Per Melissa CoinTaker as of Monday, Sep 11, "There was a holdup with the shipment because the ramps were not right. All is good now, and 21 games are on their way as well as parts".

Heighway 2.0 really need to get their shit together with this lying thing. Two completely different stories about delays is amateurish.

This was Melissa's statement to me on 9/7

"They will not be in by this weekend. 

They are on route, but with storms, there have been delays at ports."

Perhaps both are true?

Heighway posted on their Facebook page on August 20th that there was a production delay while having to get some ramp parts re-done. This delayed the shipment actually leaving port. Then there has been some historically bad weather the last few weeks, that could cause a delay in it getting to the destination, no? Or maybe the hurricanes are fake news....

Hurricanes not affecting shipping lanes. Just checked. South Hampton to usa pretty clear. The boats go around such events.
Didn't see any pics of machines leaving factory.

A-freakin-men to this. Lies from beginning to end.....

Exactly. There seems to be some shade throwing going on. It would be nice to have the real honest story.

Say what you will, but Melissa has never lied to me yet.

I guess they could be in route as of 9/7 and she is explaining why it was delayed in the first place (per her email to you) but if that's the case these things would be very close. She said she will confirm to me today so will let everyone know.

Melissa has not lied, but has been lied to-many times. She can only relay what's been told to her....

Could this be implemented? Of course.

However, such a feature does not exist in Alien, and there are no current plans for it.

There is some precedent for such a feature. Several games in the mid 90s offered "novice mode", which was effectively a 1 ball game with a 2 minute ball saver -- so guaranteed at least 2 minutes of play time. And back in the mid 80s, Bally's Motordome prompted each player to choose a "level"... higher levels had harder rules but bigger scores (level = playfield X, I think?).

Honestly I think it would be pretty confusing if multiple players in the same game were playing with different rules. And the amount of work that would go into setting that up vs. how many people would actually use that feature doesn't seem worth it. Unless it was something simple like longer ball save times.

I do like how my Bride of Pinbot 2.0 has each person create a log in name and charts their progress game after game, kinda like Golden Tee, as well as track your high scores online to compare them to what people are doing around the world. That seems like a great place for innovation and competition in pinball.

I understand hesitation with heighway, but in my experience any company that makes the amount of refunds they did usually is trying to right the ship. I guess I am more understanding since they seem like they are making a sincere effort. To say they're
Lying based on a game of telephone seems slightly unfair. I have seen sea shipments delayed because of weather in a different part of the world, which you would think have zero effect on the route. We send something out two dozens times a year by ship, and about a third of the time there is an issue. I want the game just like others, but I do feel like the rush to accuse them of lying maybe a little premature, even with their turbulent history.

a bit more bull shit i think 21 pins is not even a full container and there are no storms between the uk and usa unless you are going a strange way round

36 pins is a full container if you have a top layer, that's how we buy re-imports from Italy. Shipping containers can take a lot longer than you'd expect to arrive. Sometimes the full container takes a few days to pick up, a few days to load, the ship stops at more ports than you expect, the container is moved to another ship or two at various ports, etc. The travel across the pond is the most predictable part. The cool part is you get a shipping container number and ship info and can GPS track it on a shipping website and know exactly where it is and the estimated arrival date, which definitely does change.

My two cents is it hasn't shipped yet if they don't have the shipping container info and an estimated arrival date. But also, I wouldn't sweat it. The new owners just took over a few months ago, they had to order and install a bunch of new parts, but they brought a huge cash and organizational infusion and have been issuing refunds and building games. Everything they've done shows they are trying to take this game to full production, plan on shipping games soon, and want to revive the company and profit from their investment. They shouldn't be held to the past owner's mistakes and promises even if they are trying to make up for his mistakes. They seem so close to shipping production games and plan on shipping hundreds and hundreds if they can sell them.

What was fixed on the ramps? Do the ramps now look new and shiny like they should?

While waiting for Aliens to arrive in the States, I thought I'd share a photo my cakemaker friend made for a baby shower...

aliencake (resized).jpg

get the F out of here - that's hilarious. I'm sure the women loved it!

Do yall really think Cointaker is lying? I would suspect if they didnt have a tracking number that they would say "we dont know when" ALl of you that KNOW that there are no games being shipped need to go talk to Alex Jones and drink more Kool aid

--Jeff

I've caught cointaker lying as much as heighways been lying to me. Both are lying to push the blame off on the other person and to cover their tracks. I'm fed up with cointaker and after this fiasco, if I ever do business with cointaker again, I will know what to expect. Still have not received any calls from cointaker as promised lol. Emails to them are completely useless but they never return calls and lie constantly about why no call backs. Both parties are just trying to stay afloat on this while ordeal, I get it. But times like these show companies true colors and cointaker has shown theirs to me multiple times. Every call has been excuses and lies. Heighway constantly tells me cointaker is lying to me as well with these false promises and excuses that they say heighway told them. It's just a crap shoot and I am done believing anything that comes from these two at this point. I am expecting Christmas delivery as an extreme and am sticking with that so these two pricks can stop getting my hopes up and dashed every communication saying "hit the water" only to be followed up by "delay" everytime.

