Draxxon Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 (edited) Just from the article, he sounds a lot like an old school drug dealer, lol. Just Saying. Dont ask for a nickel, dont ask for 10 pounds. Dont come over before noon, Dont send your friend I dont know. Piss me off and I wont sell to you. And thats what happens when there is no competition. P.S. Looking at that website for about 1 min lets you know something is off. I checked it out for doing an AFB2 cart mod. It fried my brain trying to read it. Edited June 21, 2021 by Draxxon 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 (edited) Being in UK, I always stuffed $50 into an envelope, send it over to Brad, and a month later the cartridge I ordered arrived in my mailbox. Edited June 21, 2021 by high voltage 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mockduck Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 1 hour ago, AtariBrian said: Don't forget he no longer accepts paypal! I forgot to add the web site is not just terrible but largely not functional in terms of seeing if they have a thing and figure out how to order it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacman000 Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 On 6/17/2021 at 8:40 PM, MrTrust said: Yeah, that's a non-zero possibility, I suppose, but I struggle to imagine the guy who's going to care passionately about the situation enough to give him a hard time who also doesn't already know what's going on. Or, more accurately, I can imagine the guy, but not enough copies of the guy to create a real problem. That warehouse can't be cheap to maintain, so if he did call it quits, one would think he would be able to find a buyer, if even for pennies on the dollar, rather than just allowing it to sit and rot. I think the real anxiety is would that prospective person be as good a custodian of all these things? Probably not, and for me, that would have made for a more interesting story. Sure, the guy is almost the literal definition of a troll, at least if some of the horror stories about him are to be believed. That's one way of looking at it. Then again, he's been a de facto caretaker of a thing that 99% of the world couldn't give less of a shit about, but means a lot to that 1%, and hopefully still will for years to come. Maybe a little gratitude is in order. The real meta story is, as all these machines age, so do the enthusiasts. None of us are getting any younger, and as the custodians of the "scene" thin out through attrition, you wonder how it will continue on into future generations. If it does. I hope it does, anyway. A troll acts abrasive to get more attention; he seems to want less attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacman000 Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 39 minutes ago, Mockduck said: I forgot to add the web site is not just terrible but largely not functional in terms of seeing if they have a thing and figure out how to order it. The front page is a mess, but the index of products seems to have a nice, easy-to-understand hierarchy: Text (best-electronics-ca.com) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrTrust Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, pacman000 said: A troll acts abrasive to get more attention; he seems to want less attention. I wasn't using the word in the internet slang sense. I was using it in the traditonal, Billy Goats Gruff sense. Edited June 21, 2021 by MrTrust 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+batari Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 My only real complaint about Best is the lack of a reliable and secure electronic payment system. No paypal, and Gpay (to an email address) stopped working last year. A credit card over the email or the phone doesn't fly anymore (it never really did.) I tried Visa gift cards but they proved unsuitable for online use. As for old-school payments, I haven't had personal checks in around 3 years. I guess all that is left is a money order. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 21 minutes ago, batari said: My only real complaint about Best is the lack of a reliable and secure electronic payment system. No paypal, and Gpay (to an email address) stopped working last year. A credit card over the email or the phone doesn't fly anymore (it never really did.) I tried Visa gift cards but they proved unsuitable for online use. As for old-school payments, I haven't had personal checks in around 3 years. I guess all that is left is a money order. Damn, last time I ordered from him was via PayPal. Wonder why he stopped accepting that. Shame, as that then means you have to wait for the check / money order to get to him, and then wait for the item to come back, vs with Paypal or other electronic transfer, it can halve the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 I wonder if he accepts the "Indian Scam" payment - Walmart or Best Buy gift cards? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 I was asked to be interviewed for the article as well but I have only ordered a few times from Best and have had no trouble in my communications or delivery of the items so I didn't have much to contribute. The article was interesting but nothing I haven't read before on the AA forums. - James 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 12 minutes ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said: I was asked to be interviewed for the article as well but I have only ordered a few times from Best and have had no trouble in my communications or delivery of the items so I didn't have much to contribute. The article was interesting but nothing I haven't read before on the AA forums. - James Yeah, I always see the random post on here of people having issues with ordering from Best, and I have personally ordered a few random things from Brad, and haven't ever had any issues with it. Most of it simply "do you have these parts, and what is the current price if you do?" Then you arrive at a total, and send the money and he sends the stuff. Seems pretty simple to me. I can't help but wonder the age of some that have problems with this, as it very much feels like the old days of mail order. Where you would send off a check with a note asking for the items to be purchased, or an order form, and then you hopefully will eventually get your order. Still waiting for my Racing Destruction Set, Electronic Arts! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 8 minutes ago, leech said: I can't help but wonder the age of some that have problems with this, as it very much feels like the old days of mail order. Where you would send off a check with a note asking for the items to be purchased, or an order form, and then you hopefully will eventually get your order. In the early, wild-west-days of the Internet I used to send cash, money orders and cheques in envelopes all over the world to pages that looked like Best Electronics, so buying through Best was not a big deal. I just read and followed his instructions and got my goods with no problems. One time he limited an amount of one thing I could order once and I didn't complain, I adjusted the amount, paid and then got the items shortly after. I suppose people who are used to virtual shopping carts, one click buying and next day delivery would be in for quite a shock when they try to order from Best! - James 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 Took a look through the website and it seems fine. A breath of fresh air from today's excessive whitespace. Back to when information was dense. Had the look and feel of oldschool mail ordering. Money goes there, product comes here. Unlike all the drop-ship nonsense of potentially counterfeit cheap china crap on Amazon and Ebay. