Wata price hikes / turnaround time increases

[GetTheGreg | 105]

Great to hear all of this. I was going to send to WATA soon (slowest tier) but even that sounds unappealing still...

[c0op3r | 63]

1 hour ago, Maertens29 said:

Great to hear all of this. I was going to send to WATA soon (slowest tier) but even that sounds unappealing still...

I just want to make a few more comment and these are opinions (and you know what they say about that - like assholes everyone got one).

I like the look of the WATA sealed game so much better than VGA, that is why I used them, I did not get my game graded as being something that was so great that it needed to be done, I wanted it for display, and I am very happy with the end result.  My problem with them was like most of the others here they say we will do it in X days and they dont but they will take the money for it - that is WRONG.

As to telling to to get more people to handle the work that is exactly what I did:

 

Here is a copy of the Exchange between myself and WATA rep Rob:    (Its in reverse order)

No finish it up, I paid for a service, I want that service, I paid for 30 days I want the 30 day service or I want the 15$ difference refunded.  Its simple, I dont care if you work around the clock, hire more people, if you have that much business you should be able to afford it.  Telling me flat out you will not refund me for something I paid for, is not acceptable.

I dont want excuses, I want you to do what you say you will do, in the amount of time you say you will do it in, or dont take the additional money.

You said you are unable to refund the 15$, I am sure that the payment company will handle it for you with no issues.

I can show that the game was received on X date, by you own admission you missed the 30 'business day' window, but charged for it, simple that service will NOT be paid for.

We can spend all day going back and forth over this, either finish up the job, and return it and refund or just finish the job and return it and I will take the issue up with the charge company - I will also promise you that I will go off the rails on every social media outlet letting them know how this transaction was taken care of.

I am totally sure that its worth it for you to simply refund the the 15$ and finish the grading, boxing and shipping and not have to hear from me again.

Cooper

On 2/3/2020 6:17 PM, Rob (Wata Games) wrote:

##- Please type your reply above this line -##

Your request (774) has been updated. To add additional comments, reply to this email.

Rob (Wata Games) Feb 3, 18:17 EST We are happy to return your game to you without encapsulating it, however you'll still be charged a $15 evaluation fee and we cannot refund the shipping but we'll refund the difference from that. Let me know how you want us to proceed. Thanks!

D_ Craig Cooper Feb 3, 18:15 EST No problem I will take it up with my Payment Company I paid for a service I did not receive - we will see what they think about it.

Rob (Wata Games) Feb 3, 17:41 EST We do not issue refunds for our services and will not be issuing a refund here. We are experiencing a backhaul as a result of an overwhelming amount of games submitted for Wata services and are working literally round the clock to push orders through and shipped out quickly.  Thank you for your understanding.

Wata Games (Wata Games) Feb 3, 17:37 EST Cooper, Grading days are estimates only -  can you provide a tracking number for us to see what day it was received at our office?   All the best,  The Wata Team.

D_ Craig Cooper Feb 3, 17:34 EST Thanks for getting back to me - which even that took over a week. But even by your own admission you missed the 'turbo' date/time to complete the grading and therefore do not get to charge for it, so please finish up my game and return it along with the 15$ difference in price that was paid for the faster service. I really had hoped for better from your company, I have used the other company in the past and hoped for better, I really did not see that with my first order, lets hope you can get this finished up quickly and the difference refunded so that we can continue to do business in the future. Cooper

Wata Games (Wata Games) Feb 3, 16:54 EST Hi and thank you for reaching out - The order in question has been finished since Jan 13th - while we see the order was submitted on the 9th of December, it was not received on the 9th  We count business days from when the game hits our receiving.  Couple that with two holidays  at the end of December, we are only slightly overdue on your order - and for that we apologize.  Our time frame is for estimated days only and we are currently running a backlog - we should be able to get your game out in the next couple of days.  Sorry for any inconvenience.  If you would like to discuss please call our office.  All the best,  The Wata Team.

D_ Craig Cooper Jan 24, 16:00 EST I paid for turbo ORDER #574546 [ PLACED: 12/9/2019]And well that did not happen please refund the 15$ extra I paid.

 

 

[Splain | 2,560]

I wish Nintendo would start grading games. VGA and Wata would both vanish overnight.

[Startyde | 175]

25 minutes ago, Splain said:

I wish Nintendo would start grading games. VGA and Wata would both vanish overnight.

