Darksoft mvs cart

[neoVLAD]

Hello I would just like to come forward and talk about my recent experiences with darksoft. I purchased the mvs multicart from saveryourgames. I received my cart only to find that it doesn’t work, after explaining everything to darksoft and Aldo from save your games. I sent the cart to be tested by a well known retro gamer Modder in the community. He confirmed that the cart does not work. Darksoft asked me to send the cart to him. I paid for shipping to Poland. Darksoft confirmed the cart was received by him, upon this he told me he can not change his schedule and is busy working on assembling cp2 units. I continued to wait a month or more went buy and I contacted Aldo from where I purchased the cart at save your games. Aldo said he was not aware that the situation is still on going, therefore he replied back, telling me darksoft will contact you. Darksoft contacted me and said he will work on my cart in a day or two. After a few days Darksoft stated he had fixed my cart. I can say that the darksoft mvs multicart works well and is a great product, unfortunately lack of customer service and the fact that I paid for such a expensive item. I believe he could have sent me a new cart. I would send him my broken cart, the fact that I had no cart since April 7 when I sent it and finally receiving my cart back on June 8 is really lack of customer support. I hope others don’t experience what I had to deal with.

 

[Dzhay]

Without wanting to sound like a dick or tell you that you're wrong to feel how you feel, I wonder if the following might help to provide some perspective.

Darksoft and others make small numbers of highly specialised products for a very niche market. They are not making 100,000 widgets. If customers like us were to receive the same level of customer service and support as you might expect when you bought a console off the shelf from a reputable bricks and mortar store (something that would sell hundreds of thousands of units), I would wager the cost would have to go up very significantly.

(Also, the timeframes you describe do not appear that unreasonable in the circumstances).

 

[jassin000]

My cart also had problems when I received it.
I sent it to @Mitsurugi-w who fixed and returned the cart to me (I paid shipping to him, service and return shipping was included).
The entire process took about 1 week, really nothing too horrible.

I think the above experience was more a problem of timing, specifically the launch of the CPS1 multi eating up everyone's time.
I agree that a replacement should have been offered, given the longer turn-around time to fix the defective cart...
But you should understand to my knowledge that has never been the policy (ie defective items fixed, not replaced).

 

[neoVLAD]

Without wanting to sound like a dick or tell you that you're wrong to feel how you feel, I wonder if the following might help to provide some perspective.

Darksoft and others make small numbers of highly specialised products for a very niche market. They are not making 100,000 widgets. If customers like us were to receive the same level of customer service and support as you might expect when you bought a console off the shelf from a reputable bricks and mortar store (something that would sell hundreds of thousands of units), I would wager the cost would have to go up very significantly.

(Also, the timeframes you describe do not appear that unreasonable in the circumstances).

I never said anything

Without wanting to sound like a dick or tell you that you're wrong to feel how you feel, I wonder if the following might help to provide some perspective.

Darksoft and others make small numbers of highly specialised products for a very niche market. They are not making 100,000 widgets. If customers like us were to receive the same level of customer service and support as you might expect when you bought a console off the shelf from a reputable bricks and mortar store (something that would sell hundreds of thousands of units), I would wager the cost would have to go up very significantly.

(Also, the timeframes you describe do not appear that unreasonable in the circumstances).

I just wanted to let people know my experiences I never said anything bad about the product i even said it was a great product. I only stated facts and my personal experiences which I have I right to talk about.

 

[NeoCverA]

Start of by saying the end result was that you have a working cartridge. With that out of the way, I’ll add my opinion.

Given that this certainly isn’t 100,000 widget operation only raises my expectations of superior customer service and given the price tag, anyone should expect quality and that what they receive is working (previously tested and verified).

The fact that you seemed to have been pushed behind another monetary endeavor (cps project) is also unfortunate because clearly your patronage is what is financing these endeavors and should be treated with the highest priority and attention.

On top of all this, it seems that a colleague of his or someone he trusts even verified the issue which I’m sure most customers don’t have the luxury of providing such assurances. My expectation would have been to have a new cartridge that has been verified, shipped immediately and that modded can keep the faulty cart, fix it, ship it back or whatever. This is extreme but would have been the point of providing superior service. Minimum would be to cover shipping.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[jassin000]

I just wanted to let people know my experiences I never said anything bad about the product i even said it was a great product. I only stated facts and my personal experiences which I have I right to talk about.

Agreed, this wasn't a slander piece you stated the facts of the experience and you most certainly have the right to talk about it!

