Time Warp Video Games — Local services in Ellicott City

I've gone back and forth about writing a review for Time Warp. On the one hand, I don't want to add negativity to the world. On the other, I think customers should know what they're dealing with and proceed with caution based on my experiences dealing with this store and its owner.

I did business with Jason for years. Met him originally at a store he had at Columbia Mall called Media Bros. My first transaction with him, he replaced a battery in a SNES cart. Took him three months. He gave me a gift card to his store to apologize. The store closed within two weeks without notice, and he refused to honor it at his OEC store.

That's all fine and dandy...as are Jason's prices. You can definitely get any game his store has way cheaper on eBay, and you can DEFINITELY sell your old games on eBay for 2-4X what he'll pay you.

The real dealbreaker issue arose when I commissioned Jason to mod my Gameboy Pocket. I told him in person, in his store, I wanted the screen backlit and the volume enhanced. He agreed and took my GBP.

When I picked it up from him, I was shocked speechless. It looked atrocious...he was supposed to backlight the screen, not put in a smaller lit screen. And it sounded the same.

He assured me it was definitely louder than before. And I didn't think of it then, but he kept my original, functional GBP screen ($70+) without asking.

Eventually I worked up the courage to message him saying, basically, "I don't know what happened, but this is not what we discussed/agreed on or what I had in mind and I want it reversed."

Jason showed no accountability, care, concern, etc., and insisted (1) you can't backlight a GBP. This is wrong, so either he was lying or woefully misinformed. Sad since that's what we agreed on him doing... And (2) the reason the GBP sounds the same is because of my hearing...(!)

Going back and forth with Jason, it was clear he wasn't going to admit that he'd messed up the job and offer a remedy. So I took my GBP to a game store elsewhere to see how much they'd charge to undo the awful job Jason charged me for.

They took the GBP apart, and were shocked by (1) how awfully sloppy a job Jason did, and (2) how my GBP had the original speaker. In fact, it was still very dirty inside! Time Warp's owner who did the work didn't even clean the insides, so it was plain and obvious how little work was done.

Let me repeat in case you didn't hear. The GBP doesn't sound the same because of my hearing.......it sounds the same cause Jason didn't do the work. And he lied to me about it. Repeatedly. In store. In messages.

Those are just the facts. And when I brought all these facts and pictures to Jason's attention, he apologized and agreed to pay me back.

Did Jason not realize he had done shoddy, incomplete work, that he had lied several times and gaslit me? Maybe my pictures and message woke him up! He said some nonsense about how he just wanted me to come into the store to talk about it, as if we hadn't clearly agreed on the scope of work in the first place.

Anyways, there is no way I would EVER let Jason near my hardware again, and based on such dishonest and deceptive business practices, I told him it would be hard for me to continue business with him. Fortunately he told me in his last message upon paying me for messing up my GBP that he'd like to cease doing business with me. I guess he doesn't like customers who aren't happy being taken advantage of and lied to. I can live with that!

I wish there were a local video game store that was great and really showed love to/for its community, but Time Warp certainly ain't it. I am not interested in finding out if Jason reforms his practices--the proof of his morals/ethics is/was very clearly in the pudding of our dealings and talks. He paid me back only when there was irrefutable evidence he did wrong.

So, if you're considering having Jason work on your consoles...definitely think twice. And if you're looking to buy or sell your old games, I strongly recommend checking out eBay.

For the record: my hearing is...

Great Store! Inventory is never stale. You can go in once a week and there are new, high quality used games every time. Great communication on FB messenger when I ask for something in stock. On a few occasions when I say I'll be by, I come in and they have been kind enough to set aside what I said I'd purchase without even asking them to do that. I've been to a few other retro game stores in MD and this one is the best.

UPDATE: I continue to have great experiences at this store. Pricing is totally in line with market, even when you compare to online sources. It's nice to be able to confidently buy authentic games when there are so many fakes out there. Customer service continues to be top notch and communication is always phenomenal. Had an issue with one of the N64s I bought there (hey, it's a 25+ year old piece of electronics) and they were very fair to help me with the issue.

When choosing to shop at a "Brick and Mortar" store these days, there has to be something that sets it apart from the other options out there. This place has...

I love this place, except for 2 things. First off there’s barely anywhere to park your car (because it’s historic Ellicott City 🙄), so I’d rather just roadtrip my bicycle here, and also great deals on music and game cartridges, but the actual game consoles cost more than they probably did when they were new. And even though I can easily afford that, it’s still ridiculous prices. The benefit of bicycling here is that I can just park right in front of the store (unless I find a bike rack), but I don’t have much storage space on my bike so lol 😂.

Overall, this is a pretty decent place for anyone who wants to add to their retro tech collection. Just don’t be fooled by the like-new prices of the game consoles. (Maybe they’re refurbished consoles? But still, $120...