I see what you guys are saying… I think it may have been changed so that you have to be logged in to see that part of the post, so that part doesn’t show up in search results. One I refreshed the page, I could see the whole thing again.

Just to add to this sentiment. Great thing about people like John and Chris is that they not only take on more experienced work, they have shared their knowledge and findings with the community. Supporting them is supporting pinball posterity in a way.

I can see it all just fine. Maybe they restored it? Or people were misunderstanding?

The poll was removed, but otherwise, everything else appears to be here.

I have always used Clive from Coinopcauldron. Great service, upfront pricing, quick service.

Another vote for Clive/ Coin op Cauldron. Professional service.
Reasonable prices.

I am surprised to see this about @borygard. I have never had dealings with him but he has been in the hobby a long long time and had always had a great reputation. He used to be fairly active on here if memory serves. No idea what might have happened.

The reason the poll was removed is because polls aren't a great option for a changing set of data. (ie, people being added/removed to a list). Once you have fully collected/compiled a complete list, then that might be a more appropriate time for a poll.

Second, the email addresses were surrounded by "pinside only" tags so that only users who are logged into pinside can see them. This is to help protect those email addresses from public crawlers, search engines, and spam bots. I would imagine that not everyone wants their email address posted publicly.

That's not really an issue when individuals are expressing their own personal opinions or sharing their own experiences.

Clive at coin op cauldron has always been reasonably priced and in line with his time estimates. Always a good experience.

I do local electronic board work. But today you are better off buying a new replacement board. I try & get it going, but usually if it is too damaged. I just scrap it for some parts, & the owner has no charge. They get a new replacement.

This is true for boards that are cheap like Bally MPUs, but there are plenty of boards still worth fixing, either because replacements are not available, replacements are expensive and/or poor quality.

I use Alltek stuff for many years. Along with https://www.pinsound.org/products/rocket-cpu-wpc/

Yeah Bally and WPC MPUs are cheap enough to replace. Now when you get into System 11 MPUs, SAM, Whitestar, System 80 Sound/Speech boards... the replacements are expensive, and Rottendog has known QC problems and corner-cut designs

Depends on the board for me. I've been an Eldorado Games customer for twenty years. Probably over a hundred boards repaired.

If you call them, they do talk with you about the repair schedule, and I have had things take a year to get back to me... but since they seem to be the only people doing certain types of board repair (arcade games), I was happy to get a fully working set of boards back. My customer also understood the delay.

For arcade games the people at Eldorado will frequently wait until they get a stack of the same type of board. Star Wars Arcade vector monitor boards for instance. When they have a stack of those boards they'll devote a deep dive into that type of board repair, and get them all fixed at the same time. This work pattern was explained to me clearly, expectations were set, I was happy with the result.

Pinball work seems to get back to me promptly.

I would recommend Eldorado Games.

Rob no longer works at Game Exchange, and has not for some time now.
Game Ex. Does board repair for me, but sometimes can be backed up and take time.

https://www.eldoradogames.com/

Eugene Mosh has always treated me well.

Ah gotcha... good to know.

Good arcade repairs here and you will most likely get a video made.

https://youtube.com/@classicarcaderepairs4818?si=lMprh7eA3vZtjOhr

For many years, I took my car to the same service center. I would sit and wait in the waiting area while they worked on the car. A few years ago, they started producing videos summarizing and showing their work. I was surprised that they started doing this. A nice touch for those that are prone to question everything. It is a great way to instill confidence in your customers.

I only know of two technicians providing this feature.

• https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisHiblerPinball
• https://www.youtube.com/@D.R.Pinball

The order of that list is alphabetical. It is not an order of preference.

Caveat: None of the following have worked on my boards. As I mentioned, I do my own board work and diagnostics. The assessment is based on online evidence and (any) direct interaction.

• I am only directly familiar with Chris Hibler's work. I watch the videos on his channel. I have yet to hear anything I disagree with. I recommend and endorse him (not that my endorsement actually means anything).
• I have read the technical articles (particularly on S11 and WPC) on Clive Jones' website. They represent someone who understands how the boards work and are put together. I have had no interaction or experience with Clive but based on those articles he wrote, I would trust him with my boards. It isn't just about knowing how to repair but being able to deal with complications. Surgeons cut, but do they know how to deal with post-operative complications such as infection?

