Retro Play Reviews 11

Disgusting ordered a games console given tracking number and order despatch date,never arrived,page not available to view order ,page not available to visit store,email bounced back.SCAM,DO NOT ORDER,wish I'd read reviews first

DO NOT ORDER! ITS A SCAM

Scammer. Ordered 11th November and said item was posted. It’s for my son’s Christmas present- item hasn’t arrived. Websites gone. Emails are bouncing . Avoid - absolute scam in fuming as had good reviews for the product initially ..

Ordered & paid for console on the 19 November, at first I could see where my item apparently was on the tracker, now today I’ve gone to see where it is, can’t get on to track item, their site has disappeared & when I sent an email that was on my order details it came back as email address not none. I’m fuming, this was supposed to be a Christmas present! Stay well clear!

Never received my product after two weeks and I paid for postage preferences and security.
Would take a week for them to respond to emails and that would basically be asking for more information before they would deal with the actual complaint/question.
Eventually I instructed my bank to investigate and got refunded by the bank.
Do not use this company, it's not worth the hassle and you'll not receive your product.

Worst product and worst customer support they just lie to you and keep extending the time and keep giving you invalid reasons. Delivery will never be on time. Please don't buy their products.

My order was never shipped, seller ignored countless emails. Seller has stolen my money and will not refund or ship the goods. This has been going on for 4 months. Item should have been shipped within 24 hours - this is not a long-term pre-order.

Was friendly and fast to respond on initial contact, before I purchased something and then once I paid money, I was ignored and the goods never shipped. I am not the only customer like this - do your own research!

This is a legitimate fraud warning - his company is now under investigation.

Paid a 50% deposit of $1100 on invoice 1899 on 18/11/2022 for a Guitar Pro Arcade Machine. Messaged in after 4 weeks to check on its progess, was told just waiting on one part to come in to complete the build. Checked in again on 5/1/2023, was told there had been further delays for parts but all staff were off on annual leave until 16/1/2023. As of writing today 16/1/2023, all this companys business details have been wiped from Google, his mobile phone appears to have been disconnected, his instagram has been deleted and he has disabled all comments on his Youtube channel (which I assume will be completely wiped soon enough). It appears i’ve been duped along with many others here. If anyone has any suggestions on how to make contact with this bloke or get my money back feel free to let me know.

I Paid over 4K to RETROPLAY in Sept 22 with ETA for a top of the line digital pinball in Jan 23.
Today they have deleted their Facebook page and messenger, their phone number has been disconnected and there is Facebook group with 37 members that has been started for people who have paid money to RETROPLAY that have been ghosted by the company and have been delivered no product even after paying thousands of dollars.
No matter how good Dave’s story sounds to you - STEER CLEAR OF RETROPLAY!!

Before I start, for those affected by RetroPlay’s shadiness, use the below cases when lodging complaints to the various legal entities. If you’re in the same boat as me and the below sounds all too familiar, get on with the ACCC and CAV claims now, it doesn’t improve:
ACCC Case - REF3767218
Consumer Affairs Victoria Case - C2022/08/008708 (He is refusing to speak to them)
VCAT Case - C5544/2022
**VISIT OUR FACEBOOK GROUP FOR SUPPORT**

**Please read before you invest in any expensive equipment from here. Save yourself the headache and loss of your cash!**

I chose RetroPlay as they were expensive, seemed to have a local presence, a regularly updated YouTube channel and legit looking website.

But read this and tell me RetroPlay doesn’t sound like a scammer (with an incredibly convincing website and youtube) trying to drum up as much money as they can before shutting down or disappearing:
Wants 100% EFT deposit (though 50% is an option)
very responsive when ordering but stops after receiving payment
doesn’t give an ETA (They would know how long a batch takes roughly)
keeps promising to let you know an ETA “soon” but never does
answers your emails like they’re answering someone else’s (ignoring 90% of the email and half answering 1 thing)
eventually gives a vague date which they don’t meet (multiple times)
gets aggravated when pointing out that promises haven’t been met and wanting a date after 4 months
then suddenly has things ready when you ask for a refund (without proof)
but continues to drag out the time ignoring emails to extend that time
each time you chase, they’re defensive and act the victim
They keep claiming the product is being made soon (despite multiple times saying it’s already made)
Every completion date they set comes and goes without a product or an update
finally opts for not responding at all
Too long has passed to reverse the payment

There is a word limit on reviews so I can’t post the back and forward conversation. But here’s the super short version that mirrors other negative reviews. Owner promises an ETA after payment is made and is very chatty, you pay and responsiveness goes away shortly after.

I bought a high end Pinball machine and high end Arcade machine with custom Decals, totalling over $12.5k and paid a 50% deposit (despite him “offering” the option of 100% (first red flag?))

