Another Castle Video Games — Local services in Edmonds

You let me down, Another Castle. I really wanted to give you a 5-star rating, I really did. But you let me down.

Their selection is great, their arcade is great, but the reason I went there was because they offered to fix my PS3 with a quick turnaround. "7-10 days" was the offer, "$65" was the quoted fee. I was so excited I jumped on it, and even bought games for the system before I left. I put the cart before the horse. I even told a co-worker that she could drop her X-Box One off and get it fixed. They quoted her a similar offer and fee.

I got my system back on the 10th day. They informed me that they had to re-flow the motherboard, because the system kept popping off after about 2 minutes. I took it home and it played for 5 minutes before it did it again. I talked to the person who I got the broken PS3 from, and they informed me that they had gotten rid of the system because it was over-heating. They actually had the main board re-flowed THREE TIMES by (guess who) Another Castle, before finally getting rid of it. So I researched on the internet, I looked into the issue and the symptoms. I modified the chassis and heat shroud with a dremel and mounted a new fan, and I haven't had another issue. The fix took me 15 minutes and I didn't have to buy a thing.

My co-worker, however, has yet to get her X-Box back. We're on the 4th week of her waiting, and there is no end in sight. Every time she talks to someone at the shop it's a different person, who knows absolutely nothing about what she is calling about. Nobody has left any notes on the account about her, and every time she calls in she is told one of these things (in no particular order): "It's in the queue and will get fixed today, you can pick it up tomorrow" , "There are several machines ahead of it, you will have to wait 7-10 days" , or "Anton is working on it right now, he will call you and tell you what the status is later this afternoon." Nobody can give her a consistent answer, or even any sort of explanation as to what is going on; not the person on the phone, not the manager on shift, not even Matt (the owner).

I don't make referrals lightly; to not only have my own time and money wasted this way, but to have someone I led to the business have her account so grossly mismanaged is completely unacceptable. All of this could have been avoided by something as simple as a clear explanation of the condition of her console, some form of adherence to the promised timetable, or even something as simple as a call from the manager or owner to explain the delay and apologize for the inconvenience. She never asked for monetary compensation or demanded reparations, she wasn't rude or vulgar. She just wanted the business to provide the service it promised, and barring that, a polite explanation of why the service contract could not be fulfilled.

This goes beyond a failure to provide goods or services, this is a failure of basic customer service principles. This is a simple thing to provide, often overlooked by the customer when it is provided; but when you fail to give it to a customer, it becomes the kind of thing that can destroy a business'...

Gotta review this place in two parts. First, the arcade. This part opens fully in the late afternoon and goes on until late in the evening. The cabinets range in variety of games from the early 80's (maybe even late 70's) to the early 00's. While the collection is not exhaustive, I would challenge any enthusiast not to find something into which they would enjoy dumping quarters. Half of the machines are pinball games of the highest caliber. Regular pinball tournaments will have you eagerly challenging for the local crown. Lastly, don't plan on eating a meal here as they're limited to beer and light snacks for a mindless nosh, but the place is perfect for post repast activities. Second, the store. This place is excellent for find both new and used games from Atari 2600 to Xbox One. Nintendo Switch? They got it. Odyssey²? They got it. Sega Saturn? They got it. PS4? ...you get the idea. It's the expertise of the staff that is possibly their most impressive aspect. I think the best way to describe this is by prefacing with an experience I had at another game store around '08 -I won't mention the name of this national chain, but needless to say I Stopped to check out their Games and to find a particular accessory for my PS1. Clerk: "Hi, can I help you find anything?" Me: "Maybe. Do you happen to have a Namco Guncon in stock?" C: "I'm sorry, I've not heard of that game. Is that a PlayStation 2 title." M: "You know what, don't worry. I'll just have a look around."

Fast forward to a fledgling Another Castle that had maybe been open six months with a store not much larger than my living room. I walk in to check out their games selection and see accessories of all kinds hanging on their back wall. This was my interaction with the owner: Me: eyes wide and pointing to the wall "Is that..." Owner: "A Namco Guncon? Yes it is." The guy finished my sentence -he was that good. Our conversation continued and he spoke of plans to expand his store into the space next door and have a classic arcade attached. Not only did he do that, but he's expanded to a few locations in the Puget Sound area.

If given the choice to go to one of the ubiquitous chain locations versus a local shop, pick Another...

I was bragging this place up to my wife last night, so it was her first time in we came in to buy there Atari 7800 vintage model for 85.00 i thought it was fair being that i would get it tonite and games would have been a little over 120 not bad i thought, but I was shocked at the rudeness of the guy behind the counter, my wife wad asking about their specials they have posted and the counter guy I guess his name is Matt, any way he snubbed her and couldn't take the time to talk to her, I wanted to walk out I was truly disappointed because I've had really good times in there with my son, so I asked to see the atari and he got it out and handed it to me not only did this thing look beat but it was scratched all to hellthe controller it came with was inoperable and I said how can i play this if it does not work the button went in and would not come backout, pretty obvious that it would be a problemas i was picking out some games to buy with it I saw a 7800 controller for sale and asked if he could swap it so it would be legit, he then was rude and said you can buy it I looked him square in his eyes and laughed and walked out, they passed on my 120 dollar purchase of consul and games that's been sitting their for months, tried to sell garbage to me, went home and bought a prestine atari 7800 with 2 controllers and 10 game's for 65.00 on eBay guaranteed to work, I use to love going there but I believe I'll be giving my patronage to someone else. His attitude should not be tolerated even if it's closing time.I realize that the consul is old and that it might have wear but selling it and it not being able to play right due to a controller that's weak. Their staff is knowledgeable and every other time ive been their has...