Has anyone gotten one from this run that they were completely happy with? I picked up mine today and I'm unboxing it in a few days, but I have to say, this thread has me a bit nervous.

People tend to resort to name calling when they know their wrong. He should have to read threads to set his expectations lower. He should expect a perfect new game. Any less is unacceptable, period.

Just play the damn game ! You are going to wear it out with game play anyways .

I'd say I'm happy. Tough to say completely happy, but the two small imperfections: small spots in the clear coat to the underworld, and the power wires leading to the cannon getting in the way of the right return lane are not that big of a deal to me. I played one of the original runs at the Pinball Hall of Fame in Vegas, and the underworld was real cloudy; that might make me feel different. The 1.63 software is better than the software in Vegas. My family has fallen in love with this pin! Can't get enough!

A. I would be happy with a couple of spots vs my cloudy version.
B. My cloudy version kicks ass and is the best game period.
C. You are going to bash the crap out of it…hopefully.

If its broken or something wrong it makes sense but specs and spots just don't seem like real concerns on something designed to get beat up.

Anything less than a perfect new game is unacceptable? Are you for real? It doesn't happen! Do you think it does? I thought you had more sense than this.

We call this apologetics, plain and simple.

You buy a BMW, and you expect perfection. If you don't get it, the car goes back to the dealership until you do get it.

When you buy a Ford Escort? Not so much.....

I sold BMWs and yes there were guys with magnifying glasses going over the paint. Guess what. There were always little things.
It was always impossible though to get the real drivers back in to fix something small we caught because they were slamming the hell out of the car and having too much fun to come in.

Recalls for pins?

Can we agree that bubbles in the clear window over the lower playfield (which can clearly be seen on a crappy digital photo) isn't a 'little thing'?

Dude, seriously. Do you understand that Stern takes care of it's customers?

Do you realize that if something is wrong, Stern will make it right? I have several examples of this myself. So do many other Pinsiders.

You act as though they sell a pin that doesn't work and that's the end of the story.

Yep, that's all I've seen/heard as well. I'm not too worried about any issues I might have because of this. It's just a shame that they don't check these things closer before shipping (or maybe they do, and they consider them minor). Probably much cheaper to deal with the relatively few people that will actually consider these to be issues on a case by case basis.

Dude, I work in manufacturing.

I understand quality control.

Rule #1 is, don't let anything out of your front door that you expect might later require 'making right'.

I appreciate that they cut the production run short on the Feb. machines once they found a problem, but that doesn't excuse the fact that a few people got rewarded with problem machines once the issues were discovered.

That's what I think as well, and agree, it is very unfortunate.

As I said in an earlier post: "Do I think they can do better? Damn straight!" But I guess that's considered being "apologetics, plain and simple" by some.

Again, as I said earlier:

I don't disagree with anything you said in your post quoted above.

It's not they could do better, it's that they must do better.....

At this price point, they must do better. Allowing or excusing for anything other than that is apologizing for a less than adequate quality control.

The spots will somehow start to run causing lines like a Spiderweb. Its a free special effect

So the clearcoat bubbles turn into cracks? Geez.

You bought an AC/DC Premium.

I assume you did so knowing that Stern isn't perfect, and that they *must* do better.

So in doing so, you have "allowed or excused" anything other than that and apologized for a less than adequate quality control.

Thanks for playing.

This is what the third run and they still don't have their shit together at that price point?
Unacceptable.

I put a deposit on one before I understood that Stern seems to have QC issues.

I am hoping they get their poop in a group before I take delivery of mine.

Thanks for playing, and being graceful in defeat.

You get it.

Some of the responses to your posts are just plain sad.

Ah, so you were ignorant.

I guess that excuses you then.

Most apologetics are just plain sad.

I think the somewhat cloudy window is great in comparision to what happend to my only Premium on route and how its aging. It seems our LE (BIBLE and LTBR) and early premiums really did get that extra clearcoat and are holding up well.

