Run - overpriced and horrible feedback. Search RGP.

Mk

stay away unless you want to be ripped off or overpay..

Do a search.

I've heard that he's great for NIB but not for used (unless you pick it up and inspect it before leaving)

Dont do it.... Junk half assed repairs. The pics are awkays from good angles to hide the issues.

Lots of folks like to jump on the bash wagon and make negative comments about FUN! Most of these folks have never bought a game from Steve or even know him. First thing you have to remember is Steve is a retailer, not a collector. There is nothing "overpriced" about his games in the retail market. I have bought many games from Steve and sold many games to Steve. Don't have "collector expectations" when buying from a retailer unless you are buying NIB. Many collectors and non-collectors have had great experiences dealing with Steve, but hesitate to post them because they know the bashers are likely to attack them. Steve is the official distributor for the Texas Pinball Festival and has always done right by us. He is also one one the few distributors that has a WOZ on his showroom floor for anyone to go see and play (so obveously JJP trusts him). Are there folks that feel they have had a bad experience with FUN!? Of course. Steve has been in the business a long time and that is to be expected and pinball collectors are notorious for posting to the groups about "how they've been wronged" on some transactions (yes, they are usually good about posting positive transations too). Bottom line, if you are considering buying a used pin, go see it in person. If you cannot, ask lots of questions and ask for pictures. Steve is a good guy.
-Ed

You've been warned.Fun is bad news

nice thanks for sharing i will share it with my friends.
[url="http://freeslotsnodeposit.org/"]free slots[/url]

See other opinions here.. Avoid FUN!

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/bought-pinball-machine-from-fun-billiards-and-game-room-in-texas

If you're looking a much better retailer I would go to thepinballcompany.com first.
Nic and Brooke are much easier to deal, will better represent their product before buying, and most game prices are negotiable... you'll get a better deal there!

I purchased a jurassic park from fun back in feburary via eBay. I'm happy. The machine was in great shape and 100% working. Everyone who has seen it has made comments on how nice it is ( even pinball collectors).

Just my experience.

His prices are the worst. Even by eBay standards. Luckily he shoots everything with that same background so it's easy to see him coming and just keep scrolling.

I'd say if you were going for a late model, 80's-90's pin search elsewhere. You'll sign up being a repairman, (not "FUN") and not worth the frustration.

*edit oops replied in wrong thread.

Creatively photographed snaprag shopped blown out junk that will need a complete rebuild.
You will get a base game so pay accordingly.

If your a collector stay way! if you not and just need a machine to tinker with and have fun buy. Ed got it right by saying Steve is a nice guy. He is! However, I would never buy from him for two reasons.

1 - He is most of the time overpriced for what he has. (Negotiate)
2 - I am a collector and I am very very very picky on my collection.

I know a lot of nice and great people that sells pinball's but I wouldn't buy from them.

Rule 1: Do not buy any pinball machine photographed in front of a larger-than-life chess set.

If you hold true to that, you'll thank yourself later.

Steve is a CROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK!

I bought my first pin from him 10 years ago. I didn't even know how to lift the playfield on that thing and it ran problem free for years. Had a tech out one time to fix issues that I now could fix myself in 5 minutes. Was I just lucky? Probably. But people have dealt with him successfully and are happy....if he was as much of a scam artist as he is portrayed on the boards then he would've been out of business a long time ago. And as far as the high pricing goes? Half the pins for sale on pinside are heavily overpriced too...

When you are in the business of selling a used product with a bajillion moving parts you are going to have your fair share of negative reviews.

I bought a machine from him, and had it shipped to IL. Was happy with the transactoin. Only time I bought a machine without seeing it first. I guess I was lucky!

It is a crapshoot, if the game comes in with low plays and in good shape it goes out like that, if it is blown out it with a bunch of hacks it goes out like that.
Yes, you were lucky.

Worst case scenario you have to ship the game back to him for a refund.

Okay guys. I'm ashamed to admit this, but here it goes. I bought a game from FUN.

I got the game I wanted, it was in the condition they stated, but their $200 shipping is BS. It was closer to $300 if you want it insured, of course you do.

Guys, if you don't ask the right questions, you're rolling the dice. If you ask the right questions and they lie, pay with a credit card and dispute part of the charge.

