Just installed some of these few months ago, luckily they did not break! as takes to staple / solder them down correctly like the manufacture did.

I think a good will offer would of gone quite far in this situation.

Buy the ones with the insulated wire leads are way better anyway. Even if the other ones didn’t break, they seem like a pain in the ass.

As far as "don't buy extra parts ahead" I do just the opposite when it comes to stocking up on "spare parts". Since I realize so much stuff being made today is total junk if I find something made well I typically buy a lifetime supply of that item. That way next time I need one I know I have something good already in stock instead of having to buy 3 or 4 of that item from different suppliers just to find a good one.

Getting good products these days is nearly impossible. Recent examples for me are not pinball parts but because I sell a good bit online I go through a ton of boxes & tape. I bought tape from 5 or 6 different sources that I hated. Then one day I bought a case of tape that worked great. The next day I ordered 3 more cases from the guy and started communicating with him about buying tape in quantity from him. About a month later I drove 9 hours to his business location and picked up a full skid of tape. That skid of tape will likely last the rest of my lifetime but I got so tired of dealing with shit tape I didn't want to ever deal with buying it again.

Then two weeks ago I needed some small boxes. I ordered 200 from one of my regular suppliers and this time around got boxes that are not wort a shit. So I ordered from another supplier I also use and got 200 "good" boxes. Today I am ordering another 1000 of those boxes just because I know they are good and I don't know when that supplier is going to change over to "for shit" boxes.

It is sad you can't count of getting good product these days but it is the way things have become. So you just need to find ways to "work around it".

Then why even mention Marco by name, much less trash them for parts you ordered more than 1000 days ago? You're looking for retribution or to "get your own way" by embarrassing Marco into sending you parts.

This thread is a total dumpster fire.

So does the tape fit in the boxes?
What kind of tape and how much?

Even when the vendor did nothing wrong? Nonsense.

You did not say what kind of tape. I hope whatever tape you loaded up on has good shelf life.

All tape has a shelf life. Buy a cheap roll of masking tape from Dollar General in in not too distant future you will learn what shelf life is. That stuf is only good for a couple of months.

Duct tape: I agree. There is a lot of junk duct tape on the shelves. IMO, duct tape started going downhill in quality not long after Duck Tape started showing up on the shelves. I have not tried Frog Tape.

I have homed in on Gorilla brand duct tape. I don't know how long the shelf life is but it has not let me down, yet.

The tape is packing tape I use to seal packages I ship and the boxes are one of the 20 or so different size boxes I use to ship pinball parts in. Unless you sell a volume of stuff and are shipping it you can imagine just how much packing tape, bubble wrap, packing peanuts, and other packing supplies someone can use in a year. My annual average cost for just packing supplies exceeds $5000 and I am one person doing it part time. Nothing is extremely expensive but over time it all adds up.

This weekend I am making a 1/2 day run just to pick up a few hundred bigger boxes I got a deal on from someone going out of business. Regardless how much packing stuff you buy it seems like you always need something you don't have in stock when you are shipping dozens of packages a week.

Actually this thread is the perfect example of why vendors should be kept anonymous in these discussions. Because now you made a thread "calling out" Marco when they did absolutely nothing wrong whatsoever. In more modern lingo, this thread is "FAKE NEWS".

Can we just drain this entire thread? It’s $40 for dollar store items move on. Lesson learned. No need to complain to thousands of people.

Actually the vendor sold a defective part(s) which is beyond dispute.

Several defective parts.

The question is should the vendor make good on it or not due to the passage of time.

OP says he throws everything in a bag of like parts. 3 years later, how the hell is Marco supposed to know whether or not these are parts they actually sold in the first place?

First post, Marco acknowledged that OP purchased them from Marco and would not stand behind them due to passage of time.

They should just honor them in good faith, you never hear of any scammers in pinball or related to parts. Yes that is sarcasm.

I just placed a $140 order with Marco because of this thread.

They deffo owe the op some commission now lol

For all we know he could of broken them himself by how they were stored. Rummaging through parts bins for three years will jostle things around a bit.

What does "should" even mean in this case? The letter of the policy is super straight forward, but being that they are a great company to deal with they even entertained the OP and looked into whether they could replace them. This is despite not having any clue whether, 3 years later, these are even actually the parts they sold. They could be used or they could be from somewhere else. Or they could be from them but they have since switched suppliers and have no recourse of their own.

But 3 years down the line, they shouldn't be expected to give an explanation for anything. It's absurd to think they should. They looked into it, they found they couldn't do anything... Whether that's because they didn't want to or because of some other reason doesn't matter and isn't a reflection of their customer support.

Someone mentioned car parts -- that's different. If you are a shop that has an agreement with a supplier about parts that's a whole other animal than buying stuff at the consumer level. Maybe the OP should consider that if they are holding onto parts for so long. Make an agreement with Marco that they will buy $X per month (likely measured in the thousands) in exchange for this type of relationship.

How so?

I'm referring to hobbyists (not general garages, different market) who restore their cars in their spare time and it can take several years to finish. There are vendors who stand behind the product they sell for defects, regardless of supplier, for several years providing you show proof the car was under restoration and can provided an invoice number.

Since most people photo document the hell out of their restorations, proof is child's play and easily provided.

Incorrect. Marco acknowledged that at some point, more than 1000 days ago, OP purchased parts. How the heck is Marco supposed to know if those are even the SAME parts? Maybe (and this is not an accusation) OP bought parts from "Discount Joe's Pinball Emporium" and didn't like the quality so he's now trying to return them to Marco because Discount Joe's won't answer the phone.

As far as I'm concerned, OP owes Marco an apology.

The quote is;

"(According to Marco, it had been three years. I am sure it had not been nearly that long. I thought it had been about a year.)"

Take what you will but it is in plain English.

