Not sure it’s the micro playfield rather than JJPs engineering and attention to detail like having sloppy holes around their posts, over tensioning the posts to create more pooling. So not necessarily only Mirco’s fault here

It's parallel universe time!

I would listen to interveiw to get context on this.I haven’t listened to this interview yet but I do know how things can easily be misinterpreted.
Especially on Pinside!

It’s still a hard shot, it’s supposed to be. I’ll grant you it could definitely be better, but I don’t think it’s game breaking.

You just proved my point exactly. You like the rules and shots, you don’t like it only because of the theme.

I listened to it and I hope you guys get the message.

Stop damaging your own games!!!

What he said is one of the more tone deaf things I have ever heard an executive say.

Fair enough, but he could still have a bad taste in his mouth. He was forced to do those, and then when they were like "Fine Steve, if it'll shut you up, we'll let you do what YOUUUU wanna do.....as long as it doesn't cost over 50 bucks per game" he was like OK screw you guys. Nobody knows for sure. Maybe he just wanted a change of scenery. Maybe somebody at Stern takes too smelly of poops and he was tired of walking into a toxic bathroom. All we can do is speculate.

For me, good customer service is about how you handle your initial response to the customer, not how you respond once the heat becomes too much to keep ignoring the issue.

This type of response from JJP with GnR isn't the first time this has happened. It isn't even the 2nd time, and at the end of the day people will still convince themselves that "JJP has addressed the issue and changed their attitude about customer service" just because they want to buy the next JJP game.

I think it's important to remember initial reports from customers saying that JJP was telling them no replacement playfields would be sold at all. Jack conveniently leaves that part out in this interview when he mentions the discount playfield purchase option their great customer service team is offering. They're only changing their tune now because the issue hasn't died down (rightly so).

My experience with the way they JJP handled customers on POTC was enough to get me to never buy one of their machines again. To me, they way they handled that was a clear indicator of how they truly approach customer service: Only respond on major issues once the heat builds too much to keep ignoring it, and then try to make the customer pay for the solution. That's not the type of company I want to buy anything from.

The Godfather

I wonder if he was referring to people that had raised the flipper strength to make backhanding the left ramp easier .I remember a sheet of paper coming with it that said “do not alter coil strenghth settings” or something like that .I got some advice to do just that but I never did because of the warning .The only one I toyed with was the scoop when I was having problems going sdtm even with adjusting it as far left as possible .I ended up screwing it to wood and twisting it with pliers then all was good after .

JJP doesn’t have the resources or relationship with their play field supplier to provide quality customer service.

Far from exactly. I don't need celebrities or blockbusters. Forget Robocop, make an orginial theme about a crime fighting robot without going kiddie and I'm in. Doesn't have to be Terminator, again a ruthless cyborg that needs to be stopped from killing people, ok sounds good to me, hell I'd like to play as the ruthless cyborg. But if u put him in denim overalls, make the music sound like its fitting for a Pre K Bday party etc. its not gonna do very well sir. I actually would prefer OG themes which would lift any kind of license crap and give the designers full reign.

To truly give designers full reign, having any sort of license can pull back the reigns. Original themes can do whatever they want. Any shot, any voice actor, any rules. Not constrained by things like "where is the buff actor lady from the show?" and "why isn't the green doll baby doing magic?" So when those things get cut, nobody notices. Things got removed from Funhouse. Nobody cared because nobody knew, at the time.

I certainly like dialed in and I like TNA. I came into this hobby late, so I tend to not give a shit what has a license and what doesn't.

Honestly, to me it doesn't at all matter why they won't or can't provide quality service. As a customer I just want good service from the company/person I'm buying something from, and if the service isn't there then I go somewhere it's better.

It seems like a lot of people consider JJP as part of a hobby and they want to support JJP regardless. That's fine, but I don't look at it that way. I look at them as a company I'm buying something from.

I agree with you and based upon your purchasing criteria, you would be best looking elsewhere for a game.

Jack would have been better off saying "I can't comment on it at this time" than what he actually said

I couldn't afford a JJP before all this. But if I ever get money.... I'll buy 2 games from LITERALLY ANY OTHER MANUFACTURER before even considering buying JJP.

Ok, you disagree with my snarky line, but the point remains the same. People let the theme keep them away from good games.

Not sure most of you were here back in the beginning of JJP days but he used to come on this forum quiet often arguing with anyone who had something bad to say about JJP or WOZ turn times and even threatening people by saying they were being libel. During JJP started up WOZ games people started freaking because they paid a lot of money and kept being told the game was coming and months went by with no major updates so logically most of them came here to talk about it. People were actually commenting back then that was shooting himself in the foot by some of the comments he was posting on here and I remember someone even recommending he get a PR guy to post on pinside as his answers to some of the heavy hitting questions did not help his cause. It seems since then, he deactivated his pinside account but you can still search his postings and responses to all the threads there were not removed. Good for some interesting reading and well worth the trip back memory lane.

I think its hilarious that he would suggest that people are purposely destroying very expensive games just to try and throw a company under the bus.

That would be more professional. Or just say "its something we are looking into/ working on"

He is from Jersey... I am from up north originally, I can tell you Jersey folk are quick to get pissed off and fight back before they think.

