Buyer beware fun billiards

Who cares. He thought that was the case, it makes no difference, whatever makes him happy. Shit he even paid extra! Which is a complete joke and scam based on the way the games are produced.

and he's the only one to blame for that, it makes him happy to be scammed I guess! lol

I recommend that this OP make all future pinball purchases from Tom Grizzard, here in Ga.

What i am seeing here is you never know if your LE is a legit #1 or #50 ? No longer can you use #s for a profit, sounds great to me.

Had they put the #16 plaque on it, he would've gotten the same game, #380 or #16 the only difference was the numbered plaque. There's nothing special about it, it has no correlation to the number that came off the line, the serial number, or when the line worker took a shit that day. He was getting the game that showed up the first time, it just had the 'wrong' plaque on it. Likely why they suggested switching it out. He would've had the "#16" game, and they would've stuck that other plaque on a new game.

Stern or Fun should have probably offered a small discount for the trouble, especially if a premium was paid for a certain number. Hopefully this is a lesson to not pay a premium for a stupid number.

Wow, there is a lot here.
With that said ( IMHO ) a reputable business should never publicly attempt to defend itself when someone calls them out. These type of accusations will always happen in retail ... responding only gives credence to the original complaint. At the end of the day take good care of your customers and the good customers will take care of you.

Just my 2 cents.

Now that he has posted that e-mail, I am more inclined to side with the O.P. because his reasoning for cancelling the order was perfectly justified in his mind.

It appears we are settling things much cheaper and faster here in Pinside Forum Court. (tm, c, patent pending, whathaveyou).

Then we can jump back to playin pinball.

I can't seem to stay out of the thread......

But now understanding the plaque number a little more? My guess would be that there isn't an order. Just what number out of how many. My original thought was they were asking you to change serial numbers and I couldn't grasp that idea. They may run in order or run at random. That would depend on how things are done, how many people are putting them on. Like one guy grabs some, another guy grabs some and they start putting them on the games from that run, is an example. Maybe they do it in order, I have no clue. But even if they didn't it's still the same. Just a number out of how many games made.

Added....I also couldn't figure why it was only $100 to claim that number. They aren't tracking a full game, just the number until shipping time, put in an envelope with your address, then when shipping time comes, grab that envelope, put the plate on and ship it. Is just a guess......I could be way wrong! I'm just guessing!

But any number plaque on any game out of that run? Would be no deception. That might be why they wanted you to send the other plaque back(if I read right). to put it on another game from that run. Why not tell you to throw it away if they were just making numbers. So, no there wouldn't have been 2 number 16's.

Say, someone hit number 16 with forklift in the factory and it was damaged bad. Which happens in places.....Now, they aren't just going to throw that number out, so another one would be made and that number stuck on it. It's still number "16 out of xxx" but the serial number wouldn't be in order with the rest. Thinking of it that way, kind of puts it in the same type of idea, in a way. Just thoughts.......

So, I can see why Fun was confused and couldn't understand the backout and in their mind I'm guessing it was unjustified, on the other hand looking at how you are viewing it? I see why you backed out thinking you were being deceived on the whole number thing. I really do think I get some of both sides now.

Whats this thread say about Star Wars. Not even their authorized retailer wants it. Not a good message.

Here is a Decepticon serial number 232964 so that does not seem to jive with your numbering expectations:

http://www.ipsnd.net/details.aspx?id=26397

Another:

http://www.ipsnd.net/details.aspx?id=50468

The OP thanking everybody who slams FUN! personally is a nice touch

Thank you

I may have missed some posts here, but has the OP received the check that was supposedly posted on the 20th October ?... and no tracking number was given?

you-said-the-teitg5 (resized).jpg

It's either lost or was never sent.

99% chance it wasn’t sent when they told him it was.......and still may not be in the mail. They probably spent that money already!

That’s a bit pessimistic. FUN does do a lot to support Pinball, TPF in particular (where they have brought 50+ games for free play in some years), so giving them the benefit of the doubt that they haven’t spent the money and did send the check would seem reasonable. Just my personal opinion.