The ACDC pin earns on locations that allow it to be placed, either version. I so enjoy it and play my BIBLE atleast every three days and even with my kids as I dont mind. My 8 year old enjoys the match feature. I now need to play everyday before BIBLE leaves so I can leave many a high score to be beat, I hope for the futire new owner.

I can admit, that I was ignorant.

I assumed that a 21st century manufacturing company would employ 21st century quality control procedures.

Oops. My bad.

AC/DC is still a great game, and I'm looking forward to getting mine - hopefully, with the issues resolved. I'd rather have it delivered in perfect condition than have to call in to negotiate how any defects might be made 'right', after I've already taken possession....

Yeah, so who the heck wouldn't rather have it delivered in perfect condition? We all would! Unfortunately that's just not going to happen. Your AC/DC will not be perfect. You can count on that. I've yet to read of anyone having a perfect NIB pin. Something will need to be tweaked, adjusted, fixed, and there will be various little QC issues that you will wish didn't exist. It's pretty much just a matter of degree. It sucks, but...at least now you aren't ignorant. And Stern will take care of any serious issues that you might have with the pin.

And congrats on ordering it. It really is a great pin, despite not being perfect!

Interesting Buddy, it will be funny if the cloudy versions end up being tougher in the end.

Interesting Buddy, it will be funny if the cloudy versions end up being tougher in the end.

I know it was late when I got to your home but I mentioned that night after looking at your "good" one similar to my BIBLE. I have nothing to gain as I really enjoy all versions of ACDC, I am glad we are able to enjoy and Stern didnt go out of business back in 2008/09 during what seemed like the end.

The alternative is going Pro and looking at the face but I really like the play of the Pro with Hemi's mods and the stand ups vs the drops, it just so fast.

Full disclosure I will buy another ACDC so I have another HUO LE/Premium when taxes and money are better for me.

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These things are made to be comercial pinball machines & have varying degrees of what stern considers acceptable issues as such. I've bought close to 10 NIB's machines from Stern & while many have been very nice right out of the box I dont think any of them were "perfect". If its something really bad Stern usually will take care of it. Mini PF window issues are going to be there whenever you clearcoat over a Clear window. I havent really seen anything in this thread that would warrant a new playfield outside of the OP's with the cracking in the corner.

I wouldnt expect a perfect machine if I were you. Obviously you havent been paying attention to Stern's QC issues in the past.

Stern needs to spend more attention to QC, especially at this price point.

HAHAHA

Stern has excellent customer support! Yes this is undoubtedly true, but these flaws are going to cost all of us. They will just raise the price of the next pin $100.00 to offset their loss on this f-up. Please Stern for the love of god implement a quality control or inspection program to catch this stuff before it ends up at the end users house. To fix this issue correctly is going to be way too costly.

What is the fix? A new PF? And how much does that hurt your bottom line. Apparently the X-men fiasco is responsible for higher pricing on Avengers so this may lead to even higher pricing on the next game unless the company providing them with this product absorbs the cost.

Hello Stern can I get a new replacement for my lower playfield window.Done!

No kidding.

I agree with others in that the price point for LE's is so high that many QC issues that are accepted are really unacceptable.

It is what it is and will continue to be this way while LE's sell out. There is also a difference between issues that can be fixed and those that can't.

I see the argument both ways. You're paying a premium you should be getting better than (Pro) commercial grade pin's......agreed.

All I can say is that I have never seen a perfect pinball machine anywhere. I believe that anyone who says their NIB pin was perfect probably didn't look close enough. (Same goes for any car.....even $150,000+ cars). Closest I've ever seen to a perfect pinball machine is one that's been given the full HEP treatment......and you better believe you paid for it!

BTW - My NIB LOTR was perfect And no I did not closely inspect every detail.....didn't need to because when I stood at the front with my hands on the flippers everything looked good and that was good enough for me.

Should you expect better than what we've seen in this thread......yes you should. Should you expect perfection? You're only setting yourself up for disappointment if you do.

