AtariMax?

[gargoyle]

It's like they're waiting for their buttons to be pushed and then they immediately light up. lol... And i love those "this thread must be locked" reaction (because we users can't make the disappointed customers shut-up)

 

 

Edited July 19, 2017 by gargoyle

[polyex]

I have a family and a full time job too.

 

I watch Blu-Ray's of cult movies, the kind stuff you do not usually find on Netflix or Redbox. I don't have room or interest to collect these movies so I put them up on eBay after watching them. I get an email from paypal to print the postage , I print the sticker and put it on a mailer or a box with the movie(s) and leave it the mailbox out front of my house after lifting the little flag. That does not take two weeks , it takes 5 minutes.

[+DrVenkman]

I have a family and a full time job too.

 

I watch Blu-Ray's of cult movies, the kind stuff you do not usually find on Netflix or Redbox. I don't have room or interest to collect these movies so I put them up on eBay after watching them. I get an email from paypal to print the postage , I print the sticker and put it on a mailer or a box with the movie(s) and leave it the mailbox out front of my house after lifting the little flag. That does not take two weeks , it takes 5 minutes.

Bad analogy.

 

Do you make the Blu-ray Disc, packaging and materials up from parts and raw materials? Much of what Steve sells is custom built using small batches of parts. You want a repro OSS Cart, he may have some ready to mail but more likely he builds the boards up from parts, puts it into one of his custom cart shells (best ones currently available anywhere, btw) and then sends t to you. If he’s out of shells or boards or the chips for the board, he has to order more. Not sure about you but most part time sellers don’t have tens of thousands of dollars to keep tied up in inventory on hand.

 

The good news is, you don’t have to order from him. So go buy your Happy board or MAC/65 cart or 5200 flashcart elsewhere.

 

Good luck with that.

[flashjazzcat]

Yep: I produced and sold a batch of fifteen UNO carts the other month and just the testing, packing, labelling and posting took ages, so the the analogy is confirmed bunkum. Any idiot can find time during the week to stick a DVD on eBay and post it.

Edited September 7, 2017 by flashjazzcat

[Marius]

I have a family and a full time job too.

 

I watch Blu-Ray's of cult movies, the kind stuff you do not usually find on Netflix or Redbox. I don't have room or interest to collect these movies so I put them up on eBay after watching them. I get an email from paypal to print the postage , I print the sticker and put it on a mailer or a box with the movie(s) and leave it the mailbox out front of my house after lifting the little flag. That does not take two weeks , it takes 5 minutes.

 

What in the world did Tucker do to you, that you took the time to logon to this forum, did an active search to find this topic, and write this sh*t here? It makes no sense at all, has nothing to do with Atarimax, and it is in no way constructive.

Edited September 7, 2017 by ProWizard

[GlowingGhoul]

The analogy is perfect. The problem we have are people so fearful that the few remaining atari related vendors will take their toys away if anyone dares comment on month long waits for email responses that they'll jump all over anyone who dares to complain. Demanding the "thread be locked", good grief.

[flashjazzcat]

I don't think it's a fear that vendors will stop supporting the machine. I doubt Steve gives two shits about this stupid thread even if he knows it exists. It's more a desire to prevent trolls from turning fairly innocent and reasonable (if repetitive) questions into misrepresentations of the whole AtariMax customer experience which other prospective customers may then encounter. You'll see one un-clickable account name in this thread, which gives an idea of the calibre of some of the detractors.

[polyex]

Bad analogy.

 

Do you make the Blu-ray Disc, packaging and materials up from parts and raw materials? Much of what Steve sells is custom built using small batches of parts. You want a repro OSS Cart, he may have some ready to mail but more likely he builds the boards up from parts, puts it into one of his custom cart shells (best ones currently available anywhere, btw) and then sends t to you. If he’s out of shells or boards or the chips for the board, he has to order more. Not sure about you but most part time sellers don’t have tens of thousands of dollars to keep tied up in inventory on hand.

 

The good news is, you don’t have to order from him. So go buy your Happy board or MAC/65 cart or 5200 flashcart elsewhere.

 

Good luck with that.

So , he makes them by hand as he gets orders? You know that?

[+DrVenkman]

So , he makes them by hand as he gets orders? You know that?

 

Nicely cherry-picked quote. Try again, troll.

[polyex]

The analogy is perfect. The problem we have are people so fearful that the few remaining atari related vendors will take their toys away if anyone dares comment on month long waits for email responses that they'll jump all over anyone who dares to complain. Demanding the "thread be locked", good grief.

 

Amen. Did I mention that sending an email back to a concerned customer is even faster and takes less effort than putting a Blu-Ray/DVD in the mail?

[polyex]

 

Nicely cherry-picked quote. Try again, troll.

Not a troll , just a customer who sent money and has not heard back in weeks.

