I got my parts today. Ordered on March 31st and I live in Canada. For anyone else ordering from Canada, it came by Canada Post and, while Nareg labelled it as a “gift”, I still got hit with customs. :sad:
I’m more or less happy with the package. The joystick was fairly rigidly packaged in this cardboard thing that prevented any damage. This is my first time ordering arcade parts, I was expecting the buttons to come in the plastic box that kept each button in its own compartment (probably just mislead from the selective pictures I’ve seen on other websites). Alas, it was only in some bubble wrap, so there are a few minor scratch marks on the buttons probably caused by the quick-disconnects.
I know Nareg has gone through a lot of effort to get all of the orders out. But I still can’t help but be a little regretful after all this. Mainly because, Akihabarashop opened up on April 4 for a day. I was considering to cancel my order with Nareg to order from Akihabarashop because I couldn’t get the colors I wanted from Nareg (he only had Dark Hai). But the parts I ordered from Nareg were (at least I thought at the time) in stock as of March 31 and the turn-around time for Akihabarashop appeared to be about 2 weeks according to what other people posted here. So I decided to stick with Nareg because I figured since he’s in the U.S. and the parts were in stock as of March 31, there’s no way he could take more than 2 weeks.
Unfortunately, the parts he had in stock were on order from somebody else (I think he said he ordered them from Laugh?) but they were unavailable for a while and thus Nareg couldn’t get his hands on the parts for that while. Then I learned that he only operates 4 days a week.
In the end, it took almost a month for me to receive the parts. If I had ordered from Akihabarashop on April 4, 1) I would have gotten it sooner (the 2-week turn-around was very consistent), 2) I would have gotten the colors I wanted, and 3) I would have paid less (because mine was a small order). For those reasons, I do regret not cancelling my order with Nareg and ordering from Akihabarashop.
I guess I was just in ranting mood and needed a break from my work. I’ll stop now. :rolleyes:
Considering everything that Nareg went through, I will, of course, be giving him positive feedback.
As for recommending him, now that he’s got parts in stock, I would recommend him if you have a large order (he has very good shipping/handling prices) or don’t want to pay customs (if you live in the U.S.).