Author Topic: DK Oldies? A scandal, or just another smear campaign?  (Read 6963 times)

Warmsignal

DK Oldies? A scandal, or just another smear campaign?
« on: April 07, 2023, 12:44:14 pm »
I'll be the first to say, I'd probably never buy anything from DK Oldies just because the prices are high, and you don't get to see the actual item they're shipping to you. While I think it's true, they do cut corners and don't fully "refurbish" anything, I'd say for a small business catering to the more casual retro gamer crowd, they do a fair enough job of just cleaning up the outside of a console or controller, the pins on a game, or resurfacing a disc and calling it a day. Maybe they shouldn't call it "refurbished", but personally I don't really think that's an affront to anything. As cruddy as most of the retro reselling market standards are.

Over the past month, there's been a campaign of hate directed at this company, and it's employees and customers, where prominent YT personalities make countless videos about how DK Oldies "is a scam" in their words. They would buy products purely to test the quality of them, basically expecting a like-new console that was flawless outside and in. When it wasn't they'd go on a rant about how it was a scam and false advertising because the inside of the console had some dust or residue on it, or maybe there was a ding somewhere on the unit.

Now I don't have any stake in DK Oldies, but I feel the hate they're getting and the damage being done to their public image as a small business, is unfair and uncalled for. These YT personalities are only profiting from the countless videos they put out, as it's become something of a viral trend or a meme to talk about how "DK Oldies is a scam". It's obvious they're just doing it to milk clicks, and they don't truly care about DK Oldies or what they sell. They've never been customers in the past, and won't be in the future. To me, this is just another example of how people on YT will do, or say anything for their own personal gain, and basically grift to an audience who'll hang onto every word they say...

I dunno, it just annoys me, and I think the whole campaign is kinda messed up. I don't think the DK Oldies customer base gives a damn about dust inside of a console they don't even know how to open up, they're not the hardcore techy type of customer base. Most people don't know what "refurbished" technically means, I don't even know exactly. It just means more thorough cleaning, fixing and testing. It doesn't mean the product is brand new. Most of their customers do not think that, and do not have the expectations these smear campaigner's are attempting to hold them to... but now they're being made to feel like they're getting scammed and ripped off, for buying from this business. They otherwise would be happy with their purchase, but are now being told they shouldn't.

Internet smear campaigns are a vicious thing, and should be reserved only for politicians who verifiably lie about important things. Not a small business because they inaccurately used the word "refurbish" in their description. Somehow, this gives people the right to personally insult and harass their marketing manager and employees on a daily basis for over a month? If someone wanted to point out that they think DK Oldies doesn't truly refurbish products and explain their position, that's one thing. To go on a month long campaign of stirring the pot for drama and harassment of individuals involved at DK Oldies, to stir up rumors of lawsuits for false advertisement and even going as far as trying to encourage Nintendo to sue them for calling themselves DK Oldies, is quite another. If you aren't going to be a customer, then say your piece and move on.

The smear campaigning is just gross, and frankly immoral in my opinion. It's far worse than the offense of DK Oldies using the word "refurbished" in their description. I loath this sort of Internet-mob mentality of just everybody dog-piling on someone/something you're supposed to hate, because it's fun to be involved in the villain's misery/downfall. It just makes me hate the nature of the Internet and what it brings out of people.
« Last Edit: April 07, 2023, 03:11:49 pm by Warmsignal »

burningdoom

PRO Supporter

Re: DK Oldies? A scandel, or just another smear campaign?
« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2023, 01:47:39 pm »
Nah, they deserve it. They did it to themselves. If they don't want to get trash talked then they probably shouldn't sell 2 to 3 times above market value. I don't understand how they stay in business.

Warmsignal

Re: DK Oldies? A scandel, or just another smear campaign?
« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2023, 01:54:32 pm »
Nah, they deserve it. They did it to themselves. If they don't want to get trash talked then they probably shouldn't sell 2 to 3 times above market value. I don't understand how they stay in business.

