Buyers be cautious if you are thinking of dealing with Pintastic Pinball in Riverside/Orange County California. I see he has a STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION for sale on Craigslist right now with the same description...Plays 100%. The machine I recently purchased did NOT play 100% as he advertised. I had the machine shipped and within 15 minutes of plugging it in and playing, the machine had 3 issues. I have had other machines shipped and never experienced major problems with them. The machine continues to have issues and I am now disputing the purchase with my credit card company. There are many reputable retailers who sell pinball machines as their full-time business that I will purchase from again. I will not buy again from Pintastic Pinball.
So you want the whole story...
First off I'm not a newbie or new to pinball. I'm new to Pinside and wanted to warn potential buyers that Brian Moyes of Pintastic Pinball in Corona/Eastvale California is not a reputable seller. Unfortunately, I have learned this the hard way but now know he has a "reputation" in the local pinball community.
My first machine was a Williams Jokerz (1988) that I purchased years ago from a retailer that yes, had some quirks typical of a pinball machine. They were addressed by the business as it was under warranty and it has worked like a gem ever since.
After getting hooked, I purchased a White Water (1993), Theatre of Magic (1995), Simpsons Pinball Party (2003) and Attack From Mars LE and had them shipped to Hawaii. There is an arcade tech here that has helped with minor issues like loose connectors etc that happen in shipping.
Fast forward now to the situation I find myself in.
I was looking for a Tales of the Arabian Nights which is a hard game to find and by chance I saw one offered by Brian Moyes. I had extensive conversations with Brian & asked for a video and additional photos of the game. He assured me it was in 100% working order and that he just needed to replace a cracked ramp. I made a deal with Brian and paid $8350 plus $140 extra for him to install a ColorDMD & move the battery pack off the board. I also paid over $940 to ship the machine out of my pocket.
The ColorDMD install by Brian went wrong and he had problems with the machine after or he blew out the ColorDMD and never told me. (I have installed a ColorDMD myself so I know how easy it is to do.)
Next problem, shipping was delayed almost 3 weeks as come to find out he was having problems with the power driver board which is the constant problem we have now. It continuously blew fuses with the original board so he installed a Rottendog which was "working great” as Brian said. He never told us he had to replace the board until we asked AFTER it arrived here & saw a different board installed. We paid to have the original board inspected or repaired by a tech in California only to be told nothing is wrong with it. Brian admitted to using the original board in his Champion Pub pinball machine.
We gave Brian chance after chance to make this right but he has not helped. He knew of the issue of the fuses blowing and tried to put a band aid fix which hasn't worked longer than 15 minutes since setting up the game. As soon as we turned on the machine and went into the menu it said "Vanishing Magnet Broken" and showed that the Rom was not updated. Also, the ball kept getting stuck on the Tiger lock magnet & found the core plug was mushroomed beyond repair. The slide mechanism lever retainers were bent and the playfield could not be elevated by 1 person.
We called around asking techs in CA about what could be the cause and by chance we found the tech that worked on it. He confirmed that Brian knew there were issues but sent it anyway. Brian told us he felt pressured to ship the machine so he sent it. REALLY??? Who sends a machine over an ocean that is not working to begin with? A machine that was advertised as 100%!?!
So now we are stuck in paradise with an expensive pretty wooden box to look at that does not work.
At this point our local tech has spent countless hours trying to trace a pinched wire or somewhere that is causing the short and blowing the fuses. The machine was clearly misrepresented and if you were in my shoes you would be upset as well. The time and energy involved is gut wrenching especially because I've had such a great time collecting pinball machines. I can only imagine if this was my first pinball machine I would have never purchase another machine.
I am posting this for other pinball enthusiasts as I wish someone had warned me… Sh*t matters when it happens to YOU.
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