Boulder, CO
Quoted from Whysnow:but making shit up for your narrative is pretty immature and just wrong.
(Topic ID: 190650)
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Alien (Heighway Pinball)
Heighway Pinball, 2017
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Quoted from metallik:Buddy of mine bought an Alien back in Feb based off Heighway promises, paid in full. He got out and received a full refund, likely after raising hell with them (this dude doesn't take shit from people at all). Squeaky wheel gets taken care of, and gets refunded. Those who wait, get hosed.
Was that me 
???
Quoted from Astropin:How do you know this? (And how do you know for a fact it's true?)...and maybe some of us (all of us) would like to be privy to the same information.
I wish i could post a lot of it, but for various reasons (most in that I was asked to not divulge conversations or specifics) I can't. I can't say without a doubt that the information given to me was "fact" 100%, but based on the picture I see and the information given to me, those are my thoughts on the matter. Did i most likely "stir the pot" as a result, yeah probably.
It's public knowledge that games weren't shipping and continued deadlines were missed. There was obvious financial issues going on and something was holding games up, i don't believe (MY OPINION) that it was merely artwork holding up the LE, that's just a GREAT excuse. I just saw the carrot on the stick, over and over, before i put money in, and after i pulled my money out. I had conversations with the Heighway team before i put my money in and i believed them, that was my mistake.
Everyone can form their own opinion, but at least for i can only take so many "but wait there's more" and "patience for a couple more weeks" so many times. I personally lost all faith in the company and have no desire to do any business with that company any time soon if ever regardless of "new" owners/investors.
Nowra
Quoted from snakesnsparklers:Credit card companies often have longer windows. It is not impossible that they would dispute a 2 year old charge. You should call them before ruling it out.
Having been through the same thing here a few years ago with JJP and our distributor. I was able to get my full refund of $2000 over 2 years after the fact. I supplied all emails and receipts and when asked "Why i am making a claim after so long" My response was that i had only just heard that the company was insolvent/bankrupt..call it what you will. I supplied details of the website showing that the deposit was for a game to be built sometime in the future. I couldn't know any sooner as i thought things were still on track.
Don't just let them fob you off ask again and again. It's your money!!! Ask to speak to their supervisor and if that doesn't work ask to speak to their supervisor and up the chain you keep going. Whilst some say that it's only a small amount of money, and it may be to some. But to others it's not. Fight for it and don't let them tell you nothing can be done.
IT'S YOUR MONEY NOT THEIRS TO USE AS A SLUSH FUND TO START THEIR BUSINESS. That's not what we signed up for.
Emailed and asked for a refund....no response in several days. I disputed the deposit charge through PayPal, and they are just stupid to deal with.....so I stopped that process and filed a CC dispute. Chase has already temporarily credited me with the amount pending final approval. My personal opinion is you need to do what you have to do to protect yourself, especially those that are up against ticking clocks. If they build the pins, then buy one at the "higher cost", but if they drag this out for more months and fail, you may lose any recourse you had.
Quoted from Pinballs:Andrew Heighway's companies:
Hydrofoils UK Limited
Incorporated 12 September 2016
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10370844
Heighway Pinball (Sales) Limited
Dissolved on 27 December 2016
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09144305
I leave the reader to speculate further. Getting a refund would seem advisable. Anyone wanna put pre-order money down on a hydrofoil?
"Sea and coastal passenger water transport"
Wtf?
Quoted from DerGoetz:He won't be able to keep that afloat, either
He can always get a LIFELINE or BAILOUT. Or just pre-sell hydrofoil ferry tickets and, well, er, umm.... hmm......
Quoted from Manimal:Chase has already temporarily credited me with the amount pending final approval.
pending final approval ? ok.
at least thats something.
Quoted from RandomGuyOffCL:"Sea and coastal passenger water transport"
Wtf?
planned escape route
London
Quoted from NeilMcRae:You mean Wales?
