Arcade Shop Review? Anyone purchased from them as of late?

[Games001]

I might go the simple route of buying an MAME cabinet from the folks at Arcade Shop Amusements. http://www.arcadeshop.com/cabinets/cabinets.htm

Has anyone ever purchased from them and if so, how was your experience / item quality-condition?

[cornishHen]

Yes, I ordered from arcadeshop.com a few weeks ago.  I order a sanyo ez flyback..I called in the order and received it 2 days later\!   I was very satisfied.   


 

[cornishHen]

i can't vouch for the cabinet work....

[FrizzleFried]

Arcade Shop provides terrible after the sale technical support.  Steve has been promising an update for the Clay Multigame board he sells for 2 months and nothing so far.  Steve can't answer why the LED sinks on my arcade shop multi game board don't work.  He says he's attempting to get an answer from the "developer" (Clay),  but it's been 3 weeks and no answer thus far.  Instead of addressing negative emails,  he simply ignores them.  For the 2nd time in less than 2 years Steve has managed to piss me off to the point I won't do business with him.   I have two of his multigame boards both exhibiting the same LED sink issues which he advertises as a feature and I can't get an answer from him.  I purchased Donkey Kong II (or so I thought),  but the scheme he has set up is that you can only upload the DKII rom to  your multigame board ONCE per update.  Well guess what... if  you ADD or REMOVE any games from the board you essentially flash the ROM,  lose DKII and then have to wait for an update of the software before you can reload Donkey Kong II to the board.  I didn't know this when I attempted to upload a couple more games to the board.  Now I have no Donkey Kong II and I can't re-load the damn thing until Steve updates the software...which he's promised to do for 2 months now and thus far NOTHING.

For almost 2 months he's held my Donkey Kong II ROM hostage.  That's not a PURCHASE of the ROM,  that is a lease and it's complete ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow---.

When I ask about this issue I get the same ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow--- "we're working on it,  it'll be a couple more weeks" response.  When I finally got fed up and shot him out an email about the issue and the LED issue I get zero response back from him.  WHAT TERRIFIC CUSTOMER SUPPORT AFTER THE SALE STEVE!  Thanks! 

I will NOT be purchasing jack ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- from Steve at Arcade Shop and will continue to suggest that others find alternative avenues for their parts (mikesarcade, tornadoterrys, etc) until such a time that Steve starts supporting his customers after the sale.

Just one mans opinion...

BTW:  Here is a breakdown of alternative avenues and quick mini-reviews:

www.mikesarcade.com - Mikes Arcade - The prices are a hair steep on certain items,  but competitive on others...plus Mike ship's fast and is a pleasure to deal with.  The guy also comes here and posts informative and helpful posts from time to time!  Being he is in Utah and I am one state over in Idaho,  I usually get my stuff from him within a few days even with cheap shipping.  Mike carries all the same Braze Technology High Score and Multigame kits that AS does.  Highly recommended.

www.tornadoterrys.com - Tornado Terrys - The website is about as bad as it gets,  but that aside,  Terry offers good product at good prices and VERY FAST shipping to boot.  I've purchased from Terry 4 or 5 times and every time has been a pleasure.  I wish someone would remodel his website and it wouldn't hurt to add inventory.  Terry is a good source for joysticks, buttons, trackballs, etc...

www.videogameparts.com - Video Game Parts - A good source for N.O.S. and hard to find video game specific parts.  A little pricey,  but you get what you pay for and a lot of this stuff is difficult to locate.  Shipping is quick as well.

www.thisoldgame.com - This Old Game - A great source for certain artwork.  If you have a Space Invaders with a beat CPO,  you owe it to yourself to take a look here.  The highest quality reproduction artwork around.  The only negative is that the focus is on a limited number of games... still highly recommended.

www.mamemarquees.com - MAME Marquees - Do you need artwork that just simply isn't reproed anywhere else?  Do  you have a custom piece of artwork you need printed?  Look no further.  I've purchased their CPO product and both marquee products and I have no problem recommending them for any job.  If you get the marquee,  go with the Ultimate material...it's well worth the extra dough (not to say the normal stuff isn't good...it is.)

[Games001]

Sorry to hear such horrific issues you have been having Frizz, but I apprecaite the insight into the company's practices.

I was only thinking of buying a cabinet kit from them, no tech or parts otherwise.  Maybe I will look elsewhere if this is how they treat paying customers.

[FrizzleFried]

Sorry to hear such horrific issues you have been having Frizz, but I apprecaite the insight into the company's practices.

I was only thinking of buying a cabinet kit from them, no tech or parts otherwise.  Maybe I will look elsewhere if this is how they treat paying customers.

I'd recommend Mikes for a cabinet.  Were you looking at a Midway kit?   

[Games001]

I liked the basic form of the Arcade Shop 25in Jamma cab, found on the bottom (last item) of the page I linked in the OP above. 