Marco looked it up, it was three years.

There isn't a dispute who sold the parts, Marco already confirmed he did.

Marco's response isn't totally unreasonable either.

I got ya, I don't know why I even bothered to talk about it. I have no idea what you're talking about, you're not even mentioning what types of parts you are referring to. I seriously doubt a car parts seller is going to send a replacement glove box hinge after 3 years... But if they do then awesome: tell them to start selling pinball parts too.

I've ordered from Marco, and often. They aren't the cheapest out there-- in fact they are among the most expensive, but often they are the only source that has a particular part in stock. I have never, not even once, had anything incorrect in my order. When I have called them on the phone with questions, they have been incredibly helpful. I see no point in disparaging Marco over something that you bought more than 1000 days ago and now decided there's a problem.

Ric Flair really deserves his own Pin, just sayin Whoooo!

Yes. Time degrades everything. You cannot ask someone to replace a part you bought 3 years ago.

In my case it was a new remote car mirror, I had purchased all the chrome parts for 2 classic cars from a place out of Canada. The major parts were all there, but one of the mirror kits were missing some installation components. The vendor was more than happy to replace the missing pieces, 3 or 4 years after the fact once I provided them an invoice number.

Like I said, people into car restoration will stockpile parts for upwards a decade before you assemble a car. I have one car that was painted in 2012 and the rolling chassis has been sitting ever since for a variety of reasons. You buy parts as you can afford them or when someone gears up to do a one off run of parts. The industry has recognized this for some time and most vendors are willing to work with you if the part turns out to be defective.

Classic car parts are a significantly different price point. It's not a big deal throwing in cheaper missing odds and ends on expensive parts. Pinball parts are cheap mostly sourced out of China, there is no margin to cover them for years.

Isn't the point that if Marco's knows that their China replacement part is crap, why in the world do they keep selling it. Find a new supplier and charge .27 cents more.

Or just spend 15 seconds per piece, a smidge of solder, and fix em yourself so they're better than new!

Thats what I do with all of mine, even if they arent broken (yet).

But I have OCD, so I'm weird like that.

Because they might not be able to find a supplier who provides a better product for only a slight increase in cost?

Like a $300 backglass or $1000 playfield?

When you are getting pins clearing $15,000 to $20,000 you are well into the low end classic car market.

If you had an issue with a product of that level they would probably work with you to a solution. We are talking about $2.89 part.

Good strong duct tape. Poor crappy duct tape. It all has a shelf life. The better stuff usually has a longer shelf life.

I'm not sure why the "marco has expensive shipping" keeps coming up. They're actually the CHEAPEST for me to ship. PBR is next cheapest, and PBL is the most expensive (of the 3 vendors I usually buy from).

Of course, I'm in PA so I'd expect shipping to California to be more expensive. I did have a similar situation with some parts I ordered from Marco - a couple of bally flipper bushings. One was so warped there's no way the packer didn't notice it as I ordered 2, one was perfect and other had a top shaft about 30 degrees out of whack. But, because I take forever to swap playfields sometimes, I'd ordered them 3-4 years ago, so that one's on me for not checking, instead of just throwing the parts in a bin somewhere (It's a miracle I actually found them after the 4 years....)

Given the same situation I probably would have notified them but then repaired them after reading the thread (I didn't even know you COULD repair that part I guess it's just crappy metal fatigue).. I'm probably odd in that I think the bayonet base sockets are better anyway and that's what I use even on games that have the 555 originally. I hate the 555 wire lead ones, they don't stay vertical properly.

Someone makes a centering disk for exactly the issue you described.

I'm all for the wedge base with the solid leads as the OP used. Much easier to thread through the playfield too.

The problem is they break on the spot weld at the base of the bulb.

Alright Mr. LTG, you sir are one thorough fellow. To open a bag of 10 pop bumper lamp sockets and tug on all the leads would lead me to believe you understand that it is common for them to be defective. Ive personally never had a problem with them but I will be sure to check any I might order in the future. Now I just oreder a four flipper rebuild kit, you bet i opened that up to examine the contents. Even though i wont be using it for a few days (hopefully not weeks).

I've never found one defective one yet. From multiple sources.

What caused me to check them is replacing a broken one made me think that right angle bend is a weak point. Easy to putz with it when I pull out of the box and stick it into my spare parts. And more habit than anything. I always go over new parts before they go into my spare parts.

It is a common wear item that over time in the game ( in commercial use ) I've found can break. When I shop a game, along with new pop bumper skirts and yokes, I'll replace the sockets too.

LTG : )

I see

I was in line at our local sams club doing a return. A couple were trying to do a return on 2 dead trees they had. The dead trees still had the plastic price tags on them . The trees were 2 years old and they wanted their money back. They had the trees in a shopping carr roots dirt and all. They raised a fuss and were finally denied by a mgr.

That is timing, as I placed $147.00 this morning too.

I appreciate Marcos.
Im getting tired of Pinside.

I’ve been using Marco for at least 15 years, maybe 20. I bet I’ve spent over $5000, and I’ve started ordering my pins from them too. I’ve never had quality issues, and I’ve bought at least 2 playfields (maybe it’s closer to $8000, I don’t want to know). Their white rubber is excellent, I swear by it.

I once ordered a motor for my JM hand, and tried to return it over a year later, after I repaired the original. They declined, but I had no problem selling it on eBay for a small loss. So I agree with one of the OP’s point (“don’t stockpile parts”), but that’s on us, not Marco.

This kinda reminds me of when I worked at a Radio Shack in the mid-80’s, and there was this one crazy lady who was always trying to return her dead batteries (with no receipt, of course). Back then there was no Yelp or even an Internet to complain to, so we had no problems telling her to please turn around and go home.

If you’re married with kids that’s just called Tuesday.