I agree to a point but after reading this whole thread I’m not so sure that they deserve the benefit of the doubt.

i agree with the benefit of not having spent the money. but given the timeframe. 14 days ? was the check posted ?. It would have landed in Australia by now.

They didn’t send it when they said ..seems pretty clear at this point. Who sends an $8k check just dropped in the regular mail with no tracking or certification — that’s insane. was it just in spite as they were upset at OP?

Exactly! This is what is so worrisome when items get this expensive...losing a couple thousand on a bad deal, ok it's terrible, but not life altering, but you start talking 5 digits and that's a big deal.

Yeah Im sure he will get his money but I’d be concerned a little bit for sure. This is why I believe you should find a distributor, drive there and hand him the money and load your game up. Not an option for everyone probably but if you have a distributor within a couple of hours just drive and go get the game, and I would NEVER pre pay for a game waiting on it to be built ever!

Spoiler Alert: This is about a business deal that went bad for me 40 years ago. I'm not trying (or I don't think I'm trying) to hijack the OPs thread and I apologize if I overstep and if I have overstepped I will ask the mods to remove what I say. Along with the Corvettes there was the '56 Harley-Davidson panhead I was doing a mild chop job to.

This was way before email and iPhones. It was telephone calls at expensive long distance prices and snail mail.

I ordered a custom set of stainless steel spokes for my front wheel from a shop in California. I had learned about these spokes from an article in Custom Chopper. I made the order and the spokes did not arrive. I waited about three weeks before I called the company to inquire as to the whereabouts of my spokes order. I was told that USPS had returned the package to the shop in Cali and that the order would be sent out again.

About a week later I got my order from the post office. I got the spokes but there were no spoke nipples. Since these were custom spokes a standard motorcycle spoke nipple would not fit. I was in a jam; I needed the custom spoke nipples to fit the custom spokes.

Here is where it gets tricky. I hope I can explain with clarity: I opened the box that was sent to me. Inside that box was another box with my name in the address block and my address in the address block, however, my address was not correct. This was the first box that was sent and it was addressed incorrectly and returned to the California spoke company. I opened this first box ( or box within a box ) and pulled my spokes out. I also removed a receipt the company placed inside the box with my correct address written on the receipt. There were no nipples. The reason there were no nipples is that who ever packed the box out in California did a lousy taping job that left more than half of a bottom box flap open. During shipping the package of nipples fell out of the box and then the box was returned to the company because it as address in correctly. When I called, they asked for my address and stuffed the incorrectly addressed and incorrectly taped box into the second box and resent the package to me.

To recap: The company included a receipt inside the box with my correct address, then addressed the box incorrectly and did not tape the box correctly. And my spoke nipples got lost.

I called the company and the the assistant/receptionist/office lady (soon to be the fking office lady answered the phone.

ME: Hello. I am calling about an order of spokes and nipples I bought. I received the spokes but there were no nipples in the box.

SHE: Well, we sent them and because you did not give us your correct address the post office returned the box to and we only knew where to send it after you called us and then gave us your correct address.

ME: I'm sorry. I have the copy of your receipt that you placed inside the box and you all did not address the box correctly. You had my correct address. The first box was not packed correctly and the nipples fell out of the bottom of the box. I have all 40 spokes but no nipples. And since these are custom nipples I cannot use any other nipples that I have.

SHE: Why you you lying about these nipples?

ME: I'm not lying. They did not make the trip.

SHE: (I don't remember what she said and I asked to speak with the owner).

ME: I'd like to speak with Mr. Buchanan (It was Buchanan's motorcycle frame and spoke shop or something like that. The name Buchanan is burned into my mind to this day).

(Mr. Buchanan comes to the phone and I explain the problem. He seemed like a nice guy but he also seemed clueless to what was going on).

HE: (I don't remember what he said but I did not get satisfaction from him. I was still having to deal with the office bitch).