Not one word of this makes sense. What authority would Nintendo possibly have on other companies games and how they were sealed? Also the bulk of VGAs business comes from AFA, so they're going nowhere.

Edited February 21, 2020 by Startyde

[Link | 2,707]

Since I’m not in the grading scene and only see talk of it here I probably lack perspective, but with this being such a longstanding and apparently chronic issue with this young company, I’m amazed that they still receive enough orders to continue to be unable to fulfill them to meet expectations. And I think I said this sometime back on NA, but the “30 business days” thing is kind of shady, imo. It’s normal to think of 30 days as one month. Making it business days is 42 calendar days. Once you get up to that many “business” days, most people start referring to weeks instead.

Man, remember when ordering stuff out of a catalog was 6-8 weeks? Now we all want same day shipping, haha

[Silent Hill | 276]

17 hours ago, Startyde said:

That is another issue altogether. In their November update they said all tiers would reopen Dec 1st, 2019. The Speedrun (10 day) has NEVER been reopened, again, lending itself to the fact that they have two tiers, pay $135 for speed, or pay $35 to $50 for whatever who cares.

I think Speedrun opens if the value of your game is marked at $500 or above.

[Silent Hill | 276]

@c0op3r  - That's a pretty shitty exchange with them, though I'm glad they ended up refunding you.

 

I was debating on sending my sealed SH set for grading but it seems like a total shitshow right now. It appears that nobody there has any business acumen.

[Startyde | 175]

1 hour ago, Silent Hill said:

I think Speedrun opens if the value of your game is marked at $500 or above.

I stand corrected, that wasn't intuitive to me. Thank you sir.

Edited February 21, 2020 by Startyde

[Lincoln | 230]

17 hours ago, c0op3r said:

I just want to make a few more comment and these are opinions (and you know what they say about that - like assholes everyone got one).

I like the look of the WATA sealed game so much better than VGA, that is why I used them, I did not get my game graded as being something that was so great that it needed to be done, I wanted it for display, and I am very happy with the end result.  My problem with them was like most of the others here they say we will do it in X days and they dont but they will take the money for it - that is WRONG.

As to telling to to get more people to handle the work that is exactly what I did:

 

Here is a copy of the Exchange between myself and WATA rep Rob:    (Its in reverse order)

No finish it up, I paid for a service, I want that service, I paid for 30 days I want the 30 day service or I want the 15$ difference refunded.  Its simple, I dont care if you work around the clock, hire more people, if you have that much business you should be able to afford it.  Telling me flat out you will not refund me for something I paid for, is not acceptable.

I dont want excuses, I want you to do what you say you will do, in the amount of time you say you will do it in, or dont take the additional money.

You said you are unable to refund the 15$, I am sure that the payment company will handle it for you with no issues.

I can show that the game was received on X date, by you own admission you missed the 30 'business day' window, but charged for it, simple that service will NOT be paid for.

We can spend all day going back and forth over this, either finish up the job, and return it and refund or just finish the job and return it and I will take the issue up with the charge company - I will also promise you that I will go off the rails on every social media outlet letting them know how this transaction was taken care of.

I am totally sure that its worth it for you to simply refund the the 15$ and finish the grading, boxing and shipping and not have to hear from me again.

Cooper

On 2/3/2020 6:17 PM, Rob (Wata Games) wrote:

##- Please type your reply above this line -##

Your request (774) has been updated. To add additional comments, reply to this email.

Rob (Wata Games) Feb 3, 18:17 EST We are happy to return your game to you without encapsulating it, however you'll still be charged a $15 evaluation fee and we cannot refund the shipping but we'll refund the difference from that. Let me know how you want us to proceed. Thanks!

D_ Craig Cooper Feb 3, 18:15 EST No problem I will take it up with my Payment Company I paid for a service I did not receive - we will see what they think about it.

Rob (Wata Games) Feb 3, 17:41 EST We do not issue refunds for our services and will not be issuing a refund here. We are experiencing a backhaul as a result of an overwhelming amount of games submitted for Wata services and are working literally round the clock to push orders through and shipped out quickly.  Thank you for your understanding.

Wata Games (Wata Games) Feb 3, 17:37 EST Cooper, Grading days are estimates only -  can you provide a tracking number for us to see what day it was received at our office?   All the best,  The Wata Team.