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rennervision Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 (edited) I wanted to place an order from Best after hearing about Brad through this site, but at the same time I was nervous I would mess it up. I spent a week trying to decipher the website to figure out what to ask for so I sounded semi-intelligent. Then I spent a whole weekend typing, proof-reading, and revising a short email. When Brad replied back with instructions on how to order, I felt excited - like I got myself through the door of an exclusive club. Then I messed up with the instructions on how to send payment by not including the proper comment before submitting. I was really upset and was sure I had screwed the pooch right there. Banned for life. I sent an email apologizing about that. But Brad didn't seem to mind at all. After my order arrived, I thought I would push my luck and order from him a second time. This time it went off without a hitch and, after the second order arrived, I even politely asked him about a little problem I was having with one of the controllers I bought. He told me how to fix it myself, I thanked him, and that was that. As far as I'm concerned, the guy was a complete teddy bear. I'm certainly not used to being this careful about how I place an order with someone, but I thought why not just play by his rules so I can get what I need? When it's all over and you get your lovely box sealed in Atari-branded tape, it doesn't seem like it was that much of a compromise. Edited June 22, 2021 by rennervision 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted June 24, 2021 Share Posted June 24, 2021 On 6/16/2021 at 9:41 PM, pacman000 said: He’s bought 8,000 pallets over the years, most from Atari Corp’s closure...how big is that warehouse? 8000 pallets would take up over 120,000 square feet, assuming each pallet is 4x4. It is definitely possible to stack pallets on racks. My warehouse experience is very limited, but I have seen stacks some 15 or 20 feet high. It was necessary to use a lift to get something from the top row. Two layers is easy; three or four is achievable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Player Posted June 24, 2021 Share Posted June 24, 2021 22 minutes ago, jhd said: It is definitely possible to stack pallets on racks. My warehouse experience is very limited, but I have seen stacks some 15 or 20 feet high. It was necessary to use a lift to get something from the top row. Two layers is easy; three or four is achievable. I worked in food manufacturing and the warehouses had pallet racks that went up six layers. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted June 24, 2021 Share Posted June 24, 2021 Right - but this is a guy, presumably in his 70s now. Imagine he is paying rent for that storage every month. That's a massive chunk out of sales budget for what he could be doing in sales. No way in hell at this point in time would sales make up for the rent on storage. I don't know too many people that outright own land, building, and 100,000 square feet of palette racking 20 feet tall. Oh yeah - and the forklift required to reach the stuff. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidD Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 44 minutes ago, Stephen said: Right - but this is a guy, presumably in his 70s now. Imagine he is paying rent for that storage every month. That's a massive chunk out of sales budget for what he could be doing in sales. No way in hell at this point in time would sales make up for the rent on storage. I don't know too many people that outright own land, building, and 100,000 square feet of palette racking 20 feet tall. Oh yeah - and the forklift required to reach the stuff. It's conceivable that he bought the warehouse/land ages ago and outright owns it -- there was a retail space once, right? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 (edited) Colin Hunt and I went to a Computer Fair in London. Who's sitting there with his merch, Brad, came all the way from USA. We chatted, purchased items, great guy indeed. But we were so surprised him coming from the States. Great afternoon. Still got this from him at the fair Edited June 25, 2021 by high voltage 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Player Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 7 hours ago, Stephen said: Right - but this is a guy, presumably in his 70s now. Imagine he is paying rent for that storage every month. That's a massive chunk out of sales budget for what he could be doing in sales. No way in hell at this point in time would sales make up for the rent on storage. I don't know too many people that outright own land, building, and 100,000 square feet of palette racking 20 feet tall. Oh yeah - and the forklift required to reach the stuff. I don't know. Maybe he does have racking that high and no forklift. May explain the 3 item order limit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarian1 Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 I don't think he has anything near what he had back in 1996 when he bought out a lot of Atari's remaining inventory. I remember reading something 5-10 years ago that he started with four warehouses and he's now down to two warehouses. It certainly shows he is starting to run out of certain items by now. He doesn't have any complete systems in stock anymore (except the Lynx and XEs). It was only a few years ago when you could still get an Atari 2600, 7800 or Atari ST computer. Not anymore. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Kaboomer Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 6 hours ago, high voltage said: Colin Hunt and I went to a Computer Fair in London. Who's sitting there with his merch, Brad, came all the way from USA. We chatted, purchased items, great guy indeed. But we were so surprised him coming from the States. Curious when this was? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 5 hours ago, atarian1 said: I don't think he has anything near what he had back in 1996 when he bought out a lot of Atari's remaining inventory. I remember reading something 5-10 years ago that he started with four warehouses and he's now down to two warehouses. It certainly shows he is starting to run out of certain items by now. He doesn't have any complete systems in stock anymore (except the Lynx and XEs). It was only a few years ago when you could still get an Atari 2600, 7800 or Atari ST computer. Not anymore. Yeah, the web site still usually says to ask though. Would be nice if the inventory aspect of it was still up to date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, Kaboomer said: Curious when this was? Gosh, mid 90s, maybe a bit before. I was already a customer with Brad ordering Atari VCS protos (like Donald Duck Speedboat and stuff like that) My wife and I we'd moved from Dorset (UK) to Berkshire (UK), and Colin came from Dorset to attend the show with me. Brad was selling Atari ST stuff, Colin was interested, because he owned an ST. I remember I purchased some Portfolio stuff. Edited June 25, 2021 by high voltage 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draxxon Posted June 26, 2021 Share Posted June 26, 2021 (edited) So Just stop with the madness 'cause Brad's getting his ass kissed. He just simply doesn't have time for your Atari parts Antics. Edited June 26, 2021 by Draxxon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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