RobT:
did you wake on on the wrong side of the bed this morning? tamoore's comments raise many valid points (I too work in manufacturing and distribution, and as *anyone* in our industry (or with any common sense) knows, the further downstream that you catch your error, the more that it costs you in the end.

plain and simple, these flaws are unacceptable and Stern should be ashamed at pushing out what they are calling (and charging for) a "premium edition" machine.

if I'm paying a "premium" price for a "premium" edition, then why should it have more flaws than their basic model (or flaws that the basic model doesn't)? plain and simple stern is failing at QC. end of story

JJ needs to get WOZ out so that Stern actually has a "real" competitor which will force them to step up their game

I've got $50 that says that any machine shipped to gary's house is gone over with a fine tooth comb so that it's immaculate.

Safe bet since there are probably none sent over to his house : )

My TSPP, FGY and SM came perfect NIB. There's a heck of a lot going on in TSPP too. Tweaks here and there to make them play better? Sure, but no imperfections that couldn't be fixed. i.e. playfield issues or cabinet problems. LOTR on the other hand did have issues...insanely bad playfield registration and waaaaay more than normal tweaking of parts to dial it in. Some shots never could get dialed in (looking at you gandalf shot). Anyways, at this point the 3rd run of AC/DC should be dialed in. I'm sure Stern saw the playfield blemishes and cracks and they COULD have delayed production to fix it, but they figured it was "good enough" and put them out anyways. Same with the LOTR playfields. They were obviously not up to par, but I guarantee you they figured they were "good enough". Maybe it is good enough for some or most people. Not me. Not at the extra cost these days. At $3500 or $4000 its easier to swallow. At $5500-$6500, it's ludicrous to swallow. I do love AC/DC and have been *really* tempted to get one, but ultimately it's just not worth that much to me. I'm obviously in the minority since ACDC is selling like hotcakes, but until the product matches the price for me I'm out.

To be able to walk downstairs every day and play it.... worth the price ; )

I got my Premium today, and it looks great. There is one really small mark on the window, but it might rub off; I've been too busy playing to check. Oh, a couple of the legs did come out of the box, and have some small chips on them, I'll probably contact Stern/JJ and see if I can get replacements. I also had to adjust the right ramp, but that took maybe five seconds.

Overall, I'm very happy, and it's a blast to play.

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C'mon flashburn...quit tempting me!

Grr, just noticed that one of my horns has some cracking in it, not sure if I was just blind before, or if an airball or something caused it. Also just noticed a black mark next to the dithered grey/black area to the right of the right horn.

Going to contact Stern about these issues and I'll see what they say. Not sure what they'll do, because I don't expect them to replace the playfield for issues this minor, but they sure do bug me and are pretty noticeable now that I've seen them.

Did we ever find out why Stern halted production on the February run of ac/dc?
I really hope they get this all figured out before they start cranking out the march run.

I guess I should call Stern and ask them what to expect from a NIB from a quality point of view. So if they tell me its normal to have chipped legs when unpacking and other issues, I will know not to call them.

My cannon started getting stuck against the ramp too. Tried adjusting it, but there didn't seem to be enough play to fix it.

My cannon started getting stuck against the ramp too. Tried adjusting it, but there didn't seem to be enough play to fix it.

Everyone make sure to pull up on your right ramp. The packing pushes it down. I have seen 4 like this. Pull up and to right and it pops back into place. If that doesnt fix it. Get razorblade or exacto knive and carve plastic so ramp doesnt touch cannon.

My playfield is amazing 2nd run. Clear. Playfields are a gamble with NIB.

Love the mirrored bolts from Laseriffic.

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Yeah, I've already tried pulling on it. That worked at first, because the front of the cannon was hitting the ramp (now it slides under it a little), but the back of the cannon is hitting the ramp. I really don't like the idea of having to cut into the ramp at all.

And you should not have to cut the ramp.
Can you image buying a new car and the tire rubs when you turn all the way to the right.
What would you do if the dealer told you to just trim the wheel well?

+1