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mrasmus

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This one's a long one, and I'm sorry for that; wish it weren't so:

I ordered a Chunithm cabinet from KC in December; he offered a "Special Big sale Very low price" of $2000 ($2550 with freight and a PayPal surcharge). When I ordered (12/17), he required pre-payment, saying it was still in transit so he couldn't send pictures, but would when he had the stock on-hand. I inquired to the state of the cabinet, "will all parts be included?", to which he responded that "The game is complete." And implied it was playable. In retrospect, he dodged questions about more details, but at the time it felt like a fair deal for a cab I wanted, and I knew that if there was damage to the operation of the cab, I could likely do some repairs.

Note: The only picture available was the one posted in the thread -- a cab missing its Nu mobo, and its lock cylinders, visibly. I assumed it was an example picture -- all he had, because the cabs were on a boat at that point. There was no way that the pictured cab counted as "complete" by any stretch of the imagination, so I didn't treat it as reflective of what he'd deliver.

After some delays (which I was totally accommodating of with no complaint, he'd warned me the port was a potential cause of delays; he responded quickly enough when I asked for status updates, from my perspective, and I wasn't in any rush. Eventually, on 2/10, he pings me that it's arrived, and we talk arrange delivery. I even offer to receive it in pieces, since I saw that they'd been shipped that way (a mistake, in retrospect); my thought was "Oh, save him the trouble of having to put it together, since I'm gonna have to take it apart to get it inside anyway." He agrees, everybody's happy.

A day later I see that, before even sending me my notice of arrival, he'd updated his sales thread with an offer for a 10% discount for buyers of other CHunithm cabs he had in February; I pinged him asking if he'd be willing to extend the offer to me, as well, which he declines. Kinda shitty to a customer who gave you a two month loan, to give day-1 buyers a better deal, but... I agreed to the price, I still wanted the cab at that price, and I hold up my end of transactions to the best of my ability. He kinda held all the cards at that point anyway, short of me doing a chargeback or PayPal dispute -- both of which are tools I'm *always* hesitant to use, because I know they can be a massive pain for people just trying to run a business. They weren't even on my mind -- just "damn, got burned by KC, guess I will look elsewhere for future cab purchases." His only make-good for this was a promise that "will get you the best one".

Cab pictures were provided with no context; he sent me a picture of a fractured back acrylic on the LED billboard (near the Right Speaker, still mounted -- that's a fun little thing to remember). I responded saying that if that was the best he had, it was a bummer but I could probably repair it. Other pics were sent that were less obviously flawed, and it felt more like a BOM than proper review pictures, but... he was sending all the relevant parts, according to his pictures -- though they were of inventory still stacked. A billboard, on top of other billboards. A whole slew of sidewalls with air sensors. "2 PCs", "1 PC" etc. "2 Pcs" next to a speaker with its mounting bracket on it (for those that don't know, the billboard speakers on a Chunithm cabinet have mounting brackets that are mirrored parts -- the speaker itself is common, but there are metal brackets that point one way or the other to make it a "Right" speaker vs a "Left" speaker). Without stepping through the entire BOM of the cabinet, I assumed good faith and that he'd get me a "complete" cab, and was pointing to the conditions and relevant highlights.

If you don't know, assuming good faith is apparently a mistake with KC.

12/18, his freight guy drops off the cab at my friend's house (who has graciously offered to house it for a few months), as arranged. I look things over, seeing a pile of sundry small, loose parts in the coin bucket, and inspect each major element for undisclosed damage -- there's a scratch on the screen glass, but it's in acceptable condition; the sides look similarly decent (I knew going in it was used, and I wasn't being picky at all, really. The billboard didn't even have the cracking that he'd shown in the picture; guess he decided to send me a better one, make good on his "the best one" promise. Cool, all good. I signed and let the driver leave, and got to work putting the cab together.

I quickly start to notice missing parts -- there don't appear to be enough screws; I can't find the cap nuts (or *any* nuts) to secure the sides to the top section. When I go to install the right speaker, my friend points out "that's the left one" -- so I grab the other one and go to install it... realizing it's *also* a "Left one". Rotating the bracket does not line the speaker up correctly.

