777heaven Is Hell

[pachiball]

For anyone thinking of purchasing from Steve Hood aka 777Heaven aka skytvspecials, please consider my experience with him first.

On Monday 14th April I purchased and paid for via PayPal a Sinbad Adventure machine.

The deal was done very quick and I was impressed at the speed Steve answered my emails.

Expecting to receive the tracking details, I waited a few days before I asked for them.

No replies to any of my emails.

Sending him a message via one of his ebay auctions, I received a reply that stated he would send the tracking details on the Friday.

From Steve: I have forwarded this email to the warehouse who will get straight back to you with the tracking numbers ...
so sorry about this - not sure what has happened there ...
If its not already sent i am sure it will be on the way today ...

Lol no problem at all ... I will get back to you today with the tracking numbers i am sure ...
speak to you soon
Steve

Friday came and went with no communication from Steve.

Checking his PachiTalk profile I found his web site and saw that his office was open on Saturdays.

On the Saturday I made an international call to the number on his website, however, the response was that the number was not in service.

The email from steve indicated another website named skytvspecials. On opening this site it had nothing to do with Steve.

Using the email address on Steve's website in his profile, I sent yet another email. This was returned to me as undeliverable.

With a dodgy phone number, dodgy email address and an dodgy website, I became concerned.

I then saw another phone number was listed on his initial email.

I phoned the number and after continuous ringing out and then prolonged busy signals, Steve finally answered his phone which appeared to be his home phone.

Steve apologised for not sending me the tracking details and said that the machine would have been sent on the day it was ordered and that it only takes five days delivery to Australia. He then promised that on the Monday when the warehouse was open he would email me the tracking number.

Well, Monday came and went and no word from Steve.

I have now commenced a PayPal dispute with the intention of getting a refund of my $530.00AU.

I didn't want it to be the transaction from hell.

I was prepared to wait for delivery regardless of when it was shipped.

I only wanted to know a not too difficult answer, had it been shipped if so, what are the tracking details. If not, when would it be shipped.

Now, Chris Campbell is not shipping to Australia and the only other vendor I found was Steve and it seems he has ...

Anyway, does anyone know of a vendor who will ship to Australia?

I spent heaps of cash having a Pachinko cabinet made to put that machine on the wall to make space. I bought two stools, autostop and other gear on the expectation that the machine would be delivered hassle free, how wrong was I?

[luckydog]

Its only been a little over a week.

I've waited up to 2 weeks or longer for machines with no tracking info or returned emails.

they all showed up eventually. I've learned to be very patient waiting for my new toys.

[birdbrain]

heck 15-20 days in the USA is not unusual. international can be mind numbingly long

[pachiball]

As I said, I was prepared to wait for delivery regardless of when it was shipped.

I only wanted to know a not too difficult answer, had it been shipped if so, what are the tracking details. If not, when would it be shipped.

Even if the guy emailed me and said it could not be shipped for another month, I would be cool.

However, to keep telling me crap is not on.

[Sid]

Truth be told Steve does have a tendency not to follow up... and things like this blow up in his face... a simple truthful and quick answer would have been more then enough to satisfy most buyers.. unfortunately he has chosen once again to avoid contact... sooner as apposed to much later..

[pachiball]

Truth be told Steve does have a tendency not to follow up... and things like this blow up in his face... a simple truthful and quick answer would have been more then enough to satisfy most buyers.. unfortunately he has chosen once again to avoid contact... sooner as apposed to much later..

You are right there Sid, it does not take too much to type a few words in an email.

You also have to remember, I don't know this guy from Adam. He may be the most honest bloke in the UK, however, given his lack of communication and the misinformation on his website, I don't know what to believe.

His website states that's it's a family business, I think it may have been at one stage, however, I have a gut feeling that Steve alone runs this show these days and not too efficiently.

I don't really want a refund, I do want to know that my money is safe and I will receive the machine at some stage.

At this time, I have found too many variables in relation to Steve to be convinced. :don't know:

[hanabi]

I have bought a few Machines in the past from Steve,
Pachislo's and Pachinko's, tokens & Balls, when the prices were too good to pass up...

I have never had a problem wth him, and have always received my machines
within a few days, he usually asks me what day is best for me...

However, I haven't purchased anything since end of August 2007,
and being in England myself makes matters easier

It seems the problems are ocurring when they are being sent out of the UK??

[daverob]

I'm not going to try to promote or defend Steve with this reply, just give my (hopefully unbiased) perspective of the way I see Steve and his family operating the business, and why this situation is not really all that surprising to me...


In my dealings with 777heaven, I've spoken with Steve, Eddie and Fiona on the phone and met most of the family in person, and they all seem to be really nice people, friendly, helpful and (like myself!) pretty laid back. While this relaxed attitude is great when you're dealing face to face, it does seem to lead to a few problems when combined with the way the business is run.

777heaven/SkyTVSpecials is indeed a small family run business. I also believe that this is a side-business for most people involved, and their main income is derived elsewhere. The internet side of things is handled almost exclusively by Steve as the rest of the family do not appear to be that comfortable around computers and the internet. The main problem with this is that Steve is located around 300 miles away from the warehouse where all the stock is located. So every time you email about status, Steve has to pick up the phone and Eddie or Fiona at the warehouse have to track down the information you have asked for (which is quite likely to be stored on a piece of paper!).

