What's happened to Arcadeworld UK?

Kleber

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Made an order days before the site vanished. Andy has provided outstanding customer service over the years. It'd be extremely disappointing to learn that he went rogue. I am still hoping my goods show up in the coming days. The lack of communication and abrupt closure are hard to accept from a customer's perspective regardless.
 

virtvic

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He has over a £100 of mine for buttons I ordered a while ago. He told me to order them and they would be sent on back order. I desperately need these in the next week or so to make vectrex joysticks to be sold at Revival.

I just got a bounced email too. FFS. I won’t be able to get those buttons before the event now.
 

Mr20to5

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He has over a £100 of mine for buttons I ordered a while ago. He told me to order them and they would be sent on back order. I desperately need these in the next week or so to make vectrex joysticks to be sold at Revival.
Ah, Vic, that's pants, for a number of reasons. Hope you get your money back and find some buttons in time.
 

virtvic

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I just rang the number attached to their PayPal information. It comes up as Gremlin Solutions (their old trading name) The phone rang due a bit then just cut off.
 

virtvic

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I used PayPal attached to my Amex card. I’ll get on to them later and see if they can pull my money back. Just ordered what I needed from small cab in France. I’ll report back when the order arrives
 

mcc-destroyer

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I doubt you guys will receive your orders. I'm down £350 for a white cabinet. This guy seems to have been taking orders then running.
The best advice is to contact your card providers and bank and report it.
It may also be worth reporting it to the police or the Action Fraud here in the UK.
They have to get back to you within 28 days of a report, and they track the financial records.
You only need proof of non delivery of goods.
You could cite this thread as well, so they can get an idea of how many people have lost money to this guy.
 

TheDaddy

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I just been ripped of for £275 and have contacted the Fraud squad - NOT arcadeworld though , I will also go to my bank but as I did a transfer I doubt I will get that back.

I will be listing all the ins and outs on here as its PCB's so I am hoping me posting details will stop someone else getting ripped off.

Dave.
 

KO007

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He has over a £100 of mine for buttons I ordered a while ago. He told me to order them and they would be sent on back order. I desperately need these in the next week or so to make vectrex joysticks to be sold at Revival.

I just got a bounced email too. FFS. I won’t be able to get those buttons before the event now.
If you get stuck let me know. I am not a reseller of components but I hold a small amount of stuff in our stock room which may or may not help you.
 

Fantazia2

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I doubt you guys will receive your orders. I'm down £350 for a white cabinet. This guy seems to have been taking orders then running.
The best advice is to contact your card providers and bank and report it.
It may also be worth reporting it to the police or the Action Fraud here in the UK.
They have to get back to you within 28 days of a report, and they track the financial records.
You only need proof of non delivery of goods.
You could cite this thread as well, so they can get an idea of how many people have lost money to this guy.

Out of interest, how would you go about proving none delivery to them?
 

KO007

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If you ordered an arcade kit and didn't receive it, and I didn't receive the order from AWUK, then I am the proof it wasn't sent out. Those kits were only made by me. I have no outstanding orders to fulfil from AWUK.
 

mcc-destroyer

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Out of interest, how would you go about proving none delivery to them?
If you happened to keep any emails from AWUK (their message service, if you used it, also forwards to your email address).
If you received your item, there will be a record of that. Its up to the seller to dispute that you received your goods. The fact that there are plenty enough people here with the same complaints will make it harder to dispute it.
He may use some of his stolen money to lawyer up, tbh, he'll need it.
The problem is with fraudsters, is the stupid ones like our Andy Pickerill, doesn't seem to realise that there is a trail of missing money that leads right back to him.
It's only a matter of time before they pick him up for the fraud.

There's a paper trail from bank to bank, so he will be found.
The only way out of a serious charge now is if he refunds every penny he stole.

Again, it's up to the seller to dispute that you received the goods, not the buyer. He will have 28 days to "clawback" the money, but he needs to provide even more info than he will have (tracking numbers and proof of postage), which he doesn't.

I wouldn't be surprised to find that he's on here checking this thread as well, if he is, we'll, let's hope he heeds the warning that the cops and national fraud squad are onto him.

Edit: He may also have to pay a fee for each chargeback incurred by his bank or credit Co.
 

mcc-destroyer

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I just been ripped of for £275 and have contacted the Fraud squad - NOT arcadeworld though , I will also go to my bank but as I did a transfer I doubt I will get that back.

I will be listing all the ins and outs on here as its PCB's so I am hoping me posting details will stop someone else getting ripped off.

Dave.
Action Fraud UK asked me for his individual details, along with the company details, and any addresses I have. They also have the transaction details, at my end, assuming, they will be tracing the payments.
It's really up to Andy Pickerill and AWUK to prove they sent all of the orders that are unaccounted for.