I ping him about the speaker, he asks me to call him. We chat (for the first time in voice); he's apologetic, says he'll ship it out right away, and could I ship the extra Left one back via USPS to him. I agree, it's totally cordial; I'm still pretty chill. Mistakes happen, he had a lot of inventory to work with, no sense worrying -- he doesn't have much use for a spare Right speaker, after all. I trust that he'll do as any decent vendor would, and make me whole. I end the conversation confirming I'll send the spare along ASAP, and that I'd be finishing building the cab up within a couple hours, so will let him know if anything else is missing.

Other things I notice as I filter through what I had: The locking cylinders are removed (3xA001's, Sega's standard), and there's no floor mat. The first I find kinda weird, the second isn't a massive surprise -- though "Complete" would, to me, include a floor mat as part of the aesthetic set, no big. The locks... are annoying, since the panels fall open unless they're taped shut without them... a bit more on the side of "that should've been mentioned that it was missing", but... I continue to assume good faith, and it's not really a sticking point.

In trying to build the cab, I realize that he's seemingly omitted... lots of screws, of various sizes. Things that are necessary for erecting the darn thing. And he'd included coarse-pitch M8 bolts that weren't even the right size -- and two of them; the cab needs four, of two different lengths, both in fine pitch. Pinging him, he tells me they should be in the cab somewhere; I confirm they're missing, he tells me that I should source them from a Home Depot.


One round trip and $17 worth of maybe-the-right parts later (I made a list off the service manual, but the selection was... less than ideal, and I didn't have a pitch gauge with me so there were some bad labels to contend with), I was able to get it together. No cap nuts of the right size, so I subbed in lock nuts with washers as a temp fix. Similarly, I had to sub in various other not-quite-stock parts just to get it securely constructed (in hopes of testing it at all, maybe). Plenty of cosmetic screws are missing, but they're not a priority for me; the mechanical construction would be alright.

Finally, as I wrap up erecting the whole thing -- I notice that the small metal side covers that hide wiring access boxes (for the "AIR" sensors) are both completely missing. I send him an exhaustive list -- all the bolts, of which spec, that I couldn't source. The nuts. The cover panels. He agrees that he has the cover panels, but the other hardware really should've been in the cab (I look more thoroughly, repeatedly, to no avail.) But he has the panels! That's good, the rest of what was missing was generic, and I could piece it together over time. No sleep lost there.

For reference, I'm going to call the two cover panels, plus the Right speaker bracket + speaker assembly... thing... the "Critical parts" from now on.

So, I get back to working on the cab a couple days later (weekend commitments kept me away, it was a good 45 minute drive from my home after all), having the research in-hand to get it up and running. And I do! There was an... oddly disconnected JVS IO interconnect that I had to re-seat -- looked like someone had maybe replaced it or contemplated taking it out, but forgot to put the connector back in, but aside from that... honestly, the cab was in good working condition, save for the missing bits. I was excited. I hadn't had the time to hit the post office yet, so I had the second "Left" speaker in place to confirm that the amp was working. I put some rounds on the cab, do a little cleanup of some scuffs and stuff just to make it look shinier, and get to introduce my friends to the game for the first time. Good times. I take the extra speaker + mount home with me so I could return the assembly exactly as he provided it, with all the screws, as I promised.

2/22 - On Tuesday (Monday was a bank holiday) I ship it, providing a tracking number, for $16.10. I also inquire about the lock cylinders -- he said the machine didn't come with any, but he could supply a set for $50.

Look, this whole time I've been trying to not attribute shadiness or malice, but... I have no means of confirming that he didn't just part those off my machine and then try to sell them back to me for an extra profit; just speculation, but it definitely went through my mind..

Regardless, I tell him I'll think about it, and ultimately decline. I provide my shipping address for him to send along my "critical parts", and everything seems kosher. I ask him to confirm that he has the speaker assembly that mirrored a pic I sent him earlier, as well as the panels, which he does.

3/4 - No word. I reach out, noting that my shipment should've arrived the Thursday prior, wanted to confirm that he got it, and when he'll send mine along. He says he'll send my parts out "Next week" (so... no earlier than 3/9, already). He had made it sound like, on the phone, that he'd send out ASAP -- just as I was sending *him* back the speaker ASAP.