SIDEBAR: It usually sucks for both customers and employees when an owner is in a business partnership with his wife. I try to avoid those situations like the plague. You can draw your own conclusions.

ME: I don't remember how my conversations with the office bitch went after that but I did not like being accused of lying. We were not having warm fuzzy talks.

....I don't know how much I paid for those spokes but it was a lot less than is going on here with the pinball machine. I do remember it was 40 spokes for Harley wheel hubs. I remember it was enough money from my small paycheck that it hurt. I thought I was just screwed and was not sure what to do next. But I got lucky.

I was in the Navy and stationed at an air station not far from Dallas, Texas. I went to the legal department and asked for the possibility of some help.
And the government helped me !!

A reserve officer from Dallas was doing his weekend duty drill and wrote a letter to the company and stated what had happened and requested that a wrong be made right. The letter went out on official letter head. It was addressed, IIRC, to the owner of the company.
**************

A few days later I got a package in the mail with the custom nipples I needed. Inside the box the nipples arrived in, there was also a letter written to me from the office bitch.

" Dear Mr. Day,

Here are the nipples that you claim that you did not receive. Please be advised that we are sending you these nipples only so that we can avoid hearing from you again !"

There was no signature. No Best Regards. No nothing. It was just here are your fking nipples now leave us alone.
********************

I never could figure out why that old girl got so wound up about some nipples. It was not like I was going to make a necklace to wear or use as party favors; They only had one purpose in life which was to spoke a wheel with custom spokes.

I remember that I was jazzed with the stainless spokes because they were and excellent quality spoke and they would not rust.

I don't know if the business survived or how much business that woman drove off.

I also remember that I was so heated that I had visions of sending out a box filled with scorpions for the office bitch to open.

I don't remember how much I spent except it was less than a hundred dollars and probably less that $50.00. But in 1973, $50.00 was still a lot of money. Hell, $20.00 was lot of money ! Gas was only 36.9 cents per gallon.

And I don't know how I would have behaved if it was big dollars like what is going on here. I for sure would not be relaxed about it. Woe to anyone who told me to chill out.

I feel for the OP. For whatever reason, his expectations were not met. It sounds to me like it was Stern that dropped the ball first and tried to salvage the deal and not to the satisfaction of the OP. If there was nothing on paper it is time to unwind the deal. But it also appears that the seller already spent the money and was choking to cover the refund; Always one of the hazards when working with borrowed money.
********************

I have owned two businesses. I know what is it like to have to cover the monthly nut, payroll, utilities, and taxes. Deals get made in a hurry to get some money in the register. There is the temptation to say anything to get the prospective buyer to open his wallet. Sometimes things get said that should not have been said; Sometimes things don't get said that should have been said. "I"s do not get dotted and "T"s do not crossed; Many times things work out because Lady Luck blessed the deal. And some times the shit hits the fan and everybody starts looking for the "T"s and "I"s that were ignored in an effort to satisfy needs, lust, greed, desires and wants like "right now".

There should have been a written contract on this pinball deal. It does not sound like there was. But this is speaking from the benefit of hind site.

In all transactions there has to be some element of trust or nothing would ever get done.

We don't want to pay the expense of an escrow service but we want that pin so we send thousands of dollars to some stranger that sometimes turns out to be a scammer. We put up with a rude seller who has no patience for answering questions because we REALLY need or want what he is selling.

We want to sell whatever it is we are wanting to unload but don't want to pay a cut to the escrow service so we buy some pie-in-sky story from a prospective buyer, send the product out, and then get stuck with a bad check. We put up with a prospective buyer who asks the dumbest of questions because he, as a buyer, is scared of his own shadow and we really need that sale.

I'll stop flapping my gums now. If you read this far and got something from it, then thank you. I gave the spoiler alert so if you kept reading and were annoyed, that is your fault. OP, I'm not trying to hijack you and if I have offended you, I apologize and the Mods can take this down .

