what a fkin mess. All for a ton of money.
I'm happy they don't make medical devices.

Are you sure?

riddle-brantley-med-devices-small (resized).png

I would find this misalignment unacceptable on a Premium/LE machine; you are paying a premium price for a better than average machine and that should include the artwork on the playfield! If this was a standard edition playfield, I would still question how this passed QC but wouldn't pursue it with nearly as much vigor as I would on a premium or LE as it's a completely different market; what will pass as acceptable for a standard edition is just not acceptable on a high end pin.

Hopefully your supplier and Stern does right by you, as you deserve better.

That PF is bad, no doubt. My STLE is nice and clear. Surely that was not meant to pass inspection. I'll bet they replace it for you.

Stern doesn't care due to the lack of "low sales" consequence as a direct result...................

If it wasn't already mentioned before you contact stern maybe try a pair of 3D glasses.

Stern has some big decisions to make!

If they want to command these exorbitant prices for their games, they need to put out a better quality product.

Period!

Nah, they just need to shorten the time between announcing new releases. Even if the newer titles are nowhere near release. Take a page out of what the others in the industry have done so to speak.

This is unacceptable for any trim level.

Having a Pro vs Premium should have nothing to do with receiving a quality product.

Seriously. I hope that they don't decide that will be their new way. With their stupid marketing ideas, I wouldn't be surprised with anything.

Soon they'll be grading each machine as Gold, Silver or Bronze.

Yeah we are going to trade and grade pinball machines like baseball cards!!!

Heck I'm gonna try and put my TRON in the spokes of my bike right now.

Pretty crappy quality control from Stern if those playfields are printed like that. Stern is not making many friends these days when they are sending out stuff like this!

Stern do factory tours these days ?

did they cut costs, and remove the final inspection stage or something.

Not final incoming goods inspection.
That pf should have never gotten on a machine to being with. Now if Stern sends him a bare replacement pf it will be a large expensive swap.

If he sends the populated pf and gets a another populated one is the only fair thing for him. Plus a couple signed shirts for his inconvenience.

I agree. I am sure Stern will replace it because it does look quite bad.

Rob

and 15% off his next NIB "ghost free" Stern purchase.

Did this get resolved yet?

Rob

Really? Buh-Bye Stern.

Thats awful, its not like they are waiting for fixed trek playfields, they should have those and could replace it any time.

Man, a guy needs to find a local dealer if buying a NIB open it there and not accept it if its has any issues. How stern has been standing behind thier products has been shameful..

Did you buy by credit card?

Any new news or info?

You would hope that the OP would have a new populated playfield by now.

I am surprised that made it through production. Certainly the staff in the factory would have noticed that when first assembling the playfield. To expect the end user would be content with that after spending 1000s is horrible... even for Stern. I hope they still get around to swapping that out for you.

My ST Pro playfield started to chip by the ball trough after 130 plays and 2 months. Small fill with superglue and mylar so far so good. If it spreads more or appears in other locations my distributor said he would try to escalate things.

Sadly, it seems like this happens on almost all new Stern playfields these days. I happened on my STLE, TWDLE, GOTLE, and MET pro. The rest of the playfield is fine. It's only the drain hole that has the problem.

Stern continues to do nothing.

I would get Gary's address and drop it off at his front door.

Is it a Stern or Churchill QC issue?

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tour-of-churchill-cabinet-company-on-pinballnews

http://www.pinballnews.com/learn/churchill/index.html

I've been thinking about buying our first nib stern pin - Ghostbusters - as a family xmas present but these playfield issues are ridiculous! Isnt Stern supposed to be the 800lb gorilla in the community??? They may be able to crank out games but no thanks - their customer service obviously sucks. Sorry op - demand a refund & try JJP - their customer service is stellar!

I highly doubt JJP is going to help him out.

Can you share any details? Why have they denied a claim?

Far from par. Looks like a string of triple-bogey's to me.

Wow - after seeing this, there is no way I will buy a NIB Stern now. Clearly they are allowing these defective playfields to pass through inspection so they save a few bucks and hope that buyers don't complain. A large purchase like this is based on quite a bit of trust and the trust is gone for me. Very sad to see Stern sacrificing their long-term reputation with the pin community in order to save a few bucks.

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They are, and when you're the biggest you get to make the rules. Who else are you going to get your new playfield from? Nobody, unfortunately.

How hard is it to open up a Star Trek Premium, pull the playfield, and ship it to the OP? None in Stern's inventory? OK, how hard is it for Stern to call a distributor and have them pull the playfield and ship it? The OP could be 'fixed' in less than 4 hours total combined time for everyone involved. That playfield should have never been shipped - Stern messed up and should fix the issue now, not when they feel like it.

You just can't buy NIB from Stern anymore.

It is too much of a gamble.

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Crazy. The OP drops $6800 on pinball machine and it has misaligned printing. Stern is selling to the home...therefore they are selling as a consumer product. For that kind of coin, the playfield art should be spot on.

Unacceptable stern.

Disturbing to see this company cranking out games with obvious flaws.

Looking to finally buy a Stern next year, I'll be careful. Seriously considering Whoa Nellie over Metallica.

Have you considered Alien? Not Stern, but looking quite good.

I agree -- would be acceptable (to me) if they committed to resolving the problem (populated playfield swap) after the GB issues are resolved, so at least you know you'll be ok and go on playing the crap out of the game in the meantime.

My last NIB Stern came with a scratch on the side rail and a decal ding. I contacted Stern and they fixed me up right away...no issue. Frankly, that was super minor stuff and I wasn't too stressed about it. But they communicated with me pretty much right away.

But this situation...man...it's crazy. The printing on that playfield is well outside of acceptable tolerance. And Stern won't even communicate with the customer? Of course, the printing doesn't affect game play play. But, the OP paid a premium price for a game direct from the manufacturer. They know what that means...we know what that means.

Seems like everyone's Stern experience is different. But, at least every Pinsider has a decent idea of what they're getting themselves into when they deal with Stern.

.

oops

Your alignment is fine because you did not go so close in so that you could see the pixels . After seeing this thread I looked at the captains chair on my playfield it looked fine I then looked at it with a x10 loop could see the pixels and yes if alignment was off.

Wow! What asshats!! I cant believe people still give these dbags any money. Sorry you got screwed man

Who is your distributor? I would like to know to make sure I don’t buy any games from them. They should be taking care of you.

At this point I would blame your distro as much as Stern. He could of taken it upon himself and sent you a new playfield by now. Who was your distro and how high did you get up talking at Stern?