3/21 - Weeks later, still nothing. I haven't had much time to make it up to play, so I confirm with my friend that he hadn't seen a package with the parts, and ping KC again. He would "Get it out soon and sent it to you". Now... this was the first time I' d heard he needed to "get it out" of... something? To get to me. Had he not even grabbed it from his warehouse, presumably? What about the panels, they should've been loose parts; he'd said he had all of the parts I was asking about.

I ask him to commit to a firm shipping date, trying to stay friendly, but he completely ghosts me, leaving me on √Read.

A few hours pass (midnight being one of the; 3/22); I decide that, at this point, over a month is passed, and I have no real option to pressure him outside of a PayPal dispute; I know there's a limited window to file them, and the payment date was now over three months prior, so I draft up documentation of everything, and file. (Context: A "dispute" triggers a freeze of assets on the seller's account, and opens a thread between the buyer and seller to come to an agreement on how to resolve an issue. If both parties can't find resolution, a "claim" is the escalation path. A dispute can only exist for 20 days, after which it will be marked as resolved if it hasn't been escalated. A "Claim" involves a review of the case file from PayPal; they pass a judgement in one party's favor or the other, and determine the course of making things right. It's a notoriously fraught process, and honestly not one I was excited for, but... I had a lack of options in front of me.)

In the dispute, I ask for the critical parts to be sent in a timely fashion, and I also enumerate other costs I had accrued -- at that point I'd bought extra hardware to complete the set, hardware that he said should've been with the cab -- in fact, "they said it should be in there" (without telling me who "they" were. He'd told me to source it at Home Depot, so I went hunting for the best deals I could for the various bits and pieces. All-in I invested over $50 in that hardware (MOQ's are a bitch). So I prioritize the "critical" parts, but list everything, building it as a document in case it goes to a full Claim. I'm clear in my message that I want to work it out amicably, and that I just want to see evidence of shipment in a reasonable window (I outline end-of-week, because that was what I had asked for in my original texts.) I also document the lock cylinders and his quoted cost, the shipping costs for returning the speaker (which he had not yet committed in writing to paying me back for), and the floor mat -- at this point, if he wants to fight me on what "Complete" means, I may as well have everything outlined. I also document total cost of replacement for the items available on the open market (YAJ for most things), and indicate that the "critical components" are not available in any market; cash replacement value isn't really something that I could estimate for them, because... who knows? I don't have his connections; maybe someone in his position could source them and would have a value, but they're effectively "as much as the whole cab" because it seemed like nobody was parting them out to that degree. The speaker bracket and side panels would probably cost a couple hundred dollars to get made locally to accurate replica quality, perhaps? And the speaker would've taken $100 to import off YAJ, unbracketed.

To some degree, I would've been happy eating some of the costs of what I "felt" were part of "complete" -- at the time, if he'd sent the critical parts along, and refunded my shipping and the nuts/bolts... I would've called us square. I even would've sent him the extra hardware that I had bought due to MOQ's; anybody need a bunch of black M8 cap nuts?

I send him a text stating I'd like to take our discussion to the dispute thread that I've opened, and reiterating that I do not what it to go to a Claim, I want to work out amicable terms that we can both come to to make things right... but after all the delays on sending me the stuff I couldn't source elsewhere, I was feeling like I had no other option.

He sends me back a screed about how they froze his money and it'd take months to get back (every seller I know has confirmed that a Dispute being "resolved" unfreezes the funds immediately, in their experience; maybe it's different for people with serial issues.) I simply ask him to work with me. He says end of week isn't enough time, I ask for a firm date. He chooses the following Monday (3/28), I tell him if he can provide shipment notification (not even receipt), then we won't have to escalate to a claim. He further pressures me to close the dispute; I refuse... back and forth. I stand my ground and let him know that I have no intention of hitting the "escalate" button by surprise; I'm happy to hear he can send the parts by Monday, that'll give me plenty of time to confirm they're all the correct parts, and we'd be on the path to resolving the dispute with no escalation.

