Not to mention they have allegedly shared private order information with other customers in the past.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cointakers-lack-of-professionalism

Get ready to get thumped by the legions of Cointaker followers. But you would not be the first to have problems with their customer service. There have been a few threads on this over the years. Always fast to respond to sales inquiries, but seem to lose a lot of service related emails.

Comet man. Comet.

This should be good .....

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This

They lost my business when they sold an original Ironman at market premium/high water mark shortly before the first vault was announced.

Dealers obviously are given the nod of what is coming before the general public.

https://www.cometpinball.com/

they have the best prices, best product, and best service in the pinball industry.
I personally love the 2SMD frosted for pretty much everything. Pick your white (warm, sunlight, or cool) color match where you desire to fit your preference.
I rarely get a bad bulb and they are just spot on with everything!

Once you go Comet, you will never go back.

Been using Comet Pinball for years now, a few grand spent there at least. Used CT once, there was an issue and they took care of it with a minimum of fuss in all fairness.

I have made several orders from Cointaker, and other than delays that are attributable to the postal service, have never had an issue with anything I've ordered from them. Melissa has always been very quick and professional in her communications, especially when I bought the first NIB pin that I ever had shipped via freight and was pretty nervous about it.

Can't agree more with Comet. They have some of the best customer support and staff on hand I've ever seen.

Hear hear. I used to go to them exclusively because they were 'more local' than Comet - but after two orders (at two different times) came back wrong, they had me return the wrong ones only to send.. DIFFERENT wrong ones right back to me, enough was enough. Been Comet ever since.

I've ordered from CT about 10 times over the last decade (LED's only) and haven't had any trouble. A few times on large complicated orders with twenty+ different style/color/quantity LED's there were a few errors in the order but they were very quick to send out the correct missing bulbs and didn't' haggle about returning the incorrect ones. Shipping times were good as well. In all fairness I had to chime in with this.

There is a worldwide pandemic that has altered the supply chain around the world, every time I go to the store another product is unavailable because of unforeseen complications. Pinball isn’t insulated from the same issues.

I've ordered from Cointaker several times with no problems. I've been using Comet more recently because they have a better variety of product and I don't want to pay for shipping twice (ordering some from one and some from another). No knock on Cointaker- I wasn't unsatisfied with anything I received from them.

I don't understand your point here. They had a game for sale at X price... someone wanted the game enough to pay that price. Why is that a problem? Why does is matter whether or not there was a vault edition coming out, and whether or not Cointaker knew about it?

You are speculating... as usual.

CT for me. No problems and they do care. I support Military Veteran businesses.
I mean look at our pinball community, it would definitely be a challenge to appease everyone because some crazy wants and needs are way over bearing , plus social media can be a constant headache.
I have bought machines and parts from Coin Taker and I appreciate them.

Never had any problems with cointaker, have ordered many times.

How dare a business use the concepts of supply and demand to make a profit. /s

It's not exactly insider trading used to dupe rubes of their retirement funds.

Chris and Melissa at Cointaker have always been friendly and helpful with me. There was a couple of times when I bought LED kits from them in the "old days", before I found out what I liked and just started making my own kits, when there were some mix-ups in the LEDs supplied with the kits, and they were easy to work with in order to get things right. I also ended up getting 3 NIB Sterns from them, and that went well too. Any warranty issues that required help, they helped with. As always, you're mileage may vary I suppose, but I've had good experiences with them so far.

I got called back from Melissa at CT when I didn’t even leave a message she proceeded to take my order and it arrived no problems great costumer service always a pleasure

This is actually documented on Pinside.

That being said-

We are talking about toys. I don't feel bad for the guy that was excited to get the toy he wanted.

I agree, but when there are lots of choices in a crowded pinball market, it makes the decision easy to support someone else.

It was enough to make me personally look elsewhere (I previously had bought from them)

I never had an issue with CT, but I haven't ordered LEDs from them in years.

I'm sure they made a lot of fans when they sold other people's Lebowskis to new buyers and told customers who pre-ordered with them that the price was now like $4000 more after waiting years.

If I have learned anything on here, it is that there are lots of collectors that have way more money than time. That isnt a bad thing. For the record, I am not one of those collectors..... LOL

I wish all suppliers had the customer facing skills that Cointaker has.
So great to deal with.

is this true?

I consider Chris and Melissa very good friends, so add me in with the legions of cointaker fans.

Things take time especially these days. It's not like they have everything on hand and a lot of cases they're waiting for stern or other outside vendors. I know stuff is taken care of to the best of their ability.

