The new owners of "Bumper Amusements" are just as dishonest as the previous owners. Robert Farrell and Jamie Smith with the help of Murray Yates took a $3000.00 deposit from me on 13th August 2013, for a LE WOZ pinball machine knowing that they could not possibly supply it. The association with Jersey Jack ended on 26th July 2013. My bank has retrieved the funds. Then Robert Farrell contacts my employer to complain about my emails sent. My employer is only concerned about me getting my $3000.00 refunded. Robert and Jamie are completely dishonest and I would suggest that all pinball fans avoid trading with this company. I asked many times for my money to be refunded over a five week period and Robert and Jamie kept making excuses. Extremely dishonest company. I will never trade with Bumper Amusements and I suggest you all do the same.

Yes, as you mentioned,lets not forget that snake Murray Yates,covering for a crippled business and slithering away into the long grass right before shit hit the fan.
Glad that you got your money back too.

It sounds like this is Bumper 3 that is selling games that they are not a distributor for. Bumper 2 appears to be the ones who have taken deposits for 79 other games.

To our American members, I hope you have got your popcorn & enjoying this gossip. For the record, Del Reiss was a Pom/Limey by birth & was related to your President Franklin D Rooselvelt(who was a close friend of our ALP Primeminister John Curtin, who both died suddenly in 1945) . I bought a small lowboy off David Stein, around 5 years ago and I thought I was overcharged, but the WOZ customers, poor folks won't get a "dime" of the new American GM or an old red penny off Del either!

For the record fellow American members, Delano Reiss(Franklin Delano Rooselvelt your US President 1932-45 & Del's cousin) came to Australia as a 10 Pound Pommy Immigrant around 1970 & started up his own company around 1972 in St Kilda. Prior threads state Bumper Action was nearly 50 years old! Unless of course Del was running a Pinball company in Limey/Pommy Land in the 1960's. Del was born in December 1951(& also looked very old for his age & so too does David Stein recently) and apparently went to the same Posh Grammar School that Prince Phillip, The Duke of Edinbourough went to.Del also ran 2 Pinball/Video Arcades in Fitzroy Street St Kilda 3182 and that was where David Stein(or Steenie as he is known) worked for Del originally as a coin caddy.
David also claimed he used to do up pinball machines & re-sell them, I know my Greek-Aussie mate Con dealt with them in obtaining parts for his Kiss Pinball machine. Con's father ran a big Greek restaturant in Preston & hired amusement machines from Del in the 1980's(they both made a good income from this arrangement). Con's father also worked as a chef(yes like our mate David Maxton) for Frank Sinatra & other Mob associates at the Sands Casino in Las Vegas in the early 1960's, before emigrating to Australia, to run his own business with a Greek cousin.I'm really sorry to see Del Reiss 40 year old company wind up this way. He must have Alzeimer's disesase?

The only story anyone will really be interested in is when those who gave their money in good faith to bumper for a WOZ are by some miracle able to get their money back !

My Spanish mate, Luis (like The Fonz from Happy Days), used to go into Del's Arcade in St Kilda, and play his old ETM Pins for free(until David Stein or some other staff member busted him), he used an icy-pole stick to "jump-start" the game, via the coin mechanism, which could be done in the old ETM's.
Another trick of Luis, was using old metal washers from his dad's shed, which were similar weight & size as 20c pieces. I hope this brings back some childhood menories for some forum members! Ha! Ha! Ha!

I think David Stein had something to do with that decision. David had a lot of contacts in America & made the American suppliers confident in giving Bumper Action the gig of the WOZ machines. David Stein had a good reputation, still got shafted in the end(along with David Maxton), what a waste of talent!

And I thought the Taxi Industry Mafia in Melbourne, Sydney & NYC were greedy crooks!
Noodle box carries on like the ethnic Taxi plate owners in Melbourne & New York., justifying ridiculous prices for $1/2 Million for a Melb Taxi plate & $1 Million for a New York cab Medallion! I wonder if Del Reiss bought any taxi plates as an investment, easier than running an aracade, just sit back, play your favourite pinball game(Monopoly, was it David? Del's favourite?) and watch the money just roll in!
Noodlebox should ask Gene Friedman in NYC(currently not paying his taxes to the IRS, naughty boy), just how does he get into the Taxi Industry?

And I thought the old ethnic taxi plate owners were ruthless to the new Indian Taxi drivers.

Officially 1972, so Del told us.

And I used to think The Taxi Industry, was full of greedy pigs1

What is an ethnic taxi plate owner?

I see a ban coming REAL soon for someone. This flood of spam isn't good.

someone who's too stupid & arrogant to play pinball, they play poker instead, for "big" stakes

I am still trying to decipher much of the content from the recent posts.
Maybe I also put the ball on a tee as well. LOL

It ain't spam baby! It's called sarcastic humour.The issue was about a serious commercial topic involving pinball lovers not getting their machines, I've dealt with Bumper when Del was running it still and I believed I was "overcharged", so I'm entitled to put my 2 cents worth in as well, with a bit of humour. Ha ha

Have Fun Mate!