We leave it there for the night -- both of us have agreed to a timeline (one *he* specified, even). I plan on holding my end of the agreement, and honestly believe that lighting a little fire under his ass may have put a potentially indefinite situation on the way towards a good resolution.

3/23 - He messages me again, and starts making noise about just sending him the cab back, out of nowhere. I ask him why the agreed-upon timeframe doesn't work (it seems way easier to send out a $16 package with a few parts than arranging for $300+ freight service, when I didn't even *want* a refund). He continuously refuses to answer that question in straight terms. He asks me to shut down the dispute, and he'll send me the parts; he wants his money back, or the cab back. I remind him that the agreement was that the dispute would be closed once I'd gotten my parts and been made whole. At no point did he point to anything about my dispute that he disagreed with -- just that they froze the money, that it'd take six months to get it back from them, etc etc etc. My impression is that repeat offenders might have more trouble with PayPal; unless he was lying, that's the only explanation I could find for that kind of a delay, but I stay quiet. I remind him of the terms, which I've held to (and even extended my original timeline at his request, to give him the time *he* claimed he'd need to get my the parts). He talked about how they were in the back of his warehouse; I point out that he's advertising no less than *twenty units* which all have the same parts, and could easily swap "mine" out for ones that are more available/unsold. I continue to not understand why this is so hard; for a bit he calms down and seems to be agreeing to the timeline again, but then he starts making noise about forcing a refund.

Apparently this is his M.O. He forces a refund on a case when somebody calls him on his shit. Even just getting the critical parts -- half an hour of work to find them, less time than he spent texting with me! -- to me was too much of a burden, even when I gave him a business week to do it, after a month of getting yanked around. At this point I've put work into the cab, I've put money into the cab -- I *like* the cab, dammit. It needs a speaker, and a couple panels, but it's in great shape. If he'd gotten those to me in a timely fashion, this whole document wouldn't exist; he'd be getting a positive review -- not glowing, still going into "Hey, that day-discount kinda sucked" and "He *did* send the wrong speaker", but "he made it right at the end of the day" was what I was hoping to wrap this up with. But no; either you take his abuse (and probably violations of PayPal's ToS, honestly), or he takes his ball and goes home. He didn't even ask for an extension past Monday -- I have another two weeks before I "have" to make it a claim, but he apparently doesn't see it as worthwhile.

I've gotten a lot of "I told you so" sentiment from some people, which -- I was a complete outsider in this scene. From an insider's perspective, I was naive, but I trusted a major volume seller to, well, sell what he was advertising. I knew that people had some bad experiences from him, but had not seen anything nearly to the degree -- I was expecting maybe a little repair work here, some missing screws, some scratches and dents that I could totally live with. I had missed the true depth of how thoroughly he's screwed people over; if I were a lesser pushover (as, honestly, I think he read me as, from how I carried myself until the Dispute), I could still be pinging him two months from now, waiting on that speaker...

I'm not about that. I've been willing to work with him, repeatedly; I've been told by third parties that I've been too gracious at several periods in this whole process. I don't want his freaking refund. I think he's used to bullying people to get his way (even when it doesn't make any sense! The refund costs him so much more money, assuming he actually pays for freight), and part of me would rather have a cab missing critical parts, forever, than feel like I let him push me around in the same way he's apparently done to so many others.

TL;DR: Bought a Chunithm cab from KC; several parts were missing, including ones that can't be bought anywhere, despite him representing it as "Complete", and me pre-paying two months ahead of shipment (for a higher cost than he charged launch day).

Out about $67 in returning wrong parts and buying parts he said he didn't have for me, to try to make the cab whole. The cab-specific replacement parts, not available on YAJ or anywhere, he claimed to have and claimed he would send along. For over a month, he yanked me around, lied ("Next week", "soon"), and made no effort to make good on that promise. When he refused to commit to a shipping date, I filed a dispute with PayPal; after a mix of trying to extort me out of my PayPal rights, then actually making it sound like he'd make things right, he's now decided that he's just gonna do a refund, which I neither asked for nor accept -- it would leave me 2 days' of work poorer (lost wages for meeting with freight for dropoff/pickup), hours spent repairing and reconditioning the machine, and cab-less. It feels like the forced refund is his way of sending a middle finger to buyers who actually ask for what he promises them. We'll see where PayPal stands on it; it's entirely possible that they'll back him, seeing a refund offer as "making me whole", but I have no plans to accept such a judgement. Maybe they'll finally notice the pattern of abuse he's got in his account history, and boot him off the platform; not holding my breath, but at this point it feels more likely than him actually delivering on the parts he owes me.