If they were TRULY committed, they'd move the whole shebang to Chicago
Quoted from RandomGuyOffCL:"Sea and coastal passenger water transport"
Wtf?
could be where the money went - toward a new fleet of these.
Quoted from gstellenberg:I'd encourage you to check again.
My apologies Gerry, I had indeed checked after I wrote that message and saw that a few had come through. Still had to laugh when I saw one of them got knocked back with them citing 'Mr & Mrs Pacman' as prior art lol.
I did try and have a look for the Williams interchangeable playfield one (ie Pin2k) but I couldn't find it, I have a feeling it's lapsed by now anyway. I definitely couldn't find any from Heighway.
Quoted from greenhornet:could be where the money went - toward a new fleet of these.
I don't think your post was very funny...we're trying to be serious over here man...
Quoted from Pinballs:Heighway Pinball (Sales) Limited
Dissolved on 27 December 2016
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09144305
To a layperson (well, this one at least) this feels like it should be significant. Is it? Like, would certain actions that would be fine for a non-dissolved company be improper or illegal for a dissolved one? There are several post-dissolution posts from heighway on this forum and surely people have emails. Do you have to provide customers notification of dissolution? Can you ask for more money to be sent in? Etc.
Here's the dissolution doc and another preceding it from October which had to be filed at least two months prior for the dissolution to go through:
My (limited) understanding of it was that like a lot of other companies, HP and HP Sales were setup so HP would manufacture the machines under contract to HP Sales, people would pay cash to HP Sales. If it all went titsup, HP Sales would be liable and could be dissolved and it wouldn't effect HP. It looks like they never bothered doing it this way round and instead money was paid straight to HP.
From what I recall it was a similar setup with JJP
Quoted from RandomGuyOffCL:"Sea and coastal passenger water transport"
Wtf?
It gets stranger still, have a look at this playlist on the Heighway PInball (sic) youtube channel:
Quoted from PersonX99:Kaneda is going to have a field day with this news.....
The UK forum has a new member, lucky us!
http://www.pinballinfo.com/community/threads/new-heighway-owner.36701/page-5#post-211611
Quoted from blueberryjohnson:To a layperson (well, this one at least) this feels like it should be significant. Is it? Like, would certain actions that would be fine for a non-dissolved company be improper or illegal for a dissolved one? There are several post-dissolution posts from heighway on this forum and surely people have emails. Do you have to provide customers notification of dissolution? Can you ask for more money to be sent in? Etc.
Here's the dissolution doc and another preceding it from October which had to be filed at least two months prior for the dissolution to go through:
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09144305/filing-history/MzE2NDgxNDA4MWFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09144305/filing-history/MzE1ODg1NzM3NmFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0
He had two companies registered, sales and production.
Sales never did jack, needed to be dissolved.
Production is being maintened. Nothing to see here
I just checked in. This hobby...We need a Pinside disclaimer about start ups. Anyone who is starting a pinball manufacturing company is 80% likely to just take your money and not deliver. You have a one in five chance of ever seeing a pinball machine. You are much more likely to be requesting refunds and involved in litigation. My sympathy goes out to the new victims.
ps-Ya know - I never had any issues in my "buy Congo, RBION, etc." stage. And I have those and could play them right now. 
Quoted from PACMAN:I listened to people like you who said to wait on Predator. And guess what, i waited one month too long. The "insiders" who knew what was happening with SKITB got their money back before blowing the whistle. Well the whistle is BLARING now so i'm not waiting another second.
The whistle has been blaring for nearly 2+ years, and almost close to 3 years.
People don't need a disclaimer, if they are willing to research information on locations not on PinSide. Even distributors felt the vibes based on the clear indications of commercial failure of FT, but decided not to offer actual facts to prevent business impacts.
People were just tone deaf and throwing "hate mail" against people who tried to help. There were plenty of early warnings regarding Heighway. "Insider" information was provided and dismissed as "attempts at sabotage". It hard for me to understand people who have lost money in the past from other similar circumstances repeated the same mistakes.