D_ Craig Cooper Feb 3, 17:34 EST Thanks for getting back to me - which even that took over a week. But even by your own admission you missed the 'turbo' date/time to complete the grading and therefore do not get to charge for it, so please finish up my game and return it along with the 15$ difference in price that was paid for the faster service. I really had hoped for better from your company, I have used the other company in the past and hoped for better, I really did not see that with my first order, lets hope you can get this finished up quickly and the difference refunded so that we can continue to do business in the future. Cooper

Wata Games (Wata Games) Feb 3, 16:54 EST Hi and thank you for reaching out - The order in question has been finished since Jan 13th - while we see the order was submitted on the 9th of December, it was not received on the 9th  We count business days from when the game hits our receiving.  Couple that with two holidays  at the end of December, we are only slightly overdue on your order - and for that we apologize.  Our time frame is for estimated days only and we are currently running a backlog - we should be able to get your game out in the next couple of days.  Sorry for any inconvenience.  If you would like to discuss please call our office.  All the best,  The Wata Team.

D_ Craig Cooper Jan 24, 16:00 EST I paid for turbo ORDER #574546 [ PLACED: 12/9/2019]And well that did not happen please refund the 15$ extra I paid.

 

 

When you put in your order was there any language about 30 days being an estimate? Or they claiming that after the fact?

[c0op3r | 63]

5 hours ago, Lincoln said:

When you put in your order was there any language about 30 days being an estimate? Or they claiming that after the fact?

They claimed that after the fact.

[Gloves | 11,759]

Hah.

[docile tapeworm | 4,194]

My guess is they take care of big $ big collectors. 
 

if your sending anything in on any of those tiers your small time and by the look of it don’t care about your business.

Edited February 22, 2020 by skinnygrinny

[Dkaps82 | 3]

Website says It’s an estimate. 

[Link | 2,707]

13 hours ago, Gloves said:

Hah.

Wow. At this point it seems like they are just collecting free games and money. 

[Dkaps82 | 3]

14 hours ago, Link said:

Wow. At this point it seems like they are just collecting free games and money. 

No chance. I’ve received over 40 games back in 3 separate shipments since mid December. Turnaround times haven’t been exact but no one can say they haven’t seen significant improvement. 

[c0op3r | 63]

Did anyone else see/hear the Pat the NES Punk segment on how WATA slabbed a Prototype that contained a production board?

We cant call it a fake, but it was not correct, note its not 'graded' but by slabbing it and labeling it a Prototype they basically made a mutt cart have legitimacy in the market.  This does not not look good.

I find it really funny as I made a thread someplace else about the question of the possibility of WATA grading a re-sealed game as a factory sealed game - everyone on that thread said no that would never happen etc etc.  I think slabbing a Mutt Cart as a real Prototype opens this up again.

I know we originally were talking about WATA and the prices and turn around but I have to question what is really going on there, I had my game graded and slabbed not for resale but for my own collection, it is nothing rare just a game I like that I think makes a great display for my collection, but I also know that I am not the normal client.  People are paying for this service as a value adder, and if they are making mistake, raising prices and taking forever - it will hurt the collector not help them.

 

Side question - WATA does not currently grade NeoGeo AES, what do you think will happen if they enter that market?  I ask this as those carts are already insanely priced (and they are selling, not just asking prices).  If you thought the asking price of a Super Mario Bros @ 100k$ was high, wait till you see a graded, complete NeoGeo AES cart!

[1upped | 152]

On 2/25/2020 at 5:05 AM, c0op3r said:

Did anyone else see/hear the Pat the NES Punk segment on how WATA slabbed a Prototype that contained a production board?

We cant call it a fake, but it was not correct, note its not 'graded' but by slabbing it and labeling it a Prototype they basically made a mutt cart have legitimacy in the market.  This does not not look good.

I find it really funny as I made a thread someplace else about the question of the possibility of WATA grading a re-sealed game as a factory sealed game - everyone on that thread said no that would never happen etc etc.  I think slabbing a Mutt Cart as a real Prototype opens this up again.

I know we originally were talking about WATA and the prices and turn around but I have to question what is really going on there, I had my game graded and slabbed not for resale but for my own collection, it is nothing rare just a game I like that I think makes a great display for my collection, but I also know that I am not the normal client.  People are paying for this service as a value adder, and if they are making mistake, raising prices and taking forever - it will hurt the collector not help them.

