PachinkoPagoda... Big Disappointments.

[TilionMtl]

If you don't want to read everything, read the last section of this message.


During mid october last year (2008), I contacted david at Pachinkopagoda to know if he had certain pachinko machines, (from a list of five I was looking for). David had 3 of the five pachinkos I wanted. One had to be reframed, one was recycled in an unusual way.

For the reframing needed, it was not a problem, as I told David, I could do it myself if needed. So I replied immediately and said that I would agree to buy two of them from him.

One week later, I had no reply from him. I emailed him back to know if he had gotten my message, since sometimes emails can get lost, or filtered in spam and so on. I got a message from one of his assistants, Larry, who let me know that David was at the hospital because he had hurt his back. I was really sorry for him. Larry said he would ask David, and give me a price for the machines. He said that he could handle the sale while David was out. No problem for me.

One week later, Larry didn't remember exactly where we were in the negotiation as per our last message. I sent back a message to know the price for the two machines + shipping.

November 5th, Larry sent me the price for the pachinko. I asked him what was included with the pachinkos, and what were the shipping costs. Everything was good for me, and I asked him to send me the Paypal invoice.

November 11th, I got the invoice and payed it the same day.

November 16th, I received an email from David to let me know that one of the pachinkos (the one that needed to be reframed) had the glass missing, They would have some glass cut the next day.

November 23rd, David contacted me to tell me that they had problems with FedEx, now Fedex charged the brokerage fees at the beginning, while placing the order for a shipment. David said the fees were $35. I asked if it was $35 for both machines or per machine. He said he would try to contact Fedex regarding the extra fees or else he would ship the machines without charging any extra shipping fees. It was no problem for me to pay the extra brokerage fee, since I didn't have a broker, I figured I would have to pay it upon reception of the machines, anyways.

David offered to ship the cell of the one which needed to be reframed using USPS, and the frame with the other machine later when it was ready, to save on shipping. I didn't accept because I didn't have a frame for this cell. David said he would contact FedEx to try to arrange something first and let me know.

December 2nd, no news. After emailing him to know if he wanted me to send additional money to his Paypal account, he replied that he delayed to answer me because one of the pachinko had sound problems. He was waiting for a reply from his parlor engineer. He offered to refund me until he was ready to ship, and he offered to add "extras" to compensate for the delay.

December 10th, David emailed me to let me know that he got the missing audio part.

December 12th, he sent me a new email to let me know that the audio was now working.

December 15th, I checked on Paypal, and didn't have much time left to get a refund if I needed, so I emailed David, asking him politely to issue a refund just to clear the Paypal timeout period, and I would re-pay him immediately for the machines if he wanted.

December 16th, David refunded my payment. He informed me that in the next day or two, when he was 100% ready to ship, he would add some extras in the boxes, upgrade shipping to AIR shipping at no cost, to thank me for my patience. I felt a bit guilty and didn't want him to have to "pay" or add extras. I just asked him to let me know what the extra costs were and I would pay them, no problem.

December 17th, I got a message from David to let me know that the pachinko (that had audio problems) was ready to ship, but was set to recycle and the lock was missing. I asked him if he thought I could reverse it back to normal on my own. He said he would look at it.

December 24th, I wished David and his team a Merry Christmas.

January 2nd, I emailed David to know if the pachinko who need to be reframed and had a broken glass is ready to ship (he had never confirmed if this one was ready). If he want he can ship it to have it clear (get some money after Christmas), and take the needed time to work on the second one. Since he ordered the audio part from Japan, and probably the lock too, I said that he didn't plan such fees when he asked me the first price, and didn't have to pay for it, and he just have to let me know extra fees

January 9th, no answer. I took a chance and emailed him to let him know that, if for any reasons he felt unconfortable selling to me and didn't want to do business with me, it was ok and I would understand, he just had to let me know, so I could simply search elsewhere for the pachinkos I ordered from him.

As of today, no reply since December 17.

______________________________________

3 months after the beginning...

I usually don't rant against sellers and so on, and can be really understanding. I paid, he had some unexpected problems, I can understand that. I would accept if he decided he didn't want to sell to me anymore for whatever reason. I know that it's not because he no longer wants to ship to Canada because he has Indiana Jones and other machines available on Ebay, with the shipping costs for Canada. He even includes a note to Canadian customers to let them know that the shipping fees increase because of the added brokerage fees.

You cannot imagine how disappointed I am right now. Going through all this together, and then suddenly no reply. David from Pachinko Pagoda looks like a good guy, unfortunately I really don't know what happened. Unfortunately for him, he didn't just lose two sales: I was about to buy the third pachinko which was set to recycle in unusual way, but now, I will not.

Is Pachinko Pagoda a reputable seller? Well, unfortunately I cannot say so.

I gave him every opportunity to let me know if there were any additional fees, and if he preferred not to sell to me, but never got any further reply. It's a bit scary to imagine that this seller could get money, and then never reply if something went wrong, like pachinkos undelivered, broken, or with missing parts. He can get the money, then "poof" disappear without a trace.

The sad part is, I'm a bit dumb, and a bit desperate, because after all this, if David were to contact me, I would probably forgive and forget everything and accept to do business with him.