There are no new revelations regarding new pinball manufacturers, just blind trust with minimal understanding of industrial manufacturering processes regarding construction of pinball machines.
The worst part?
This will happen yet again, as I have watched in the past 30 years.
There are more fools with money, than those with common sense.
Quoted from Pinballs:Andrew Heighway's companies:
Hydrofoils UK Limited
Incorporated 12 September 2016
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10370844
So am I reading this correctly? The man who is so very passionate, all-in, 24x7 focused on making Heighway pinball successful incorporates a new company for hydrofoil transportation in September of last year? Seems rather prescient of him doesn't it?
Quoted from Mr68:Hydrofoil pinball machine.
Just like Hokus Pokus, POOF!, YOUR money is gone.
Quoted from DerGoetz:What is he gonna do?
No doubt he had to sign a non compete with the new owners.
I'm guessing this is in response to my post. If not, ignore. If it is, my point was that this was back in September. There is no way he would have been under a non-compete with the new investors given that it is now June and the paperwork isn't even complete. It would be interesting to see all the posts Andrew made in the main Heighway Pinball thread after September.
Quoted from mark9:The UK forum has a new member, lucky us!
http://www.pinballinfo.com/community/threads/new-heighway-owner.36701/page-5#post-211611
Never see any of his stuff, but that podcast was great!
Not blind trust. ACTUAL Full Throttle games built and shipped. You can slither off your soapbox now.
Quoted from xTheBlackKnightx:.....just blind trust with minimal understanding of industrial manufacturering processes regarding construction of pinball machines.
Quoted from xTheBlackKnightx:The whistle has been blaring for nearly 2+ years, and almost close to 3 years.
People don't need a disclaimer, if they are willing to research information on locations not on PinSide. Even distributors felt the vibes based on the clear indications of commercial failure of FT, but decided not to offer actual facts to prevent business impacts.
People were just tone deaf and throwing "hate mail" against people who tried to help. There were plenty of early warnings regarding Heighway. "Insider" information was provided and dismissed as "attempts at sabotage". It hard for me to understand people who have lost money in the past from other similar circumstances repeated the same mistakes.
There are no new revelations regarding new pinball manufacturers, just blind trust with minimal understanding of industrial manufacturering processes regarding construction of pinball machines.
The worst part?
This will happen yet again, as I have watched in the past 30 years.
There are more fools with money, than those with common sense.
You now seem to want to put yourself with the crowd that was clearly "blowing the whistle" about HP for the last couple years.
Yet you have no links to these "insiders" except the anonymous "upset employee" we all saw. Yes they were conveniently deleted by the mysterious "powers that be".
I would never pre-order anything myself (can't understand why anyone would) but can you give us some examples of YOUR clear warnings about HP? And not just the boilerplate "don't preorder from anyone" advice that frankly a lot of us espouse regularly.
Maybe you have been sounding the alarm all this time in the original Alien thread and I simply missed it. Quite possible.
Quoted from Oldgoat:I'm guessing this is in response to my post. If not, ignore. If it is, my point was that this was back in September. There is no way he would have been under a non-compete with the new investors given that it is now June and the paperwork isn't even complete. It would be interesting to see all the posts Andrew made in the main Heighway Pinball thread after September.
Ah, I absolutely get your point now as I was unaware of the September date.
Now....that is really messed up and speaks volumes.
Quoted from Manic:You now seem to want to put yourself with the crowd that was clearly "blowing the whistle" about HP for the last couple years.
Yet you have no links to these "insiders" except the anonymous "upset employee" we all saw. Yes they were conveniently deleted by the mysterious "powers that be".
I would never pre-order anything myself (can't understand why anyone would) but can you give us some examples of YOUR clear warnings about HP? And not just the boilerplate "don't preorder from anyone" advice that frankly a lot of us espouse regularly.
Maybe you have been sounding the alarm all this time in the original Alien thread and I simply missed it. Quite possible.
I have never seen BlackKnight be part of any drama around here. People tried to troll him to lure him into drama, yes.