If you're trying to say that The Fonz either depicted or is Spanish, better do a little research. He is an A#1 guy in real life.

Say Ginger. Hope you are having a great evening.

You , as a consumer, have the responsibility to do your Due Diligence. If you over pay, that is your fault. No one forced you to part with your money. You could walk away at any time before your money leaves your hand.

Merry Christmas etc.

Del Reiss ripped me off for $700!
I ended up giving away the machine to my Spanish mate Jamie for nothing(por nada) & that's after deductions from the original purchase price & my usage over time(salesman was David Stein, whom Jamie also met), Joe from Aussie Arcade didn't want this arcade machine, (once I told him I bought it from Bumper Action), nor would any other dealer, once they knew of it's "symptons"(& it was one of Del's ex-hire machines)
Originally it was an $1800 machine(& overpriced at that too) & was only worth $200-300 at the end.
I have a good idea how the Woz customers felt! Except their losses are in the $1000's. I hope the outcome is good, I hope they got their machines. I can say "Adios" to my $700! Merry Xmas/Feliz Navidad

I said my mate Luis is like the Fonz character, I didn't say the real Fonz was Spanish. And you're right, he's a cool dude, I like to think of my mate Luis being a cool dude too. I knew of one of the actor's(Henry Winkler) relatives in Australia, he lived in the St Kilda area (near Del's Mr D's arcade), he was a nice guy.

Is this the most recent info on this or am I missing a thread? Are these Australian buyers losing their money ? The last info I can glean from this is some minority will get their machines but some 50+ buyers lose their money. Or did I miss something?

Legal action is still ongoing

The parties involved are keeping it all to themselves until it is finalised

well that is WAY better. good to hear.

Was there ever an outcome in this saga?

There is no outcome, it's come to grinding halt it's a absolute disgrace how this is panning out, so many honest people have been burnt.

The outcome is that Jersey Jack has pocketed $130,000 from the people that put faith in his upstart pinball company. He has promised to build 22 machines for the 79 affected buyers who were going to sell them and distribute the revenue equally as to how much each individual had paid. That promise was made in November 2013. Jack has failed to deliver anything and cannot prove he is ever going too. Yet he continues to build machines for new cash buyers. He has no intention of sending the 130k deposit money that he was given from Bumper back to the affected buyers group so to that effect I would call him as bigger thief as Bumper. And yes I have lost $9000.

You would expect mr jack to make an official statement on where he stands with all this shermozzle

He won't say anything! That would be like the pot calling the kettle black. He has (spent) 130k in deposit money he was given from Bumper. He can now only afford to build machines he gets cash for, he doesn't have the funds to build 22 games for nothing because that money he spent setting up his factory. He can't send it back because he doesn't have any money. He has effectively stolen 130k from Australian buyers.

As I've said before, this whole saga is an absolute disgrace.

That's all you can say about it, really. Shameful.

rd.

This is the WORST. I hope that there is something that you can do legally to address losing your money. But if there is not, then this totally sucks ballz. If this happens in America - get a rope! Never ever again will I preorder prepay or any crap like that because of these 79 guys who got ROBBED.

this is terrible guys, I really feel for those that lost their hard earned money. 9K is not candy money. This is a serious offense. I wouldn't hold your breath about ever seeing any of those games. They still owe customers 250 or so WOZ LE's with no recent updates or comments about what the hell is going on. If they keep trickling out at this pace, its gonna be 2016 until all the games are shipped if the company is not already out of business by then. If he said he would build the 22 games and donate them to be sold and he hasn't, shame on him. I am sure just like mad amusements though, people will continue to support him because he hasn't ripped them off yet. I hope this doesn't sour your opinion on how people in the US do business because this is definitely not a model of how all US pinball companies operate. Anyways my thoughts are with you guys that lost out big on this. Hope you get some kind of retribution in the long run.

Libel much?

Thanks for the kind words. We really want to get the message out that Jack has conducted himself dishonorably. To now, most people think that it was Bumper Action that ran off with 450,000 of deposit money. The truth is that they had sent of that 130,000 to Jack. He used this money in to set up his manufacturing operation. Fair enough. But now that Bumper are gone he's claiming he owes them the money so there's no one to send it back too. Oh how convenient. He agreed to the 22 machine build but has delivered nothing but lies and broken promises.
The sad thing is, everyone who put the money down believed in what he was doing. We bought into Jacks boyish enthusiasm of his dream. Bumper screwed us, no denying that. But to be being screwed by the upstanding Christian savior of pinball really exposes him as the snake oil salesman he really is. I have serious fears for anyone in the US who have paid for a machine and are yet to receive it.

If I lost 9k I would libel the hell out of anyone involved and not care.

lol.

It's only Libel if its untrue...

But, actually, it's not a LOLing matter. I cant imagine how frustrated/angry/stressed I'd be if this happened to me. I had a long-distance purchase go sideways for like $500 and I was furious...cant fathom my psyche if i mad to multiple that potential loss by 15x.

i HOPE you guys all somehow get made whole.... or Karma drops a mint condition MM at your next yard sale for $1000....