You can tell on the recording he was was getting progressively pissed off at each question.

Yep , You could tell he was in a bad mood , he wasn't his usual jovial self .

I think it's time for a good old-fashioned Invisiglass sale to create a diversion and keep some money coming in....

I can't agree with that either. The theme is a huge factor in the overall enjoyment of a pin, for me anyway. And yes I don't stand for "Snarky" remarks. I'll tolerate "Snooty" and can even enjoy straight out "Snippy" but not Snarky, never.

And that's what I'm mostly happy about. I'll gladly scoop up cheaper pins that people don't want because of theme. It doesn't matter to me.

Wow nearly 200 upvotes, my negative rants dont nearly get that many in downvotes.. maybe 30 max. Coo coo cachoo.

Was it removed from the box and played? Well....who's fault is that. CLAIM DENIED!!

Serves ya'll right. Whadda expect for 10 grand?

I gave ya one downvote. No reason. There ya go...

i may share my Experiences with this JJP customer service soon if i keep getting Ghosted by them . I put in my ticket months ago and still can not get a clear answer on the Washers being put on or not to stop it from getting worse .
and the playfield is going to get worse if i play it the way it came from the factory/ Jersey Jack if he said that about People causing the damage he is an idiot .

Just listened to this, holy shit that was cringe. He thinks the damage was caused by the user????? Are you fucking serious? Why even imply such a thing? Pictures have been shared over and over of chipping around posts and that is our fault?

Clueless

Haven't listened yet,exactly how are we damaging the games?

Give it a listen, around the 22 min mark. Judge for yourself who he puts blame on. To his credit, after accusing people of doing things to their playfield he proceeds to say he would not accuse people of doing anything, haha.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pinball-news-pinball-magazine-podcast/id1369141531

Listened to the podcast too. Holy moly.

I dont know, playing it ? haha

And yet people will continue to buy NIB from them knowing everything about the playfield issues and the absolute worst customer service around... Now that's clueless.

Yep, JJP POTC history repeats itself with Jack's new tone def responses about the similar chipping issue on GnR. A company's culture is often influenced a lot by the people who speak for the company.

This is his answer from 2019 Expo regarding POTC playfields. Wasn't a very encouraging response there either, but people still convinced themselves that Wonka and then GnR would be different:

Well the good news is most JJP buyers dont play their game anyways... I kid I kid.

Earlier today I tried to return a brand new TV that wouldn't turn on out of the box. I was told "Sorry, we think you broke it", the store refused to take it back, and instead gave me a bag of capacitors as a fix kit.

Later that day I tried to send back a severely under cooked steak I ordered. The restaurant manager told me "You did that" and wouldn't take it back.

Finally I had to take my brand new truck into the dealership. It's just over 3 months old with 500 miles on it. There's a major flaw with the engine and I was told "That's your fault, you did it".

Damn, lol

Levi’s bat signal just went bananas !

Unbelievably tone death and arrogant. And that was two years ago.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

That podcast gave me serious pause on buying Toy Story. (Yes, I like kiddy themed games, fight me!) Im sad now. I like the idea of owning a JJP game, but after things like this, I think I will wait.

Same. That and their games are just too expensive. GNR standard started in my range, but the 1k increase was so stupid.

JJP desperately needs a new spokesman or pr guy.
That was a brutal and cringeworthy listen.

I really liked Dialed In,but the Sim card shot was too hard to make,at least for me it was. I don't believe it was meant to be that hard of a shot ,I think it was a design problem.
The quality of my Dialed In was top notch. The playfield was beautiful,with no chipping,or any other problems. The customer service was very good,when I had a problem.Whoever did the playfields for Dialed In, did it right!
After all that's been said about the new JJP customer service,I wouldn't buy another pin from them, even if they did resolve their playfield issues.
I do think that Toy Story would be a good theme for a pin ,but I'd be afraid of being thrown under the bus by their new customer service department if I ever had a problem.

The problem is they didn't have scoop protectors when they were first released; and the clear started chipping on them day 1.
Then they invented their own half-assed Cliffy knockoffs that were horrible, then finally got real ones.

This was talked aboot quite a bit, along with some other issues, but JJP had already blinded people with "JJP QUALITY" so everyone gave them a pass. I mean it wasn't the end of the world by any means, but there have always been signs.

They need a new attitude as well. Treating the customer like they are the enemy is deplorable behavior.

It’s insane to me that he blamed customers for these issues, especially out loud for the public to hear.

Yep.

I was already very much on the fence in terms of cancelling my order. But fuck it. The recent interview and the video clip from 2 years ago was finally my breaking point.

As much as I wanted this game, I called my distributor and cancelled. Can't take the BS anymore. And it double sucks because now I can't order Toy Story either, which is a theme I want very badly.

Just heard jack on the podcast. Wow. Not cool.

1B6C930B-3B43-470C-8375-E5B6235F8136 (resized).jpeg

seriously Jack..?

So with the value of JJP games skyrocketing after a person buys one what gives? Why do they go up in price so much? I am newer to the hobby, do the new Sterns go up the same as JJP?

These pinball manufacturers just think people have money to burn in their obsessed hobby. They are getting their dream themes and wouldn’t really give a shit on quality control. Move on to the next release boys like Toy Story or whatever and all will be forgotten.