I didn't mean to suggest that he put up with this nonsense. But facts are facts, these aren't normal times. Most distributors have very few pins in stock. Unless he wants an LZ, AIQ, or TMNT NIB he will have to wait. OP has one EM showing in his collection. Maybe for him waiting or settling for another pin is worse than putting up with a repaired cabinet + some savings? It's reasonable to consider this.

I've dealt with the headache of a damaged cabinet and I have a decent modern collection already. If it was me, I'd return it unless they offered me a complete replacement bottom cabinet.

Wow...And you guys constantly bitch about JJP's Quality???

I'm no Stern apologist, but I highly doubt it left Stern's warehouse looking like that.

And no, that is not acceptable for a NIB game to show up in that condition. unfortunately, it really doesn't matter if it's a private sale or a new game, shipping a game is a gamble and sometimes shit happens.

1000% unacceptable keep on distributor for new cabinet from stern.

Don't accept anything less than a perfectly intact NIB machine! I am guessing you paid a NIB premium with the thought that your extra $$$ would buy a little peace of mind and avoid the potential pitfalls of buying used, and I don't think it is unreasonable to expect to receive a NIB machine in "new" (i.e. undamaged) condition (some people here will disagree with this position and even insinuate that you are not committed to the hobby if you don't simply fix it yourself without complaint). To be clear, these things are largely handmade out of wood (with all its foibles) and some minor variation unit to unit can be expected, but when the flaws rise to the level of overt damage, improper assembly/finishing, or functional issues I think it needs to be fixed properly.

If the game was abused enough in transit to cause that crack (I'm guessing it was dropped at some point), odds are high that there are other things jacked-up too.

I personally would NOT simply ask for decals and "learn to live with it"! This kind of passive approach only serves to embolden their ambivalence toward QC issues, and leaves you with a flawed game from the get-go! Sure it's reparable, but it will never be quite the same, and given that the cabinet provides the basic physical structure of the whole game I'd want a flawless one given how much NIB machines cost these days. (Also, don't underestimate the difficulty of applying decals! It's not "hard" per se, but it can be surprisingly tedious and definitely requires some practice to achieve results as good as the factory produces - I've done a couple, and while my work acquitted itself well enough on well-used "player's quality" games it would have looked like the amateur-hour job it was on a NIB game.)

Was the box damaged at all? If this was the only damage I might consider keeping it for a discount but if the box had any damage that indicates the machine was probably dropped and you could be facing a whole other set of issues as time goes on.

Gtfoh with the “pretty easy repair” bs

Comments like this beg the question of whether you’ve ever done this sorta repair. It’s not easy if done correctly and thoroughly It’s fucking time consuming. And there are a lotta things that could go wrong. Especially for a newb.

These type of comments fry me.

Op ask for a refund. It’s unacceptable.

It’s not an “easy fix” as stated by some looking to fluff their egos.

You don’t just add some wood glue and slap a decal on it.

What does this have to do with JJP? It was damaged in shipping. It happens so relax. Talk to the distributor and see what you can work out. Not sure if you have many options with this market.

Exactly! Of course it's doable, but that is a straight up pain in the ass to fix. Plus who in their right mind would want to have to do a major cosmetic repair to their NIB?
They (the distributor) fix it or it gets refunded, there is no third option.

OP please post the outcome of this ....
to many times we hear about the problem but not the resolve!

Absolutely unacceptable, hopefully the distributor makes good on their service!

regardless of the price of a NIB pinball machine the responsibility should not be yours to repair a brand new game regardless of your skill level!
distro should make this right .... or just return it!

$1000 discount is steep for that IMO. if it’s been repaired nicely it would be hard to even notice, and as already stated thus sits behind the hinge. You don’t even see it.

My advice wasn’t crap at all — I said if it personally bothers you and you don’t mind waiting and possibly having to go thru a differ Dist to get the same game, to get it replaced. It’s certainly warranted to get a replacement if you want it.

Obviously you would send it back. I wouldn’t. But I’m not OCD about my games, I just like playing. The way these machines have become like monets or something has gotten a little out of control. If that’s the only damage, the cab should be structurally fine. That said, it’s all relative. I see this as something easy to fix, I don’t mind fixing it and hopefully just getting some money back from dist. If this was something else where I wasn’t comfortable fixing, yeah I’d send it back.

I am pretty shocked people are OK with shipping/packaging damage to a new $6000+ pinball machine. "Not that bad", "easy fix", etc.

Looks like an easy fix!

Why? Remember all the split cabs a few years ago? Most were in the coin door area so I'd say can't be blamed on a drop. There is precedence for Stern letting that go. Hell my Ghostbusters left without the leg brackets being threaded. That split could EASILY be a simple at the factory "it's fine hopefully we won't hear back put it on the truck."

It's probably also compromised the structural integrity of the cabinet. What if moisture gets in there? Termites? Will it get worse? What if you move it? That crack is a major issue.

It’s under warranty. Distributor should replace, repair or refund. No, you should not be doing the repair yourself. I’m sure Stern could send out a replacement cabinet but the distributor should be doing the assembly for you.

This is why we can't have nice things. This would be trying to take advantage of the situation. It is why companies and distributors don't stand behind their products like they should. That is why if you have Stern replace a playfield, you have to send the old one in (they send you a box) before sending you the new one. That's why manufacturers have to always be on guard and one of the reasons they have to make customer service worse.

