Kurt is a good guy. He was going to do a restore for me, but ended up calling me and being honest that he wouldnt be able to get to it for a LONG time and recommended another guy to do it. He also sold my cousin his rrwoz.

What else would you like to know?

Honest straight up guy. He used to have a store front (I think he still does, but not sure). So his prices are retail. But I would have no hesitation dealing with him.

I recently Paid DICK@Hemispheres Amusements lmost $9,000.00 for MY FIRST PINBALL MACHINE, a NEW Stern Aerosmith Limited Edition. The unit was shipped via SAIA and they damaged the shipment. A Freight Damage Claim was filed.

I tried to work with DICK@Hemispheres Amusements by having a Pinball Technician go out to the Freight Terminal, inspect the unit for obvious and CONCEALED DAMAGE and continue with the delivery IF THE UNIT PASSED INSPECTION.

DICK@Hemispheres Amusements refused to have the inspection done, refused to ship a replacement AND NOW REFUSES TO REFUND MONIES PAID. Now I'm stuck fighting with Paypal for my refund.

These guys have no concept of Customer Service.

I WOULD STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY AND SPEND YOUR MONEY ELSEWHERE.

Btw, I also sent an email to Stern AND STERN NEVER RESPONDED.

Ha.. We figured you'd pop up here. When I'm done dealing with customers who appreciate what we and how good we do it, I'll get back to you here and post a list of events of what REALLY happened here Joe. You can bet your bottom dollar with what you put us through I have every lick of documentation. I knew from the moment I started speaking with you I had a bad vibe. Hindsight is 20/20 and I should have trusted my gut. Any business owner knows there's good business in Bad Business. You my friend were bad business. Shame on me. Stay tuned and I'll be sure to report back here for a list of detailed events of what really happened with this transaction. Apparently you're having memory failure in your golden years.

TBC

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My only complaint about Kurt (Hemispheres) is he sold me my first two machines (Getaway and Twilight Zone). As a result, I have been addicited to collecting ever since. I wouldn't hesitate to refer Kurt to anyone getting into this hobby. Good dude.

I think you should cut the op.... a little slack he seems to be a rookie ..but you know you should have never went on here he should have tried to resolve this but not on here.... I don't know Kurt but look at the reviews seems like a stand-up guy

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I agree with Geddy2112. Lets not prejudge anything until both sides of the story are revealed. We will probably find that the truth lies somewhere in between.....

I'm waiting

Kurt is a good guy , a few years ago I helped bangerjay clean out the basement at hemispheres . Bangerjay had bought the majority of the pinball machines and projects that were in the basement . This is where my Sorcerer came from and most of my paragon(I combined a few games to make the paragon I kept) I still have both these games .

I recently bought my BM66 Premium from Kurt and we had an unforeseen hiccup. I have to say he went way above & beyond to make sure it was taken care of completely and quickly. No idea what happened with this other experience, but figured I'd share mine.

I'm with Kurt, always been a good dude to me and anyone I know.

Box was damaged. Buyer didn't inspect to see if machine was damaged. Delivery refused. Claim filed. Machine returned. Lo and behold...NO damage to machine. Not a scratch.

Seller did nothing wrong. Stern shouldn't even be contacted unless machine has QC or play issues.
My take on this: Distributor did everything right, even coddled this newbie. Buyer is unreasonable and being difficult.
Recommendation: I WOULD STAY AWAY FROM THIS BUYER AND SELL YOUR GAMES ELSEWHERE.

If that is the case, why not give the guy his money back and let him be on his way? Or are you just speculating? I do like how the seller is going to give us more info on this situation. *Grabs pop corn*. I can't wait to see how this one turns out.

It sounded like since the buyer filed a claim with paypal, it effectively froze the funds pending paypal's review of the situation. So, the seller wasn't able to issue a refund while paypal had a hold on the buyer's funds.

And what has been said so far is true he will be on the losing end of the PayPal decision.

A large dispute on Paypal is nothing but a Royal Pain in the Ass for a Vendor.

For the few that may not know, the drama continues here.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/lack-of-stern-customer-service

Ah yup that is what I was missing. Doh

Spewing crap in not one but two threads -- greeeat. What a pita for a vendor. Buyer didn't read/listen and follow instructions and doesn't bother to inspect game inside of cardboard hole that would have taken 1 minute to open up? Give me a break!

He lives in AZ... be careful my arid friends.

Kurt is a good guy and was more than willing to help out when I dealt w/ him.

I'm downvoting you cause this is America and I just like wrecking yer Pinside percentages.
Violent Steve for President.

