That is totally sick ! This is what is making many people that I come across so on the fence on pulling the trigger on nib sterns lately. It is not so much the lack of qc, but primarily the toss up of if they will do anything about it. Wow is all I can say...There is no way I would keep a game that looked like that. Totally feel for you man.

Agreed, that sunken 'Wildfire' insert is a joke and if that one insert sinks like that then it is likely that there will be other inserts with the same issue. I think that Bryan would have made one hell of a litigator.

Gord

NIB Sterns are a gamble for sure. Now a secondary market Stern raises concerns. I bought a GB LE on the secondary market with minimal ghosting that progressed to involve 8 or so inserts in a few months. Weird the way it happened but luckily it was replaced after I sold it. The original owner worked it out with the distributor. I took a BIG loss on it but could care less as it was a valuable lesson.

that's not even 'sunken' insert.. that thing has broke free.

Holy crap. That insert is falling through the floor. That sucks. They better make it right.

Sucks!
I'd keep working for resolution with distributor/Stern.
And no Pinstadium, please don’t fix the shadow from this crappy insert.

That is unbelievable. You will get a new playfield no doubt. I don't see anyway they decline you on that, I don't care if you're the original owner or not. That playfield was not put together correctly period.

The new Stern reality.

Things are improving Mike. Look at the newer playfields, they are having fewer problems. AS playfields look to be fantastic quality and from what I hear the GOTG playfields look equally as good.

Stern support is very hit or miss.

They took care of my cabinet but ignored my recent email about the two recent tech bulletins for a cheap capacitor and zip tie.

Gary Stern's ass has been saved.

glad to hear it!!!!

Keep us posted on timing/when it happens!

Great news.

Also, as bad as this is, let's recognize Stern for stepping up to support this. He's not the primary owner, so it's great that they transferred support to him.

Thats great, as they should do! Such a great game, glad you'll have one thats perfect!

Now if only they would change my shit playfield too

Kudos to Stern!

Good.

I'm glad they did the right thing. But, they should be doing it without needing to be publicly shamed.

LOL.

Populated?

That's beyond horrible.
Exactly why my last NIB Stern was a ST PRO and no plans to buy another until quality rebounds.

Glad Stern did the right thing...too bad it takes putting this on the internet to get results.
Congrats!

Are they giving you a populated playfield or do you have to do all the swapping?

This is officially the dumbest thread ever on Pinside (okay 2nd or 3rd dumbest). Stern didn't have to do jack shit - it was a SECOND HAND MACHINE. The previous owner may have been throwing bowling balls on the playfield for all anyone knows (not saying they were, but thats the general idea behind restricting second hand items in ANY commercial industry from warranty claims). That they are replacing the playfield way above and beyond any reasonable metric and a bunch of Pinsiders are STILL railing against Stern........well, its business as usual here. If this is the "new Stern" then sign me up! Also a sincere congrats to the GOT owner on the new PF - enjoy your machine!

Score!

that's great news, this was definitely a defect PF.

who made this happened at stern?
and if it wasn't for this thread, new playfield?

.....and Stern is replacing it! They did not have to...and it would have not been because of any new fine print. They are under no obligation to replace anything second hand...and yet they did! That was my only point (which you missed) - was that Stern replaced a playfield to the deafening noise of pinsiders complaining about Stern replacing a playfield. Is Stern breathlessly refreshing this thread by the minute and then firing off an email as soon as it gets 'too hot? Doubtful, but you are all free to believe whatever you want. My second point also still stands - stoked for the OP and his new playfield!

If Stern didnt stand behind their defective goods then folks would lose confidence in buying HUO Stern games which then puts the brakes on NIB Stern games when a seller cant sell & from what I hear the NIB Stern market has been suffering with sales due to lost NIB confidence.

So I guess what I'm saying is Stern needs to stand behind their defective product. Playfields on HUO games do not fail unless defective.

We all know damn well Stern QC has gone downhill as of late. Its all over this forum in every F'n thread. No bowling ball nonsense required.

The good news is Stern made it right... after this thread which is so similar to others.

I agree and disagree with you both. If this were a ghosted insert or two I'd agree with you but this is clearly just a bad quality playfield. Here's what I don't understand, he is the 2nd owner and he bought it with under 40 plays on it. Who the hell buys a pinball machine and doesn't play it 40 times before selling it? That's just weird

people with crap tons of cash.
and/or people who don't care about loosing crap tons of cash.

People always say that pinball is mechanical, it’s different. Cars are mechanical and warranted for 100,000 Miles. An airplane is mechanical and expected to work flawlessly for decades. Here, an owner is SOL because they bought a game with 40 plays?

I don’t care what the piece of paper says, common sense says it’s new and deserves protection.

Whatever happened to good old common sense? Oh yeah - our lawsuit happy society.

Every time I've thrown a bowling ball at one of my playfields the damage has been... Oh man, there is just no helping this stupid statement.

Op, Could you please open up the coin door and take a picture of the edge of the play field that has a sticker labeled “politico”? There should be a number on the sticker as well. Thanks in advance for any response.

yeah that's the first thing i do when I get a new game, new or used, pull the glass and throw a few bowling balls at it to make sure the playfield is tough!

He didn't call you stupid. He called your statement stupid. You are more than a statement. Part of reasonable discussion is realizing that. When you do, it is much easier not to get angry and emotionally lash out when challenged.

That wildfire insert is a crater!!!! :O

I call it a possible warning sign. I bought my MET with like 25 plays and it ended up having the defective playfield. I got it home and put about 50 more plays on it and the playfield started chipping everywhere. Stern replaced the playfield and head decals.

The weird thing is your statement makes less sense. I mean at least understand Zeddex's point; Yours I do not.

She did it!

o (resized).jpg