So it was an international order after all

Yep, riff is on Mars...

Excellent, that clarifies things for everyone looking to order at this shop! Thanks for the update, Riffbear

Late to post here, but wanted to say Mike @ Mad was super helpful in tracking down NASCAR ramps for me. He even combined parts for one order as he waited for them to arrive. Once shipped they came quickly. I felt his level of service couldn't be better. I'm a repeat customer and I'm looking forward to buying a WPC-89 power board from him once he has them in stock.

Made an order last Sat. night, recieved Wed. afternoon. Shipped to Ca. Nuff said.

Hi All, first post.

Interesting thread, not sure if it makes me feel better or worse. I tried ordering some things from Mad amusements last weekend, but the website kept giving me errors. I called them in case they were open late, or were on the west coast. There was no answer or answering machine, so I hung up deciding to call the next day. When I called back, Mike answered, and was quite hostile from the get-go, claiming that I had called him too late and hung up on him (apparently he picked up just as I hung up, and was angry at the lateness of my call (11) and that I hung up). I was confused by his response, but I apologized, stating that I didn't know where he was located. Instead of just accepting that, he told me I should have looked at the web site, and that they were in NJ.

I also mentioned that I didn't know that he was a mom&pop shop, which I assumed as the phone number rang to his personal phone (which I did not expect). This also seemed to piss him off, and he explained how large the warehouse was, and that the phone was forwarded to his cell in case there were problems with the web site (which there were, because it would not take international orders).

After some awkward moments, he asked if I still wanted to do business with him, and I said yes. He sent me an invoice which I have paid, and I've not heard anything from him. No shipping notice. No response to my email asking about when it would ship.

Normally I would never worry after only a week, but given his foul mood when I talked to him, and the fact that someone else had problems, I'm worried that he can get a bad taste in his mouth pretty quickly.

I probably have nothing to worry about, but given the weirdness, I figured I'd post.

I'll follow up with this.

Good luck Medula. Hopefully you get your order soon.

I've never ordered from this place and after reading this thread I think I'm going to explore all other avenues before ever placing an order with them.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

He had some issues in the last couple of weeks, with the storms and power outages and getting supplies and inventory in and out. Got an order last week that was delayed a few days from him. Ordered a Rottendog board from him yesterday morning, and it went out to UPS last night. All seems to be in order now.

I am sure you will get your stuff sooner or later, but from personal experience and from reading here i am not too impressed either. it seems that int. orders is his biggest problem

I have ordered several times with MAD and never had an issue.

Ordered a couple Rottendog Boards and a topper motor like 10 days ago,received them today along with a piece of candy,mmmmm! and had a shipping notice in my email when it shipped a few days ago,he is in New Jersey USA.

I ordered from him two weeks ago and got it the day before I expected. He has good prices on boards and displays.

No problems , fast service

Do they send out a confirmation it has been shipped? I place a bigger order early morning 11-7 and have still not heard that it was even shipped.

Mike responded today, and is claiming that they have a problem with their international orders. He says it will be sent out on the 14th, so hopefully it's all good.

I placed an international order for 4 legplates and backglass trim with Mike on the 10th October, just had an email to say it had shipped on the 8th November? Regardless that this is an international order it's taken a month to mail? No replies to my emails so I'm going elsewhere.

Just an update. No notice of shipping yet. Only two days, so no biggie, but with bilko's update I'm wondering if/when it will really ship.

I never had any issues with MAD, and in fact, they are my first choice for parts at this point.

I placed an order for most of my IJ shop job parts on 11/15 at lunchtime. Got an immediate email of order confirmation and receipt of payment. Got an email on 11/16 at 9am with the tracking number and a scheduled delivery of 11/18. I couldn't ask for better service than that.

shanetastic, i think it has been established long ago that MAD has an unacceptable long processing time for international orders while orders within US is being shipped right away.

USA orders can be picked up by USPS daily from their home location.

International orders need customs paperwork and that usually has to be done in person at the PO. Some countries require paper tape (not clear plastic tape) to be used on any box that requires insurance. It is not always clear which countries have that requirement from the USPS website. So you might stand in line only to find that the box needs to be re packaged.

I know of a few small businesses that only make their "international" trip to stand in line at the PO a bi-weekly affair - it's time consuming.

Oh, ok then. I shall now establish that I am going to crawl back into my cave and play pinball...where I shall remain. So let it be written, so let it be done.

"it has been established long ago that MAD has an unacceptable long processing time"

I hope that is the explanation. As Bilko noted above, it took MAD over a month to get his order shipped. My concern was the strangeness in our original contact, the fact the web site does not even say I placed an order and the fact that he did not do what he said he would do (i.e. send it out on the 14th), that maybe there is more going on here.

I sent him an email on the 20th asking if it had been delayed and if he had an estimate of when it would ship. No response thus far.

I'll be patient, but I've not had this experience from Bay or Marco.

Heck, if he sent me an email saying that he was batching up foreign orders, and would get to the post office in a week, it would be better than wondering whats going on.

does MAD amusements send you tracking info, or at least let you know when something shipped? I just ordered a replacement display two days ago, haven't heard anything yet.