 

Side question - WATA does not currently grade NeoGeo AES, what do you think will happen if they enter that market?  I ask this as those carts are already insanely priced (and they are selling, not just asking prices).  If you thought the asking price of a Super Mario Bros @ 100k$ was high, wait till you see a graded, complete NeoGeo AES cart!

I can’t think of any AES title that would cost over 100k.....but maybe I’ve been away from serious NeoGeo for a bit.

[O.G. CIB | 415]

On 2/25/2020 at 8:05 AM, c0op3r said:

Did anyone else see/hear the Pat the NES Punk segment on how WATA slabbed a Prototype that contained a production board?

We cant call it a fake, but it was not correct, note its not 'graded' but by slabbing it and labeling it a Prototype they basically made a mutt cart have legitimacy in the market.  This does not not look good.

I find it really funny as I made a thread someplace else about the question of the possibility of WATA grading a re-sealed game as a factory sealed game - everyone on that thread said no that would never happen etc etc.  I think slabbing a Mutt Cart as a real Prototype opens this up again.

I know we originally were talking about WATA and the prices and turn around but I have to question what is really going on there, I had my game graded and slabbed not for resale but for my own collection, it is nothing rare just a game I like that I think makes a great display for my collection, but I also know that I am not the normal client.  People are paying for this service as a value adder, and if they are making mistake, raising prices and taking forever - it will hurt the collector not help them.

 

Side question - WATA does not currently grade NeoGeo AES, what do you think will happen if they enter that market?  I ask this as those carts are already insanely priced (and they are selling, not just asking prices).  If you thought the asking price of a Super Mario Bros @ 100k$ was high, wait till you see a graded, complete NeoGeo AES cart!

Grading AES games would be a total different animal......... and not sure WATA has the experts to verify them. The only thing I could think of that would approach high digits graded would be a  Euro Kizuna Encounter, a Euro Ultimate 11 and maybe a US Metal Slug 1. All of which haven't seen the light of day in years in a open market. Neo Geo AES appeal is worldwide and with some high rollers. It would be interesting to see.

[1upped | 152]

9 minutes ago, Mr. CIB said:

Grading AES games would be a total different animal......... and not sure WATA has the experts to verify them. The only thing I could think of that would approach high digits graded would be a  Euro Kizuna Encounter, a Euro Ultimate 11 and maybe a US Metal Slug 1. All of which haven't seen the light of day in years in a open market. Neo Geo AES appeal is worldwide and with some high rollers. It would be interesting to see.

Ahhh, yes....I forgot about Metal Slug 1.....that would fetch a pretty penny.

[kell | 102]

Are WATA turn times getting any better?

[OptOut | 8,880]

On 3/28/2020 at 8:52 AM, kell said:

Are WATA turn times getting any better?

In light of the coronavirus pandemic, I'm guessing not...

I certainly wouldn't want to be handling hundreds of filthy parcels a day sent by hoards of unwashed game collectors! 

Shudders! 

[ThePhleo | 2,184]

On 3/2/2020 at 12:14 AM, Mr. CIB said:

Grading AES games would be a total different animal......... and not sure WATA has the experts to verify them. The only thing I could think of that would approach high digits graded would be a  Euro Kizuna Encounter, a Euro Ultimate 11 and maybe a US Metal Slug 1. All of which haven't seen the light of day in years in a open market. Neo Geo AES appeal is worldwide and with some high rollers. It would be interesting to see.

Wasn't there a Metal Slug 1 recently on NEO-GEO.com?

[O.G. CIB | 415]

5 hours ago, ThePhleo said:

Wasn't there a Metal Slug 1 recently on NEO-GEO.com?

Not that I am aware of. The last one that sold on the Neostore.com website has been years. I’m not sure if a sale took place on the forums but I haven’t seen one.

[ExplodedHamster | 404]

On 3/29/2020 at 7:54 AM, OptOut said:

In light of the coronavirus pandemic, I'm guessing not...

I certainly wouldn't want to be handling hundreds of filthy parcels a day sent by hoards of unwashed game collectors! 

Shudders! 

There’s not much evidence suggesting it can pass via mail, especially mail that takes a few or more days handling. 
 

My personal experience and social media suggests lots of people are getting shipments back. Collectibles, including high end games, appear to be skyrocketing during these times as there’s plenty of money out there, people are bored, and the stock market stinks atm. They’d be wise to keep pumping stuff out, demand appears to be at an all-time high.