May update thread later with evidenciary screenshots I gathered while filing my PayPal claim; also, will answer any questions as I have the time. Forum moderators have been notified to the state of this case, and can in particular ask for any proof they want in all of this, but I don't really plan on hiding much of anything, just wanna make sure I don't leak PII.
 
At the end of the day, it just doesn't make any sense that he wouldn't send out my freakin' parts. Eating the cost of freighting the cab back to his warehouse, just to spite me, is just ridiculous. Even a partial refund from PayPal, to cover the cost of sourcing those parts in isolation elsewhere, would be better than his offer of a full one.

If he had any honor as a seller, he'd give up on the forced refund idea, send me the freaking speaker and plates, and PayPal me the value of the return shipping + hardware costs, at the very least. I'm not holding my breath.
 
file the claim. locks arent typically included in cab purchases, and not even all the screws sometimes but speakers ,covers and all that stuff is. sucks u got stiffed, bro. i never dealt with KC myself, but i have with others that have left me with a shiot end of the stick and they will never get money from me again. i wholeheartedly reccomend gndzero, aka geekman for cabs. i have bought 3 from him already and am planning on buying 2 more at least in trhe near future. hes on the east coast and shipping will cost u more, but peace of mind is priceless when it comes to 30 year old equipment.
 
Yikes, and to think I wanted to buy a crossbeats from him. I've heard lots of horror stories from him, but this is a rollercoaster. Glad I didn't let temptation win me over, definitely will look for a CXB, or anything, somewhere else
 
file the claim. locks arent typically included in cab purchases, and not even all the screws sometimes but speakers ,covers and all that stuff is. sucks u got stiffed, bro. i never dealt with KC myself, but i have with others that have left me with a shiot end of the stick and they will never get money from me again. i wholeheartedly reccomend gndzero, aka geekman for cabs. i have bought 3 from him already and am planning on buying 2 more at least in trhe near future. hes on the east coast and shipping will cost u more, but peace of mind is priceless when it comes to 30 year old equipment.
This is Chunithm, a fairly new game. Parts were only missing because of the ridiculous way KC had them shipped disassembled and haphazardly reassembled. There is little doubt in my mind that locks and mats were separated out to nickel and dime customers, as that's something he's know for and all of the Chunithm cabs come with those from the distributors.
 
file the claim. locks arent typically included in cab purchases, and not even all the screws sometimes but speakers ,covers and all that stuff is. sucks u got stiffed, bro. i never dealt with KC myself, but i have with others that have left me with a shiot end of the stick and they will never get money from me again. i wholeheartedly reccomend gndzero, aka geekman for cabs. i have bought 3 from him already and am planning on buying 2 more at least in trhe near future. hes on the east coast and shipping will cost u more, but peace of mind is priceless when it comes to 30 year old equipment.
The locks were a minor sticking point -- mainly because I've heard from other importers and buyers of these machines that they're all coming over with their locks, except for the ones that KC's importing, for some reason. Regardless, considering you have to hold the doors closed with tape (they fall open without the cylinders in place), I feel like they'd be included in a reasonable definitely of "complete".

Missing screws I get when they're, like, non-critical -- the back of the machine has a bunch of screws that you have to take off to get to a service panel, but can be held together with just a couple -- I could totally see operators omitting and losing some of those screws. But the screws that are vital, structural elements (holding up the sides), the big M8 bolts on the back, or, say, the cap nuts that lock the sides and top elements together? Those aren't things that should get lost, those are definitely required for a cab to be "complete".

I filed the claim, they'll probably rule in his favor because he's willing to take the return, but that obviously doesn't work for me, considering how all this has played out; feels like a bully tactic winning the day. I've told him that if wants to come out with even slightly clean hands, here, he needs to provide the speaker and panels that he messed up on getting to me, and he needs to refund my shipping and nuts/bolts costs. Ball's in his court whether he'll deliver on literally any of that.