I asked them a LOT of questions, everything from planking/checking to moisture/rust, to close ups of the holes, to any problems, to cracked ramps to insert chipping to how level the inserts are. I asked if the game was a re-import, I asked if the boards were hacked, I asked if there was any corrosion, I asked what shape the legs were, I asked for close ups of the shooter lane, you get the idea.

They answered all my questions honestly and the game was in the exact condition I expected.

Now, if there is planking on a game, and they just say it's in nice shape, should they disclose it? Yah, probably. Will they disclose it, probably not. I covered my basis and they didn't lie to me.

They are too expensive, they don't cater to us, they have nice machines and they have crap machines.

I don't plan on buying another game from them. With me, they were honest.

And for what it's worth, there goes a bunch of cred for even admitting to buying a game from them. Maybe I was lucky, maybe I asked the right questions, I dunno.

HS2 for $5000?

TSPP for $7000?

NGG for $6000?

Sorry, but those prices are freaking ridiculous. Anyone who tried to start FS threads here with those prices would be rightly raked over the coals. A little retail markup is one thing, but F that.

You gotta understand man, those games are NOT those prices. They don't want people to buy the games. FUN uses Ebay as extremely cheap and easy advertising for their store. People see those prices for those games, and maybe they give them a call to see if they have the game they are looking for at a better price than those. It works, that's why they are all over Ebay.

The game I bought was significantly (35%ish) cheaper than the listing price.

Fun= 'no fun'! Stay away.~SpOoKy

I notice that everyone that posted a negative comment did not mention anything about their own personal experience with FUN! or any specifics. People just like grabbing their torches and pitchforks and joining the mob without having any first hand knowledge of what they are talking about. They read one angry post from someone who is not happy because the 20 year old game they bought from a retailer wasn't a high end restoration and they are just shocked SHOCKED and will forever trash talk said retailer. Price police are also quick to trash someone selling a game for more than what they feel its worth. Again, go see the game yourself or ask for pictures and ask lots of questions. If you are that nit picky about your games (and that is perfectly fine), only buy from other collectors or games you can inspect in person.
Note all the positive comments are from folks that have actually made a purchase from Steve.
-Ed

I read it the same way...

The folks here with first hand experience seem to have neutral to positive feedback.
The negative is all heresay...

So has anyone here actually had a negative experience themselves? or all you all just parroting what you read on the *gulp* internet?

F^(k that. The prices are out of control ridiculous, and do nothing but contribute to the price inflation that's slowly making this a hobby for the well-heeled only, which sucks. I don't care what the quality of the machines are like, if they're not NIB or HEP restored or something then there's zero justification for it, regardless of whether or not I've had personal dealings with them.

Now apparently someone is claiming it's a gambit, designed to not even sell (except to those ignorant or desperate I suppose) and just using eBay to gain some visibility. Fine, whatever, it's a shitty tactic that perverts the purpose of eBay. So either way it's weak.

_{Post edited by absocountry2 : Profanity edited}

Sorry - I've personally seen Steve/Funs work on the front end.

Glad he supports TPF; but the way he makes and breaks deals with his sellers while having them over a bent over a barrel makes me stay far away from him.

You make a deal - you stick to the deal.

Enough said - but I learn from other people.

Never dealt with him but have not heard much good either.

Anything ebay with this much grey area and I run to the hills. Steve has a pinside account does he not? Lol feel the love?

Maybe a local pinsider could go look at it for you?

Its your money give it away for all anyone here should care.

Friend's first hand experience with fun on a t2, advertised as 100% working in good shape:

Corrosion on battery holder

Gi connectors and pins burned up

Rust on metal habittrails

Pf was filthy, barely wiped down in the center

Broken/missing targets

Yup......quality for sure...

I agree. I want to buy something on ebay, not look at someone's advertisement.