If anything he reminds me of Marvel's 'The Watcher' and at times I wonder whether he has a moonbase.
But them I remember that airballs would suck due to moon's low gravity and decide that is best for me to believe that he lives hidden somewhere in the Nevada desert.
Quoted from Oldgoat:So am I reading this correctly? The man who is so very passionate, all-in, 24x7 focused on making Heighway pinball successful incorporates a new company for hydrofoil transportation in September of last year? Seems rather prescient of him doesn't it?
Just beyond bizarre right?
I'm not sure whats blowing my mind more here...The overall bag of hot air that was Heighway pinball...or the folks who are still standing behind this mess...
Anywho...hope you get your refund pacman, and the same to the 20-30 others waiting with their hand out...
Side note, I got my "please don't bail email" as well
Not sure why...if you know what I mean...their books must be a mess!
Quoted from DerGoetz:I have never seen BlackKnight be part of any drama around here. People tried to troll him to lure him into drama, yes.
If anything he reminds me of Marvel's 'The Watcher' and at times I wonder whether he has a moonbase.
But them I remember that airballs would suck due to moon's low gravity and decide that is best for me to believe that he lives hidden somewhere in the Nevada desert.
lol Yeah I don't mind that he is as humorless as "The Watcher"... since pinball is SOOO serious
But he's clearly trying to now portray himself as someone who constantly warned everyone about HP's financial status all along.
I just wonder if this is true. Could be... I tend to gloss over posts where the poster actually quotes HIMSELF in his own post (rather endearing I suppose)
I do remember somebody posting publicly available financial data about HP but that wasn't him.
Quoted from Manic:I do remember somebody posting publicly available financial data about HP but that wasn't him.
It was posted several times, a bit hard to really understand what the true financial status was...
Quoted from Manic:I tend to gloss over posts where the poster actually quotes HIMSELF
Quoted from RandomGuyOffCL:bag of hot air
Bag of hot air i'm telling you!!!
Quoted from DerGoetz:I have never seen BlackKnight be part of any drama around here.
I have, like when he tried to claim that HEP was a generic term:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/for-sale-terminator-2-judgment-day-williams-1991-2011
Of course, he couldn't back it up. He's full of bluster and his writing is Kafkaesque:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/knowing-when-to-walk-away-from-a-sale
Enthusiasts please read websites and market information other than PinSide.
The information can be extremely useful, but not as dramatic or colourful.
Quoted from jayhawkai:I have, like when he tried to claim that HEP was a generic term:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/for-sale-terminator-2-judgment-day-williams-1991-2011
Of course, he couldn't back it up. He's full of bluster and his writing is Kafkaesque:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/knowing-when-to-walk-away-from-a-sale
Oh my God thank you for reminding me of that thread... That may be my all time favorite.
Quoted from chrisnack:The number of personal attacks on people on this forum astound me... so much fricken drama!
Welcome to the world wide web! 
Quoted from chrisnack:The number of personal attacks on people on this forum astound me... so much fricken drama!
Really? I've always felt it was rather tame and controlled compared to car forums, cooking forums and of course *video game forums*... now THERE you'll see remarks that actually *leave a mark*!
Damn I'm witty tonight... ok not really.
Quoted from Manic:Really? I've always felt it was rather tame and controlled compared to car forums, cooking forums and of course *video game forums*... now THERE you'll see remarks that actually *leave a mark*!
Damn I'm witty tonight... ok not really.
You've always spent too much time on forums and that goes back quite some time now...
Brad
Quoted from jellikit:You've always spent too much time on forums and that goes back quite some time now...
Brad
You know me too well... but that means you had to have been there too buddy! 
Quoted from TheLaw:Oh my God thank you for reminding me of that thread... That may be my all time favorite.
Man you were NOT KIDDING. That thread was a quite the ride... love when it implodes in the end and some guy tells
TBK to "shut your helmet". lol
Quoted from TheLaw:Oh my God thank you for reminding me of that thread... That may be my all time favorite.
Wow. I guess i've been HEPPING games since 2001
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