Yeah, VGC simply does not respond to e-mails. I sent them 1 requesting a change in shipping type and 1 requesting a cancellation once this whole fiasco came up. In the end I had to call them to get a cancellation and they even hung up on me once during that process!
Sorry to hear about your situation Dog, I’m not sure what you can do if you can’t call maybe get someone to call in for you?
Yeah I am in Australia and I tried getting through via phone to them a few times without luck.
If I was in the U.S. of course I would just keep on phoning but with me working and factor in the time difference the opportunity to phone is not long.
Plus everytime I get through to the exchange and then the phone call is unsuccessful I am getting charged on my phone account.
I wouldn’t dare say that vgc are cutting me off because they probably have some automated phone system but it sure is frustrating.
They were good at responding to my email enquiries early on when I was asking a few Q’s prior to the whole backorder fiasco.
But now I am just not able to get any response back. I am going to sit it out to next week in the hope they do the right thing and just refund my money straight back to my Paypal account. To get an explanation will be a bonus as well.
It really leaves a sour taste because I do alot of internet transactions and this is the 1st time anyone has taken my money prior to a shipment of goods and then not returned my communications with them.
OK. I know I said I was done with this thread but I saw this and had to warn you guys…NEVER BUY FROM THESE GUYS. FYI, I cancelled my TE order with them over the phone (50 minute long distance wait) on the 18th after getting their e-mail and the guy told me I’d see the funds later that night, and that they were not taking 5%. Later that night I get an e-mail confirmation that my order was cancelled but that all preorders that were cancelled would be charged 5%. I sent back an e-mail saying that they were getting every complaint mentioned in my first post if they didn’t confirm that I would get a FULL refund. They responded rather quickly saying that due to the nature of the product they would not be charging me the 5% although normally they have to. They went on to say they needed my credit card digits because all orders placed 30 days or more prior didn’t have that info for refund. So I have it in writing that they have processed the refund although I don’t see it on my card as of yet. When I e-mailed them telling them the original guy who cancelled my order said it would be refunded that night they responded saying I have to allow up to 5 business days. If I don’t see it by then, I’m charging everything back and filing the complaints anyway. These guys are SHADY and should not be allowed to conduct business. On top of all that, the reason why I came on here is because I noticed that the alternative HRAP EX that they were selling a mere 3 days ago for $129.99 is now jacked up to $179.99!!! That’s more than they were charging for the MC TE stick! Thank God I ordered mine elsewhere. They’re clearly trying to price gauge because once word got out about TE’s being short on production everybody, including myself made a run for Amazon and Arcade Shock for HRAP EX’s depleting all stock. If there is one thing anybody who comes into this thread should learn and know about VGC it’s to BUY ELSEWHERE.
I had to email VGC because calling them went straight to voicemail, here’s what happend:
**VGC,
Please cancel my order, #XXXXX. I find it very irresponsible for VGC to still take orders, when every other reputable merchant stopped taking orders. I called in a week after placing my order, asked how was it possible that video game central were still taking preorders, and was told “we were just allotted more sticks than everyone else because we are a specialty store”.
I request a full refund and not be charged any restocking fee, especially for an item that you guys have not even received to ship. I will be reporting this to the BBB if I experience any delay or hardship.
Thank you,
Lostcase
Ps. I think redirecting customers to other sticks, in case they do no want to wait, and increasing their prices to make a profit is a very shady move.**
Their response:
*Lostcase,
Your order has been cancelled and even though your order was processed and charged (as with any preorder) you have not been charged the mandatory 5% restocking fee; due to the mistake on MadCatz part and the problems this Fight Stick has caused among the gaming community we are allowing customers to cancel their order without penalty for a limited time.
As for the other sticks we redirected our customers to, the reason the prices were increased is because everyone who was unable to get the SF4 stick (basically everyone) who still wants to purchase a fight stick is jumping on a limited supply run by Hori and other manufacturers.
Thank You & Game On!! VideoGameCentral.com Staff
*
I will never do business with them Again, first and last time…
As of 2 seconds ago, HRAP EX on their site is now at $179.99.
PS. I sent them an email yesterday, Feb. 19th, around 10am, and they responded within two hours. Not sure if they are responding as fast today, considering that everyone is super pissed.
I like how VGC is trying to point fingers saying it’s Mad Catz fault for THEM keeping preorders open so long.