Yep. Bottom line is FUN! stated on 9/15 they would refund the money. OP still has not received it. The circumstances around the original transaction don't matter whatsoever anymore.

I'm not getting why

1) it is taking over 1 week to receive a check. I can send a letter from one side of the country to the other in about 3 days. Why is this any different?

2) why FUN would take a gamble and not track it? They know they've hit a roadblock/difficulties in this transaction with OP, so why not cover all bases?

Can you eexplain that again i didnt quite understand.

Not really https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/need-em-tech-in-sarasota-fl

And the current issue is as of today its been 14 days since the check was mailed and the OP hasn't received it. One of Fun's employees was on here yesterday and it very much looks like the OP is communicating with Fun, so why would they (Fun) not just put this to bed and issue a new check and overnight it to him, or at the very least (Fun) talk to USPS and to the OP with a status of the check that went out on the 20th?

pretty sad that FUN has completely disappeared from all this after it comes to light all the lies and BS.

They come in here talking smack when it was all sunshine and thumbs up. Then the OP brings to light the reality of the situation and then turn into a ghost.

This! I sent a check on October 21st and got my pin on October 31st... So there's really no excuse here.

Hmmm. When I read the title of this thread....I thought it was going to warn Pinheads that shooting pool would cause you to lose interest in buying pinballs.... ..

Anyways...hope all goes well op.

This guy still hasnt gotten his check and its been two weeks! CMON MAN. How gullible does this distributor think someone is?

US Mail is never that slow.

He should just wire him a refund. This Fun company is really doing damage to their business by not finishing something they agreed to do. Issue a refund. Pathetic

amazing part of all this is that they claim it was mailed and all it would have cost them is a couple of bucks to have a tracking number.

That couple of bucks could save some face as it would be clear if/when they actually sent the check. They have spent more man hours on trying to deal with a supposed "lost" check than the few bucks would have cost to track this whole thing.

I look forward to seing the date stamp on the envelop once it does arrive.

At this stage, the OP may need to start more serious actions against the guy that, as far as I am concerned, currently has stolen 9k of his money.

where you at hassellcastle

funny to see some of you guys coaxing on this drama, just let it play out and see what happens. I'm sure it will happen and everyone will be happy again, but some of you guys here seem bored and just want to stir it up, maybe find a hobby or something? lol.

7 weeks! I would have demanded a refund after 3 weeks without it being taken care of. LOL at the price bitching for a local tech. Seems he could have had one of his own techs fly out in the AM and back in the PM for about the same cost as the local techs quote and gotten incredible reviews and refferals for going out of his way to make it right. Instead the customer has a paperweight for almost 2 months after overpaying in the first place and Im sure he wont be referring his friends to FUN.

Honestly I thought the OP was being a PITA here but it seems he got the FUN! treatment...

So you find 14 days reasonable? Seller agreed to a refund 48 days ago, and the O.P. has nothing. Pitch forks are certainly reasonable here, and the gasoline is next.

OP should have stuck with his order. He would have avoided all the drama and realized what a great game SWLE is.

not sure I find any of this reasonable on either side, just saying nothing was really handled right here. Its going to end happily ever after so each side should learn from this and move on or we can continue this because we are bored and have nothing else to do, knowing this group it will probably continue so have at it! lol

Some saying to hold his money for a while because he started this post is just silly. You don't hold someones money because they are being difficult. That's why they are being difficult because they want their money back! You can't hold money and opt to make them wait simply out of bitterness. Just refund the money ASAP and be done with it. Then you don't have your business being dragged through the mud here. the OP would not have started this thread if you just sent him his money in a somewhat reasonable timeframe. It seems he waited about 2 weeks longer than I would to start this thread!

With my own business, we want to give people nothing to complain about, even if they are leaving us or it didn't work out. So we've bent way backwards and not "fought the good fight" no matter how wrong the customer was (in our opinion). Sometimes you just have to eat it. In this case, the refund should have been sent ages ago. Now look at what's happened and whether that was worth it to the business.