Well I must say, I dealt with Ronald and Xcade in March 2017. After a prolonged stint of making arcades, both hyperspin and Jamma console style for paying customers. I decided to speed things up and make it a much cleaner affair on the whole for myself and buy a clean CNC cut arcade cabinet. (The missus bitching about mess and tools aided this decision). The plan was to try one and see how it went and then to buy in bulk as his bulk buying prices were mental cheap. I settled on a bartop arcade cabinet as his full size cabinets weren't really full size at all, more for a short adult! The one I got was a B19C and also decided to get the Red premade xplate artwork, again, this saved me the hassle of sorting out myself and also like the idea of the artwork been protected under the clear acrylic which, believe me really makes a difference to the overall look of the cabinet.
My payment was processed quickly, as you'd expect when money is involved and got the usual invoicey automated response. Initially the cabinet was for me but 2 days after ordering a client decided they would like the exact cabinet with matching artwork so it became a client build with a simple jamma style pandora box cartridge that the client already had. It took 2 days to get all the wiring, buttons, trimming, electrics and joysticks. Then a further 7 weeks to sit and wait for the bloody cabinet and artwork. I know I have to wait for things to be cut and printed but 7 weeks really took the biscuit and that was with chasing his arse!
It arrived flat packed as expected and I must say, for what it was, was very well packaged but again, I'd expect that especially when that's what you've paid for. The cabinet went together an absolute breeze, with zero farting about at all, everything just screwed together and was predrilled. In all honesty, the best bartop cabinet I have ever seen and I've tried a fair few before resorting to cutting my own. The artwork was exactly as described, and was highres. It was a simple design so how highres it actually was will remain a mystery. The client was well happy and honestly so was I. So with a smile on my face I decided to speak to him about bulk buying and just having them in the garage until somebody ordered one which would save me a boat load of time and money.
As you'd expect, to drum up trade the conversation we had was very positive and he said he would send me his trade bulk buying prices which only made me even happier as I'm not a real business, I don't advertise or anything like that, no premises and for sure don't pay tax on the stuff I sold haha. So get get trade prices was very very appealing. I just had to wait for him to get his arse into gear and email the price list.
A couple of days passed as I knew he was in France when we spoke on the phone and the pricelist landed, which I can't find for the life of me but I will post it once I find it. The prices were very very good lets just say that so I decided to order 5 cabinets of 3 types and also the cabinets to be modified in the areas and button placements of my choice. That was a mistake as his extra list was stupidly expensive for what it was. It was his CNC and was cutting all the cabinets himself and not outsourcing the work, so a modification was simple to do but you would have thought it was outsourced to Greece by his pricing. So I decided to just get the cabinets and the blank xplates and I would do the artwork and modifications myself.
As I'm just your average Joe trying to survive, to spend this sort of money out of my own pocket in one fell swoop is quite a thing. I mean, its nothing pc related or for me and is just gonna sit and collect dust until required, it's quite a costly commitment. I was more than prepared to take a punt and in the long run make a nice profit on builds that required the cabinets. Then I was hit with the problem of payment.
Ronald wanted a direct bank transfer, now I understand that this is how an awful lot of business is conducted, not just here but around the world, but I'm not a corporation, ****, I'm not even a business and I don't give a squat who you are, what your selling or whatever it is I'm wanting but I will not, ever, pay anything by direct bank transfer, that is a mugs game and just begging to be ripped off in some way. Needless to say I never went ahead with that particular purchase. I tried to purchase a single cabinet again a couple of months later as it was something somebody specially asked for after seeing the previous build elsewhere. When I spoke to Ronald he was particular sketchy regarding why his website was no longer offering what it had previously, there was a few designs left on it but the vast majority had been removed. He waffled something about been snowed under and how the companies like arcade world were hogging the orders blah blah but assured me as a previous customer I would have a single cabinet built and delivered just like my previous order but wouldn't receive any discount as its not an order of 3 or more, which I felt was fair enough. He then said again to send a direct bank transfer, I explained that I don't do that **** and I would pay in the same manner that I had previously paid. He was no longer offering that as a payment option and the only method was direct bank transfer. At that point I told him to poke it and ended the call.
I slowly watched the decline of his website and the supplies to Arcadeworld dry up. I didn't care why, I just felt relieved. I'd like to say that in the end my gut told me I was going to be ripped off as it always does when direct bank transfer is mentioned and over the course of time it proved right. To this day though, I'm yet to find a bartop cabinet that is made as well as what Xcade with Xplates was, no matter what the guy has done, how his business went down the pan, he truly had an awesome product at the start.
https://imgur.com/7xBO3Cu
https://imgur.com/PK75lOp
https://imgur.com/xYEneOf
https://imgur.com/vmanrgQ
