less than 8 different lame excuses
about why he couldn't finish the cabinet and then refused
to refund my money even though he still couldn't deliver it.
I should not have trusted him, but chose to give someone
on the internet a fair chance versus going to real vendors
and I should have known not to pay up front. I imagine
enough people trust this guy that he makes a meager living
scamming folks who just want to buy a game. I am putting
posts on all websites associated with MAME and plan to
pursue legal action to have his site removed.

MY GAWD !  
Our sympathies...I dont know what to say.  
A cabinet for $4000.You could have just order one from Hanaho.
Or ask me to build one for you ! for half the money...  

3 words > > > SUE HIS ASS !
Take him to   judge Judy

Anyone remember my thread VERY LONG time ago.I posted something like "hey Greg,no offence but didnt you rip someone off here?"

And now he really did rip someone off !   (see,I can tell).

[Magnet_Eye]

yes I am an idiot.  I paid with c2it (similar to paypal)
so does anyone know if there is any recourse?

Contact C2it. I believe they have buyer protection. This is owned by CitiBank. Check with them.

Otherwise, send me $1000 and i'll goto his house and take care of business for ya.  

[CitznFish]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I have seen you post this on several boards. Don't let the idiots get you down (there, NOT here). I don't know why everyone loves to pour salt on the wound.  

You might be able to get the federal gov. involved if this was across state lines. Maybe the USPS for mail fraud? (I think they also handle this type of thing).

I would like to hear both sides though before I would make a final judgement.

personally I haven't been impressed with his 'demo' s that he advertises with

[mickortwein]

Caveat emptor!!!

1 - Why did you pay this guy 4K for something that is worth a fraction of that cost anyway? Did you do any comparison-shopping before buying?

I haven't told you what the configuration is.  It was in line
with other sites in terms of cost.

2 - NEVER make a major online purchase unless you have some form of fraud protection (i.e. credit card).

Most of the providers of these types of games work out
of their garage and do not accept credit cards because
they spend their time online.

3 - 4K and you didn't ask for a reference or research this guy's products? It would seem logical that you could make a few posts to inquire about something before paying instead of posting after getting ripped off to complain.

 I'm sorry but if this is the case, then you are either his competition trying to spread false rumours regarding his business practices or one seriously naive consumer.  

I actually make a lot of money and took a shot that the guy was honest.  i'll get my 4k.  I didn't make a lot of
money being screwed by online gamers.  And if I was
his competition from the sounds of this board I wouldn't
need to spread "false rumors" about his business practice.

[mickortwein]

MY GAWD !  
Our sympathies...I dont know what to say.  
A cabinet for $4000.You could have just order one from Hanaho.
Or ask me to build one for you ! for half the money...  

3 words > > > SUE HIS ASS !
Take him to   judge Judy

Anyone remember my thread VERY LONG time ago.I posted something like "hey Greg,no offence but didnt you rip someone off here?"

And now he really did rip someone off !   (see,I can tell).

so you really know this guy?  Doesn't surprise me. I'd be
interested in hearing about any other experiences people have had with him.

[_Iz-]

he's posted in here under the nick "arcadeshopper"

[SNAAAKE]

MY GAWD !  
Our sympathies...I dont know what to say.  
A cabinet for $4000.You could have just order one from Hanaho.
Or ask me to build one for you ! for half the money...  

3 words > > > SUE HIS ASS !
Take him to   judge Judy

Anyone remember my thread VERY LONG time ago.I posted something like "hey Greg,no offence but didnt you rip someone off here?"

And now he really did rip someone off !   (see,I can tell).

so you really know this guy?  Doesn't surprise me. I'd be
interested in hearing about any other experiences people have had with him.

Actually I was just playing around...some dude with Username "Razeal"(yeah same dude wanted to know about Amra's avater..LOL!!!) ordered a screen printed marque from Greg and he took like a month(cant remember) to finish the job so there was little misunderstanding.I was just playing around so I wasn't serious about it.
I have been ripped off once too
I bought a monitor from someone and got it allright first time so I order second monitor with money order and BAM ! I get nothing.No monitor for over a month.I couldnt do much because I trusted the guy by sending a MO and these days I dont buy anything with MO or cash.
ONLY credit card.

[mickortwein]

OK, seems like I found some folks who know him personally and the profile they paint is consistent with my experience.
He runs short of cash so "borrows peter to pay paul" and I
am sure my 4K paid for the last guy's machine etc...

Several folks have mentioned c2it may have buyer's
protection so I'll wait to hear from them.  Suffice it to say
I needed a 4K ---smurfette--- to release some anger.  Thanks
for the info.  Someday I hope to actually have a MAME
cabinet and my posts will be more positive.

[s8n]

OUCH is right. dont know what to say man, that seriously sucks ass.

[hevnsnt]

Registrant:
Unicom (ARCADESHOPPER-DOM)
   16200 S.W. Pacific Highway Suite H
    null
   US

   Domain Name: ARCADESHOPPER.COM

   Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
      McGill, Gregory  (GM575)

[mickortwein]

OK, I will most definitely pursue this and keep you updated.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out.  Like I said,
as of right now he's claiming to "get to it when he gets
to it" so it will depend what the local authorities say
I can do.  I believe I have enough documentation to
show the exchange of funds, his promises and string
of excuses...