Always do your own research on any person who you are asking to do work for you. This is caveat emptor. I do this for everything regardless of the field. I even do this with medical professionals. Good surgeons don't just know how to cut, they know when to NOT cut (i.e. make it worse by cutting).

Email for questions and turn around times etc.

Marco has a list on their website:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fPpUfuRN_wsz0DesALZXA6h6bpmaYZFHuCjxHs759Dw/edit#gid=0

Vote for Chris Hibler. Fast turnaround, great price, great work. Highly recommended.

rob has always been great with my board repairs and turnaround time. usually less than 2 weeks from time i send it out i have them back.

been about 9 months now i guess.

I want to comment on a few statements in this thread that are critical of Pinsider Borygard (Rob). Unfortunately, Pinside's practice is not to remove false or incorrect posts. Rather, these issues must be responded to in the forum or the falsehood remains lingering.

Borygard has been a valued and highly respected member of the Pinball Community for years. He has provided technical advice and services to the community (frequently for free) and has been an important contributor and vendor at many Pinball shows. Please get to know him for yourself through the pinball forums or the shows. He's a stand-up guy and takes his reputation seriously. There is no one in the pinball community I trust and value more than Rob.

Some comments in this thread state that response times from Rob have been off. On Rob's behalf, I can say that any delays are attributed to some health issues that Rob has been dealing with for some time. I won't say more as it's a personal issue.

In this particular post, Interconnect states that Rob "STOLE" his boards. This is untrue. I have reviewed all communications regarding the issue around these boards, and there is no theft. Calling it a theft is a slander on Rob and his business practices.

After some initial repair of the boards, there was a disagreement about the nature of additional work required on the boards. Interconnect believes that he did not authorize the additional work and refused to pay for it. This additional work was undertaken when he was advised in writing that the boards could not be fully evaluated without the sound boards. This was all clearly explained to Interconnect in written communications. The sound boards were sent in and the additional work performed.

To further correct the record here, I can share that Interconnect – in an effort to harass Rob – called the local Police to report a theft of the boards. The Police correctly declined to bring any charges or issue any citation after an investigation that included interviewing Rob at his home.

Still refusing simply to pay for the work on the boards, Interconnect filed a Complaint with the Missouri Attorney General in a continuing effort to harass Rob and harm his business. In response, Rob provided multiple detailed explanations of the situation along with ample supporting documentation. The Missouri Attorney General declined to bring any action whatsoever against Rob and issued no citation regarding his business practices.

So, having now been turned away by two independent authorities, Interconnect seeks to slander Rob in this lightly moderated forum.

Everyone is entitled to make their own decision on these issues. Everyone is free to use whatever vendor they choose. I know this – Rob's a good guy and a valued member of this Pinball Community. For my part, I did not wish to see these untrue comments stand here without response.

I didn’t want to bring this out in the open, but I will respond so it’s all out there and set the record straight.

1. I did in fact pay Rob for the work he performed.

2. He took it upon himself to perform additional work, that I didn’t authorize him to do and then proceeded to withhold my boards when I asked for them back.

3. I did not intend to harass Rob. In my view he stole my boards by not returning them to me when I asked. After weeks of trying to get them retuned to me to no avail, I simply looked into other avenues for retrieving my property. If he took it upon himself to do additional repairs without my consent or knowledge, that’s on him since I already paid him to repair the entire board to begin with.

4. Currently, he has the money that I paid him for the repair, the MPU board and a sound board that has nothing to do with the original repair, along with a brand new ribbon cable and NV ram chip.

5. The St. Louis Police and the Missouri Attorney General office didn’t proceed with any action because they determined it was a civil matter and not a criminal one. I would have to bring a lawsuit against Rob in a St. Louis court, in which I would incur additional costs and I determined it just wasn’t worth it to pursue it any further.

