Author Topic: retro-accessories - terrible seller & modder - avoid  (Read 1865 times)

moonwhistle

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retro-accessories - terrible seller & modder - avoid
« on: May 07, 2012, 01:14:41 AM »
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Retro-Accessories

http://www.retro-access.com/

I bought a modded Core Grafx 2 (RGB and region modded) from Rachel Seleski who runs the above ebay shop and website. It cost around £85 / $137. I have had nothing but problems with her work and she is awful to deal with.

Shortly after I got the console, the AV socket started to malfunction. The AV lead needed to be moved around in the socket and held in place to keep the picture and sound working properly. It steadily got worse until it stopped working completely.

To cut a long story short, after weeks / months of emailing her about the problem she agreed to repair the console if I shipped it to her. Many weeks after I shipped it I eventually got it back last week. The first problem I noticed was that hu-cards now don't sit flush in the slot and stick up at an angle. To my relief it seemed that it worked fine but does look a bit wrong. However it now only runs Japanese games, US games won't work at all when the region switch is thrown.

In repairing the console she has somehow managed to botch the job, making a mess of the card slot and breaking the region switch completely. She must not have even tested it after the repair or she would have realised what she had done.

I am extremely angry about this whole situation and find her utterly incompetent, unprofessional and a nightmare to deal with. She often takes weeks to reply to an email and there are constant delays at every step, always with lousy excuses about why she doesn't reply sooner.

I find it hard to believe that she manages to run a website and ebay shop when she is this incompetent.

Half of my games are now unplayable and the unit just looks wrong with the cards sticking up in the slot. I asked her for a refund, surprise surprise no reply.

I am putting this up as a warning to others about her work and how she treats customers. I can post her full details if necessary.

(apologies if this is the wrong section to post this - please move if necessary)

« Last Edit: May 24, 2012, 09:51:25 PM by moonwhistle »

Tatsujin

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Re: retro-accessories - terrible modder - avoid
« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2012, 02:02:46 AM »
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Necromancer

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Re: retro-accessories - terrible modder - avoid
« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2012, 05:06:51 AM »
That's fellow member pcenginesales, no?  The only thing I've gotten from her was a replacement AV cord, which is of top notch quality, reasonably priced, and quickly shipped.
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Bernie

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Re: retro-accessories - terrible modder - avoid
« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2012, 05:12:23 AM »
That is terrible news man.  Thanks for the heads up.  Thats why I stick to the techs right here on these boards, that have built a good rep.  Sorry to hear about the bum system man.  Get with one of the guys here, and they will fix it up for ya.  thesteve, BlueBMW, keithcourage, and a few others I cant think of right off-hand.

moonwhistle

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Re: retro-accessories - terrible modder - avoid
« Reply #4 on: May 07, 2012, 06:44:06 AM »
I have never dealt with her on this forum but after checking it does appear that the member pcenginesales is the same person. While I'm sure there are plenty of skilled modders here I'm reluctant to ship this console out again as I'm in the UK.

Maybe her cables are ok but her console work / modding is diabolical. She is also extremely slow to reply to emails and frequently doesn't reply unless you sent multiples messages. Can you imagine sending a console half way round the world to the original seller only for them to "repair" it and send it back with worse problems than it left with? I even got an email from her saying that it was fixed and everything is perfect before she mailed it. Her level of incompetence is unbelievable.


BigusSchmuck

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Re: retro-accessories - terrible modder - avoid
« Reply #5 on: May 07, 2012, 07:59:49 AM »
I can vouch for Keith Courage, he does awesome work. I'm sorry about your bad luck.

soop

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Re: retro-accessories - terrible modder - avoid
« Reply #6 on: May 07, 2012, 10:21:26 PM »
How are you with a soldering iron?  Crack that badboy open and take some photos.

If you're really stuck, I could take a look at it for you (I'm in the UK), though I'm nowhere near the skill level of the well known guys on this board.  But I know the inside of a Core Grafx pretty well, and I've performed a few mods in my time.

moonwhistle

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Re: retro-accessories - terrible modder - avoid
« Reply #7 on: May 08, 2012, 04:54:17 AM »
Thanks for the support and advice guys.

How are you with a soldering iron?  Crack that badboy open and take some photos.