It's nothing personal and they're not ignoring your business. Even as a good friend and a person who buys a lot of things from them I have to wait for stuff. It's simply out of their hands sometimes.

On the Lebowski's...it wasn't us who raised the price of the game...It was Dutch Pinball and they had to do so to settle their lawsuit with ARA. And if it were not for us selling those machines, no one would be getting games today...we have shipped a few games out to the Early Achievers who had paid and they are shipping more each month. So when you are putting information out on here, make sure you have the right facts...

Melissa

I have been buying from them for years always treated me great and I have never had a problem .

I've ordered many LED kits from Cointaker with no issues. No complaints on customer service also. Every once in a while, I will find that a kit may be short a certain bulb - maybe it has a red 555 base when I need a red 47 base. In every case, Melissa has been very happy to correct the issue. This was more of an issue when I was just starting to use LEDs and didn't have any extras in stock. Now, I have learned it is just easier to occasionally buy a bag of assorted colors in both bases and also some whites in both bases. I keep these on hand in case a kit has an incorrect LED in it or should I decide to make a substitution on my own. Usually, their kits have a few extra bulbs in them that aren't needed also. I have found between the extras I buy and the extras that come in the kits, occasionally I don't even need to buy a kit to do out a game. I just reach into my supply and have enough to finish it.

I hate seeing threads like this with pitchforks coming out. Cointaker folks are among the nicest around and I would never hesitate to do business with them.

One thing I noticed, even in my line of work, is that there is a significant bias to leave negative online/social media reviews versus positive ones. When customers are upset or feel like they have been treated even in the least bit rudely or unfairly they are much more likely to vent in a scathing review than they would be to leave a positive review if a business transaction was fair and the customer was satisfied. That being the case I am very hesitant to bash someones business since this can have a serious impact on the owner's income and quality of life. There are times however that critical reviews are warranted but way too often small nitpicking turns into horrendous reviews and some of those can be difficult (if not impossible) to get rid of, and are often severely embellished. Just saying.

I have bought many different products from Melissa at Cointaker and she has always been great.

You need to read the prior threads and get your facts straight before spewing crap. Cointaker handled this situation incredibly well.

Its like looking up a Restaurant review.5000 positives, and 25 negatives, everyone reads the negative.
Chris and Melissa were and always be an inspiration to me, especially when I went into business!.
Its hard to be perfect all the time for everyone. Especially in today's world.
We should all wish for more companies
like Cointaker and Comet.

I've bought seven pins from Cointaker and Chris and Melissa have been fabulous to work with on each one and have always given me great pricing. I've ordered a number of mods, led kits, bulbs, and other odds and ends and they've always gotten them to me on a very timely manner. Got a chance to visit their setup in Sunbury and played a lot of pins in their new arcade room that is open for people to play from the public. Awesome setup and always a pleasure to work with and to chat about pins and the industry.

Love the Cointaker folks. Never had a problem. I do know they recently hired two new people and are training them, perhaps it was them that packed the order and a mistake was made? 2020 is a shit show, lots going on, people are stressed beyond belief. A little extra patience and benefit of the doubt can go a long way this year.

I wouldn't have gone along with it had I been a distributor. Maybe things will work out and people will get their games, but that's not what people thought would happen at the time. If I had customers that bought at game at 8500 years before and the manufacturor said it's now 12500 or you're out of luck, I'd tell them to take a hike and suggest legal action. You guys made money on it while people were seeing other people buy the games they had paid for years before out from under them. Spin it how you want. It's not something I'd be proud of.

Trust pinside to spew garbage. Too easy to spread lies on the internet.

Those with pre-orders have a beef with Dutch. This horse has been beaten to death. Take your sour grapes to the tbl thread.

Did you even have skin in the game or are you just trying to start a problem when there isnt one?

The customers that bought their games at 8500.00 are not paying anything additional. They are still getting their games at that price.
And I am proud that we are able to help save one of the best games built...Atleast people now have a chance.

Contacted melissa about needing a pigtail for a topper i bought elsewhere, said she had a few extras and she could send me one. Sent one free of charge, got it in the mail it was the wrong one, so she sent the correct one, free of charge...... thats above and beyond customer service!

Nothing but good dealings with CT from my end.

Only bought 1 machine from them - JP - and it was a great experience.
I would buy from them again.

CoinTaker has always been good to me. Long distance or at shows.

LTG : )

I've only ever ordered LEDs and other random bits, but I've never had an issue. Thanks CoinTaker!

Yes, it’s just you.....

CoinTaker has done right by me! Their pricing is good too vs. other distributors. Automated still on top! Remember if you see the word FIRM - RUN!