Yup. They’ve even included a doc. that madcatz sent them explaining why they weren’t getting any sticks.
sigh… now that I think of it, I’m not even excited about owning any stick. TE would have been my first.
Can you please link me/send me said .doc?
Hello Gamer,
This is a notification regarding your Pre-order for the:
Madcatz Tournament Edition & Regular Street Fighter 4 Arcade Sticks.
We, as instructed from Madcatz, had pre-ordered SFIV Sticks set to ship from Madcatz on Feb. 17th, 2009
As a valued customer we are sorry to inform you that the Madcatz complete fulfillment ship date has been pushed back as per Madcatz’s Official Statement that you can view here: http://videogamecentral.com/Madcatz_Letter_SF_Sticks.doc
Madcatz? verbal explanation for this last minute back pedal of lack of product is as follows:
"Due to the overwhelming last minute demand and a work slowdown due to Chinese New Year, Madcatz has under-produced these items for their initial release shipment. Madcatz will be providing more product to the confirmed pre-books as they become available. "
We empathize with the frustration that this causes with you (as with us) as VideoGameCentral was still getting a confirmed response (from all of our sources) to our pre-books up until a week ago. This past week, our confirmed purchase orders, which we were monitoring daily lost their confirmed status and we were left with only a vague response until we received the info that we are forwarding to you. We assure you this is a universal shortage which most of you probably know already.
We will be filling orders promptly as our sticks arrive. We have many sources also outside Madcatz that are working diligently to obtain higher quantities of these SFIV sticks. We will send out available sticks as they arrive in the order of the pre-books received.
Due to the above-mentioned information, if you would not like to wait, we have provided alternative product choices that make excellent substitutions. Please see below for the links to these great arcade sticks:
XBOX 360 Real Hori Arcade EX Stick (Full Size)
http://store.videogamecentral.com/xb360-hori-real-arcade-pro-3-arcade-joystick.html
PS3 Hori Real Arcade Pro 3 Stick (Full Size)
http://store.videogamecentral.com/ps3-hori-real-arcade-pro-3-arcade-joystick.html
PS3 Hori SC4 Arcade Stick (Smaller)
http://store.videogamecentral.com/ps3-soul-calibur-4-arcade-stick.html
Exclusive Review of these Products:
[media=youtube]g0lIJk7QH18[/media]
If you choose to wait for Madcatz to fill the allocation expected, we will be shipping them continuously according to the orders received from when Madcatz ships them. The estimated dates of fulfillment are expected to be late March & April. Once again, we apologize for the delay and will notify you once your order has shipped.
Thank you for your continued support,
Dominick Scarpitta / President
VideoGameCentral.com
Thank You & Game On!! VideoGameCentral.com Staff
Here you go…I so hope they made this up so MadCatz goes after them.
http://videogamecentral.com/Madcatz_Letter_SF_Sticks.doc
If this link doesn’t work for you I can send you the doc via e-mail.
Lol, i thought the same thing.
So, what say you MarkMan, is this doc. VGC provided from MadCatz legit? Seemed to be very brief…
some dude in the Fightstick/Fightpad tgread said his TE from VGC shipped :wtf:, hope!
Just posted a message asking him if that’s the case if you read his post it doesn’t seem like it.
Odnas
"Hurray! My order at VGC shipped, but the tracking number the provided doesn’t work. I’m still waiting on Gamecrazy for my TE stick. :<"
Order for what? Then he goes on to say he still waiting on Gamecrazy for his TE stick…if he is talking about a TE stick I’ll be furious.
WHOA…the hrap ex is now $190 and the hrap3 is $160.
the hrap3 was almost half the price 2 days ago
he smells big money … he thinks people dont want to wait so long for the TE sticks and would by another one :xeye:
This is robbery. The price was $179.99 (see previous posts) just last night!!! They’re thieves and I’m starting to believe they knew they were gonna screw over everybody on TE preorders just to profit off HRAP orders later…
I work for VGC shipping department and can tell you guys now. Sorry. We only got 50 TE sticks out of 900 pre-orders. We are randomly selecting people to ship to also so your pre-order date means nothing. Blame Madcatz.
wow. randomly select? no “sticks for first 50 people to preorder”?
assuming a customer doesn’t cancel their order, what will vgc say in the future…like june, regarding the sticks?
thats the first thing i thought too …