I could try to sell my N64 for $800. Doesn't mean I deserve bashing. You don't HAVE to buy my stuff, just like you don't HAVE to trade your games into GameStop. It's not like GS owes people more money for their used games. Nobody is owed anything. Do the research, and make your own calculated transactions. Most of the people who buy from DK Oldies, don't care about the nitpicking and the prices, obviously.

I don't buy from DK Oldies because it's too expensive and you don't get to see it. I'm not automatically entitled to a fair price and something in pristine condition from them, sight unseen. Even still, if I'm not happy with it, they do returns and exchanges. So what is all the whining truly about?

burningdoom

PRO Supporter

Re: DK Oldies? A scandel, or just another smear campaign?
« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2023, 03:29:45 pm »
Nah, they deserve it. They did it to themselves. If they don't want to get trash talked then they probably shouldn't sell 2 to 3 times above market value. I don't understand how they stay in business.

I could try to sell my N64 for $800. Doesn't mean I deserve bashing. You don't HAVE to buy my stuff, just like you don't HAVE to trade your games into GameStop. It's not like GS owes people more money for their used games. Nobody is owed anything. Do the research, and make your own calculated transactions. Most of the people who buy from DK Oldies, don't care about the nitpicking and the prices, obviously.

I don't buy from DK Oldies because it's too expensive and you don't get to see it. I'm not automatically entitled to a fair price and something in pristine condition from them, sight unseen. Even still, if I'm not happy with it, they do returns and exchanges. So what is all the whining truly about?

You're right, I don't have to buy from them, and I don't. But selling at ridiculous prices still opens them up to bashing 

sworddude

Re: DK Oldies? A scandel, or just another smear campaign?
« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2023, 04:21:27 pm »
Nah, they deserve it. They did it to themselves. If they don't want to get trash talked then they probably shouldn't sell 2 to 3 times above market value. I don't understand how they stay in business.

I could try to sell my N64 for $800. Doesn't mean I deserve bashing. You don't HAVE to buy my stuff, just like you don't HAVE to trade your games into GameStop. It's not like GS owes people more money for their used games. Nobody is owed anything. Do the research, and make your own calculated transactions. Most of the people who buy from DK Oldies, don't care about the nitpicking and the prices, obviously.

I don't buy from DK Oldies because it's too expensive and you don't get to see it. I'm not automatically entitled to a fair price and something in pristine condition from them, sight unseen. Even still, if I'm not happy with it, they do returns and exchanges. So what is all the whining truly about?

I think the people who bash them think they influence and destroy the retro market, because some people might follow them price wise. It could trigger a Domino effect.
Your Stylish Sword Master!



NickAwesome

PRO Supporter

Re: DK Oldies? A scandal, or just another smear campaign?
« Reply #5 on: April 08, 2023, 03:35:14 am »
Nah fuck 'em.  They have always been a trash business- years before youtubers found it trendy to make videos about them.  They used to spam my inbox with stupid bait and switch promotions that always turned out to be a shit deal- I had to ask to be removed off their mailing list.

  This is not an example of a poor "small business" misunderstanding the word "refurbished".  The owner Drew is not innocent nor stupid, he knows what he is doing.  His business model works on taking advantage of the misinformed.  Which fine, many businesses do that- but if you are outright lying and someone calls you out on you shit, you can't blame anyone but yourself.

  If you are going to call something refurbished and charge premium prices- you need to provide a premium product.  It's not just cleaning dust out of the console- you have to replace thermal paste, you can't leave broken plastic in the system, you have to actually make sure the damn thing works. 

And if I'm paying $400 for a Ps3 you better give me a god damn oem controller- I mean come on- how can you possibly defend these guys.  Until they got called out on it- their website would show a real controller in the product listing but then send you a shitty third party. 

No one would give a fuck about these guys if they were just honest about what you get.  If they said as-is, exterior cleaning only- fine- but they fucked around and found out. 

And the funniest part is, all they have to do to fix this issue- is not lie about their products or process, and they can't even do that. 