Some people do this stuff. They bargain shop things to death. And then when they get them, there is always a problem... even though there actually wasn't. They are just trying to squeeze out an even better deal by getting free product.

Agree on this point !

the rest not really!

Moisture and termites? I can’t tell if you are being sarcastic or not. You keep your games out in the woodshed like me? Thought I was the only one lol, nothing like that open air while playing

I dunno, if games show up like this w/out any obvious damage to the outside of the box maybe stern needs more /better packaging.

Unacceptable, and “just a pro” is no excuse. All these games are far too expensive and they should all show up new and perfect in a box. Unacceptable

Highly unlikely. The location games that have this issue near me never got worse and they split from day one way worse than this. Ghostbusters and Aerosmith had big time cabinet issues when they came out. The cabinets weren’t glued properly.

As for those other concerns it’s not different than if those things got into a game that didn’t have a crack joint in the cabinet.

This game will not be harmed if moved unless moved improperly.

Hopefully this cabinet is replaced or at the very least replacement vinyl is provided.

Stern fanboy: Play it, it's pinball, you don't play the cabinet

Normal pinball buyer: Unacceptable

JJP fanboy: My Hobbit cabinet is built like an M1 Abrams tank

On a serious note I think this is completely unacceptable, especially at these insane NIB prices. Stern should send you a new cabinet or your dealer should offer to swap the game.

And as long as you paid with a credit card, you’re good.

I’m sure the distributor will bend over backwards to help you about 24 hours after that call. Lmao!

Oh unacceptable!

Anyone saying let Stern send you a new cabinet for you to move over your game in can STFU. Expecting a NIB buyer to f'ng be a pinball restorer moving things over is ridiculous. At least the guys sent new playfields have some value in the playfield alone. You will be stuck with a box taking up a ton of room until you decide what to do with it.

Also if it's true they send you an empty cabinet with no hardware installed at all that is a BIG job. A whole day of work if things go well.

Crack kills

After further thought I have one more recommendation. I thought-this is this guy's very first game and this is a big deal for a first game. That being said I still recommend keeping it and asking for a discount off game or credit towards another game to buy ($800-$1000?). By taking the discount that should give you piece of mind for reselling at a discounted price to potential future buyer.
Now it is a tricky situation because the warranty from Stern may have lapsed due to timeframe-not sure how long sitting in distributors warehouse? It does look like the game was dropped by shipper or distributor prior to opening, I have a hard time believing Stern would let it out the door with a crack in cabinet. Now if the distributor has a good reputation and is service oriented then I may have another recommendation. Because this is your first NIB and you want it to be perfect(I totally get it) what you could also request is to have the machine sent back to Stern factory for the repairs to be made. Send the complete machine in box back to Stern, so a new cabinet can be swapped out. People saying to do the cabinet swap yourself as a new pinball owner- is crazy to me. Not sure if Stern can still do this, but I have done it in the past and it worked out for me. -Hope this helps and Stern has ALWAYS taken care of me

That's why I make the fedex driver wait until I take the box off the pin. We spend way too much money on these to deal with crap like this.

Sorry for your frustration, hope they make it right for you!

With Stern's backlog, once they receive it you'll be looking at 4-6 weeks before it gets back to you. Just going by the time frame that I had.

This was the right way to go. You paid for NIB and mint condition that’s what you should get.

All these imaginary discounts you were gonna get from Stern didn’t really seem to have much basis in actual reality. You can’t just insist on getting $1500 back and get it.

Unacceptable. Plain and simple. Go to your distributor first and then if they don’t take it seriously enough go through Stern. For a NIB, with the price hikes they are ramming down our throats, no way would I accept that.

You aren’t talking adjusting a leaf switch or opto set, that is structural damage. Don’t settle IMO.

So I just read this post, you did the right thing IMO. It sucks to wait but for these prices a NIB should be cosmetically pristine

Change the post title and add resolved at the end ...
Sorry for the wait time, but best outcome for you !
Welcome to pinball .

Wait, did OP really think such damage might be "typical?

And the question has been answered, so it has been resolved, as far as that goes.

Change the title after you get the game back.

This 100% do not change the title until this happens.

Not this.

Wait a minute... the question, whether that was typical (as if), has been answered. (No.) So the question in the thread title was resolved.

You guys want to keep people opening the thread, thinking they could possibly help, when no help is needed. For months, probably, until all is eventually well. Why?

1500 might be a stretch but not sure why a discount is out of the question. With Stern being as backlogged as they are how much money are they going to incur shipping the game back to them, doing a cabinet repair/swap, repackaging everything and then shipping it back?

I would absolutely throw 1000 bucks at this and a decal to make the issue go away. Not to mention the dude is going to be out of a game for several weeks.

Not saying Stern or distributor are doing anything wrong, but just seems like all parties would be better off not shipping the game back and forth, that seems like an enormous pain in the ass.

On a side note if it were JJP they would just blame the owner.

I just don't think we've ever heard of Stern just giving someone money to make a problem go away. It doesn't happen.

And a distributor is also never going to do it. They'd lose money.

Stern will fix this guy's problem by repairing the game or sending him a new one, as usual. It may take time, but I think we can all agree it's good that he didn't accept the game with the damage as received.

100% agree

Glad you got sorted.
Good for Distro and Stern sorting, this was the correct fix given game is out of production.
Split cabs are gash.
Other say easy fix, only easy if you know how.
Unacceptable for NIB.