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Slik Stik - Any Word

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turff49:
Being a noob here of some degree let me say that there is some harm in leaving their ad in place. First I wouldn't have known about slikstik if it hadn't been for the ads. I'm sure I'm not the only one who figures a site wouldn't let a bad vendor advertise. Second, I think a site puts it's reputation on line by allowing bad vendors to advertise. It's a hard decision for anyone to make but I think there is overwhelming evidence that they are bad. I had filled out their online order form a few times but never pushed the send button because something just didn't seem right. So, I finally decided to take the time and do some research and then blam, there it was, all the bad comments about them.

 Also another good reason to make a sticky and ban their ads would be that a lot of noobies may order from them, never get their item, then be so frustrated that they find a new hobby. That would be an injustice to our fellow gamers and friends.
  It's a hard decision for anyone to make but the revenue if any just isn't worth it in my opinion.

Xam:
I find it odd that SS can still afford their Google ad and yet not pay smaller vendors like Kev.

In the roughly 1 1/2 year that I have been a member here, I have seen about 2 people have "bad" IPAC's. From what I have seen regarding the "bad" ones, Andy handled the problems promptly and courteously, thus keeping a satisfied customer. Randy has done the same from GGG. I have to guess, that if SS did receive an entire bad batch of product from Andy, that he (Andy) would have handled the situation promptly. I base this only on Andy's responses on this forum.

When I first joined here, I was very interested in one of the spinners from SS. Upon reading a few post from Christian and a few from Randy, I deided to go with GGG. I have not regretted it for one second. Christian seems to blame the end user for any problems. Randy on the other hand has always gone above and beyond what I expect a vendor to do. Though I have never dealt with Andy, He also seems to go above and beyond.

Christian needs to understand that this is a niche business....it does not bode well when you push customers away. Niches such as this one, tend to be close nit and word of mouth plays a huge role in the niches buying decisions. Recomendations from previous buyers goes a long way in this field.

Sorry for the wordy post. I just can't stand seeing someone like Andy be blamed for anothers shortcomings. I know (hope)  this was not Christians intent, but that is how I (and I suspect many others) perceived it. :soapbox:

Long live Andy and Randy!

Xam

RobotronNut:
i've been one of the few who's consistently supported slikstik, since i had a great experience with them 2 yrs ago.

in the past, it's been great quality, great customization, good after-sale support, together with slow turn-around times, spotty communication, and wacky forum posts by the company's owner. i was willing to live with that, because, i was confident of getting (eventually) customer satisfaction.

lately, there's been a BIG change: complete failure to pay vendors (several of whom posted here), failure to honor warranties (in my case), taking money from customers and never shipping anything, spotty communication replaced by no communication, and obvious ham-handed lying about suppliers.

this tells me slikstik is in a tailspin. they're in financial trouble. they're having to make decisions about who to pay and who not to pay, and i doubt they're going to be around for long. although some of you will spit on their grave, to me it will be a sad loss.

time for a merger or buyout...

DrBunsen:
Hiya gang!

Just joined the forum so that I could add my litany to the pile of questions.


03/15/2007
I ordered a cabinet and CO2 control panel from Slikstik.

Time passed...

04/19/2007
Since their site says that it could take as long as 5 weeks I waited 5 weeks before inquiring about my order, sending them an email asking about the status of the order.

04/26/2007
I got a reply saying that they were out of the monitor brackets, but could send the cabinet to me and ship me the brackets when they came in, which I agreed to in a reply email that same day.  I even said that it'd be nice to try out the setup even if the monitor wasn't mounted.

04/27/2007
I got an email saying that they would be shipping out the cabinet that day.

05/02/2007
I got an email from SlikStik saying "Your SlikStik SS Arcade has shipped via Yellow Transportation" along with tracking information.  A few days later I received the cabinet but not the control panel.  I waited a little longer to see if the CP would arrive separately, and when it did not...