[Lord Thag]

I think the thing to remember here is that this isn't a black and white thing. You can be a stand up guy who has provided a great service to the community for years... who is also busy with a job and family, and who maybe isn't the worlds most organized and prompt person every day in responding to emails, getting orders out etc. I run conventions, and you see quite a few vendors like this. They do cool stuff, are super great people, have lots of neat things to sell... but they kinda operate on their own wavelength and time frame. You want what they sell, you work with their (usually slow-ish) schedule. And it's worth it, usually. In my experience, all the main Atari vendors (B&C, Atarimax, Best etc.) are all like this. Great experiences with all of them, but they have a LOT of other priorities, and... it is what it is. And it's worth the wait.

 

That said, it can be very frustrating waiting for weeks when you are used to amazon/ebay speeds. I quite understand new customers being frustrated. My only advice is this: keep trying to contact them. They WILL do right by you. Eventually.

[Marius]

I think the thing to remember here is that this isn't a black and white thing. You can be a stand up guy who has provided a great service to the community for years... who is also busy with a job and family, and who maybe isn't the worlds most organized and prompt person every day in responding to emails, getting orders out etc. I run conventions, and you see quite a few vendors like this. They do cool stuff, are super great people, have lots of neat things to sell... but they kinda operate on their own wavelength and time frame. You want what they sell, you work with their (usually slow-ish) schedule. And it's worth it, usually. In my experience, all the main Atari vendors (B&C, Atarimax, Best etc.) are all like this. Great experiences with all of them, but they have a LOT of other priorities, and... it is what it is. And it's worth the wait.

 

That said, it can be very frustrating waiting for weeks when you are used to amazon/ebay speeds. I quite understand new customers being frustrated. My only advice is this: keep trying to contact them. They WILL do right by you. Eventually.

 

I agree with this. But, I have some more thoughts. I don't see the reason why people complain in this thread. Seriously not. The only thing happening with Atarimax is that people have to wait (patiently) for their stuff. He is not stealing their money. It takes time, that is all. If he would take money, without sending stuff... that would be a good reason to start this thread. As far as I know, it never happened. Never. So what is all the fuzz about? Why do people have to get here and 'warn' people for AtariMax? I do not see a reason. And the people here are also not able to give accurate answers to the questions about Steve... so it is useless.

 

So people start to discuss here how Atarimax should run his business. That is the wrong place to discuss it. One should directly discuss that with Steve. He is probably not reading this, and even if he was reading it, why would he care?

 

Nowhere on his site he states that he will process the order within 24 hours. People have their high expectations, while Atarimax never and nowhere writes that it will meet their expectations. I'd say: save the tears for Oprah Winfrey.

Edited September 8, 2017 by ProWizard

[Lord Thag]

 

I agree with this. But, I have some more thoughts. I don't see the reason why people complain in this thread. Seriously not. The only thing happening with Atarimax is that people have to wait (patiently) for their stuff. He is not stealing their money. It takes time, that is all. If he would take money, without sending stuff... that would be a good reason to start this thread. As far as I know, it never happened. Never. So what is all the fuzz about? Why do people have to get here and 'warn' people for AtariMax? I do not see a reason. And the people here are also not able to give accurate answers to the questions about Steve... so it is useless.

 

So people start to discuss here how Atarimax should run his business. That is the wrong place to discuss it. One should directly discuss that with Steve. He is probably not reading this, and even if he was reading it, why would he care?

 

Nowhere on his site he states that he will process the order within 24 hours. People have their high expectations, while Atarimax never and nowhere writes that it will meet their expectations. I'd say: save the tears for Oprah Winfrey.

 

Yeah, I know. I feel the same. I'm just saying people are used to ebay and amazon prime these days. When they don't get that, unless they've been around the atari scene a bit, it's pretty natural to assume they are being scammed.

 

Bitching about it here is pointless though. We are damned lucky to have B&C, Best, Atarimax, Lotharek etc. Threads like this only served to take the wind out of their sails, you know? Being a retro vendor is often a very thankless job.

[toddtmw]

Hang on, let's not lump all of these vendors togehter.

 

In my (limited) experience, Best and Lotharak both ship immediately. (I haven't ordered from B&C ... yet). Let's be clear about this. Yes, Best and Lotharak (and I suspect, B&C) are also pretty much one man shops, but let's not imply that they have a reputation of being slow to deliver.

 

It's easy to say, you shouldn't expect speed from Steve because he doesn't promise speed. That's fair, but he doesn't set any expectation at all and in the absence of information, people make assumptions based on their experience with other vendors. If his order form said "Allow 2-4 weeks for delivery", anyone complaining here could be safely ignored. Since that is not the case, I think it is fair to at least warn people (probably not as often as it seems to come up) that if you order from him, it will likely take more than 2 or 3 days.