A 3-year sales ordeal comes to an end...

modessitt

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Apologies for the long post:

Way back when I posted about how I was picking up a Tournament Cyberball that had a 2072 boardset in it. A new member joined just to contact me about it. We shared several e-mails about it and I eventually got the following e-mail:

June 17, 2007

thank you for the update on the game. If you say that $xxx is your best offer I will offer $xxx (I would need shipping, just need your help on setting that up - at my expense of course). As far as making further upgrades, that would be great - I dont mind waiting some additional time to make sure the game plays and looks great.

Look forward to hearing when it's done and ready to go.

So, we made a deal. I did a bunch of work - rebuilt both monitors, fixed the damage around the control panels, new paint and t-molding, etc - and let him know it was ready. It took a little while to receive a response, but finally:

August 20, 2007:

Have not changed my mind, just been out of town on business. I will be making payment this week - probably via paypal.

September 4th, 2007:

You should be receiving payment within the next 48 hours. Please confirm when you do receive payment. Sorry again for the delay.

Finally, I receive a check in the mail in mid-October, 2007. But I have problems getting him to set up shipping. I get no response to e-mails for a while, then:

March 19, 2008:

Thank God you wrote. For whatever reason I did not receive your previous emails, probably due to an anti spam program I installed in my CPU.

Nevertheless I do want my machine and I apologize for the inconvenience in the delay. I will contact Navl to set up pick up and shipping and keep you informed.

To be continued...
 
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Again, I don't get responses to e-mails and finally just stop sending them. As the game is in storage with a bunch of my other projects, I just stop worrying about it. Then:

June 9, 2009

It has been a long time since we last corresponded. I purchased a Cyberball machine from you but was never able to get the game shipped. When we last corresponded, you offered to refund me the money I paid you after you sold the game.

I was wondering if you had sold the game (I would imagine that you did) and if we can sort out the refund. I am very sorry for the confusion, but I was never able to arrange the shipping. Believe it or not, I am still desperately seeking the same machine.

To which I respond:

June 22, 2009

I still have the game. As it no longer belonged to me legally, I could not sell it. As far as I'm concerned the game belongs to you, and I have been storing it for you these past 20 months since receiving your payment.

I have not been happy about having to pay to keep this game in storage without any word from you. Your last e-mail around Easter 2008 stated that you were going to arrange for shipping ASAP, and I never heard from you again. I made numerous attempts between October 2007 and April 2008 to allow you to arrange for shipping, and don't feel it is my responsibilty to keep contacting you.

You can still arrange to have NAVL pick up the game and take it to you. I'd estimate shipping to cost about $300-400, but cheaper than locating and buying another game. I rebuilt both monitors and all joysticks way back when, but it may need some minor maintenance after sitting for so long. However, I made a good faith effort when I did all this 2 years ago, and I don't want to have to do it all over again for free. It may be just fine, and it may need an hour to tweak everything back to perfect.

As for a refund, as I haven't resold the game, there is no refund to issue. If you no longer want the game, you are welcome to advertise it for sale, and let whomever buys it pay you and pick up from me as long as I have confirmation from you in writing.

Tell me how you wish to continue.

This time I get a response right back:

You are absolutely correct and I sincerely apologize for losing communication with you. From what I recall in our last communication I was attempting to have it shipped and you had asked me permission to try and sell it.

Whatever the case may be, I am certainly happy that you did not sell the unit. I am willing to pay you for the inconvenience and for the update maintenence ("the tweaking"). Also I would like to suggest that you set up the shipping with Navl and I also pay the same since you obviously have much more experience at packaging and shipping arcade machines than I do.

Once again please accept my apologies and look forward to finally getting this off your hands.

Same-day response:

I will be happy to set up the shipping, as well as go over the machine to make sure it is still as functional as when I finished it back then.

I will need to give NAVL your name, shipping address, and a contact phone number, as they will want to contact you once we determine when it will be picked up so they can arrange delivery and payment. If you could forward that to me, I will give it to them once I have checked over the game.

I'm glad we're finally getting this resolved.

Well, he sends me his address, but no phone number. Well, I'm pretty busy at the moment, and take a while getting around to pulling the game out of storage and going through it. To be honest, I didn't feel like being in too much of a hurry after how long this has gone on.