Eventually the youtubers will get bored and move on, but it's fun to see them sweat a little.  They've already made some changes to their website (quietly) in response to the criticism so it's clearly working in some respect. 

There's just so many solid local game shops to support that don't do this kind of shit, why should we have a lick of sympathy for em?

telekill

Re: DK Oldies? A scandal, or just another smear campaign?
« Reply #6 on: April 08, 2023, 10:23:24 am »
When I was still looking to collect Game Gear games I looked at their offerings and noticed they were overpriced. Their descriptions of the condition were worded in such a way that I knew they weren't in the best condition... probably not even good condition. Due to that, I passed on shopping there.

Warmsignal

Re: DK Oldies? A scandal, or just another smear campaign?
« Reply #7 on: April 08, 2023, 04:03:07 pm »

There's just so many solid local game shops to support that don't do this kind of shit, why should we have a lick of sympathy for em?

I just don't like Internet harassment mobs of any sort, especially when they appear to be a one location business that employs maybe 20 people? They're not like GameStop, to me it's more like just some guy who made a living opening a video game store and expanded to an online presence. If people want to pay the ridiculous prices, that's fine. I still respect the hustle of anyone who starts their own business. So when a gigantic hate-mob with ulterior motives comes down on someone like that, I just don't like it. Even if the business is not stellar.

As far as the refurbishment, I don't get the sense that many hardcore or picky collectors go specifically to DK Oldies because they say their stuff is refurbished. I feel like they draw in the more casual, unaware type of crowd who just thinks of them (perhaps incorrectly) as a less sketchy alternative to eBay. Even as a seasoned collector, if a seller says refurbished system, I'm honestly not expecting much. Like I don't expect their refurbishment to like look Nintendo's refurbishment where you can't even tell it was a used product. I think that's expecting way too much from a business like DK Oldies. I'm sure they don't have access to a bunch of unused or re-manufactured parts to make everything literally like new again.. Maybe they shouldn't call it refurbished, but to me that doesn't make a whole lot of difference. Local depends on where you're coming from. Around here, nobody even claims to refurbish consoles, and unless it doesn't work you won't be getting your money back for any other reason.

With DK Oldies, we essentially have a mob of Karens loosing their shit because they bought a console solely to test it's perfection, and found flaws with it. One could argue they're not truly a part of the customer base at all, and they're throwing a loud shit-fit over something they didn't even truly want, solely because it's getting views. Probably mad that this place is making bank on something they don't feel is worth it. They can't control other people's spending, so this is how they lash out? I dunno. Not a DK Oldies fan, just don't like the way these online mobs work.
« Last Edit: April 08, 2023, 04:09:29 pm by Warmsignal »

Re: DK Oldies? A scandal, or just another smear campaign?
« Reply #8 on: April 08, 2023, 04:28:31 pm »
You may be OK with false advertising and not getting what you pay for, but not everyone is as laissez faire about what they spend their hard earned money on...especially if they are paying top dollar.

Also, who cares if someone on youtube buys a few consoles to test them out...you make it sound like "regular/average" customer doesn't deserve a decent product, that it's OK for them to be taken advantage of because they don't know any better. DK started posting videos on youtube about how great they were, and the platform is calling them on it.

You may be all upset about online criticism, but DKoldies deserves it. Hopefully they take it to heart and improve their business practices.

Warmsignal

Re: DK Oldies? A scandal, or just another smear campaign?
« Reply #9 on: April 08, 2023, 04:46:57 pm »
You may be OK with false advertising and not getting what you pay for, but not everyone is as laissez faire about what they spend their hard earned money on...especially if they are paying top dollar.

That's a strawman. I didn't say I'm okay with getting ripped off. I use my own judgement. I explained that my expectations of their product is fairly low. There's no way this is going to be a Nintendo of America tier "refurbishment", in my opinion. I find it dubious, if anyone other than OEM would use that term. I expect it to be clean, in good working order, to come with everything it shows, but not perfect.