I just hope other buyers from this Chunithm batch have better luck getting missing parts from him; I've already talked to at least one other person who ended up with two Right wire cover panels, rather than a right and a left. If he wants to get his act together, he needs to start proactively getting people money for return shipping situations, and probably even sending out the replacements before asking for the extras back.
 
file the claim. locks arent typically included in cab purchases, and not even all the screws sometimes but speakers ,covers and all that stuff is. sucks u got stiffed, bro. i never dealt with KC myself, but i have with others that have left me with a shiot end of the stick and they will never get money from me again. i wholeheartedly reccomend gndzero, aka geekman for cabs. i have bought 3 from him already and am planning on buying 2 more at least in trhe near future. hes on the east coast and shipping will cost u more, but peace of mind is priceless when it comes to 30 year old equipment.
Yes they are lol. So is all required hardware, unless explicitly noted. The experience described here is so far under par, it’s hard to register that it’s even a possibility when buying a complete cab. Source: am an importer and talk to a lot of other importers around the world.
 
I think you handled this fine. You were only asking for what was described in the listing and gave plenty of time to ship the extra parts domestically. With older cabs, I think it's kind of expected to have to source various screws and small things (chopped up candy harnesses etc) to make it "complete" either from the local hardware store or online etc because who the hell knows what an operator has done to a cab over the years, but this is a newer machine and should generally still be expected to be in pretty darn nice shape, and the mismatched speaker and the "critical parts" were fair game for a claim. You were plenty amicable with them in DMs it sounds like and I think you took the right route to show that you were serious about being treated fairly as a customer, while also showing that you aren't going to just be pushed around. It's more actions like this that, imo, KC needs to get to finally do something about this reputation everyone nonchalantly accepts them having as "good prices iffy quality".

I know you've already heard the "told'ya so" stuff from others, so this isn't directed towards you, but more so to other people who may also be keeping up with KC and are considering them as an option for future shipping purchases: only go through kc if you can pick up and test In Person. It sucks and it shouldn't be this way, but so many of the KC horror stories have come from customers who have to ship their cabs getting burned- be it "wrong" photos sent, missing parts, entirely wrong cabinets showing up at their doorstep, etc. There are other options for importers if you need to ship, and if the prices are a little higher, ask yourself how much in-a-dollar-amount you value the added transparency and communication.

Sorry you got the short end of the stick on this ordeal. I hope this manages to work out in your favor somehow, and it's good that more people give the appropriate feedback like this so others can better know what they're getting into. It's better to have a detailed and dedicated feedback thread/OP per-incident so new potential community members/buyers don't have to be told "oh, you didn't know KC is bad? Should have checked this random thread in the CPS2 section on page 42 where someone wrote a novel about it."
 
That's the thing, like... as a first-time buyer, knowing that KC had a... not great reputation, I tried to confirm with him about the parts that the thing had. But he was sending it to me in pieces (in fairness, at my request!), so I couldn't even do a proper visual inspection via photos (though... he has a history of sending different cabs than the photos he sends people, too). Acting in good faith, it would be pretty onerous for me to go down the list of parts and assemblies from the user manual -- if he says it's "complete", I shouldn't, as a customer, need to ask "Okay, but does it have its JVS? Its wiring harness? Its Nu? The cap nuts on top of the billboard assembly? All four M8 bolts? Its leveling feet? Its subwoofer?..." That list would go on forever, would be a waste of his time and mine. As a buyer, I expect a seller to say "Yeah, it's missing a few screws here and there, but nothing critical for assembly", just like I'd expect "Yeah, it's scuffed up kinda bad on this corner here, slight scratch on the screen there, and this bolt is actually really stripped -- it'll hold, but you may want to replace it eventually..."

