I have spoken with the manager of a couple of locations and explained that I would drop more money in the games if they were working properly. One acted on it and actually had the operator fix it.

I talked to some clueless kid who thought he maybe knew who was in charge of fixing the games. I offered to do it myself...stunned disbelief? Not fixed yet...

never,
it's up to the parties that split the coin box profits to get there s**t together
you just get laughed at or made fun of being a pinball-nerd
-just wasting your dime

+1

Nope, called a couple of times about a wore out IJ that was on route. I was trying to buy it but after several messages and no return calls, I gave up.

Not around here. I was talking to the owner of a local pizza joint that has a TOM on site yesterday and let him know about a couple small problems with the machine. He was very concerned and said he would get them to fix it right away. Of course, talk is cheap but I would tend to believe the guy.

He was very happy to talk to us about pinball and also volunteered that he had talked to the place that owns the machine about adding 2-3 more pins to his location. He obviously sees the value pinball (and a good experience playing pinball) bring to his business. Now I can't wait to see what other machines are going to show up there. It's right on my way home from work so it will be super convenient!

I call and ask about other pins as well

yes,i do all the time. one local route guy is real cool about it. he knows i put money into them when they work properly. another route guy was cool when i talked to him but he took forever to Finley fix the Addams family he had at a local theatre.

T_G, that is very funny. It would have really been cool if the kid started fiddling around with it trying to fix it and you told him what the problem was. I know I have mentioned it before but the first WH2O I ever tried to play was a mess. Plastic pieces on the playfield, broken ramp, it really sucked...mostly because I was so excited I put my money in before I realized the Pin was a POS. HUA, live and learn, won't make that mistake again.

I have, and they just make it sound like I don't know what I'm talking about. Tried to buy the really beat up Simpsons, worse than my Magic, and they said he would fix it, and sell it for $3000. Not worth it.

All the time. But the op's in my town have a ton of competition and a population of players that demand it, so they are actually really receptive.