Hahaha. Right on, Gryszzz. Back at ya, my friend!

Thank you everyone.

darcangeloel, ForceFlow nailed it. We absolutely wanted to refund this customer the money. The problem was he immediately after rejecting the game opened up Paypal disputes on all six of his payments.
This obviously caused PayPal to lock everything up. We cannot refund money once these cases are open. I don't know if it's because of the amount of the transactions or what but we simply did what PayPal asked because he filed these claims under "item not received" when in fact was at his doorstep. So when PayPal saw all the requested paperwork , bill of lading his rejection yada yada it just created a confusing drawn out mess for them because they're used to a box going UPS or Postal so they're looking for a tracking number/ delivery confirmation whatever. They literally had no clue what a bill of lading or a pro tracking number was. Unfortunately I let this customer talk me into PayPal and my policy is always been no PayPal. It will never ever happen again that is for sure. Anyhow, long story short, we gladly wanted him refunded so we can move on to other customers that know how we operate and appreciate what we do for them. Like it was posted in the other thread every once in awhile you just have to fire a customer. We as a distributor had made the decision to refund him because we just knew what we were in for with this particular customer. Once the game was on its way back we were done. We're over it and I just want to kill this so please don't make this a continuation on from the closed thread. there's plenty to read over there I'm just rebutting to what was posted here and moving on.

What I would absolutely like to do here to say a big thank you to the overwhelming support from the pinside community and everybody who understood what really went on and who we really are as a company. We have not been too involved with the pinside community over the years because we are simply slammed in restoration work and new sales as it is, so quite honestly I simply don't have the time to be on here. As it is I run 70 hour weeks and my wife is not happy about it. I did hire my brother for administrative and it has been on my list of things for him to do is to get on here and just say hello to everybody and let them know we're here. Since we're in the home town of pinball and have been in business for over two decades we have a very strong following and a very loyal customer base. Not to mention because of the dense population here always getting new people coming in the door and with the explosion of internet sales and the revamping of our website, it's just made it even busier. I just started posting around on our Facebook page a help wanted ad looking for experienced help to bring on a fourth guy. (so if anybody knows anybody in the Western burbs of Chicago we're hiring)

At the end of the day our loyal customer base absolutely knows how they're taken care of. This has been proven with multiple posts between both threads by people who know us well and have done business with us for years and newbies that were first-time buyers.

I can assure you just about every single new in the box game has some sort of issue. I've literally seen it all. When you own a new pinball it's not like plugging in a brand new Yamaha receiver for your home theater system walking away knowing every time you hit the power button it works. You will need to work on it at some point or another and if that's something you're not prepared to learn and do at the very least be prepared to pay somebody to do it. I have spent countless hours on the phone with people for free helping them out with their machines. It's really not difficult work as most of you know but some people just simply don't want to do it and we understand that as well.

Again please, I don't want to make this continuation of the other thread I just want to move on. I mainly came in to say hello and thank you for everybody's support over the years both from this community and outside of it. Some of you I consider really really good friends and you know who you are and I want to say thank you you guys have been awesome.

That's said we will contribute around pinside where we can and after funds recover from Star Wars LE's (lol) I intend to make a decent contribution to this website just to help this community because there is such an awesome wealth of knowledge within these walls. We are a twenty-six-year-old business with extensive knowledge on the Bally/Williams Data East, Sega , Stern and JJP operating systems along with Distributing new Stern, Jersey Jack, and just about any other coin operated piece of equipment you're looking for we can get our hands on it. And generally at a damn good price. We absolutely bend over backwards for people to make this experience (especially for the first time buyer) as smooth as possible. Unfortunately in this particular situation we were dealing with somebody who is just completely unreasonable and I knew it from day one. And I absolutely knew when this went South he would be all over the Internet blasting us, and quite honestly I'm fine with it. You read one knuckle heads review and then every other single review is a five star positive you pretty much know what's what if you have half a brain. The only person I'm probably more upset with right now is myself for not following my instinct from day one with this particular customer.

Anyhow, sorry this was a bit long-winded. Maybe you'll be relieved to know it might be a bit before I get back on here lol... cuz I'm slammed but I do intend to get my brother Mark involved in this community to help answer any questions they may have for us. Please be easy on him (lol) he's pretty much a greenhorn in this business but has been a huge asset to me so far. If he doesn't have immediate answers he will come to me to get them. As mentioned we are a Stern and JJP distributor and have new in the box games in stock ready to ship. A few more Star Wars LE's remain. In stock games ship same day. We offer many promotions and as you saw from the previous thread we fully insure games third party at no cost to you so we're not relying on the complete garbage carrier insurance or their delays if there actually is a real situation where there is damage. We've had to use it and it is smooth as butter.