I didn’t want to air any dirty laundry on here, but I thought it was important to put it out there to warn others about my experience with Rob. One of the main reasons I decided to finally come forward was because others were experiencing similar issues with Rob.

For clarity, are you saying that interconnect refused to pay for the ADDITIONAL work that had already been completed, which interconnect did not authorized? Or are you saying interconnect never paid anything ever to Rob related to these boards?

Since y’all are airing this out, I’ve got my popcorn and I’m trying to get some clarity here so I can come to my own conclusions on who’s in the wrong here.

At one point John Wart Jr. Did a lot of repair and roms too. Not sure what happened but his whole site is gone now.

You both agree that "additional work" was not authorized. At least that's a starting point.

But was any additional work performed?

So what exactly had "already been completed" and not paid for, while both parties agree "additional work" was "not authorized" in the first place?

-----------

I have the same questions. Something is missing (or being twisted) in one/both of these stories.

Yes. Additional work was done and not paid for.....

Thanks to those asking for additional clarity. There was some initial work done on the boards that was paid for but additional work was required that was not paid for.

After initial repair, the game was having sound issues. The OP had been told the CPU boards could not be fully tested without the sound boards. The sound boards had not been sent in originally with the CPU board. The sound boards were then sent in and additional work performed which was not paid. Interconnect seems to be believe he did not authorize this additional work despite sending in the sound boards after communication to him that the sound boards were necessary to complete a full repair. Ultimately, the OP called the Police over the issue...

It's too bad this happened and good to know as I've recommended him to my home customers for some time. Mainly on alkaline damaged whitestar boards.
Hope he gets better as to what he's going through as this seems out of character for Rob.
I did experience a similar issue many years ago with some system 11 boards with someone else that was very well known. Excuses etc. Took 6 months to get them back.
I've known some great pinball people the last few years who have been overwhelmed with repair work as pinball has experienced a tidal wave of resurgence.
When a family matter, health issue or other crisis presents itself it can overwhelm to the point of no return. Not saying this is an excuse but as most of board repairers are a 1 person operation and are swamped the possibility is present when sending boards in .
What can be a bad situation is when us home repair guys are in the middle and take a board send it in and experience this issue. We look bad to our home customer while at the same time trying to get someone else's property back.
Going forward on clients boards that I cannot repair I won't make the mistake of pulling a board and sending it in to someone else no matter how highly regarded they are.

Life priorities change. (Self included!)

Let me clarify a few things:

The word "initial" keeps being thrown around alluding to the idea that there were going to be subsequent repairs on the board. I sent him the MPU for a full repair and he quoted me the price which included a rush fee and I agreed to it. He stated that he would fully test the board before returning. I paid him in full and he did the repair but said that he was unable to test the sound because he did not have all the proper equipment to do so. He further stated that if there were any sound issues I could send the board back and he would "take care of that for you".

I received the board back and there were still sound issues. I decided to send the sound board to him along with the MPU; it was my idea to include the sound board, just in case.

After sending him both boards and not hearing from him for weeks, I decided to tell him to send me the boards back unrepaired. When he did not respond after a few days, I decided to contact the authorities to find out what my options would be to get my property back because in my eyes they had been stolen. They were in his possession for several weeks and during that time whenever I would ask him to return them I either wouldn't get a response or I would get excuse after excuse as to why he was unable to return them to me. The police contacted Rob and it was only after that did he inform me that additional work was done on the boards and that I owed him more money. I was under the impression that the work would be covered under warranty (he guarantees his work and services on his website), because the MPU was not fully working or tested from the original repair. As a side note, the MPU has a separate sound section on it.

To this day, Rob has never told me what additional work was done or what board the additional work was done on. Mind you, he never disclosed that there would be an additional charge and never provided me with a supplemental quote before performing the additional work. Had he have done that, I would have told him to return the boards unrepaired as the cost would be more than I wanted to spend.

Rob still to this day is withholding my property in an attempt to get me to pay him more money that I never agreed to. Again, if he took it upon himself to do additional work that would require an additional charge and without my approval, that is on him.

