Received a Rush Pro that I had ordered from Dave at The Pinball Dudes (@wildeboutpins). Inspected the box as usual before signing the FedEx form. Aside from the normal scuffs and dings from shipping, there were no punctures or gouges in the box, so I signed my OK. Took the box cutters to the legs-side of the box, and noticed right away that the backbox was leaning hard to the left. Started taking pictures before I pulled the machine out completely, and then saw that the bolt on the swivel-bracket that mounts to the bottom of the backbox had been sheared off, and the bracket itself was completely bent. I found the head of the bolt in the bottom of the box. On top of that, the right bracket was also bent (but not as badly) and the entire metal bottom of the backbox was badly contorted. I couldn’t even lift the backbox all the way up to mount the retaining bolts. Having read my fair-share of horror stories of folks who discovered damage after signing the shipping form, my heart sunk.

I called up Dave, and after apologizing profusely, he asked for me to text him some pictures. Once he saw the box exterior and the nature of the damage to the machine, this dude leapt into ACTION. He called me back immediately, again apologized for the mishap, and even offered to cover half the cost of the difference if I wanted to upgrade to a Premium. While tempting, I just couldn’t afford it. Dave said not to worry, and that he would ship me another Rush Pro as a replacement.

The VERY NEXT DAY, Dave got in contact with me and said my new game was on its way. Not gonna lie, I was expecting a looooong drawn out process for a resolution, so this was a HUGE and pleasant surprise/shock. Once I got a copy of the bill of lading, I noticed that he had either bought or traded for the Rush Pro from one of his competitors, not to mention that he covered the shipping fees on both the replacement machine, and for the damaged one to ship back to Stern (approximately $800 total). I’d be hard pressed to believe that this is typical or standard operating procedure for any distributor. All I know is that Dave from The Pinball Dudes went to bat for me in a BIG WAY!

Received the new machine exactly ONE WEEK after the original one, in pristine NIB condition. As his Pinside listings say, “PERFECT FEEDBACK SO BUY WITH CONFIDENCE”. I cannot overstate how true this statement really is! If I could leave TEN 100% reviews for him, I would! I operate a fledgling pinball rental company in my small college town of Missoula, Montana. If I had to eat the cost of the damaged machine, I probably would’ve had to sell one or two of my seven other machines to make up for it, which would’ve been a gigantic setback for my business. I’ve met a ton of great people in the pinball community, BUT DAVE IS A PINBALL PATRON SAINT!! A PINBALL UNICORN!! I simply cannot thank this dude enough! BUY WITH CONFIDENCE!! DAVE HAS YOUR BACK!!