If you're really stuck, I could take a look at it for you (I'm in the UK), though I'm nowhere near the skill level of the well known guys on this board.  But I know the inside of a Core Grafx pretty well, and I've performed a few mods in my time.

I'm lousy with a soldering iron and I think the modding inside my core grafx is fairly extensive and cramped so it would be far beyond my skills. I tried opening it before I sent it for repair and found that the top shell was attached with a large cable and was pretty tight. I didn't investigate further for fear of breaking something. Is there an easy way to dismantle it properly? I've looked for videos but found nothing yet. I will consider your kind offer, thanks!

soop

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Re: retro-accessories - terrible modder - avoid
« Reply #8 on: May 08, 2012, 05:04:07 AM »
Basically, that massive ribbon attaches the HuCard slot to the motherboard, but it's pretty long and just folds up.  Then there's about 4-5 screws that attach the slot to the top of the case - usually best to remove that.

I wouldn't worry, these things are really well built and would have to have had a HARD hard life for any reasonable force to cause any damage.  I've heard stories about units that look like they've been outside for decades in the rain, but work first time when they're powered on.

I'm pretty sure all of my White PC Engines are actually open right now - I even carried one around in my bag for about a week in pieces!  (I hope I can still find the screws!)

But the main thing to find out is whether it's just bad soldering, or whether anything is broken and needs replacing - if your AV port is broken or the switch needs replacing you'd probably want to find out that first rather than send it off and have to wait for 3 weeks while a switch arrives from Hong Kong ;)


*edit* Hah!  Look what I found:   I was looking at the fingernail thinking "woah, that's long..." If you follow on to about halfway, you'll see the console in half.
At least in the meantime it still plays though!  Half a machine is better than none!
« Last Edit: May 08, 2012, 05:10:52 AM by soop »

moonwhistle

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Re: retro-accessories - terrible modder - avoid
« Reply #9 on: May 15, 2012, 09:54:38 AM »
Thanks for your reply soop. I've had an offer to look into it from a guy who's done mods for me in the past so I won't need you look at it. Thanks alot anyways!

I can't believe you found a video by the very hack who did this terrible work. It's a small world.

soop

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Re: retro-accessories - terrible modder - avoid
« Reply #10 on: May 15, 2012, 11:08:44 PM »
Thanks for your reply soop. I've had an offer to look into it from a guy who's done mods for me in the past so I won't need you look at it. Thanks alot anyways!

I can't believe you found a video by the very hack who did this terrible work. It's a small world.

Good luck dude!  I'm sure it will all work out :)

moonwhistle

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Re: retro-accessories - terrible seller & modder - avoid
« Reply #11 on: May 24, 2012, 09:51:48 PM »
bump

spenoza

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Re: retro-accessories - terrible seller & modder - avoid
« Reply #12 on: May 25, 2012, 05:40:58 AM »
OK, the random bump is completely inappropriate. If the mods think it's worth sticky-ing they'll sticky it. Defer to their judgment.
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moonwhistle

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Re: retro-accessories - terrible seller & modder - avoid
« Reply #13 on: October 20, 2012, 08:53:14 AM »
An update on this. I had to pay another competant modder to fix this problem for me. So my console is now working fine but I had to shell out more money.

Rachael Seleski / retroaccessories / pcenginesales is a total deadbeat and all I can do is recommend that others steer well clear of her on forums and ebay. She doesn't know what she's doing and certainly won't respond if anything goes wrong.


Edit: as suggested above I will ask if a mod will consider stickying this thread or adding her name to a bad traders list. I won't bump this thread again.
« Last Edit: October 20, 2012, 08:56:24 AM by moonwhistle »

Drakon

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Re: retro-accessories - terrible seller & modder - avoid
« Reply #14 on: October 20, 2012, 11:49:28 AM »
Uhm...wow.  I always thoroughly test my work and upload a video of everything working before I mail it out.  Of course if there's any faults I offer to fix it for free if the person is willing to pay to mail it back and forth.  I respond within 24 hours to every message, there's really no excuse for what she did.

Also I can personally vouch for keith courage he's great.  Thesteve looks awesome too.
« Last Edit: October 20, 2012, 11:52:55 AM by Drakon »
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