 

[dos]

As someone who works at a scaled up but still niche compared to consumer products manufacturer of specialized and expensive electronic equipment: sending people a brand new unit when they report a problem is not done. Ever. You RMA it and it will be fixed for free if it's found to be faulty.

e: to expand on this, for something to be easily "send me a new one" replaced like this you're talking big box store level production quantity and margins. because people will figure out all sorts of ways to game it and you just have to eat it if that's your policy

 

[neoVLAD]

Start of by saying the end result was that you have a working cartridge. With that out of the way, I’ll add my opinion.

Given that this certainly isn’t 100,000 widget operation only raises my expectations of superior customer service and given the price tag, anyone should expect quality and that what they receive is working (previously tested and verified).

The fact that you seemed to have been pushed behind another monetary endeavor (cps project) is also unfortunate because clearly your patronage is what is financing these endeavors and should be treated with the highest priority and attention.

On top of all this, it seems that a colleague of his or someone he trusts even verified the issue which I’m sure most customers don’t have the luxury of providing such assurances. My expectation would have been to have a new cartridge that has been verified, shipped immediately and that modded can keep the faulty cart, fix it, ship it back or whatever. This is extreme but would have been the point of providing superior service. Minimum would be to cover shipping.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Without wanting to sound like a dick or tell you that you're wrong to feel how you feel, I wonder if the following might help to provide some perspective.

Darksoft and others make small numbers of highly specialised products for a very niche market. They are not making 100,000 widgets. If customers like us were to receive the same level of customer service and support as you might expect when you bought a console off the shelf from a reputable bricks and mortar store (something that would sell hundreds of thousands of units), I would wager the cost would have to go up very significantly.

(Also, the timeframes you describe do not appear that unreasonable in the circumstances).

If given the certainty

Start of by saying the end result was that you have a working cartridge. With that out of the way, I’ll add my opinion.

Given that this certainly isn’t 100,000 widget operation only raises my expectations of superior customer service and given the price tag, anyone should expect quality and that what they receive is working (previously tested and verified).

The fact that you seemed to have been pushed behind another monetary endeavor (cps project) is also unfortunate because clearly your patronage is what is financing these endeavors and should be treated with the highest priority and attention.

On top of all this, it seems that a colleague of his or someone he trusts even verified the issue which I’m sure most customers don’t have the luxury of providing such assurances. My expectation would have been to have a new cartridge that has been verified, shipped immediately and that modded can keep the faulty cart, fix it, ship it back or whatever. This is extreme but would have been the point of providing superior service. Minimum would be to cover shipping.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

As someone who works at a scaled up but still niche compared to consumer products manufacturer of specialized and expensive electronic equipment: sending people a brand new unit when they report a problem is not done. Ever. You RMA it and it will be fixed for free if it's found to be faulty.

e: to expand on this, for something to be easily "send me a new one" replaced like this you're talking big box store level production quantity and margins. because people will figure out all sorts of ways to game it and you just have to eat it if that's your policy

 

[neoVLAD]

As someone who works at a scaled up but still niche compared to consumer products manufacturer of specialized and expensive electronic equipment: sending people a brand new unit when they report a problem is not done. Ever. You RMA it and it will be fixed for free if it's found to be faulty.

e: to expand on this, for something to be easily "send me a new one" replaced like this you're talking big box store level production quantity and margins. because people will figure out all sorts of ways to game it and you just have to eat it if that's your policy

 

[neoVLAD]

As someone who works at a scaled up but still niche compared to consumer products manufacturer of specialized and expensive electronic equipment: sending people a brand new unit when they report a problem is not done. Ever. You RMA it and it will be fixed for free if it's found to be faulty.

e: to expand on this, for something to be easily "send me a new one" replaced like this you're talking big box store level production quantity and margins. because people will figure out all sorts of ways to game it and you just have to eat it if that's your policy

As someone who works at a scaled up but still niche compared to consumer products manufacturer of specialized and expensive electronic equipment: sending people a brand new unit when they report a problem is not done. Ever. You RMA it and it will be fixed for free if it's found to be faulty.

e: to expand on this, for something to be easily "send me a new one" replaced like this you're talking big box store level production quantity and margins. because people will figure out all sorts of ways to game it and you just have to eat it if that's your policy

Why wasn’t a rep

As someone who works at a scaled up but still niche compared to consumer products manufacturer of specialized and expensive electronic equipment: sending people a brand new unit when they report a problem is not done. Ever. You RMA it and it will be fixed for free if it's found to be faulty.

e: to expand on this, for something to be easily "send me a new one" replaced like this you're talking big box store level production quantity and margins. because people will figure out all sorts of ways to game it and you just have to eat it if that's your policy

wo

As someone who works at a scaled up but still niche compared to consumer products manufacturer of specialized and expensive electronic equipment: sending people a brand new unit when they report a problem is not done. Ever. You RMA it and it will be fixed for free if it's found to be faulty.

e: to expand on this, for something to be easily "send me a new one" replaced like this you're talking big box store level production quantity and margins. because people will figure out all sorts of ways to game it and you just have to eat it if that's your policy

Asking your customers to wait 4-6 weeks and stating, I’m busy assembling cp1-cp2 units is also not the right way to serve the community, especially if your running a small business, and you want your products to sell. I’m sure the money made by the darksoft multicarts helped his endeavours make other products.