Quote
Also, who cares if someone on youtube buys a few consoles to test them out...you make it sound like "regular/average" customer doesn't deserve a decent product, that it's OK for them to be taken advantage of because they don't know any better. DK started posting videos on youtube about how great they were, and the platform is calling them on it.

You may be all upset about online criticism, but DKoldies deserves it. Hopefully they take it to heart and improve their business practices.


If someone is happy with what they got, that's great. If not, they can send it back. I don't see where a third party needs to interject and try to stop others from doing business with someone, because you or I, might not personally like the business. People have done this for years with GameStop, but GS has been a blessing to buy used games from, for me. I don't care what the trade-in values are. Don't trade-in if you don't like it. We all make our own judgement calls. Do a review, and say that you think their business is sub-par quality, overrated, over-priced, whatever. That's fair. But the ongoing campaign, and the harassment of employees, etc? It gets out of control way too fast when it comes to the Internet.

Case in point - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--VQbuy5wWg
« Last Edit: April 08, 2023, 04:55:25 pm by Warmsignal »

sworddude

Re: DK Oldies? A scandal, or just another smear campaign?
« Reply #10 on: April 08, 2023, 05:41:02 pm »

There's just so many solid local game shops to support that don't do this kind of shit, why should we have a lick of sympathy for em?

I just don't like Internet harassment mobs of any sort, especially when they appear to be a one location business that employs maybe 20 people? They're not like GameStop, to me it's more like just some guy who made a living opening a video game store and expanded to an online presence. If people want to pay the ridiculous prices, that's fine. I still respect the hustle of anyone who starts their own business. So when a gigantic hate-mob with ulterior motives comes down on someone like that, I just don't like it. Even if the business is not stellar.

As far as the refurbishment, I don't get the sense that many hardcore or picky collectors go specifically to DK Oldies because they say their stuff is refurbished. I feel like they draw in the more casual, unaware type of crowd who just thinks of them (perhaps incorrectly) as a less sketchy alternative to eBay. Even as a seasoned collector, if a seller says refurbished system, I'm honestly not expecting much. Like I don't expect their refurbishment to like look Nintendo's refurbishment where you can't even tell it was a used product. I think that's expecting way too much from a business like DK Oldies. I'm sure they don't have access to a bunch of unused or re-manufactured parts to make everything literally like new again.. Maybe they shouldn't call it refurbished, but to me that doesn't make a whole lot of difference. Local depends on where you're coming from. Around here, nobody even claims to refurbish consoles, and unless it doesn't work you won't be getting your money back for any other reason.

With DK Oldies, we essentially have a mob of Karens loosing their shit because they bought a console solely to test it's perfection, and found flaws with it. One could argue they're not truly a part of the customer base at all, and they're throwing a loud shit-fit over something they didn't even truly want, solely because it's getting views. Probably mad that this place is making bank on something they don't feel is worth it. They can't control other people's spending, so this is how they lash out? I dunno. Not a DK Oldies fan, just don't like the way these online mobs work.

apparently people actually get broken consoles while they ask super premium prices. It should at least be functional.

you could forgive em for 3rd party controllers etc but when you pay that much and it's broken That's meme material I'd say.

« Last Edit: April 08, 2023, 05:44:33 pm by sworddude »
Your Stylish Sword Master!



gummo

Re: DK Oldies? A scandal, or just another smear campaign?
« Reply #11 on: April 09, 2023, 06:23:20 am »
They're getting exactly what they deserve for selling used stuff and calling it refurbished . The people doing unboxing videos and saying they're sketchy are not one gang of evildoers . It's people from all corners of the retro gaming scene confirming it .
   Bottom line is that , regardless of price , DKOldies is advertising that they refurbish all consoles , claiming they open them and clean and repair them all as needed and they're not . Nearly all of the consoles that people have bought for unboxing videos have been dirty inside , some were filthy , a lot of the consoles were broken in some way . They don't replace thermal paste on consoles that it's a potential problem . I'm not sure why people are defending them at this point , this has actually been going on for like 3 months now .
 