I don't expect a used cab to come in in pristine condition -- I just expect a seller to represent that condition to a buyer. If he's telling the truth, and someone upstream really did take the lock cylinders out of the machine (maybe they were coming from a keyed-alike arcade, and they take their locks back! I dunno.), that's fine -- but he should disclose it before shipment. If he wants to, before shipping the cab, tell me "Hey, yeah, it didn't come with these locks. I have some in stock, my price is $50." then I get to decide "is this worth trying to negotiate down the price, here? Like... I know I kinda need those, it's a bummer they didn't come on the cab, but maybe it's really not his fault." By communicating ahead, it gives me the choice to decide if it's a deal-breaker or not. By refusing to disclose any of this stuff, and just saying "it's complete", it leaves me holding the bag.

Also, some of his cabs sold earlier last year totally had those locks -- that cab look "complete". Heck, I'm pretty sure some cabs in the batch photo here (which my cab was from) have the locks installed (hard to tell from the distance, but those doors would be falling open without the tape) -- and there's even a mat right there, in the pic. So after promising me that I'd "get the best one" because he wasn't honoring the 10% discount he extended to February buyers (I pre-paid in December, remember, and he offered people that before letting me know my cab was in), he just so happened to decide that the "best one" was this one that didn't have locks, didn't have a mat... I don't buy it.

I think that the nuts and bolts were missing because he got them in pieces and doesn't have a good process for making sure he's sending out a complete set of hardware with each machine. Same with how I got two left speakers, or how another buyer got two right wire cover panels. Honestly? I totally get that, it's a lot of inventory to move, and probably some untested processes for him -- room to improve, but it's also something that can be rectified. Human errors happen, I'm really pretty sympathetic and patient as long as someone seems to be trying to help and make things right. My focus was on the unique parts that didn't get sent because of what could've been honest human error (he doesn't have any use for extra Right speakers, or wire cover panels) -- those parts are tricky to source in isolation, so they're the most important, and he gave me the runaround for over a month for sending out what amounts to a 5 pound, flat rate USPS box, with three parts in it -- literally $16.10 in shipping. I know, because I sent him the same box with the mirror of the largest part in it. The idea that he can't get to any of the cabs that have these parts on them, for over a month, to scavenge the parts that (by his own admission) he owes me... it's just silly.

Getting shadily nickeled-and-dimed for locks that should've been included, and missing something non-critical like a floor mat? Doesn't feel great that he didn't disclose before shipping, that's pretty sub-par. Missing key components (speaker for a rhythm game, wire cover panels that protect connectors from the public) due to his own lacking processes, and then failing to turn them around from his inventory in a remotely timely fashion... that's where it becomes just downright abusive.

Hell, even if he'd had some excuse -- "Shit, my guy forgot all those panels when he sent me these cabs, it's gonna be another two months before I can get them to you", and communicated it? That woulda been totally kosher in my book. Unfortunate, but shit happens. IDK
 
To @GeeDee 's point, I absolutely agree -- the only way to buy from KC and reliably not get burned seems to be buying in-person. If you're not local, I'd strongly agree to look elsewhere, or have a trusted third party go and inspect/take care of the buy in your stead. I can't say I'd trust him to describe anything accurately -- mostly it seems he'll just represent whatever he thinks will get the sale.
 
Yes they are lol. So is all required hardware, unless explicitly noted. The experience described here is so far under par, it’s hard to register that it’s even a possibility when buying a complete cab. Source: am an importer and talk to a lot of other importers around the world.
ya all the time i bought stuff was noted as without locks so i just figured it was standard. i bought from gndzero a bunch and 3 cabs from yaton once. gndzero included everythign but the locks, and said upfront there wouldnt be locks. i bought 3 cabs from yaton in 1 shot and i got 1 working cab, fixed another (chasis had no screws in it and arrived ripped off the neck and on the floor) and am trying to fix the 3rd. i figured KC would be somewhere in between based on what i heard. still learning the hobby as i go along. thanks for correcting me
 
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In retrospect, what it really comes down to is... if he'd told me "Hey, no mat, no locks" before shipping, I would've said "Alright" and taken the cab. If he'd said "Hey, it's missing these nuts and bolts" I would've said "if you can't source them, I can; that's totally fine, as long as you pay me back" and, on that condition, taken the cab. But if he'd told me "It's missing a speaker and these panels" and didn't have some sort of lead for sourcing those parts? I would've not taken the cab, and waited for him to get one that wasn't missing those parts, or gone to a different seller. But instead he let me take delivery of it in order to find out what it was missing, and then just dropped the ball entirely on getting me those parts that I can't get anywhere else. Just a sucky situation to put a customer in.
 
