Sometimes people are just hard to deal with. Communication is hard. Sorry to hear of your troubles.

PBR and PHOF, both owned by two unique individuals.

pbr rules and you sound like kind of a pain in the ass as a customer. They are very busy and don't have time to deal with bullshit like this.

And can you stop reminding us you are 18 every time you post? The babe in the woods routine is getting kind of old. You are an adult now, act like it. Part of that is working out minor disputes like this without dragging them before the court.

You are into the old games - and if you are gonna make that your passion you are gonna have to learn how to work with pinball resource and steve young - who are both HUGE assets to the hobby

Clearly you are off to a shitty start.

They are a very particular company when it comes to ordering. I found it odd how they were so dated myself, but after getting established with the first order, I can now just email my order with my customer number, they send the stuff with an invoice, and I send a check back.

They are really the only good spot for Gottlieb stuff. Maybe you can get some one else to order the stuff for you?

Honestly, you did cause a lot of back and forth for no reason. Pick up or ship, choose, dont go back and forth. LOL

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I normally just list the parts out in a email, get a confirmation of what is/isn't in stock, confirm the order, and a few days later, it's on my doorstep. Then I verify that everything is correct and mail out the check.

Your problem was changing your mind back and forth between pick-up and shipping. Stick to one or the other, and don't flip flop. This is probably what caused your order to become a hassle to deal with.

Honestly there is nothing over complicated about ordering from Steve. First, phone your order in while having all of your part numbers at the ready. Tell him everything you want, phone call ends, Steve immediately packs your order and ships it out. At that point you wait for arrival which for you would be 2 days tops maybe even one because you are close to him. Unlike other places he ships same day and does not hold onto packages for 1-2 days before shipping. Unfortunately, you wasted your time fooling with trying to get checks. All you had to do was wait for the package to arrive, get a postal or western union money order which can be found at allot of places immediately, 7-11, grocery stores etc and send it out, end of transaction. It sounds like you had him do allot of unnecessary stuff and that ticked him off. He has an extremely tight system that he follows to a T and if you screw that up for him he will not be happy.

It sounds like that was your opportunity to apologize.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. I'd say you could try to order again later and they would let you. Just try to figure out if you want it shipped or picked up and stick with it, especially with such a large order. Also mail the check same day as you place the order.

Edit: It sounds like Forceflow has the process figured out. That makes me think maybe you should have asked here how to place an order with them. I know I will be learning from your mistakes.

It's not really that complicated. Have a part number and mail a check. You should have checks if you have a bank account.

First-time email orders at PBR need to be paid before they're shipped.

Right on. Ordering from steve is EASY. Call him and tell him what you want. Then the stuff shows up, and then you pay.

I don't understand this post slagging Steve who a) will probably never read it, and b) wouldn't give a shit anyway.

The right thing to do is call him, adult to adult, and say "hey sorry about the other day lets try again."

Done and done. I 100% guarantee you that would have worked. And it would have gotten much better results then telling us you are 18 for the 50th time and looking for sympathy.

Come on man. Steve is a GREAT guy and literally thousands of games exist today because of the services he's offered since the 1970s.

Call steve, work it out, and you are back in business. I guarantee it.

Trust me with your passion for old games you are gonna need him more than he needs you

I don't think he was slagging Steve but he's just worried that he won't ever have access to parts. Kid-worries. Like you said though, call him, apologize like an adult, and place another order. Everything will work out fine.

I'm sure at the time of the call Steve was a little perturbed at packing the parts twice and then putting them back on the shelf.

I know when I order online I sometimes worry if I remember everything. You'll always have to place another order so get used to it.

My friends and I have ordered dozens of times from PBR and don't mind sending checks/money orders. This helps to keep costs down and prices low. I'm all for keeping the prices down. Lower prices means I can afford to buy more parts.

Sure, you can buy parts from Marco Specialties, but you'll pay double the price for the same parts.

My buddy Welby has literally purchased thousands of dollars of parts from PBR over the past 5 years.

They are essentially the Soup Nazi of the pinball parts world. Place order by email or phone(not both), receive order, send check, repeat. Don't change it up, ask for extra bread, etc. That said they are invaluable for Gottlieb restores. They must have extremely low margins to keep prices so reasonable. Losing a few percent profit for the option to accept credit cards isn't worth it, as is time spent on customers who can't make up their freaking minds no matter how polite they are on the phone.