It also has some included items (i.e. T-Molding, Wood CP, Marquee Plexi ,etc) that made the cab seem a good buy and that many things less I have to fabricate or purchase seperately.

I am building my second MAME cab, so something 'generic' or big enough for 3 sticks, 1 spinner and a 3in trakball is my primary interest.  If I don't have to build the CP larger than the frame of the cab, even better.

[TOK]

I've had good luck on my regular small parts orders from Arcadeshop, but if you are having the cabinet shipped won't it just about double the price?

[Games001]

Cab cost $375, shipping to FL about $150

That's the quote I have on hand at this time from them.

[FrizzleFried]

For that price you could buy a nice generic JAMMA cabinet,  complete with monitor,  controls you can likely use,  coin door,  etc...locally.  Check out craigslist etc.

[Games001]

I have.. Florida is REALLY bad for finding cabs so far as I have seen.  I will be in NY soon, so maybe I'll have better luck there, from what I see on NY/NJ's Craig's List.

[ablizno]

@games001 there is this guy in Apopka florida that has alot of cabs for sale. PM me if u want his info.

[Games001]

Thanks, but that would put the gent well over 220-250 miles from me.. would cost more to ship/move the cab then to buy one outright online.

[DJ Infinity]

Thanx for the heads up Frizzlefried. I was gonna purchase one of those JAMMA boards to play DK II. I think I'll wait awile till he fixes your problem. Plz let us know.

[FrizzleFried]

...don't hold your breath.  Unfortunately it's been proven on more than one occasion that customer service isn't part of the arcade shop mantra.  It is what it is.  Personally,  I'd look for someone selling theirs before buying another from AS.  Actually,  that is how I got my 2nd unit.

[DJ Infinity]

Who else is selling the DKII?

[joe average]

I've only ordered from them once.  They qouted me a price and I agreed to find out when things arrived they charged me something different.  When I called about it I spoke with the same woman who took my order and was unable to resolve the problem.

It only was really a problem because I ordered it on a bank card that I use just for buying stuff online. I don't keep much money in the account in case something happens.  Naturally, what they charged to my account was more than what I had in the account so I got an overdraft fee as well.

[TheBrokentoken]

Interesting thread.  I'm sorry to hear of your troubles, FrizzleFried.  That totally sux0rs and I can definitely understand your point of contention with them.  Only being able to load DK2 in *once* per software update is total BS - that needs to be fixed ASAP... if you've paid for the ROM files, then you've paid for the ROM files and they shouldn't be held hostage locked up in the menusys software like that..... total BS.

Anyways, I just received an order from them and wanted to share my experience.  I ordered one of their Nintendo cabinet kits and it was drop-shipped to my house in short order.  I ordered a 'bare' cabinet kit because I'm going to build a D2K cabinet and I didn't want a 'normal' DK cabinet. The packing was excellent, and the cabinet arrived in 100% perfect condition.  The cabinet came with a locking back door, a 110v marquee light, pre-cut control panel w/ retaining clamps, a coin door cutout and a monitor mounting brace/bracket, white T-modling and the entire cabinet is coated in 'almost matching' DK blue (sides/front) and black (rear) melamine.  The cabinet is sturdy, and is really well made.  They tout that the kits are CNC cut, and I can attest to it being that way... my cabinet has 100% clean cuts and looks very professional and once it is the right color and has the proper artwork/marquee/bezel/cp on it, it would not look out of place in any arcade and would pass for a bona-fide DK cabinet easily, IMHO.

Overall, I'm really impressed with the cabinet.  I've already built my own MAME cabinet from scratch (Lusid styled and based off of Saint's excellent book) and didn't really feel like going through all of that woodworking again and will likely do cabinet kits from now on so I can focus on the part that is more fun to me - wiring/control panels/artwork/controls/front-ends, etc.  Anyways, I digress.

I also ordered their 'stand-alone' D2K kit.  This kit comes on it's own daughtercard that plugs into the Z80 CPU slot on the original DK PCB and you then plug the Z80 into the daughtercard.  The daughtercard says 'braze' on it, so I'm assuming it's a variation of their high-score kit.  Regardless, I went this route so I could play D2K any time I wanted without having to fear being locked out of it.

Personally, I would have liked to have gone with Mike's because I've ordered from him in the past and have gotten great service, but shipping on the cabinet kit from UT to KY was going to be mucho-$$$ and it was very fair from Arcadeshop/GA to KY and I was able to get the D2K kit tossed in at the same time.  I did talk to Steve on the phone one day and found him to be very gruff and unpleasant to talk to - almost like he didn't want my business, but I then talked to Tammy and she was very good to work with and helped me out quite a bit.

Again, their order turn-around time, completeness and packing was second-to-none, so I really cannot complain about what I have gotten from them so far, but I can totally see where I'd be in the same situation as you if I had bought the same product.