[hevnsnt]

C2it Contact info

(800) 200-3881, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

[TacoSmuggler]

Registrant:
Unicom (ARCADESHOPPER-DOM)
   16200 S.W. Pacific Highway Suite H
    null
   US

   Domain Name: ARCADESHOPPER.COM

   Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
      McGill, Gregory  (GM575)

[Rahzel]

Ha this is funny! Like Snaaaake said, a long time ago I heard this same guy could print professional custom marquees. So I sent him my graphic and my money (like $45) and it took him a long time to get it done. He kept on saying things like "The guys at my shop who print it are on vacation blah blah blah". But he finally came around and sent me the pimp ass finished Marquee. This was after I had gone to all of the Arcade forums like you just did and warned people about him LOL. Anyways, I'de give him a bit more time before taking legal actions or whatever.

Good luck dude....4k...DAMN...that's like 4,000 Big Macs you could have had!

[SONIC]

That's so very sad
I guess that's one of the reasons I never buy really expensive stuff over the internet, especially from a company that's not well known/respected.

I hope you get things settled in a hurry, 'coz I for one wouldn't feel good with having 4k at some twats place, whom you don't know, and whom you don't know is realistic or not!!!

Please keep us informed on what's going on with this bloke!

Maybe this dude's shop should be listed in the links section here over people NOT to trust or trade with! Just an idea to warn noobs looking for cabs!!!

[armad1ll0]

Snake if you are talking about the guy with all of the 27" Eygos... I actually got a nice working one and have been pretty satisfied with it. It was slow and he was not very responsive but I did get it a few weeks or so late... from my estimate. It in and working really well... too bad... we all have different luck huh... I did buy the tested one he was selling.

[pocketz]

arcadeshopper has responded to this on the mame.net forum.

[Analog-X]

After this ordeal is behind you.
 
I would recommend for you to just put a system together yourself.  This site is about building your own arcade cabinet.  You were willing to spend $4k, do yourself a favour and put one together yourself you will get more enjoyment out of it and it will be a lot chaper.
 
as an example  I purchased a "Street Fighter Alpha 2" Cab with working lights, coin doors, 25" Monitor (no burn in), a fully working cab for $400 U.S. now that was over a year ago, I can buy the same cab now for $200 U.S.  Than I went to Ultimarc and bought a J-PAC, to connect mY PC to the cabinet.
 
I have not assembled everything yet, but I figure when I'm dont I would have spent less than $600 U.S.
 
no Carpentry envolved

Having a lot of money it easy to simple Pay for things and have others do it for you, but as you saw in this case things can get ugly.

[SNAAAKE]

Snake if you are talking about the guy with all of the 27" Eygos... I actually got a nice working one and have been pretty satisfied with it. It was slow and he was not very responsive but I did get it a few weeks or so late... from my estimate. It in and working really well... too bad... we all have different luck huh... I did buy the tested one he was selling.

No its not him....the guy ripped me off was selling brand new eygo 19" monitors on ebay.
I got the first one for $175 shiped through ebay paypal and everything works great so I order a second one and sent money order because my brother was away and he has paypal and I dont.
So I sent money and he claims he already sent the monitor but I never got anything...couldn't do much because there was no proof that I sent anything.
His name is Brian Wiseman(from Ohio) in case anyone ever come across the guy.Never trust anyone with money order !  

Honestly,there has been many transactions here at byoac and I NEVER ever even thought about screwing anyone with anything.
I could have but I am much nicer then some people think...  
Well anyway loosing $175 isn't the end of the world(I am glad its not 4K..OUCH ).

As for Jim Rainbow(27" monitor),his monitors dont even work !  .I did get my money back so he is cool and I gave up on used stuff now....forget it..I only buy new stuff no matter what the odds are.

[2slk]

 So I checked out Arcadeshopper's response on the mame.net forum. Essentially, he's profiling mickortwein as an impatient and difficult pain in the rear. Any response?

[Sasquatch!]

So I checked out Arcadeshopper's response on the mame.net forum. Essentially, he's profiling mickortwein as an impatient and difficult pain in the rear. Any response?

I saw that - mickortwein got CLOWNED.  Whoops!

[eightbit]

Its interesting how neither one of them has posted actual dates.

The degausing excuse sounds pretty lame. I would expect for 4K you should at least get a monitor that can degaus.

[_Iz-]

Its interesting how neither one of them has posted actual dates.

The degausing excuse sounds pretty lame. I would expect for 4K you should at least get a monitor that can degaus.

That's what I thought too!

[2slk]

 Well, this thread is still bugging me. Granted the guy paid way too much regardless of the configuration but that is really not the issue. After all, that's what capitalism is all about. If mickortwein found value in the cabinet for 4K, then that is OK and there is nothing wrong with anyone selling it to him for that price. It doesn't make the seller a criminal. It just makes the buyer a little foolish.

 Really though, what is more disturbing is this. Here we have a newbie post, which is basically an accusation that a supposed seller of MAME cabinets is involved in criminal practices. Without any other knowledge of this issue, people are ready to label arcadeshopper as a thief, get involved in all kinds of unfounded speculation and make posts that contain information about him in a public forum that has a been generally hostile for no good reason.

 And where is mickortwein now? Haven't heard anything from him in a while. Possibly, he realises that his post was made prematurely and may have been a little unfair. I'm sure he'll get his overpriced cabinet in due time. Anyway, what kind of a fool would have a public site that sells MAME cabinets and then refuse to deliver them? If the intention really was fraud, someone with half a brain could find a much better and safer way to go about it.

 Anyway, just my 2 cents.