I can dig the old school ordering.

Order by email. Use your customer number, offer to pre-pay.

I didn't have to pre-pay on my first order.

Jimmy has always answered my emails and been great to deal with. I've never talked to anyone at PBR on the phone.

I get why Steve is sometimes a kind of brash. Most pinheads are really easy to work with, but there are some that require a lot more attention and communication than others.

Just respect Steve is probably really busy, so you need to make it easy for him or else he will apparently cut you off. I do board repair, and when people start to dick me around or give me the impression they may cause me a headache, I usually cut them off in the nicest way possible. Not enough time for everyone unfortunately so I go for the low hanging fruit.

It's really not before your time though. You could use checks today if you wanted. It's just a new skill you are learning. In my area there are many places that only take cash or check. Feed stores, Grocery stores, Building supplies, Machine shops. It actually saves the business money because of service fees associated with credit/debit cards.

Weren't all of your questions answered 2 months ago?

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/help-needed-first-time-e-mail-order-to-pbrpinball-resource

I still pay all my bills by check.

If you don't have a checkbook, then roll on down to the local 7-11 and get a money order.

I've never heard of anyone picking up an order at PBR. Has anyone here picked up an order?

LOL. This is spot on. And hilarious.

I have never called to PBR to place an order, only email... I get prompt responses from Jimmy, but same rules applies, have a list of the parts you need ready, make your research before, keep the chit-chat to a minimum, and please.. DO NOT send any photos attached to your email, otherwise you will be sent to the penalty box.

(EDIT - a lot of what I wrote already was posted while I wrote my post! Sorry about the repeat info)

Just to confirm, everything about calling in is good, but like FF said you can also do it all by email as an alternative. That's how I do it, I have never called there, I have done it all by email since the beginning and I have never had a problem with a number of orders for a variety of different parts. I don't have time for phone calls and I prefer email anyway so I can see everything written down and confirm it.

Usually it is Jimmy that helps with the emails. He has always helped me when I had some questions. I have never had an issue with any of my orders. No problems at all. Just do not send in any pictures unless asked to!

As far as the part of having never written a check in your life, it was a bit humorous to us "old people", but the reality is, it is totally understandable. I would imagine that a lot of people get by nowadays with no checking account. So you will need to get a money order which is a little more work.

Is it all somewhat more of a pain than the usual way we do things nowadays, with simple click and order carts and easy payment by credit card or Paypal? Sure, but for me its OK. I consider it amazing that we can even get all these parts for these pinball machines that are 30, 40, or 50 years old. What a bummer it would be if those weren't available.

On a final note, I have always found that doing "Will Call" or local pickup for almost any of these types of businesses ends up being a pain. I have done it a number of times since there are various places near me, but it always seems to end up being more of a hassle than just getting it shipped. These places tend to have a system in place geared toward shipping stuff out the door, and it always seems like me showing up to pick up a package causes them to have to veer away from that.

1) Everyone on Earth has the perception of losing a pound of verbal flesh to Steve's direct conversation style. You really didn't. In time you will understand.

2)They are WAY to busy to deal with indecisiveness. Again, direct, to the point and accurate.

3)That was a big order to have to restock. That is highly annoying.

4)I have never hear of them banning anyone from ordering. If you have the bill or know the correct amount, resubmit your order BY MAIL WITH THE CHECK ENCLOSED. If you want to include a SHORT note apologizing (whether you think you need to or not) for flip-flopping on them, would be a good thing. I would be surprised if they deny your order.

If you search the archives you will find dozens of posts very similar to yours, who are now happy, lifetime PR customers. You can be one too.

Why is op whining?

PBR is old school. Yeah, checks suck. They also do not charge an extra fee to pbr which jacks up their cost. Steven runs his business his way and given how long he has been around and how loyal people are to him he must be doing something right.

old enough to go to war. not old enough to know what a check is. lol. good luck kid.

18 year olds shouldn't be drinking PBR

Order from your BF/GF's email address and postal address.

Make sure all your numbers are correct before you order

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Like Cody Chunn has said, everyone has had their ear chewed up by Steve at some point or another. Hell, he once ripped me up just because he thought I wasn't ordering the right parts (or maybe it was too many parts, I don't remember. That was years ago.)

