Stuff About Games Took a lot of money from me and didn't fulfill thier promises.
All the phone numbers and addresses associated with Stuff About Games is located below. You'll notice they have no real information regarding names, addresses, phone numbers (except an 800 number), on their website. That's because, once they finish with you, if you had a bad experience, you're cut off! James gives you his cell number at the start and when he finishes with you, he re-routs your number and you never get directly through to him again.
I basically want everyone to know of my bad experience, so you're not taken in by the slick sales work of James Mecham, his family and accomplices.
James was all over me, as soon as I called for information and he's quite the salesman. He made sure I thought it was great that I'm technically challenged (this way he was able to manipulate me more easily). Actually, he told me it was good to let him take control of the gaming center and convinced me no one else cold be trusted like he could. He tells a lot scary of "stories" of botched jobs and having to spend tons more money; due to all the mistakes people make. Naturally, he comes to the rescue. I figured out later this is part of the sales plan and it's not really that hard to set up.in fact, my electrician told me he could do it and we ended up doing 95% of it anyhow... Due to the negligence of Stuff About Games! Once James takes the deposit and you sign that contract, you're stuck with him and no matter what he tells you up front, it's not going to be a cheap thrill ride!
Mostly importantly, James lied to me about some things that would happen. James also wouldn't get me in touch with recent referrals. He has them on his website, but good luck confirming they're real and talking to anyone who's satisfied with his work; unless it's the first guy he set up 15 years ago. I figured out later on, he does this on the side and flies out on weekends to set you up. Wait til you hear that story. You're a part-time income to him... But he charges really well for his out dated materials.
James provided me with old, generic plans to set up the wiring. I gave these to my electrician, who teased me that I was being ripped off. Lol... Story of my life. James does nothing custom to your location... As he originally led me to believe. He's always sly to say, lets have a call. This way, I figured out, nothing he misleads you about is in an emails... in writing. Then, he sends me the income projections, growth chart info and some other emailed materials.
Again, I found it to be outdated and non-personalized. He gives the same info to everyone and nothing is new or customized... Despite promises of how he would help me with MY gaming center. Obviously, everyone is not going to grow at the rate and have the same demographics etc... Besides, most of the plans he gives you can be found on the internet with a little time and a lot of svings to you!
Any information that's personalized to your store, is your responsibility to figure out. BTW, He will tell you he will help you after the fact, but he could really care less about your business after he sets you up. Please don't expect anything after he leaves.
After my build-out was complete, he's about ready to fly out and do the set up. He tells me he'll be at my location to set up around 10 o'clock. I assume he means 10 AM, since he tells me to be there at 9 am. He says go ahead and start setting up before I get there. We get there at nine and my family and I wait excitedly for him to arrive. We wait until 12 pm. We get some lunch and still waiting. I figure we're paying him 20 plus K for his efforts and 42K for the computers etc... This is the only REAL work he's had to do, so he can do the set up.
We can't get ahold of him and we give in around 1 pm and decided to do the set up ourselves. We take all the computers out of the boxes, set them all up with wires etc... Pretty much do everything and wait some more. We still couldn't get ahold of him... As He was flying all day. Finally, as we're about to leave, he shows up after 10 PM! He thought I knew he meant he would be there at 10 PM. Somebody tell me what kind of business world does this California surfer dude live in? Sooo unbelievable!
Basically, at this point, we've received out of date material, non personalized plans and projections, done the whole set up ourselves, paid him way too much for the outdated computers and equipment, feel like he's ripped us off enough and now, he has no time to set up or train us. To make matters worse, he needs something from the computer store and it's after 10 pm on a Saturday night.
So, we get up first thing Sunday, miss church to get what he needs. Get to the store at 9am. Amazingly, he strolls into our center after noon! Did you get that... After 12 pm! He and his sidekick, Chris, are messed up on their time zones from traveling and they couldn't get up. Then, they have some trouble getting the piece to work and he mentions they need to get things wrapped us... As his plane is flying out and he has to leave our location around 4! He acts like it's our fault the piece is not working and he says he can't postpone his flight. My head is spinning; as he promised a whole day of training on the software and a crap load of other things.
I still owe him over 14K and we get into an altercation about that, the lack of training, response and professionalism. He's no longer Mr. Nice guy and my family is upset at this point. I can't believe this has been the experience from hell and he could really care less. He was so arrogant.
I wanted it to be over and reluctantly paid the balance... Regretting I ever used him. He takes the cashiers check, walks out the door and I barely hear him say on the phone, "Yes! I got the money!" He left us there with less than an hour of training and several problems he would never help us fix. From that point on, after over 65K to Stuff About Games, we were on our own and feeling like they took advantage of us.
I had to hire someone else and pay them $60.00 per hour to fix the game connection problems he left us with and refused to take care of. It's like he got what he wanted and his sales pitch was complete... Good bye and good luck to us! It was almost unreal to me and sucked some of the excitement of opening our new business right out me.
Our gaming center failed within 3 years... Like most businesses do and I'm so sorry we ever used him. I'm not blaming him for the failure, but he could have spared us some of the money to keep it alive and he really did give us false expectations about the money we would make and how it would grow. None of his growth charts were correct! Sadly, I've seen three of these fail in the surrounding cities and it's mostly the economy or the necessity to be in a very high population and visible area.
I highly recommend you stay away from this group and find someone who's had a gaming center to help you. James has never had one and he has no clue what you are going through to open your business! I found a guy who had one before and he helped me with quite a lot. I paid him $60.00 per hour and it ended up being far less than what Stuff About Games charged me! Plus, he knew what it took to do this and he was a great encouragement! Other gaming centers in cities around yours can be very helpful and give great insight.
Thanks for reading and best of success to you in your business venture!
Stuff About Games Addresses: 8162 Briar Way Granite Bay CA, 95746
4717 Northglen St. Granite Bay, CA 95746
3108 Mount Tamalais Dr. Roseville, CA. 95747-7146
Stuff About Games Phone Numbers: 916-217-6931
916-804-8310
916-771-0222
800-980-0858
Please be ware of doing business with this company. They took way too much money for the service they promised and ended up providing. They're a perfect candidate for complaint!
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