He told me that he would send shipment notification which presumably would include tracking information.

"for international orders" Just wanted to make sure that is in there. It is a very important part of this. US orders are FAST.

And another small update.... Mike responded (a good sign) that they would ship my order on the 25th (yay!). But no shipping notice (Booo!).

I placed an order on the 21st, it was not shipped until the 26th and it was over a 100.00 order, granted the 24th was a holiday but I find their service lacking considering the amount of money I spent. Think its normal to take 24 to 48 hours to process orders and ship through other online retailers so it took them twice as long as the norm.

If they are not going to be around the office over the holiday they need to post this on their web site to let people know, sometimes I need stuff in a hurry and it really PMO when I have to wait a week and a half when I could have spent about the same money and bought it through Pinball Life, Marco or Bay Area and probably would have received it faster.

I probably will not buy from them again unless they have a part that nobody carries, tired of their S L O W service and lack of communication.

Thursday and Friday were holidays here in the USA. Maybe workers at Walmart had to work, but just about every office worker and school child had both days off.

You ordered on Monday, and they shipped on Saturday (that was nice of them, since most places only ship Mon-Fri). So excluding the holiday days, they got your order out in two working days.

You can't really complain about that.
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PS: a $100 order is a small order in the world of pinball. A few Cliffies, some replacement ramps and some LEDs will kill 400 bucks, easy...

I always figure $125 for a single ramp if it is available.

Sorry if my pockets aren't as deep as yours but to me a 100 to 200 order to shop replace parts on one pin to me is a sizable order, I do not have a 20 to 30K budget to blow on pins like alot of members do on this site.

And if a business is not going to be open and processing orders they need to post it online and let us know they have other announcements on the front page of their site why not put down there hours of operation over the holidays ?

Did you "honestly" think that they were going to be open over the holiday? That their employees did not deserve to spend time with their families?

They shipped you on a Saturday, not normally a shipping day for most businesses. That is very cool of them.
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On Wednesday I placed a $500 order with Bolt Depot for a refill of stainless steel fasteners . I do not expect they will even be in a box before Tuesday.

I pray they would not make their employees work during the holiday, and if I found out that they did, I might look for another supplier.

I don't expect that they will be open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day or New Years Eve and New Years Day either.

Update on my order: got shipping notice last Thursday, 3 days not fast but certainly acceptable time. I have a feeling they got bombarded with orders just before the holiday

Well I have a 50 hour a week job and I had to work Friday the Day after Thanksgiving and also have to work Christmas eve, so not sure what world you live in but people do have to work to make a living regardless of what day it falls on after a holiday, to some a holiday is a four day weekend not the case for a lot of us that have to put food on the table.

Sorry they make you work holidays, I really am.

But be glad you are working, a lot of people can't find work right now.

I agree

Okay, it's time to close the loop on this. Finally, after a month and 6 days of waiting, my package arrived from Mad Amusements. About 1 week of that was shipping. Everything was as ordered.

So, yeah, processing international orders takes a lot longer. A few have commented that the process is somehow more complicated, although I do not completely accept that. They state that the package will ship in X days, and then miss the shipping date (in my case multiple times). I would rather they just state processing of international shipping is 1 month.

If you are located in the States, then you probably have little to worry about (although his initial anger at me calling his company late in the evening was rather strange, and made me feel like I was dealing with the pinball-nazi - no pinball for you!).

If you are located outside of the States, you would probably do better to look elsewhere first. Unless you love the suspense of wondering if your package is going to be sent.

But like I said, I did get my order, and it was what I was looking for.

Ha, me too. was it a candy hot dog?

Hi guys,

my name is Alessandro, an italian pinball collector: here You can find all my details http://www.pinballowners.com/alemot

Just finish to read your post about Mike from MAD Amusement:

Well, i am also facing many problems with this guy: 45 Days ago i transfered $397, and still waiting not only material, but at least an order confirmation....!

Mike seems totally disappeared: he does not reply to the emails, he does not answer on the phone, nothing.

I only would like to know when my order will be dispatched...!!!

I do not know if this guy is a con artist, an idiot, other: what is sure is that if i do not receive my parts in a short time, i will jump on a plane, find him, and get kicked in the ass in all the New Jersey.

If someone could get in contact with him, i would really appriciate give him a reminder, and say the distance does not keep him safe: every year i usually fly in US 2/3 times for business travels and, belive it or not, i am ready to knock to his door.....

Many thanks in advance For your help.

Alessandro
[email protected]

I've made several orders with no problems...

Been trying to get hold of Mad Mike since November 2011, sent 40 emails, no reply. Even tried phoning on three occasions. This company/person is the worst possible ambassador of USA business practice. Ive spoken to pin people in Australia and France, who have the same problems with this guy. Mad Amusements should put a banner on his site "INTERNATIONAL BUYERS GET LOST" ... that way it saves a lot of frustration. Mad Mike = Middle finger!!