I've been had... (Xcade)

Yup - another one to add to the list. Telling my story would just be a very close repeat of others so I won't bore anyone....no contact as email stopped working, before that broken promises etc etc.
 
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
 
Dexterdog said:
***
Click to expand...

If you see him can you tell him I adore my amazing 'see-thru' arcade machine I bought from him for £358 quid... you can't actually see it or hear it... but it's there... In your mind just bleeping & whirring just like the real thing, so your cabinet is lovely then is it? ahh well that's nice... that's really good, yeah how marvellous... lovely Ronald eh... brilliant but bent... a kind of genius but yet a complete **** - your senses served you well young Skywalker... so you paid via PayPal at first did you ? - I did... went way over the 6 month money back thing... he **** all over my little gaming dream... he's ****** off with the money and he's not coming back... the **** of Monte Christo... is he here, is he there... they seek him everywhere... RONALD! listen mate... your reading my words... do the right thing mate... Karma ain't good... you've got my address... get that bloody machine on... get some wood whatever get it somehow and sort it the **** out for people... otherwise that neg-karma is gonna come chomping at your well-being and before you could say bank-transfer a giant vampire bat swoops down and bites your bloody head off... weird world I know... but that's the randomness of a good dose of Karma... so either pay... or bat head!
 
b4gm4n said:
If you see him can you tell him I adore my amazing 'see-thru' arcade machine I bought from him for £358 quid... you can't actually see it or hear it... but it's there... In your mind just bleeping & whirring just like the real thing, so your cabinet is lovely then is it? ahh well that's nice... that's really good, yeah how marvellous... lovely Ronald eh... brilliant but bent... a kind of genius but yet a complete **** - your senses served you well young Skywalker... so you paid via PayPal at first did you ? - I did... went way over the 6 month money back thing... he **** all over my little gaming dream... he's ****** off with the money and he's not coming back... the **** of Monte Christo... is he here, is he there... they seek him everywhere... RONALD! listen mate... your reading my words... do the right thing mate... Karma ain't good... you've got my address... get that bloody machine on... get some wood whatever get it somehow and sort it the **** out for people... otherwise that neg-karma is gonna come chomping at your well-being and before you could say bank-transfer a giant vampire bat swoops down and bites your bloody head off... weird world I know... but that's the randomness of a good dose of Karma... so either pay... or bat head!
Click to expand...


I doubt Ronald will be reading this post or anything slightly relating to it. People who do stuff like that generally don't give enough ***** about anything other than themselves. My post clearly wound you up the wrong way which wasn't intended, I was merely stating my dealings with him and what I thought of the quality, which if you read the posts, people actually asked for from those that actually got it, Soz if it ****ed you off :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Dexterdog said:
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
Click to expand...

They are nice cabinets I begrudgingly admit. Hey I wouldn't have held out for so long if they weren't. The only others that are similar are bitcade and there are aspects about them I don't like such as the lack of a decent monitor bezel. Speaking of which, 16:9 ratio? Hang your head in shame sir! ;)

Ronald is a con man pure and simple. He can't hide forever...
 
Well I’m in a unique position here. I ordered my 32 inch stand up cab last year on Father’s Day. I spoke several times with Ronald and was at that time quite confident ordering and paying via bank transfer. Here though is where my story differs to most on here. Ronald suggested that I pay half up front, then the final payment upon completion. So I went ahead. Like most posts I’ve read, I would email him and it would be a couple of weeks before a reply came and yes they would include excuses like his dad had passed and the cnc was playing up etc.

This went on until December and I after reading this thread last year was convinced I had been had also. So just before Christmas I ordered another cab from a seller on eBay in Romania and it came on the 22nd. I thought as it was Christmas, I would build it after the holiday. Then out of the blue, the first week of January, Ronald emails me to say my cab was shipped and was provided a tracking number. A week later and it was finally here. I now owe Ronald nearly £600 to settle the bill but some items were damaged. He did send replacement parts but the printing was off so I contacted him again but have not heard from him since. I do intend on paying him but only when the cab is 100% complete.
 
sniefka, he emailed you this January 2019 ? could you please forward me his email address via PM if you could, he closed his email box on his website and left me up the creek without a paddle (or a machine) and I'd paid in full up front via PayPal... he kept telling me right up until early December the usual blarney... I was holding off suing him in the hope he'd do the decent thing and complete the job I'd paid for two years hence... anyway I'm pleased your machine arrived albeit slightly knackered... it's been three months since your delivery and I suppose you have emailed him and got nothing in return also ? anyway good luck to all of us...
 
b4gm4n said:
sniefka, he emailed you this January 2019 ? could you please forward me his email address via PM if you could, he closed his email box on his website and left me up the creek without a paddle (or a machine) and I'd paid in full up front via PayPal... he kept telling me right up until early December the usual blarney... I was holding off suing him in the hope he'd do the decent thing and complete the job I'd paid for two years hence... anyway I'm pleased your machine arrived albeit slightly knackered... it's been three months since your delivery and I suppose you have emailed him and got nothing in return also ? anyway good luck to all of us...
Click to expand...
Sure but how do I PM?
 
Hi everybody
i found these posts while i was looking for the xcade website. just wondering if it was still online...
I have a friend who has been working with him and he is still helping me out to get my stuff and as a matter of fact he knows where the guy lives, i'm sure that if you get in contact with him, he will help you guys too.
***removed***
good luck ;)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Planete Arcade said:
Hi everybody
i found these posts while i was looking for the xcade website. just wondering if it was still online...
I have a friend who has been working with him and he is still helping me out to get my stuff and as a matter of fact he knows where the guy lives, i'm sure that if you get in contact with him, he will help you guys too.

good luck ;)
Click to expand...

Who are you and what friend? Planet Arcade is Julian Cohen and various people. Is this you?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom