back on topic. An update on my refund process ....

05/29 - requested a refund from Heighway via email of $6,425 balance paid. No response received.

05/29 - initiated a dispute with American Express for $6,425 ($1,500 deposit was made 17 months prior).

06/05 - received introduction email from Heighway.

06/06 - requested a refund from Heighway via email of $6,425 and $1,500 downpayment. No response received.

06/16 - credit card dispute for $6,425 was resolved in my favor and that money was refunded.

06/19 - spoke to credit card rep to confirm money had posted. He thanked me for being a valued member.

06/19 - requested a refund of my $1,500 deposit from Heighway. Awaiting response. (still want the game - but not until design bugs are resolved and for game to be in stock. Planning to downgrade from an LE to a STD with shaker).

'#thinkingofpreorderingapinball-justsayno

Check his prior business history.

He is used to having his dreams shattered by now.

OUCH!

I'll be honest, this is one of my concerns as well. I have not played Alien outside of a show, but every show where I've played it and Full Throttle at the same booth, I enjoyed Full Throttle FAR more. I own a lot of games that I wasn't into at first, but even though theme-wise Alien is way more appealing than Full Throttle, from a fun standpoint it has been a landslide for Full Throttle to me.

Is there an Alien on location in NYC anywhere?

A serious collector is one who buys the best titles, mods the hell out of them, knows the market and has a large collection. A serious pinballer is someone who knows the games, plays in tournaments, plays at every opportunity, and has exceptional skills.
Different animals. I'm sorry if I sounded 'douchey'. I was just trying to establish that I know of what I speak.

Seriously using the word serious in the same sentence with pinball sounds like it's sucking the fun out of it.

Dude has 57 games. That's a "serious" pinball addiction. Seriously.

Since I've never once modified a game, I'm not a serious collector? I've owned almost 300 games but because I don't glue plastic dolls to ramps and fill machines with clown puke LEDs, I'm a filthy casual.

Got it.

thedude (resized).jpg

Plus you are Canadian

Don't rub salt in his wounds, eh?

I played a handful of games at Eric's and I was liking it a bunch / I like the 4 flippers and locations and the shots / A little dark but one can add Led lamp posts to brighten it up for cheap/ I enjoyed it and hope to play more of it. seemed like the code was together

Good grief, lighten up Francis.
His comment had nothing to do with you.

You failed, horribly. At first I was just going to laugh at the "mod the hell out of them;" but it actually got worse from there. Actually impressive.

Edit: should have typed "failing horribly," I'm sure there's more to come

Nope-it's just someone with a checkbook and the space to hold and ''mod the hell out of them''. Dollars to doughnuts he's probably been collecting for , oh, a big 10 years!

Overhyped, overated machines can be serious dust collectors.

Yes, I guess I'm not a serious collector then. I just enjoy playing pinball!

An accurate statement.... "serious" and "pinball" don't go together. Half the problem around here....

Don't suppose anyone with a game could be an hugely awesome dude and make me an ISO of their Aliens hard-drive? My game is dead, and Heighway hasn't responded to emails

I classify myself as a "jovial" collector.

rd

Apology for being douchey immediately followed by a douchey comment. Almost made it....

So... how are the people saying give the "new" company more time feeling about this?

This isn't something that needs financial accounts signed over. This isn't something that the folks supposedly still in the company after Andrew left wouldn't know how to answer. This is crap. Plain and simple. How hard can it be to respond to this guy who has a bricked machine? Honestly, it seems like an easy way to show your good will as the "new" owners.

Bat shit crazy if you ask me. Put a copy of the software on some FTP space and send the guy a link FFS.

Any idea if Heighway responded to American Express?

And awesome that you got a big portion of your funds back. Good luck on the $1500. Again, an easy way for the "new" company to show good will is staring them in the face here...

Unsure whether HP responded or if the cc company acted unilaterally. HP has not responded to any of my emails, so all signs point to a non-assist.

O good you have a medieval madness, you must be a serious collector. Teach me your ways...

What do I need to do to help you out Dustin.
I am a computer dumb dumb though.
Might be able to get a friend to help me out for you though.

This is completely unacceptable. Out of everything going wrong with HP, not responding to customers support issues is top of the list. How in the world can anyone be confident in buying anything, if the people currently out there with their product have a brick and getting zero response?

It's one thing to dance around refund requests, if there are limited funds in the bank accounts, but we're talking support here. Even just a response would be better than nothing.

I got an email late last night from them to help me with my bricked FTh LE.
I will keep you guys posted.

Thanks Dan, I appretiate that, I was thinking what I could do is buy a drive dock/duplicator and mail it to you, then all youd have to do is pop out the hdd, and put it on the dock and press a button, then mail it back - super easy.

Yea, I understand the xeno head and switches not being sent as they had no cash/cash is now tied up probably with legal stuff. But this doesnt cost them anything, I wasnt even asking for a new hdd, just the image file so I could re-write the drive even if I had to buy a new one. Seemed like an easy win for them.

All Heighway tech support has to do is make the image available on a dropbox or on their site and you download it and image it to a new SSD. Although I think Brian (BSD) said you need the SSD image and an SD card image. I would think they would WANT to support these games, geez.

This I can do

I wonder who's responsibility this would be. Almost seems like Brian might be the guy for this type of problem and i think he follows these threads. Apologies, if i am wrong.

All Heighway employees need to be conscious of being responsive to customers in the future. It's hard to know whether the company actually is functioning at this point beyond the email contacts for Alien customers (including myself) recently.

I have been assured a couple of times that the production planning for Alien has not been affected by the transition. It seems like support for FTh should continue too, unless they are so focused on Alien that those tasks have been pushed to a lower priority.

If they plan to increase the customer base going forward, they really do need to support existing customers. Nobody is going to board a ship who's passengers are all saying 'we are not happy, we want off'. (Note: not a cargument)

Using a "shipument" in this thread seems appropriate.

Collecting for about 30 years. First pin was Pinbot. I didn't have money to buy many games until my 50's. That is when very long hours at work and sweat equity finally paid off. You should be glad I'm supporting our hobby instead of spending my hard earned money on exotic cars, 'escorts' or nose candy.

Meh, with hookers and blow there is no pre-order stress...

Buying games to add to your collection alone is not "supporting" the hobby. Assisting others and sharing knowledge is.

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Well done, this is what we need more of around here. This is Pinball at its finest.

I will pay for shipping both ways if you guys will send me your PayPal.

I ask forgiveness from anyone I have offended past, present and future. I am not worthy. What can I do to redeem myself?

You will go to hell like that. Say hey, I will be in the blue shirt.

You could change your avatar picture, it is kind of creepy.

Will do. I'll start looking for one.

Look no further ...

Serious_Collector (resized).jpg

Sorry, upload fails. Pinside requires more pixels

Thanks for the kind offer! No worries though I don't mind paying for it - Dan's a good man thanks for helping me out!

So, after playing an ALIEN this weekend a lot in a home environment with the volume up and an external sub-woofer attached,
I must say that it lived up to much of the hype it may have, it lived up to most of what I wanted it to actually be and it left me
really wanting to play it more and if the planets and stars and craftsmanship of the new management team aligns... I'd like one.

I truly enjoy some Early solid state era Wide body games.
I truly enjoy some 90s era solid state games.
It merges many great playfield characteristics of both eras.

The display in the backglass was very nice and very useful (I did enjoy how the clip artish inserts were utilized in the backglass
animation area to explain what shots to make, it was useful, tasteful and unique).
The movie clips grabbed were good and well implemented.
The mini display did add a fun flare and visual element to the playfield and actually makes more sense the a mini me version
of the queen alien that was to be there originally.
The display in the playfield on this variation of the game was in-between unrequired to semi helpful.
In a mega dark room, sure it could help, but in a kinda lit room it wasn't that helpful if at all.
But... if someone went with the small backglass screen or LE backglass, it would be required and helpful.
All of the shots are doable other than the inside ramp if the back legs are raised up.
The audio quality of the license assets were great as expected.
The code for me is enough where is sits and doesn't need too much added to be "finished".
The weapon selection option and usage functions were very unique, fun and fascinating to me.
The beacons are quite neat and aren't under or over used.
It'd kinda mean in the vein of BSD that you can have a really short game or a decently long and enjoyable one.

What I didn't care for...
The damn EXTRA Ball/Weapon selection button on the front left of the cabinet...
It's too damn close to the start button, it's the same sized and frankly why the hell isn't it on the left or right
side of the cabinet near the flipper buttons? Pinball people are accustomed to multiple buttons on a side or two at times.
It was missed just a little lighting in the middle area near the right ramp to me (no big deal).

I'll bite my ALIEN tongue from going on tangents about the game not being available to be and if/when...

But damn... I know this game would earn in the movie theater location I could put it at and many many many
non-pinball people would play it due to the theme and it's look...

thank you for defining all that for me. looks like I need to get to work....