05/17/2007
I emailed SlikStik asking about the CP part of the order.

05/24/2007
I received a reply to my email saying that they were waiting for back-ordered parts from Happs Controls, as well as the monitor brackets.

06/13/2007
I received the monitor brackets.  I emailed them saying that I received them and asked about the status of the CP.  I also asked them about the new flush-mounted trackballs that they were then offering, and if it would be possible to have my trackball changed to that.

06/14/2007
I received a reply to my email that said that they were awaiting a shipment of trackballs.  They expected them to arrive at the beginning of the next week, and that my CP would be shipped out right thereafter.  But if I wanted the flush-mount it would take longer, and would require me to pay the difference.  I replied that I would like to do so, and did the web ordering thing to pay the difference.

Time passed...

08/08/2007
I sent them an email asking if there was an ETA on the CP.

08/09/2007
I received a reply saying "Soon.  Very soon.  Your unit is within the next 5 to receive a trackball
and be shipped out, we're just waiting on our next trackball shipment."

09/21/2007
I sent an email asking if I'd been forgotten.

09/22/2007
I received a reply saying that I'd not been forgotten and that "Happ told us that we should be receiving a nice, big, much needed order of trackballs at the end of this month.  Provided they don't change this date again, you unit should be out of here as soon as we receive that shipment."

10/17/2007
I received an email from Slikstik saying that my CP was ready to be shipped.

10/22/2007
7 months and 7 days after the original order, and 4 months and 8 days after my changing the order to the flush-mount trackball, the CP finally arrived.  Whew!  I opened the box and found that it appeared to be made according to my order (I was fearful that some part would've been forgotten or changed after such a long time).

10/27/2007
I finally had the chance to work with the CP, in order to test and whatnot.  I untaped the bag of cables and parts that had been taped to the top of the CP and found that a small hunk of the overlay had been gouged out (I'm guessing by the edge of one of the PS2 connectors).  The hunk isn't big, about the size of 2 grains of rice side-by-side, but it is badly positioned just over the Player 2 controls (the white underneath is in glaring contrast against the dark blue area of the overlay).  No other damage was noticed.  I photographed the damage and emailed SlikStik describing the damage (and including 3 photos) and asking what could be done about it.

I have not received a reply.  I have not totally unpacked the CP (the blue tape is still around the edges and such).  I have not put together the cabinet yet (hopefully all the parts were sent).  At the very least I've tested all the controls and can tell that they do indeed seem to work.  Hopefully I'll have time this weekend to try to assemble things.

The more the ordeal dragged on the more fearful that I wouldn't get anything out of them.  I saved all the emails (which is why I can tell you guys the dates), but I wasn't sure what I'd be able to do with them if SlikStik folded.

And, um... that's as far as I'll go with my story.  I'll leave it to you guys to interpret how good or bad you'd feel if it happened to you.


Still... I'm in possession of a CP with a damaged overlay, and I'm guessing that SlikStik probably won't do anything to correct the damage, even though it was caused by bad packing.  And I'm pretty sure that if they did contact me and if their solution would be for me to return the CP to them for repairs, then I'd be tempted to answer in a rude fashion (though I know I wouldn't actually answer in a rude fashion - that's not my style).  I'm hoping that I can maybe repair it myself in some way.  The hunk of overlay is there, but out of place.  Maybe my new best friend in the whole wide world at Mamemarquees.com might be able to give advice?  ;)

I'll try to post to the Wiki about this as well.  Though... would it be bad form to include all the detail like I did above?  Don't want to be stepping on any toes here since I'm still a newb around here.


Bunsen

XtraSmiley:
No the details are good.  Can you post a picture of the damage?  We might be able to help fix it.

Also, Andy from Ultimarc is very cool and quickly sent me an updated Rotary chip when SS sent the older version that doesn't work well in MAME.  From England it only took me about a week to get it.

Thanks for the good service Andy!

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