There's the kind of customer you want to keep selling machines to. They are the reason this is such a great hobby and why pinball is thriving so much in the home market.

Good luck finding somebody to deal with him!

Guess I should have called when 3 of my 4 coin door bolts and nuts were rolling around my IMDN Pro. If my coin door would have fallen out I would have said something, but glad the one bolt and nut was threaded enough to keep it attached to the cabinet.

Oye. Unless you’re willing to do some minor repairs, take the glass off, raise the playfield, etc...you shouldn’t be buying a pinball machine IMHO. Either that, or are willing to pay for the service...even on new machines. I feel bad for distros with customers like this. You don’t have to be a “Pinball tech” to do some minor fixes or adjustments. Pinball’s need constant attention, just a fact. Hope you find someone to help the customer out, but I don’t see this ending well. Tomorrow there will be something else minor that needs fixing/adjusting.

I live in Lacombe, bout 30 min from bogalusa. Probably can u help u out

I'm going to take the customer's side (sorta) on this one. The person probably just spent $6k+ on a product that he's never touched before. It's delivered, and a couple of toys aren't screwed in anymore. He's terrified of doing something to further damage it -- "I'm supposed to be able to turn it on and use it before it breaks."

I'm new to the hobby - bought my first machine in March, 2017, a used T2, and I know *I* was terrified to open it up because I didn't know what I was doing. It's why I bought a "cheap" machine - to play with. Then I bought a MET Premium which cost significantly more and I was still mildly terrified because of how much more it was worth, but I at least had some confidence from the cheap one. And I haven't had to do anything major yet (no flipper rebuilds or anything - at least that's what I consider major right now LOL), but it's still a little scary going in there.

I actually did hire someone to come over and fix some of the minor issues in my T2 -- and I watched him like a hawk, asked a bunch of questions, and used it as a learning experience. And Lloyd helped me learn how to solder by bringing in an LED board with a few bad pins, so that was awesome too!

Having said that, the customer is going to have to just get over it and figure things out quickly. But I at least can understand why he wouldn't be comfortable doing it at first. (all of this assumes it's his first machine...) I'm probably in the minority with this thinking though, and I'm fine with that.

Well said @fezmid. I agree, newbies will be very gun shy to do anything...but the moral of the story is exactly what you did...don’t start with a $6k machine. I understand that these toys are very expensive and come with virtually no warranty, but the customer has the responsibility of knowing what they are getting into...I’ll use a salt water fish tank as an example. No warranty, very expensive, and things can go sideways quick...costing a lot of money...unless you know what you’re doing.

It is nice to see a distributor going above and beyond to help a customer.

LTG : )

Maybe the guy paid "suggested retail" + delivery, is it ok to expect it then?

I hope Stern reimburses them if they have to foot a bill for something like this... and Jasons a great distro.

Ha! I would hope a great distributor would just write this one off, and save another battle to take to Stern.
Really cool he is trying to help them out, showing them why a disto is good to have, they might buy more games in the future, never know.

How else is the manufacturer supposed to know they have an assembly issue, if the Distributor does not submit the paperwork?

I can probably drive down and beat him with a bag o screws for 15 minutes if you want.

.

one missing screw?
You really think anything is going to keep that from happening again?

.

Yes... If the screw holding my Tie Fighter in place, on my $6500 Star Wars, was missing from the factory... I want the factory to know. And I want the "Inspected By..." name reported as well.

We have to stop letting people slack on the details.

Do you want them to take that "its just one screw missing" attitude at Boeing or Otis Elevator?

Don't you get pissed when McDonalds forgets that "one apple pie" on your order, when you get home?

(I've been in the electronics service/IT industry for 35+ years, and it irks me at the poor level of service we've all grown accustomed to in the past 10-15 years.)

I say you probably have a great opportunity to buy a newer pin at a great price if you do this fix and give the buyer your contact info. They don't sound like long-term pinballers.

Pretty sure Bally/Williams missed a screw or 2 in the 90's too, but ok.
Here's hoping someone gets reported and fired over this.

He didn't buy it from the factory. In fact it was used. Ship a Boeing using a freighter and see if any screws are missing.

If I lived near any new owner, I would happily help them so they understand that this is a supportive and helpful hobby.

If you think the final inspector is making sure all 700 screws are in place you are woefully uninformed on how a factory operates.

.

Did you not learn anything from Lethal Weapon 2?