I almost bought a complete jamma kit too, the only thing that stopped me was I have a spare micro PC that I could use in the meantime, or else ibwould be out at least another few hundred quid.
 

neoretro

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If you happened to keep any emails from AWUK (their message service, if you used it, also forwards to your email address).
If you received your item, there will be a record of that. Its up to the seller to dispute that you received your goods. The fact that there are plenty enough people here with the same complaints will make it harder to dispute it.
He may use some of his stolen money to lawyer up, tbh, he'll need it.
The problem is with fraudsters, is the stupid ones like our Andy Pickerill, doesn't seem to realise that there is a trail of missing money that leads right back to him.
It's only a matter of time before they pick him up for the fraud.

There's a paper trail from bank to bank, so he will be found.
The only way out of a serious charge now is if he refunds every penny he stole.

Again, it's up to the seller to dispute that you received the goods, not the buyer. He will have 28 days to "clawback" the money, but he needs to provide even more info than he will have (tracking numbers and proof of postage), which he doesn't.

I wouldn't be surprised to find that he's on here checking this thread as well, if he is, we'll, let's hope he heeds the warning that the cops and national fraud squad are onto him.

Edit: He may also have to pay a fee for each chargeback incurred by his bank or credit Co.
Not really sure this is how Ltd companies work.

You could go after the company but if they’ve got debtors which were paid with the money he’s swindled, then you might get your money back but he would have no personal liability. Barring possibly being barred from being a director for a while if it was found he wasn’t acting in the best interest of his company.

It largely depends on what he’s used the money for. If he’s pulled it and headed for South America, you might be able to track him down and get it back.

If he’s paid off staff and debts and basically gone bust, it’s not really anything the fraud squad would care about.

It’s why Airlines and stuff can go bust and run off if your money if they’re not Atol protected.
 

jimmerd

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Speaking in general terms and not about any specific company my understanding (which could be wrong!) is...

You can use the companies house website to receive free updates on a business thru email.

A limited company can go insolvent/in administration when it can't fulfil orders, followed by assets being frozen before then entering a liquidation process , where whatever money is left is returned to creditors.

Best bet in this situation is to follow up immediately with your credit card/service provider as they may be liable for providing a refund.
 

mcc-destroyer

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Speaking in general terms and not about any specific company my understanding (which could be wrong!) is...

You can use the companies house website to receive free updates on a business thru email.

A limited company can go insolvent/in administration when it can't fulfil orders, followed by assets being frozen before then entering a liquidation process , where whatever money is left is returned to creditors.

Best bet in this situation is to follow up immediately with your credit card/service provider as they may be liable for providing a refund.

Not really sure this is how Ltd companies work.

You could go after the company but if they’ve got debtors which were paid with the money he’s swindled, then you might get your money back but he would have no personal liability. Barring possibly being barred from being a director for a while if it was found he wasn’t acting in the best interest of his company.

It largely depends on what he’s used the money for. If he’s pulled it and headed for South America, you might be able to track him down and get it back.

If he’s paid off staff and debts and basically gone bust, it’s not really anything the fraud squad would care about.

It’s why Airlines and stuff can go bust and run off if your money if they’re not Atol protected.
Totally get where you're coming from, but if he knowingly enticed people to buy something in which he knew that he wasn't going to deliver, then he stole the money, fraudulently.
The fact that he incorporated the business won't protect him.
I only hope he pocketed the money, cos the HMRC and Inland Revenue will probably be looking into him too.

I found this on a UK Lawyer's site

WHAT IS FRAUD?

A fraud is committed when someone gains something from false representation. Directors can be held civilly or criminally liable for making misleading statements or misrepresenting facts, including to other directors, investors, shareholders, or customers.

You can find that link here:


There's no doubt that AWUK and Andy Pickerill misrepresented his company to customers, by telling us that our goods were on the way, and we would receive them on time.

He also (if you look at a previous post between myself and one of his suppliers, Andy Pickerill didn't even bother to put my order through in the beginning, I have the emails to prove that he was being deceptive about it). Even if he escapes civil charges, I have absolutely every intention of pressing criminal charges against him. Simple as that.
 

neoretro

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What’s really weird is I had an order a couple of weeks ago honoured by him which was pretty high value and even had a few emails back and forth to talk about stock and to help me out
 

mcc-destroyer

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Some interesting reading here... points 7 & 8. Those two alone make any director of any firm personally liable. It's clear that if Andy Pickerill continued to trade knowing his company was going down the tubes, which he did, then he's liable.

He also took deposits on items he could not deliver, again, making him personally liable.

 
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