Well, whaddya know? I get this e-mail from his secretary/assistant recently:

May 19, 2010

I'm writing to you on behalf of Mr. xxx, he ordered and paid for the Cyberball Machine last year. The last conversation Mr. xxx had was over a year ago regarding the machine and its conditions. At this time, we still have not received any information regarding the outcome of the conversation or status of the delivery. Would you please make the necessary delivery arrangements and let us know of the cost of delivery. The shipping company preferably should be NAVL; Mr. xxx will gladly issue payment upon your response as we receive the information. Since Mr. xxx is out of town please feel free to contact me with your response

Well, it wasn't last year that he ordered and paid, but whatever. I wanted this thing gone. So I responded:

May 20, 2010:

Thank you for the contact. After many failed attempts at setting up delivery with Mr. xxx in the past, I am glad to finally get this resolved. I will make the necessary arrangements on my end to get the game packed (after appropriate testing to ensure it is still functioning properly) and will contact NAVL for pickup.

I will need to provide NAVL with a contact phone number so that they can verify payment and delivery address with you.

I will notify you when everything on my end is ready, but it should be done within the next week or so.

This time I got all the contact info I needed. I took two weeks to go thru it all and clean it up (it got dusty) Replaced one joystick switch that was acting iffy, but everything was still good. Of course, after 3 years of nothing, now all of a sudden they are in a hurry:

June 2, 2010

It's been over a week since we last communicated, and I'm still waiting for your reply regarding the amount we need to pay in order for you to ship Mr. xxx his Cyber Ball machine. Given the fact that it has been such a long time since he's purchased the item, it would be best to expedite the shipping process as soon as possible.

Please provide me with the exact amount due, so we may wire the funds to you and, have the machine shipped (via NAVL) immediately. Please contact me upon receipt of this email and provide me with your contact information to better communicate over the phone. I greatly appreciate your anticipated cooperation on this matter.

Well, I had the game done, and everything was working, so:

June 8, 2010

I have contacted Michelle Bianchi (NAVL) with the details to arrange pickup. She may contact you before calling me back, so I wanted to let you know. Hopefully their schedule will allow this to be picked up this week.

I have fully tested the game, and everything is working as it should.

They paid (332.10 from Austin to Miami) but it doesn't look like they got the extra insurance I recommended (worried the top might get damaged). I took lots of pics before wrapping it up.

Anyway, the game was picked up this morning at 7:15am. It's gone, and I'm happy. :)

Of course, after all this time, I'm sure I'll end up getting some complaint once it arrives, even though he got pics of it finished when he paid initially, so he was aware of any flaws...
 
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I can't believe they actually asked you to expedite the shipping arrangements...

Sir, you are truly a patient and understanding man.
 
Should have charged him a percentage of the fees you paid on your storage unit.

At the time they offered to reimburse me for some expenditures, but I figure I'll wait until they get it. If they complain about anything, I can pull out the whole "I stored this for free for 3 years" defense on them. If they are happy and still offer, I'll decide then...
 
That just may be the single longest arcade related transaction that I have heard about. You deserve a medal.
 
you must be a jedi master to complete this after 3 yrs!!!! geez well if i buy something from you im only a few hours away!!!!congrats!
 
I still have a game a guy paid $600 for, never picked up, called me a back a year later said he wanted his game, told him he had to pay me storage fees for the 12 months, then he never called back AGAIN (been another 2 months)
 
Can I buy your rampage world tour?

I'm sure I will be around sometime in the next 3-4 years to pick it up.

Thanks.
 
No way in hell I would have kept it that long. 5 6 months tops, then I would have sold it and told the guy to go get bent when he wanted a refund. You need money for the storage. The guy disrespected you, in my opinion. Your time, and your space is every bit as valuable as his is.
 
Hopefully you won't get tagged with more shipping expenses when the game ends up in Nigeria....
 
You forgot to XXX the name for the 5/20/10 quote.

I'd say congrats on getting it sold, but you sold it 3 years ago, so congrats on getting the thing out the door. Hopefully he'll be respectful of the fact you've had the thing in storage for so long and will offer to pay for that, but he sounds like a total space case so who knows. Either way, it's out the door, what's it making room for? :)
 
So who is this Mr. Gonzales....this has to be someone famous if they are having their secretary follow up with you...obviously some flake who buys stuff and forgets about it or can't organize simple things themselves...your a more patient man than me....

I know someone that has had a game for several years too that shipping was never paid for and/or pickup never arranged....as far as he is concerned after a few years he owns the game and the price paid for it basically went for storage fees...he ended up reselling it....I mean aside for someone paying you for storage up front... several years is somewhat ridiculous to expect anyone to hold a game for you even if you pay for it without some type of arrangement with them up front.

I find it funny that their are people out their that have that kind of change to throw around and just forget about the purchase for months and even years at a time...:eek:

When I make a purchase I'm all about getting the game either shipped or delivered asap to close the deal...especially when I purchase a game and money has changed hands...
 
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