I AM DONE WITH ANY NIB STERN OR JJP. PERIOD. DONE.

I hear you, brother...at least until this is sorted 100%. I purchased a used BM 66 (2017). Beautiful shape, no bubbling.

I recommend purchasing used for now. There is plenty out there that is newish and you can check for blistering in advance. This will kill sales in a market that is already oversaturated/crappy margins and will force out those manufacturers who might be teetering anyway. And to those who are flush/successful, it will hit them in the pocketbook.

Then they will freaking learn and make a solid product for us hard-working folks!

I contacted my distributor within 3 weeks of ownership. They have contacted/submitted the pictures to Stern and we are waiting on Stern's response. Pretty hard for Stern to claim not within warranty when it's been less than a month unless they don't stand behind their product. I'm going to give them a chance to do the right thing so I hope they come through. I have a chip, pooling at most posts, plus pooling at other locations where something is attached to the playfield.

IMG_2429 (resized).jpg

So, there it is.

Any game made in 2018, won't be remedied.

Time for the band aid approaches for those games effected.

Better chance if the game is fresh out of the box.

I won't be taking that chance though.

Horrible answer and customer service. He didn't give a damn and didn't want to put in any effort to check with Stern. Please let us know who the distributor was so others know to steer clear of them. When my Ghostbuster cabinet and playfield fell apart I had good luck contacting Stern direct and talking with Chaz.

It is beyond me why anyone would giver either company a dime until this is resolved.

Agreed. That distro is blowing smoke out of his ass because he doesn't want to deal with the issue/doesn't know what to say.

Oh yeah?

Well here in America we got FREEDOM baby!

So we got that going for us at least.

Likely can't do anything as they no longer run them. Maybe they have a playfield they could offer but it wouldnt be populated.

I agree with disclosing distributors names that give no help with this or any other issue. Helps people know where to avoid. I know that will probably create a shit show but I think it’s worth it.

It’s definitely possible there’s nothing that can be done as far as replacing the Playfield but to give the head in sand response of that it’s a “common thing” kick rocks. Is not what I would want to hear from a distributor. Mine assured me he would be there and have my back for the life of the pin, I believe him and that’s why I chose to purchase from them. Time will tell, hopefully won’t need him.

I'd think that the distributor and Stern would at least get together and offer the guy one month of "Stern Insider" at no cost and maybe a Stern t-shirt.

Not trying to downplay this issue. Again I have a TNA with some chipping around the star posts. I found these pictures pretty interesting. This was posted on the Dallas Facebook pinballs for sale. It is a location TNA that was on free play and pretty beat to shit. Selling for around $4750. Look at the drop targets and the amount of wear around them. Scoop is pretty bad as well. However, look at the chipping around the posts. Looks like mine but this one for sure has had 1000s upon 1000s of plays just based on the wear by the targets and because it being on free play on location. The wear is also because they are probably not changing the balls and waxing it. The wear around the posts does not look like it is getting worse which is good news. I have placed the neoprene washers under my posts to prevent further damage but this makes me feel a little better. Again still no excuse for the bad clear and hope things change.

FB_IMG_1567089607537 (resized).jpg

FB_IMG_1567089613636 (resized).jpg

The wear around the drop targets is ridiculous. Chipping paint around posts is bad clearcoat. No ball ever touches that area so there should be no wear. IMO the clear chipped off quickly around the drop targets and once that happened the much softer wood was worn down quickly. This is is another example of a half-assed clearcoat job.

Some have given one of the COmpaNies $550.00 [plus shipping] for a spare playfield. That COmpaNy must have one helluva hypnotist's pocket watch......

I get it!

The pinball companies are all con artists!

Clever.

Dang right, lets get the pitch forks out. J/K - I do feel like people should give negative feedback about poor resolutions from Distributors. Most people just lick their butts all the time and say how great they are.

I reached out to the owner of this game and we're trying hard to get this particular board back. The customer has a few TnA's and for whatever reason, this one with 35,000 plays has suffered the worst damage we've ever seen. His other game is over 50,000 plays and he says it's fine.