Short breakdown
Paid 29/03/22
Months of chasing to get an ETA. He kept promising “this weekend”, then never hearing from him again until I chased again. Claimed part of this absence was 3 weeks off from being a “close contact” (which is 2 days and a RAT. Or a week if positive)
2.3 MONTHS later I get told they should be ready in July
29/06/22 - Owner claims my arcade machine is finished and just needs to have the printed decals applied (after I mentioned 3 months had passed and I might want a refund. Says it’s mere days away from being ready)
Ignored my requests for photos and the fact I never approved any decals
15/07/22 - I get a long email saying the machines take 16 weeks to make (4 months). Claims both will be available in 3-6 weeks
01/08/22 - I get an email saying my Arcade will be built this week (the already built one above)
2 weeks later and no update, information or anything. I contact the ACCC and follow their advice to send an official complaint to RetroPlay with a deadline. I give them to the end of the month
I get a response to the above saying “Thank you for your letter of complaint”. Tells me my machine was built on the week of 01/08/22 and is just being finished off. I remind him no decals have been sent to me
Another 2 weeks pass without any update on the Arcade Machine that has apparently been finished multiple times now.
Consumer Affairs Victoria attempt to contact him twice over a week with no luck (SMS, phone & email)
A couple of days later (29/08/22) I send a final email giving him 3 days to provide the Arcade machine with whatever decal ($500 discount if not what I paid for) and the pinball machine, or a refund for those that can’t be delivered.
After no replies I send an email asking if he will refund or do I need to take him to VCAT. He replies the next day saying he wants to work it out and can have both machines built and ready Friday (in 4 days).
I accept on the condition of discounts mentioned (and ignored) previously
Friday comes and goes without update or response
This will be going to VCAT as he’s refusing to refund

I had planned to buy so much more from this guy, but nearly 9 months with nothing to show for it at all is NUTS! Delays are fine, COVID times are challenging, but you still have to communicate.

This HAS to be a scam, as it’s hard to believe anyone would run their business this badly! Maybe $12.5k doesn’t mean much to him.

He seems to claim negative reviews are fake, but I would be willing to bet it’s the positive ones if any

I paid a 50% deposit of $6116.50 AUD on 22nd February 2022 (Invoice No – 1589), for 1 x Adrenaline Pinball Machine & 1 x Special Edition 2 Player Arcade Machine on 22/02/2022. These were to be made to my design. I had followed Retro Play on YouTube & Facebook and watched all the video’s. Dave (the owner and face of Retro Play) came across very well. He is why I placed the order.

After I had placed my order Dave went very quiet. I had to instigate conversations about the machines. Replies were short, poorly written and not appropriate responses to a customer with an outstanding order of any value, let alone $12,244 AUD. I was beginning to lose confidence in Retro Play. What I found very surprising was the continuation of their online marketing campaign via Facebook & YouTube, obviously looking to take on more orders with non-refundable 50% deposits.

By 27/07/2022 no product designs had been forthcoming and no work has been carried out (as we haven’t even reached a design stage). I’d lost all confidence in Retroplay and requested a full refund of my $6116.50 deposit. I received this response verbatim ‘i ok am doing my best martin, we have the vinyls in we have t had time to test try them yet, i can’t give you updates each week i’m afraid buddy we are too slammed at the workshop trying to catch up’.

Despite being ‘slammed at the workshop’, Retro Play still found plenty of time to produce video’s and Facebook posts for marketing purposes encouraging more orders.

I chased my refund again on 08/09/2022 and received the message ‘hello martin, i haven’t refunded any money because, 1 we don’t do that as per our terms and conditions and 2 because we are building the machines for you as planned...’

On 29/09/2022 I received an email saying my ‘pinball machine was not far off being finished’ with two pictures of an empty pinball cabinet, vinyl wrapped in roughly the colour scheme I had mentioned. I was shocked and disappointed that this much work had been carried out without any proper design discussion or agreement on my part. The design was not what I wanted and what I wanted could have been clearly detailed in a design discussion, which simply hadn’t happened.

I sent the following message to Retro Play –
‘Please don’t take offence at this, but I would have liked to see what the front all in grey with grey buttons, going to the back all in black would have looked like.

And I did mention this in a previous email –
‘On Tue, 1 Mar 2022 at 09:40
Is it possible to get some files I can colour in, so I can play around with it? For example I was thinking of a pinball machine, space grey at the front graduating to black at the rear. Front legs space grey to match, back legs black to match. Maybe space grey speaker grills with blue led one side and purple the other. Maybe the bar with the fire button is black to match the rear. But I wanted to play around with it and get it right before taking up any of your time.’

So my question is - is it too late to do this now?’

And... got no response. So I chased again on 13/10/2022. Eventually on 15/10/2022 I received the message ‘probs martin, let me work on that’. That was the total sum of Retro Play’s response to a $12K order. Then nothing more...

On 07/11/2022 I requested a refund again. I had received no design sketches and no design details had been supplied by Retro Play nor agreed by myself. I have not to this date (07/12/2022) received a refund of my $6116.50 AUD - and I am not alone. If you search social media for Retro Play, there has been a group set up for customers who have also had either money taken and goods not supplied.

I would recommend potential customers avoid having any dealings with Retro Play and look elsewhere. No genuine company does this much continual social media marketing for new business, doesn’t allow reviews on their Facebook page, insists on a 50% non-refundable deposit and then treats the customer so badly, they eventually walk away.