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE

Steve honored my ebay purchase of a STTNG metal bird of prey toy that he had listed several times for like 60$, then put it on a no reserve auction, which I had sniped for a few bucks. That's my only personal experience with him, but I half expected the auction to get withdrawn or not followed through on. Keep in mind I live like 6 miles from them, so I went and picked it up in person, but yeah. He's been nice the few times I have seen him at auctions, and talked to him in email. He may own and "run" the buisiness, but I suspect that other people are running the things like the ebay listings. If I could go into the shop and talk to Steve every single time, I'd probably make more of an effort to see what he's got, but my wife and I got looked at like we were going to rob them blind when we went to pick up the STTNG toy....Steve wasn't even there as far as I know, or he was in the back office, but all the games in the showroom are off, poorly lit, IMO (Sunlight ain't the best medium to look at something that's going to be in a basement or non-lit room, IMO, even if it's free!), and the guy following us around as we looked around at turned-off games while waiting for them to dig the thing out of the back was just beyond absurd.

I've heard good things about NIB purchases from Steve as well, and I'm going to give him a fair shot when I get around to another NIB purchase that would go through a non-local retailer. He says he can make a competitive offer even with sales tax factored in....we'll see about that.

My 2nd pin came from them a STTNG. It was 10 or 11 years ago. It supposed to be collector quality turn key game. Now what showed up was an import hacked up mess. The gun was spray painted while still on the game. The black was on the glass, LD bar and all over the artwork. There were large chunks missing from the cabinet and were touched up with a sharpie. All the ramps were cracked and broken with Velcro holding them together on the back side. The subway was glued together with many ball catches. The trough boards were soldered right to the boards as were the GI in the backglass. None of these issues were mentioned to me or shown in pics. I was a noobie then. I would have asked for more pics and lots more questions these days. On the bright side the playfield was nice under the half assed mylar job. They would have allowed me to return it on my dime for shipping which was $200 then. I should have shipped it back but,I kept it and spent the next year making it playable. As others have said, run for the hills buy from collectors on here and RGP. At the very least, look at tons of pics with closeups. Be afraid be VERY afraid of buying from this seller.

First off, I personally do not have any first hand experience with said seller.
What I do know and trust most is that (most) of the people here on Pinside speak the truth about any said seller. Your statement above has definitely been responded to by more than a few people that had negative dealings with said seller.
What SHOCKS me is that it seems you disagree with many here on Pinside about their own personal experiences which they are willing to share with the OP.

Buy from a pinsider who is willing to ship. Sure shipping will be a couple hundred more, but the price will be half of what FUN charges and it will come from a collector who has likely given the machine much better attention. Just my 2 cents.

I deal with Steve on a pretty regular basis, mostly trading in non-shopped projects. He is also where I have bought multiple NIB pins. I feel he has always been honest and straightforward with me. If you have a problem i would recommend dealing with Steve directly and circumventing Gideon. I'm not defending nor endorsing them just saying that I have always had the experience that I expected.

I have heard the same thing, if you are a local Texan and can look at the games that is one thing the STTNG I rebuilt that was shipped to Ca. was a parts game.
May have been one of your non-shopped projects.
The guy that bought it elected to have it rebuilt and he got a trash bag full of busted up parts and a wad of duct tape the size of a baseball that held the subway together.
It was sold as shopped and fully working, all it would do on arrival was try to load the subway, half of the GI was out, cooked connectors the whole 9 yards.
His "tech" did little more than wave a rag over this POS and the pics he got were not the same game.
Steer clear of this snaprag flipper if you are having the game shipped.

Here is my site http://www.choochooarcades.com/ and we ship there all the time and if you find another game from someone that does not ship oversea's let me know and I will help you with the shipping details

Search RGP, dozens & dozens of horror stories for years & years, nothing new here...buyer beware

I have bought two games in the past with no problems.

Wrong. I have never defended or argued any statement by anyone claiming to have first hand knowledge. Just those that are quick to talk smack that do not and are just parots for things they "think" they know. Most negative comments are from those that have never had any dealings with FUN! personally (or even 2nd hand). I don't hold any stock is hearsay. Only facts from those with knowledge. When you sell/trade/buy as many games as Steve does, you are going to get some customers that are unhappy. Unhappy customers are always the loudest and quickest to post negatives. Ask any business. While some happy customers do post the positive, most do not. Steve has far more happy customers than unhappy (otherwise he would have been out of business long ago).

Or, he makes enough money with his inflated prices selling to people who don't know better or don't care about the price that he can stay in business irregardless of his rep within the community.

Don't you think it's somewhat telling that yes, I've never dealt with him, and yet I immediately knew him as the "ridiculously overpriced eBay guy"? And that's eBay, land of high prices!