Edit - I'm not saying that anybody deserves a death threat . I'm also taking everything that DKOldies claims with a grain of salt .     
« Last Edit: April 09, 2023, 06:38:48 am by gummo »

sworddude

Re: DK Oldies? A scandal, or just another smear campaign?
« Reply #12 on: April 09, 2023, 08:44:18 am »
They're getting exactly what they deserve for selling used stuff and calling it refurbished . The people doing unboxing videos and saying they're sketchy are not one gang of evildoers . It's people from all corners of the retro gaming scene confirming it .
   Bottom line is that , regardless of price , DKOldies is advertising that they refurbish all consoles , claiming they open them and clean and repair them all as needed and they're not . Nearly all of the consoles that people have bought for unboxing videos have been dirty inside , some were filthy , a lot of the consoles were broken in some way . They don't replace thermal paste on consoles that it's a potential problem . I'm not sure why people are defending them at this point , this has actually been going on for like 3 months now .
 
Edit - I'm not saying that anybody deserves a death threat . I'm also taking everything that DKOldies claims with a grain of salt .   

From what I've heard they cherry pick customers. old regulars that buy allot get the proper service like shown in the vids those orders are given to higherups, for everyone else it's a wild card.

Those people might defend them since they get a good service
Your Stylish Sword Master!



gummo

Re: DK Oldies? A scandal, or just another smear campaign?
« Reply #13 on: April 09, 2023, 11:01:02 am »
They're getting exactly what they deserve for selling used stuff and calling it refurbished . The people doing unboxing videos and saying they're sketchy are not one gang of evildoers . It's people from all corners of the retro gaming scene confirming it .
   Bottom line is that , regardless of price , DKOldies is advertising that they refurbish all consoles , claiming they open them and clean and repair them all as needed and they're not . Nearly all of the consoles that people have bought for unboxing videos have been dirty inside , some were filthy , a lot of the consoles were broken in some way . They don't replace thermal paste on consoles that it's a potential problem . I'm not sure why people are defending them at this point , this has actually been going on for like 3 months now .
 
Edit - I'm not saying that anybody deserves a death threat . I'm also taking everything that DKOldies claims with a grain of salt .   

From what I've heard they cherry pick customers. old regulars that buy allot get the proper service like shown in the vids those orders are given to higherups, for everyone else it's a wild card.

Those people might defend them since they get a good service

That's pretty much what I've heard . I know that they offer customers freebies to post unboxings and then they use those in their own videos . They only use and reward the positive ones .

Warmsignal

Re: DK Oldies? A scandal, or just another smear campaign?
« Reply #14 on: April 09, 2023, 12:20:30 pm »
They're getting exactly what they deserve for selling used stuff and calling it refurbished . The people doing unboxing videos and saying they're sketchy are not one gang of evildoers . It's people from all corners of the retro gaming scene confirming it .
   Bottom line is that , regardless of price , DKOldies is advertising that they refurbish all consoles , claiming they open them and clean and repair them all as needed and they're not . Nearly all of the consoles that people have bought for unboxing videos have been dirty inside , some were filthy , a lot of the consoles were broken in some way . They don't replace thermal paste on consoles that it's a potential problem . I'm not sure why people are defending them at this point , this has actually been going on for like 3 months now .
 
Edit - I'm not saying that anybody deserves a death threat . I'm also taking everything that DKOldies claims with a grain of salt .   

From what I've heard they cherry pick customers. old regulars that buy allot get the proper service like shown in the vids those orders are given to higherups, for everyone else it's a wild card.

Those people might defend them since they get a good service

That's pretty much what I've heard . I know that they offer customers freebies to post unboxings and then they use those in their own videos . They only use and reward the positive ones .

But I've also seem them film themselves owning up to mistakes, and replacing orders and even chipping in extras as an apology. Are you contending that they'd typically just stiff any customer who's not satisfied?