Trying to give the benefit of the doubt, could Jack's hands be tied legally pending judicial orders? Just trying to make sense of how and why this has gotten to where it is. The honorable thing would seem to be for jjp to refund prorated shares of the $130k to all of the affected customers.

I don't know, but I hope these buyers get treated as fairly as possible. This continues to be a black eye to the entire pinball industry.

Downward spiral and quicksand can be used in the one sentence.

There have been many avenues now exhausted by our affected buyers group "WOZ Fund". We call it WF because all the buyers formed a group and put in money to fight this legally. To date due to corporate protections for collapsed companies we have not been able to prosecute Bumper. Basically there is no money to be recovered from old Bumper.
Jack has now shown his true colors, he took 150k of good peoples money! He still owes those people 130k or the 22 machines he promised to deliver. He does nothing because he can't afford to build and ship 22 machines he is not getting new money for. So ok, we lose massively and that's life sometimes, but theres gotta be some kind of conseques here for Jack! You can't just pocket 130k and think that's ok and it will all go away and no one will ever be the wiser. Personally, the only power I have left is to get this truth out there for other to absorb and make the decisions that are best for them.

Sorry to hear about this... Im sure JJP will make this right eventually
It is reasonable to assume they would have to follow proper legal channels on this.
If the orders were by a distributor, JJP would not have a record of who bought what.....

I hope everything works out for all parties.. Have you tried disputing the charges with your credit card company? This would fall under the blanket of fraud protection..

They have no legal procedure as they cunningly know the Aussie buyers don't have a leg to stand on. The right thing for Jack to do is build the promised 22 machines and send them. He agreed to this with our group collective called the WOZ Fund Team and he's done a runner. There will be no happy ending to this story, we only wish to now spread some light and truths on the foul business activities of Jesrey Jack Pinball. He's spent our 130k and can hide behind corporate laws to keep it for himself. And may I say that at no stage has Jack ever contacted anyone to give any updates or apologies for this mess. And yes he knows who the buyers are.

I've got nothing to add other than I feel sorry for you Aussies that have been screwed over.

I hope you all get what you paid for or at least some closure to the whole thing.

I can take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I got the time but for your sake and the sake of your children wouldn't you rather buy a quality game from Stern?

Gary Stern.jpg

. Have you tried disputing the charges with your credit card company? This would fall under the blanket of fraud protection..

Some who paid with credit cards have tried to recoup their money with no success. Most people like myself made installment payment to Bumper through direct deposit. Again, we know now there will be no machines sent for the 130k Jack has been paid. We just wish this to very exposing on his devilish business practices. It's all we have left.

So help me understand this...., if Bumper was your distributer and Bumper sent your money to JJP, how would JJP refund your money? How would he even be able to determine who and how much money to send back to? I don't believe JJP gets a list from distributers that would list who these games are actually being ordered for. Wouldn't that be documented by Bumper only, since JJP doesn't really care who the end user is in this case, only that Bumper ordered X amount of games they need to build and ship to Bumper?

I know this is the last thing I would want to hear if I were in your shoes but you guys really need to fight this on a legal angle in Aussie. I feel really bad for you guys and I'm not sure what I would do myself if this were to happen to me. I can't believe corporations can get away with this stuff in your country.

This whole unfortunate affair should stand as a cautionary tale for ANYONE who prepays for a pinball machine. This affects not only the Aussie's, but every person that has entrusted JJP with pre-payment for WoZ, and more frighteningly, TH.

The exact same thing could very well happen to everyone sitting on a smile and a promise for their Hobbit pinball machine. You are all unsecured creditors. In other words, you will be standing LAST in line for a share of any moneys owed should things get ugly.... and potentially left with a total loss on your pre-payment.

JJP, like any startup, is likely in a precarious financial position as a new company trying to build itself up. The JDA investment seemed like a good step to shore things up, but the status of that is unknown....

The main problem seem to to be they are addicted to pre-order money to fund the operation. The longer it takes to build/ship machines, the costlier and riskier things get. I suspect SOME of the massive delays are production/supply-chain related, but many others *seem* to be their need to line-jump any and all new money orders to get the funds coming in.

So, lots of trustworthy folks invested for WoZ.... but now, hard to believe they will have as much patience with buyers for TH. I believe they are at a riskier point now than when they started. People have learned the "play first - pay first" promise was false. They've also learned that nearly ANY promises made around production have ZERO credibility. How ANYONE can still make pre-payments after the last 90-ish debacle is inconceivable...Anyways, all those add up to a potentially more fickle buying group.

Excited as I am to see TH, I'm personally shocked ANYONE is still a pre-payer for TH, but I'm assuming there are still a lot of faithful in on it. However, if those folks start bailing and and demanding refunds, this could have a snowball effect on JJP's financing model. If I had made any paymentsd towards TH, Id have long ago called to cash out while I still could. The fact that pre-paid WoZ shipments have nearly stopped in the last 5 months HAS to have sane people worried.... The tragic Australian issue is another big question mark.

i think people would understand a "deposit model" simply for planning purposes (ie, $1000 down, balance due prior to shipment), but this Pre-payment Model is incredibly risky... especially given whats transpired.... Buyer beware!