It had to have a loose (or low) drop target pounding the hell out of that edge on the way up or something, but we need to get the game to solve it and be sure. The scoop didn't come apart and is typical of what we'd expect to see at 35k plays. Posts... are what they are. We know it was an issue, and we solved it and did our best to make amends.

So... we offered to swap the playfield in this game to the improved board at cost ($600 for the complete swap) to whoever buys that game and gets it up to Benton. Happy to do so, and more than worth it to figure out what exactly went wrong.

Wow, that goes beyond an unacceptable outrageous response. Sure hope you took it up with Stern.....

Now that's just bad ass right there. Over an above what anyone would ever expect for a game with so many plays.

Thanks Charlie! Huge supporter of you guys. My playfield has the same chipping under some of the posts. If the 35,000 plays is correct then I feel better about mine not getting any worse.

you are on a roll today...your work in the angry thread was award winning

What's got everybody so jacked today? Fully mature(?) adult males getting keyboard-violent in a few threads.

The chipping will occur fairly fast if it's going to happen... but it should not progress. If the neoprene washers are in there they will absorb the vibrations and prevent future wear.

Wish it had never happened... glad we solved it and appreciate the patience while we did our best to make it right.

If you have a playfield issue, please report to your distributor or Stern or JJP, even if you think you're willing to live with it. Do it as a service to the community at large, ffs! A playfield that is chipping or rippling and thus prone to chipping later is not acceptable on a NiB machine, no matter what spin you want to put on it...minor defect..doesn't affect gameplay....blah blah blah. It's not OK.

That's partially true. I agree that a larger diameter washer helps distribute the force over a wider area. But, the (star) posts themselves are not flat on the bottom. If a washer the same diameter as the post it would be better than a post alone. Is it enough? I don't know.

Here is a picture of the bottom to illustrate:

redpost (resized).jpg

I agree with this and it's something I've done also. My take was "hey, I saw this problem, not worried about it for now but wanted to get it on record in case it worsens later."

Glad to hear that Spooky resolved this! Can you please share any details regarding the root cause of chipping around sling posts and what was done to resolve it?

Have you read Stern's warranty? If not, you might want to read as it (the express warranty) doesn't cover playfields.

I'm guessing you mean the implied warranty. If so, I sure hope hey step up and get it fixed/replaced!

Its great that they have this licked but let's not forget the folks with the chipped playfields that identified this issue. Spooky may have fixed it going forward but they did not fix the chipped playfields.

You not only did your best, you did make it right.

Spooky makes the best darn playfields in years as far as I'm concerned. Mistakes can happen, it's how you handle them that matters most.

I hope the guy is getting $1 a play!

That’s a great return on investment.

rd

Livin the dream!

Yes I read it and I'm hoping they will do the right thing. One could argue this was a defect straight out of the box considering how quickly it happened. My distributor seemed optimistic and said Stern stands behind their products. He stressed how important it was for me to take pictures and send them to him asap. Guess I'll find out in a week or two what Stern had to say.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Here comes the "pinball is not an investment" crew.

$6000 into $50,000 in a few years ... That’s just like the operators tell me it was like in the 80s and 90s.

One guy told me he made $100k on his Indiana Jones back in the 90s. New games were $1 a play here then, or 3 plays for $2.

rd

End of the summer blues...people are frazzled from their upcoming Fantasy Football drafts, and of course, impending time with the in-laws for labor day stuff?

Something is going on, that's for sure!

Yeah.

I've got a four day weekend coming up and just killing time at a slow day at work.

Wait.... every weekend is a four day weekend. That could explain it.

Any details on this?

Heard it from a second legitimate source:
Stern shut the line down to work on sub assemblies only until they solve any playfield issue.

Yes, as soon as he found the problem, he fixed it. And went back to making the best darn playfields in the business.

SpookyCharlie

I dig the way you do business, man.

CzvaqxgVEAULJuP.jpg

Charlie ......The Dude Abides.

Thanks for explaining what you meant by "make it right" I thought you meant he replaced the chipped playfields.

He already stated he did in another thread. Dozens of them.

Maybe it's the Carpet Pissers messing up the playfields

Well dude, we just don't know!

Thanks Again, PM Sent.

Well add my IMDN LE to the list.. I just checked, every post has bubbles or blisters, and Munsters Premium which is 5 months old.