Turnarcades respond

The email i was sent, with my reply.

On Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 3:21 AM, *******************> wrote:

Hi Stephen

I saw your comments after being referred by a fellow board member which I felt were pretty unfair as I had offered to help and would have seen the way to go further to help if necessary once pictures were provided.

You didnt ask for photos. You didnt say you would help if I did provide photos.

Your comments on the extensive write-ups have been very misleading and as this thread was started just a few days after you agreed to accept the monitor you did not even allow ample time for a replacement to arrive although I informed you we are on our summer break so would not be looking at business every day until we return so a couple of days was not ample time. Coupled with this, informing people that it was "a £1000 build" is not accurate either as it was well under that and over 2/3rds of the actual price was formed by the materials and number of extras you chose, such as the control panel extras and coin door that formed a few hundred pounds - the labour charge forms a very small part of any build, which is why there are very few (if any) other UK builders doing scratch-builds.

I paid a total of £910 for build parts and delivery. To me it costs £1000 Ill make sure people are aware of this.

I appreciate your comments that the build was not what you were expecting but as with any item ordered over the internet, you have to rely on picture evidence only of purchases which is why we have many online sources and references (such as our website and ebay listings as well as other sources) where we show as much as we can, and also why we insist customers read and accept the terms and conditions to understand that machines/cabinets will not match commercial quality. Part of home building (and particularly custom work with varied components being used) is improvising fitting methods and aiming for an overall result, rather than focusing on details that do not affect the overall finished use of the machine. In our experience, as well as in the opinion of all our former customers, have never regarded the interior appearance or minor detailing to be important as they do not affect structural integrity (under normal use, not during transportation) or detract from the way a machine plays in the end. Creating a polished finish on interior components, mountings and fittings would increase the 40-hour construction time dramatically and hence we would be forced to charge what commercial or high-budget builders do (well over 4 figures) just for the woodworking alone. The most important ethic we work to is 'function over finish' which is why this is specifically mentioned in our terms+conditions, as well as the fact that there is no official guarantee as we cannot financially or physically support such conditions and returns are not accepted. As with anything, if you are unsure or do not agree then you should not buy.

Function over finish, If it worked we wouldn't be talking and I would be cheering. The monitor is too dark, the trackerball didnt work, the plexyglass is cracked and the lights fell out.
I only ever asked for help to get it "functioning".

It is also mentioned in the terms and conditions that we will offer help or advice as we see fit but are not obliged to do so. As you had problems and I am conscious of reputation I did agree to help as far as I saw reasonable which you accepted but although your response time was long, you have not allowed me time to carry through recompense as I have agreed to do and instead begun multiple criticisms online.

I asked for help the day after it arrived, you mailed me a few days later saying you couldnt help due to function over finish.
I asked for a refund in that mail for the monitor due to it not being usable for arcade games. over a month and I still dont have a monitor that was worth the £100 I paid.

Had I seen pictorial evidence I may well have been more inclined to extend the offer of help but I am now doubtful about doing so as you have been hasty in your criticisms elsewhere. For example, you informed me the monitor concerned was 'too dark to see anything' but yet the pictures show otherwise even though I gave you benefit of the doubt and had not seen it until now.

It may be that it is too dark to play well but  offeref the replacement in good faith so it's not like I don't back up my confidence in the work we do. Some of the other issues you mention have never troubled any other customers in the past so they really come down to personal opinion, with you the first customer to object.

Other arcade owners have seen the build and all have expressed it was very very poor.

 We built a virtually identical cabinet to yours at the same time that the owner was very pleased with (which cost nearly double your shell with all the extras) with many of the same methods and finishes the same yet the overall outcome was better received (videos can be viewed here for a comparison: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7uKPvBI5Tw and this build also used the same monitor type) so this proves the point that not everyone has the same expectations and expects a 'home build' feel. The paint flecks on the monitor were not apparent as it was tested before going into the machine (with no complaints we could find I should add) but as it was not lit up properly again as yours was just a shell project, any paint specks were not noticable. The 'general care' section of our machine instruction pamphlet explains that 'construction evidence' and 'general housekeeping' will need to be tolerated on all new machines (such as minor scratches, dust or paint specks easily removed with a mild solvent like nail polish remover) but as yours was a shell build only with some fitted additions (in our terms a major custom project) you would not have had these instructions as much of the other info in there would not apply to your build. Small things like touch-ups and thorough cleaning would have been seen to with time for further inspection but as was explained we were running over capacity in the run-up to our break and pressure was coming from all customers to get projects finished as quickly as possible so understandably points will be missed.

I would have been happy right from the start to have gotten a monitor that bright, and trackerball that worked.

The situation stands that I have offered help as far as I believed possible at the time and with no other picture evidence at the time to show anything other than a difference in build expectation from 99% of our other 150 custom builds in the last few years. On seeing these pictures there would be nothing much more could be offered besides a small refund for some touch-up work that you found necessary which I may have agreed to after viewing such pictures, but as understood and agreed prior to purchase we have no capacity to do call-outs, returns for amendments and certainly not returns on custom work like ours as the parts have already been purchased and used and the time spent on labour done. Regardless of the online comments and lack of extension of courtesy I am still willing to discuss recompense so I leave this up to you, though I am now confirming that a full refund will not be offered as was stated in the terms and conditions. As you were also aware we are now on our Summer break and I will be going on holiday on Wednesday so will be unable to continue dealing with this issue until my return in late August.  

Please send me a replacement monitor this week, and the compensation you feel is owed for the other repairs and ill be happy.

Thanks in advanced.

Stephen