 

[dos]

yeah I agree that wait seems kinda excessive if it was 6 weeks. 4 weeks not so much. but again you're not dealing with a megacorp.

 

[neoVLAD]

yeah I agree that wait seems kinda excessive if it was 6 weeks. 4 weeks not so much. but again you're not dealing with a megacorp.

My intent was to let people in the community know my experiences I did mention it was a great product I only stated lack of customer service provided.

 

[dos]

yeah fair enough, you should absolutely be able to do that. I just wanted to provide an example that this is not uncommon or particularly strange and happens when the stakes are much higher as well. you should expect a quality working product, and if it doesn't meet those expectations it should be repaired in a reasonable amount of time. due to the size of the operation some leeway should be given, he's not blowing people off like another well known maker of MVS multis.

 

[kazuo]

Happy to hear it got fixed!

My take on this is:

• Unfortunate timing: DS is probably busy dealing with the CPS1 multi launch.
• More unfortunate timing: there is an ongoing global parts shortage. DS doesn't even have parts to make more MultiMVS carts to sell, I doubt he has spare carts laying around, let alone spare components. Might've taken some time to get things together.
• Mistakes happen, there were multiple parties involved here and shipping across borders and oceans, DS is just one guy, I don't think Aldo is running a massive business either. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for the delay generally. Two months does seem a bit long to me, but if the issues were communicated and if it was indeed due to not having parts on hand then I personally wouldn't have a problem with it.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[ekorz]

I believe he could have sent me a new cart.

Due to the ongoing global parts shortage there have not been any new mvs carts available for some time now

 

[Darksoft]

My intent was to let people in the community know my experiences I did mention it was a great product I only stated lack of customer service provided.

I do what I can, being in the middle of CPS1 production and having 0 MVS carts is not helping. Also take into account that finding parts for anything takes time, repair a cartridge, takes time and I need to understand why your cartridge doesnt work if all the cartridges are tested personally by me one by one before shipping. The cart is fixed and you got it back a bit longer than expected. Try filing a claim at TO and you will see the answer that you get...
You were already writing me when you saw that the package was in customs in Poland and asking when I would fix it!
I have given you information all the time about the special situation and kept you updated regarding the cart. I even sent you the cart via FedEx so you didnt have to wait any longer and I declared low value as you requested. That should also be mentioned if we want to have a complete picture. We have delivered over a 1000 carts succesfully and given outstanding service to anyone.

 

[Darksoft]

I agree that a replacement should have been offered, given the longer turn-around time to fix the defective cart...

My expectation would have been to have a new cartridge that has been verified, shipped immediately and that modded can keep the faulty cart, fix it, ship it back or whatever.

There is no stock of MVS at all and FPGAs are impossible to get.

DS doesn't even have parts to make more MultiMVS carts to sell, I doubt he has spare carts laying around, let alone spare components. Might've taken some time to get things together.

^THAT^

Due to the ongoing global parts shortage there have not been any new mvs carts available for some time now

^THAT^

 

[Mitsurugi-w]

I usually receive any kits that have problems from my side of the world. 95% of the time I can fix it because it was user error, bad SD card, or bad soldering (by user) causing the issues. During the normal times we would swap the kits if I couldn't fix it. In the event we didn't have a new kit to swap we would try to work out a deal with a distributor. If we can't secure one that way I have to send the kit to Poland for repair. Unfortunately for the last year or so EVERY kit I can't fix has to be sent to Poland. There just aren't spares lying around.

It does suck that sometimes it takes so long to fix after hard-earned dollars are involved. Luckily a faulty kit is very rare and in the end the user has ALWAYS ended up with a working kit as long as it was still in warranty.

Keep in mind that this is not Darksoft's job. It is his hobby. His job flies him all over the place throughout the month and then he splits his little free time among his family (with young kids) and our community here.

Again, sorry it took a long time but if it was the competitor then you'd probably still be pissed and not playing games.