Time marches on. If you choose to write a note, make it hand written. Hand written sentiments are always more personal than a typed up one. Then again, knowing Steve, he'd probably scoff and complain he can't read your handwriting

Either way, don't let it get to you. I'm sure it'll all work out.

The only ear chewing he ever gave me was a nice long phone conversation about this and that and what not.

I knew from the beginning his way of doing things was my way of doing things, so we hit it off no problem.

When i first seen this thread i thought it was about bull riding {PBR}. Thought maybe you got a horn in your ass.

Make sure you print in block letters.

There is no way Steve has time to decipher your scribble.

And use Black ink. When you write in Red, it reminds Steve of being in grade school.

Very cool. I really didn't know what to expect that long ago when I first ordered from him, so I got the "lecture" from him. Fast forward to present, and I've had nothing but super pleasant inquiries with him and the others that work there. You just gotta know what to expect, I guess.

Before I called Steve for the first time I did the research. Had parts numbers ready, but was confused about a few. When i called I explained right away that I knew nothing about repairing pinball machines and that I heard he was a grouchy bastard. Once I got him laughing I knew I had it made. He was VERY helpful and gave me a good schooling. He explained how he worked and didn't put up with bullshit.
He also told me he may not do any more shows. (don't know if that's true)
PS: I like Steve.

I think one of the reasons he never gave me a hard time is my first order included a game manual. That's the start of a good relationship with PBR.

Honestly, I only order from them when I have to. If I can get the same parts somewhere else, I will. Sucks there are some things you can only find at PBR but so be it.

I don't think you have anything to feel sorry for. PBR is a business and you are a consumer. They aren't doing some kind of special public service that requires your fealty or worship. Plenty of other businesses in the same space perform similar function without these problems. That said, more power to them to conduct business as they please, but they ultimately lose many hundreds of dollars in sales per year from me because of it. They don't care, I don't care.

And I don't see how being bullied by pinsiders to entirely modify your view as a customer makes you an adult. Quite the opposite.

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Anybody that has ever been in the automotive repair business and has had to deal with Ford and their obsolete and superseded part numbers will tell you ordering from PBR is a walk in the park relatively speaking.

I have done tons of orders with pbr - always fine and any issues/wrong parts etc get sorted out.

I have NEVER spoken to them.

Just send parts with part numbers in an email.

Send check to cover or more and go into credit.

If you are into em's you need pbr 100%.

Just email Jimmy and do orders via email and apologize for any inconvenience.

Don't let pride stop you getting what you need! I have heard many stories about Steve and pbr but email orders are very easy.

Actually i find this is not true. I have sent pics of a few oddball parts from older machines and they are ok with it or say "no we dont have that style" bu again its oddball parts and part # are not avail.

you can normally send an electronic check thru your bank without the need for a physical check in your hand.

I would email a new order , prepay, ship and make no mention of what has come before.

--jeff

Agree with Soup Nazi analogy, always how I describe Steve. He is easy to work with IF you follow the rules for ordering. If you talked to him more than once about your order when it was not due to him asking a question, you were already in trouble, then changing things, oy vey.

I just email with part numbers, wait for email saying "confirmed", wait for arrival send check same day. Always include customer number.

I'd be careful ordering all the exact same stuff via a friend, likely to get them banned as well.

Once you figure in your 10% discount for exceeding $100 on your order, you will find the PBR to always be the least expensive option, with the best quality parts.

The only reason that PBRs prices are so good is because they don't accept Paypal or CreditCards.

Their shipping prices, even on large items like playfields, is rock bottom.

PBRs rubber is excellent, and their pop caps (unlike other sellers) are correct.

If you can get your ship together, PBR is one of pinball's best resources.

Some would say it's THE pinball resource.

PBR is great. Reminds me that I need to be precise and prepared. This is a good thing.

Don't feel bad. Dealing with Steve is the equivalent of popping your pinball cherry.

A LONG time ago I did my research, had the proper #'s...called... and I was always polite and he was always rude. Always.

Finally I got fed up and told him off and then strangely he was fine to deal with from then on. Friendly even...

I figured it was a NY kind of thing...