Hello all. I have had an Elvira HOH Premium on location for about 2 months now. I've had two constant issues that I wanted to share (and seems to have been discussed in sections on this thread).
Crypt VUK - After the first week, the ball would get stuck in the Crypt VUK. Often, it would fire about 10 times, and then it would stop or give an Alert Technician error. I contacted Stern about the problem, and they provided a PDF to fix. The PDF showed that the owner had to move the Crypt VUK under the play field about a half inch and re-screw it into the play field. My Stern distributor came and did it, and it was fixed for another few days. The issue then returned, and continued to have ball stuck issues nearly every time it went into the Crypt. I called Stern a couple more times, and they were supposed to send a replacement VUK assembly. After waiting over a week, I called to check on the shipment only to be told it was on back-order. I figure it's because I'm not the only one having this problem. I was pretty frustrated at this point, so today I decided to diagnose a bit more to find out where it was getting stuck.
The VUK would launch the ball, but it would rattle around and snag something, so it wouldn't make it out the top. After taking apart the top metal protectors on the play field, my tech and I tried to see what was going on. Well, the play field wood itself was causing the issue. The ball guide under the play field was not aligned properly with the hole. So, the VUK would hit the ball into the play field wood on one side by just a bit, and it was enough to cause the ball to not get up and out the hole. We were able to take apart the ball guide under the play field and move it slightly up and re-screw it underneath the play field in new position. Now, it wasn't hitting the wood, and after re-assembling, the problem seems to be fixed for now. I am not sure it will stay this way, so time will tell.
This was a pretty intense fix for a new game, having to disassemble the ramp, part of the crypt house, the VUK, and the ball guide underneath, and create new screw holes under the play field. If you are having the problem, message me, and I can provide more details if you want to fix on your own.
Skill Shot Ball Stuck Issue - Pretty frequently when going for a skill shot, the ball will get stuck between the Back Door and the roll over in-lane target behind the house. The ball just rests in a very small spot between those two, and it takes some serious shaking to get it loose. I have not done anything about this yet, and if anyone can provide a fix I am interested in hearing it. We've had to figure out a way to shake the machine without causing a Tilt (not easy, the ball gets pretty good and stuck back there).
Overall, I really want to love this game. It's gorgeous, and as the code develops (with 0.90 release for example), we all see how fun it can be. However, the issues I've dealt with from an out-of-box machine that costs what HOH costs has caused me a great deal of frustration and a small amount of lost revenue (for free credits due to customers experiencing the issue, some down time when the ball would get stuck and wouldn't release).
Please let me know if you have a solid fix for the Skill Shot issue mentioned above.