If I were Stern Pinball I would completely change the QA and testing process and employees from top to bottom. They clearly need lots of help in this area.

While you're in there can you get the PF date as well please?

You assume that this isn't within Stern's "acceptable" tolerances. Gary Stern is notorious for having an aggressive cost costing attitude, something perhaps required to survive the last downturn, and once that attitude is established at an organization managers all down the chain default to making what often turn out to be short-sighted decisions that might save a few bucks now but end up costing the company their good reputation, customer goodwill, and potentially, the whole business if it's not corrected in time.

Ideally, competitive forces from other viable pinball producers would eventual force Stern to improve QA and reduce mis-conceived cost cutting. That requires one or more competitors that can realistically threaten their current market dominance. I'm hopeful that Heighway will become that eventually as they seem well positioned to do so, but it would years before it becomes a real factor in Stern's decision making.

So you are left with complaining to Stern, your distributor, and on forums like this. Maybe stop buying NIB games from Stern, eventually that should have some impact, but also might rob you of some access to newer games.

Cue the old-timers who will say "most pinball machines go out on route and the operator doesn't care about cosmetic issues like this so long as it makes money".

Would you accept a new car with a so so paint job after paying that much ?

There's your answer !

Clearly the answer is to get the general public to stop playing on location, in protest.

I'm surprised that the playfield passed the inspection process. Maybe they were scraping the bottom of the barrel on playfields since it sounds like production on ST will be winding down soon.

Contact the distributor ASAP before that happens.

That playfield should have been stamped "2nd".

This is unacceptable. I just cannot understand anymore people are still buying Stern pins NIB.

My eyes hurt from looking at that. Glad you got help.
If Stern starts sending 3D glasses in the goodie bag we are all in trouble.

That's a pretty rough registration. My guess is that it's actually twisted a bit and the printing gets a little worse even further away from the player. I could be wrong. In any case, it sounds like your distributor will be making it right. That's what matters.

Darn I got a few downvotes for trying to stay positive & look on the brightside of things? It's not like I told the seller to not put in for a replacement? :/

Not sure how they do registration marks on playfields, but there should at least be a second one in the opposite corner. It would almost be impossible to perfectly register something from just one mark. Not that you'd want to tear the playfield down to see the other one, but like BrewenBombers said, I'd bet the other end is worse.

you really dont need a comparison... That looks AWFUL! Seriously the worst registration on a recent Stern I have ever seen.

Have you worked out the details with your distributor? What did they say?

OMG...thats terrible don't even think of considering it as acceptable. I hope you paid with a credit card in case they don't take care of you on it. They might be too far behind on their other issues to give your problem the attention that it needs. But they surely will if you file a complaint with your credit card company.

They should have never let it leave the factory.

It's actually good that these are so bad. This means the issue isn't questionable or a matter of discretion. It means you have a clear case.

But at the same time, a bunch of people saw this, worked on it, and it still went out. That doesn't bode well.

They're taking the piss, instead of writing off faulty product, they're hoping they get a completely ignorant buyer, or an operator that opens it up in a half lit arcade and never takes more than a glance at it.

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Gomez himself said in a recent video tour of the factory that EVERY playfield is checked for faults before installation.

He never actually states what happens if they are deemed below quality standard though or what the minimum acceptable standards are.

There are not "a couple more spots". Your entire playfield is off my friend. Its simply most noticeable around the text. Do not, under any circumstances, let this slide. I don't know - nor need to know - who sold this game to you; it's not their fault, but do not let them give you anything but a new playfield or machine.

The black printing plate was twisted off of registration. It's difficult to explain how poor workmanship this is to someone who has never been in print shop, but this is basically just not doing your job.

If you decide you can't live with it, I've been looking for a Star Trek

How they must have laughed about it, off camera. Surprised he could contain himself.

Anybody remember that 1 minute full cabinet decal video they showed a year or 2 ago? All I could think was "I wouldn't want that pin". It doesn't matter though. Many of you will keep on buying regardless.

On a related note, Stern made more pins in August than any other month EVER!!! I guess it's possible when the quality isn't a concern.

Are you absolutely sure your playfield is not teleporting to a Romulan ship?

Is there any quality control left at Stern?

Good luck to the poor bastards forking over 15K for the Batman Super LE.

I remember a local collector's NIB Dark Knight with the misprinted/misaligned Batman logo.

Of course, this was in 2008 when Stern was having solvency issues so with the change in focus of manufacturing philosophy to an emphasis on high priced Limited Edition machines this would also translate to an increase in quality control in order to cater to a much more fastidious demographic, right?

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Ultra rare partial photo of Sterns playfield inspector

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That's terrible. And that was shipped out on a premium, not even a pro....I mean...this isn't even a 4500-5k machine. This was what was shipped out on a 6500-7k machine....

Yeah but read the OP's original post. He can live with it. Case closed. Damned if I would.

OP. Stay on it.. this is the last run of ST before licence expires.

I guess my point is don't let Stern know you said that. It's a small pinball world. Honestly, delete the thread.

If pinball was my full time job, I wouldn't be reading this shi* at midnight

I understand. I would be as well. QA goes to shi* and August is best month ever. Hopefully they get a clue.

Yes, because anyone paying only 5 grand should be fine with that. lol

You seriously should be contacting your distributor and ccing stern EVERYDAY till this gets resolved. The word is that STprem is nearing the end of the run/license which means time is very important in your case. People with GB issues have a bit of time for things to get sorted, but you do not.

I personally would be insisting that they come pick up this game now and provide a full refund! Stop playing it as that alone could show that you accept the flaw. Force their hand if you dont get a satisfactory commitment by starting a chargeback with your credit card company for defective goods.

Stern apparently has major quality issues currently and the fact that they have started up a beta program with ONLY GBLE buyers at this stage is telling. I have a GBpro and was told that it will be months before they even start figuring out what will happen to pro owners. That is telling. Why start with GBLE when pros were built first and they know there are issues with them?

You will be at the very bottom of the pile if you dont take action while you are able and make noise!

I agree with the others that say you should really start pushing them on a fix. They aren't going to pay attention to you unless you start raising a stink. They are too busy fondling themselves over the batman applications.

Hope this gets worked out for you.

Since this is undoubtedly not a one-off occurrence, in the interests of helping both the OP and others with doubts, this is what it's supposed to look like.

N.B. The muted colours are simply due to not being able to find my angle poise lamp, and shooting this at 5-8000 ISO in very little light. This playfield is not one of the very faded ones from Stern's new supplier (as another poster has shown in another thread).

As you can see, alignment is totally fine, and nothing like the OP's mess.

Also, click on the thumbnails to get the uncompressed, non-blurry images.

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You have the Premium astigmatic Edition looks perfect to me!