Just to be clear, I don't have a dog in this fight and have no idea if we're being told the truth by anyone, so I am just asking questions. However, I cannot reconcile these two statements...

Was it first authorized or not?

That is precisely the issue. Rob supposedly did additional work, without my authorization, and which he says required an additional charge. I wasn't given the choice before anything was done. He just did the work out of his own volition, denying me the opportunity to approve the work or return the boards, and then has proceeded to withhold my property from me until I pay him.

Whether justified or not, calling the authorities is an effort to retrieve his property, not "an effort to harass Rob".

On the flip side, Interconnect should not be calling Rob a "thief" saying Rob "stole" his boards. Whether justified or not, Rob withholding boards is an effort to be paid for his work.

People disagree, but there are always two sides to a story and it's too bad this couldn't have been handled more professionally all the way around.

EDIT: For the record, I absolutely do not think it's acceptable for a tech to behave like a shady mechanic, and I'm sorry for not being more clear about that. I was just giving other examples of why/when police do not consider your property as "stolen" for civil matters such as an ongoing business relationship or contractual dispute. I've been a victim of this too.

For the record, I never called him a "thief". I said he stole my boards. If someone takes your property, that you rightfully own, and refuses to return it and attempts to withhold it for money that you don't owe that person... that is stealing to me. The St. Louis Police at one point told me that is felony and were going to bring felony charges against him. Which is exactly why I called the police and Missouri Attorney General's office. I handled it as professionally as possible and made every diplomatic attempt possible to get my property returned to me before calling the police. Rob was paid for his work, the work I originally agreed to pay him for. I never agreed to pay him for additional work that he did without my knowledge or approval, period.

Hey guys, this is Todd's wife. Rather than me creating a whole Pinside account I would like to say a few things right here.

We attempted numerous times to contact him about returning our boards after sending them back to him. Either he wouldn't respond or when he eventually did after weeks at a time, he would have an excuse as to why he couldn't return them. Either "I'm still testing" or "I'm on vacation now". This wasn't an open-ended repair. When we told him to just return the boards unrepaired he should have done that immediately. I did not want to wait any longer since it had been several weeks at that point with no update.

I even spoke to Rob on the phone about this toward the end of December. I asked him many times to tell me what exactly he "repaired" and what the problem was and he would not give me a straight answer. Any professional would tell you what was repaired and any professional would give you a quote for the additional work needed to be done BEFORE doing the work. He even taunted me by saying "Hear that in the background? Those are your boards working perfectly." No professional would say something like that. All I want is my property back. He has our sound board, cable and NVram chip that have nothing to do with this and should be returned immediately, at the very least.

-Jessie

Um, there's hardly a distinction there. But ok, you set the record straight and I edited my post.

Unfortunately, as you've already learned, police consider this a "civil" matter, not stealing. That's why we have civil courts to resolve contract disputes.

(You sent your boards to him - he did not come take them from you. This is governed under the terms of whatever contract/agreement you had with Rob, which is why police are not arresting him for theft.)

Keep in mind this is not any different than an auto mechanic that refuses to release your car until full payment is made. It literally happens all the time... get an estimate, but when you go to pick up the car, you owe more $ and have no choice... pay up or leave without your car. The shop will then charge daily storage fees until you pay up and remove it.

What if your car is towed, maybe illegally? Again, stolen? Nope. An expensive civil matter, even if you are completely innocent.

Here's one that happened to me. I parked in a private garage/lot and pre-paid under an agreement with an app. When I tried to leave, they gate attendant refused to honor my contract with the app and forced me to pay before I could leave with my car. If I refused to pay, I would not be able to drive my car out. Was my car stolen? Nope. Another civil matter governed by the agreements I made via the app and the garage when I chose to drive in there.

The police will laugh at you if you report your car stolen by a towing company, garage, or mechanic.

EDIT: For the record, I absolutely do not think it's acceptable for a tech to behave like a shady mechanic, and I'm sorry for not being more clear about that. I was just giving other examples of why/when police do not consider your property as "stolen" for civil matters such as an ongoing business relationship or contractual dispute. I've been a victim of this too.