Just heard from Melissa at CT - the games did not ship out. They are sending the games out on Friday now (which is what they were told). Issues with the ramps and mother boards held them up.

Seems like Heighway has changed their input to her and it's moved once again. I'm still waiting but let's see if they ship out on Friday as I've asked Melissa to confirm. I'm sure CT is
fustrated too. She did offer to refund since the date went from 9/1 to 9/10 to now 9/27ish but I said no let's move in

And so now there not on route.
Somebody can't make their mind up.

Heighway will almost certainly post images of 20 plus built games ready to be shipped, if we don't see that by Friday then they will not be shipped on Friday.

This is getting nuts. They started off with the attitude of providing more open communication and there has been very limited info. Good or Bad new they should be communicating to us. What happened to more frequent updates. It feels like I'm pulling teeth when I ask them if there will be a facebook update. Its not hard to do a brief weekly update. DP has done a 180 in the communication dept. but Heighway seems to be going backwards. I want HP to succeed and to get my Alien but I will not be surprised if they are unable to start LEs until early 2018

well apparently she was told in route and now Heighway changed their story. Who knows but ultimately I'm willing to give some more time since I just entered this waiting game.

I wonder what the excuse will be on Friday...should be interesting as they've used up nearly every possible one at this point.

Are these Aliens real?

Rated #32 in the top 100 !

Technically packed in boxes, and/or loaded into a container waiting for an airplane/ship count as in route.

Optimism, guys.

The Multimorphic P3 does this right now, players can choose preset profiles (easy, medium, hard, etc.) or make custom profiles. Players of different abilities can then play handicapped to level the playfield, so to speak.

flog_dead_horse (resized).jpg

Melissa at Coin Taker has taken on the task of being your safety net for buying anything Heighway Pinball has to offer. She will stand behind their products. I have dealt with Coin Taker for a very long time. She is one of the most professional people I have ever meet in this industry. I love the fact that even though her company has grown to such a large scale she still takes every transaction very personally. She genuinely cares about the pinball community. There is many challenges when dealing with a manufacture over seas. I for one would never buy from a company that does not have a presence here in the states. Coin Taker has done just that. They have spent a great deal of money to make sure every transaction Coin Taker does is guaranteed. Under her watch I feel very confident in Heighway's products. This is the only reason I would purchase from a new company especially with a bumpy start. As a business owner in the Amusement industry I can attest to some delays at the port due to all the Hurricanes in Texas and now in my home town of Florida. Melissa is a very honest person who stands by the products she sells. She will fight and win for you to get an amazing product. I feel confident once the port delays are rectified product will be received and shipped in a timely manner. Melissa is honest and professional. Lets not under estimate the significance of the hurricane impacts. This storm in Florida could have been worse and I feel Blessed that we have made it through in good health. However I can tell you that it has cost me Hundreds of Thousands of dollars in damages and loss of revenue.

Lets give Melissa a little time to get this straight. I know they will come through I'm sure of it. Coin Taker has their name on this product and a substantial investment as well. I know she is demanding a good reliable product for her customers to enjoy. I'm sure this short delay will be well worth it.

Our thoughts and Prayers to all those who were effected by these horrific storms.

Thank You,
Amusement Services of America
Jonathan D

I don't believe anyone is pointing fingers at CT/Melissa. We're just recapping the latest and what we're hearing. IMO the confusion is sourced by Heighway but I have a feeling games will be received by end of month. Otherwise, there is a major issue.

Aren't you sophisticated.?. I've had a sudden flashback to the jPop thread.

nah im not sophisticated at all. I just try to look at the positive and give people the benefit of the doubt.

ill admit i was wrong and there are no games being shipped as stated. Hopefully a better update will have games shipped friday

--Jeff

Just heard from Morgan to confirm my mailing address. He said the first bunch are shipping out this week.

Lol, I think we already have a major issue. But hey, I'm still sitting tight.

That's great news. Remind me - who is Morgan again?

EDIT - seems like he works for Heighway. Nice that you talk to him directly.

Are you getting a direct shipment with the previous "discounted air freight" rate ?

Great news....I was early ( pre CT) and direct as well....anxious for Morgans call for my LE...think life will be good in Alienland before Christmas...

Last I heard they would go through cointaker even though I was a direct buyer.. but it sounded like the shipping details weren't ironed out, maybe they do something different.

Played one of the 1st 4 shipped from cointaker at the Cleveland show. Some minor issues, but nothing bad. The game is now on my radar and will follow to see how reliable they are and watch for software updates. Hoping they come through on this because the game is killer!

Scott

Your standard too right? Probably same lot of 21 Melissa was talking about.

I hope so, I'm stoked.

I'm trying to document this in every thread where it comes up but I'm telling you this game is going to blow up. People have dismissed it due to highest drama but once that's corrected (seems soon now) expect to see eyes on this game

Don't jinx it! Wait until this beleaguered first shipment of 21 games finally happens and people have a chance to play them and confirm no major issues to pop the champagne corks.

Sorry wasn't following - the game you ordered was a standard version not LE right? I'm in for standard too (along with topper, PDI glass).

Yeah, standard.

Just out of curiosity, what software update are you looking for?