The problem is really with this chain of communications. Between your email, Steve's phone message, the searching for the information, the return phone call and the email response, the sense of importance or urgency often seems to get lost, and the process often takes a lot longer than expected, or worse still (and sadly it appears happens too often), the chain breaks at one point and the expected response never turns up. I'd expect this is a result of the close family ties, meaning that all communication within the business is on a relaxed and informal basis, and priorities may not be very well communicated or may change as they pass from person to person.

Personally I can see how this can happen within the business, I too run a small business with my immediate family aside from my main income source, and see these kind of communication issues happening on a weekly basis. But in my case we are all in the same house and problems like this can be picked up upon quickly (hopefully before the customer realises!). I can't imagine how I could run the business successfully, if I had to rely on my parents or my other sister (who are both also around 300 miles away) for a critical business function.


I believe that you will get the machine you have ordered, and I expect that you will be happy with it once it has arrived. It's just that delivery of a package to the other side of the planet may be significantly quicker than the chain of communication to get you your tracking number

[pachiball]

I have purchased four machines from Chris at Pachislot Station and those were received in three days.

Seems my expectations with Steve to do the same were wrong.

As I said, I don't mind waiting after all it's not an urgent item to have.

Seeing Steve has said that it should have been sent and that on several occasions promised me the tracking number, it does concern me.

I have today sent Steve an email as follows, am I wrong?

G'day Steve

Thinking about all this, I may be over reacting in your not giving me the tracking details.

Look mate, I really don't mind if it hasn't been sent, as long as you can give me an expected delivery date.

The paypal dispute is good for 30 days, surely you can get the machine to me by that time.

Let's start fresh, and do the business.

Last time I had a problem like this, the seller and I ended up good mates, see how we go.

At least contact me Steve and if it's not been sent that's fine as I am sure you will get around to it.

However, just be truthful.

[pachiball]

Well the saga has ended, Steve has refunded my money without any explanation.

Seems I was right, he is full of crap telling me for days that it had been sent and he would give me the tracking number.

Now I know why he didn't give me the tracking details, because there were none.

Naturally my wife and I are bitterly disappointed, especially since Steve appeared to be the only one to sell to Australia and promised the world.

We have gone to so much trouble and expense in setting up for the machine, all wasted due to a vendor who doesn't care about his customers.

PLEASE, if anyone knows of a seller that will ship to Australia, please let me know.

[Sid]

well Steve has shown that he makes things right in the end...

his communication skills may be in need of improvement.. but he pulls through...

[pachiball]

well Steve has shown that he makes things right in the end...

his communication skills may be in need of improvement.. but he pulls through...

People change Sid and it seems that Steve is no exception.

In this instance, to have made things right would have been to honour the contract with me to supply a machine in a hassle free and truthful manner.

Sid, I can't see how you say that he pulls through, he failed to deliver the machine that I had paid for.

To return my money is only a cop out on Steve's part, we wanted a machine.

This exercise has cost me about $650.00+ for two stools, auto stop, topper and new wall cabinet to house my Pachinko to make room, none of the gear I can now use.

[hanabi]

I'm sure Sid can speak for himself, but I think that he was referring to the fact that your money
was swiftly refunded to you, avoiding a long drawn out dispute...

It could have been a whole lot worse perhaps??

At least you are now free to locate another machine,
although I don't know of anyone who sells to Australia right now...

Perhaps other Members may chime in with suggestions??

[Sid]

well what i mean by pull through is at least you got your money back..

instead of going through a long sordid affair of back and forth emails that never get answered or or paypal disputes that take forever...thats what i meant by my comments..

[pachiball]

Fair enough Sid.

I just received an email from Steve explaining what happened and his apology. If he had of done that in the first instance, I wouldn't have had to start this thread.

I replied to him with a plea to sell me the machine.

I await his reply.

[Sid]

hey i agree with you communication from a seller is #1.

[pachiball]

We are on track again.

Steve has agreed to send the machine and start a fresh.



Thanks all for your encouragement and thoughts.

[hanabi]

That's great!!

[casinocrazy]

I have had a few machines from Steve/Eddie with no issues, spoke to him as well last weeks about when he has his new shipment of goodies coming in, which is in the next couple of weeks.

[logicprobe]

Well the saga has ended, Steve has refunded my money without any explanation.

Honestly, I would have done the same thing. Refunded!

Filing a dispute no doubt caused his PayPal account to be frozen until the matter was resolved.
You probably had an effect on his other business, or his ability to pay suppliers by doing that.
For what? A week's wait for delivery to the other side of the world? Many of us have waited two or three weeks for delivery, and right from within the same country where we bought it!

Not defending his lack of communication here, but I think a lack of patience on your part may have contributed to the problem. And to somehow blame Steve that you've spent big bucks preparing for a machine that you don't have in hand yet... well, I don't get that at all.

Now, reading that Steve has agreed to a 'fresh start' with you on this, I think that says a lot about his honest desire to please customers... especially after being slammed by that customer in open forum, being called 'full of crap' amongst other things.

BTW... has Chris cited a reason for not shipping to Australia?