I think the only way to have a truly flawless experience with KC is visit his warehouse in Rosemead, pick out the cab you want, pay cash and drive away with it (all in the same day).
  • Don't buy if he hasn't got it in stock.
  • Don't buy if you can't personally look it over first
  • Don't buy it, walk away and leave it to him to ship (take it with you)
These conditions exclude the majority of us (I mean who is going to fly out to CA just to select a cab) but if you can't maybe think twice about purchasing from him (otherwise you'll get what he gives ya).
 
Well, you are missing the part where KC will tell you actually I’m only gonna give you a partial refund. You go sell that cab to get back the rest of your money. Not even making that up if you search around.
Yeah, like... as much as I think he's got an angle on PayPal's dispute process that makes it work in his favor, at the least it would have forced his hand in actually providing a full refund if I'd wanted one (aside from return freight, potentially! Which is really not nothing.)
 
ya all the time i bought stuff was noted as without locks so i just figured it was standard. i bought from gndzero a bunch and 3 cabs from yaton once. gndzero included everythign but the locks, and said upfront there wouldnt be locks. i bought 3 cabs from yaton in 1 shot and i got 1 working cab, fixed another (chasis had no screws in it and arrived ripped off the neck and on the floor) and am trying to fix the 3rd. i figured KC would be somewhere in between based on what i heard. still learning the hobby as i go along. thanks for correcting me
Shit I missed the part about that. GndZero’s distributor is the only one out of 6 I’ve imported from that doesn’t generally include locks, so you’re right to assume that. Sorry, my bad. They are at least mostly consistent with it, and if I get anything, I usually keep enough locks on-hand to install. It’s good to try to meet a similar standard.

Also Yaton for the other seller, that makes sense too. Lot of room to get burned there as well. I’m sorry for your experiences. The important thing in this hobby, especially when looking large, is to take those experiences and grow from them rather than letting them fester. Glad you found GndZero, few I can say would treat you better than him!
 
I think the only way to have a truly flawless experience with KC is visit his warehouse in Rosemead, pick out the cab you want, pay cash and drive away with it (all in the same day).
  • Don't buy if he hasn't got it in stock.
  • Don't buy if you can't personally look it over first
  • Don't buy it, walk away and leave it to him to ship (take it with you)
These conditions exclude the majority of us (I mean who is going to fly out to CA just to select a cab) but if you can't maybe think twice about purchasing from him (otherwise you'll get what he gives ya).
The drive away with it part is really important. I had a friend do all that, then forget the PCB doors 10 mins out, called KC and turned around, KC told him since he left, he’d have to buy the doors now. Everything Jassin said here, take it literally. Leave no room for error.
 
The drive away with it part is really important. I had a friend do all that, then forget the PCB doors 10 mins out, called KC and turned around, KC told him since he left, he’d have to buy the doors now. Everything Jassin said here, take it literally. Leave no room for error.
That’s some stone cold sh right there.
 
Honest question for moderation: why is KC allowed to still sell here? These situations are far from unique and he’s had plenty of issues with buyers on this forum.

The stool fiasco is a great example in which he was close to being banned up until he finally got around to shipping people their stuff. It happens repeatedly and yet because after enough pressure he does something to fix the problem…. and then a few buyers later the same thing happens.
 
Honest question for moderation: why is KC allowed to still sell here? These situations are far from unique and he’s had plenty of issues with buyers on this forum.
I suspect the honest answer is because people still want to know what he's selling anyways, despite the issues.

I'm Team Only Buy In Person, I agree that's the best advice. I also know people who've rolled the dice and shipped from him and had it work out fine. But at the end of the day your options are just limited. There aren't a ton of importers to buy from. And of the few left most don't want to deal with candy cabs anymore. When KC has candies they sell out fast now, and if you ban him it just means it's harder for people here to know about them.

Anyways, not making excuses, but it is what it is.
 
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