One last thank you to all of you again. Hope everybody has a great rest of their week!

Kurt Hill
www.hemispheresamusements.com

Wow. As a small business owner myself, I TOTALLY get the situation. This is why home building vendors don't usually deal with the public. Way too much hassle, and the rules are different for big ticket items vs (for example) a Yamaha stereo bought at the nearest big box store. What a pain - for both of you.

I will say though that this post from Kurt makes me want to buy from him. Good distributors are hard to find, in any industry.

Yup me too. Next time I want to buy a machine I think Kurt will be my first call. Seems like a very cool and honest dude.

Speaking as a customer of Kurt's, he's been fantastic to work with. He takes customer service very seriously. It's appreciated and respected. I would certainly recommend.

Two thumbs up! While the Customers intent was to "Warn" people...(Really just to bitch about his Money), the thread has resulted in a positive for Hemispheres and New Customers!!

Am I the only one that thought this thread might be in regards to a Rush pinball machine?

Great response from (very obviously) a great guy running an honest company. Full marks to you sir!

You now understand exactly how I feel about PayPus. They are just as bad as your "customer" allowing this sort of rubbish to even occur in the first place.

Anyway, at the end of the day, it seems you will get more value from this hiccup than negative vibes so good for you.

PayPal is great if you're a buyer , but the more I hear about the hassles as a vendor, the more I want to find alternatives for big ticket items...

I wish it was! Where do you think the name of my business came from?

Thanks you guys. If you're ever ready to pull the trigger new or used I will absolutely give you outstanding service and the best possible prices and promos we can offer. I absolutely positively take customer service seriously. It's hands down my biggest pet peeve in this country. I can't stand getting run through the mill of an automated system just to get some idiot whos program by management to say what you want to hear but clearly doesn't know jack about what you're trying to get done. If you dial my number you're going to get me. If you get my voicemail you'll get a call back within moments. If you email me you're going to I got a response prompt. It's what I expect when I shop.

If you haven't run into a clown like this trust me when you do you have absolutely zero protection. Unless you want to lose your ass don't take PayPal. They will never be taken again for my business. The funny thing is that I've never taken it for big-ticket items because I've always known the buyer has all the rights the seller has none. And I told PayPal it if it wasn't for us you guys wouldn't even have a job because without the products being sold there is nothing. Unfortunately the one time I got my arm twisted into doing it I got Joe.... and we all know how Joe rolls. Honestly, I can't tell you how relieved I am I don't have to deal with him anymore. I seriously wish dealers had a black list because I would throw him at the top. I'm not joking when I tell you I wouldn't want anybody to go through what I did with this dude. Nobody will want to deal with this guy. I guarantee you... nobody. And unfortunately PayPal doesn't care. They're just a bunch of puppets on the phone. Unless you're willing to lose whatever money you collected don't use them. I was fortunate enough to know I was getting my goods back and that's why I cut the ties after I knew it was on the way back. I knew I wouldn't win PayPal and I didn't care... I just wanted my game back and this guy to be gone.

Just adding to the praises of Hemispheres - My story is that I bought my very first two pinball machines from Kurt back in 1997 at his original location. One machine was brand new & the other a clean 'used' machine. (don't think the term HUO was invented yet ) I remember not knowing anything about pinball & was hesitant to buy due to this. He showed me around the store as I tried numerous games while he explained the features, what to shoot for, etc. He didn't place any pressure on me to buy, and actually warned me that these require a bit of upkeep. He assured me that if I ran into issues or had any questions, he'd be happy to assist. I ultimately selected two machines, he loaded up my truck and went over with me how to install the legs and setup the games when I got home. I only had to call him once after that with a basic issue on one of the machines and he gladly walked me through the fix just as he promised. I left pinball for a decade or so following a divorce, but when I got back into it, (& joined Pinside) I reached back out to Kurt and bought a restored machine from him. His work was so good that when I put the 20+ year old machine in my new line up, most of my non-pinball friends couldn't tell that it wasn't brand new, like my other machines.

Long story short - Kurt is honest, has integrity and can be counted on long after the sale. And from what I've seen in other instances, (pinball & otherwise) that type of business person appears to be a dying breed...

I recently bought a WOZRR from Kurt and was very pleased with how he did business. When I was shopping around last year, Kurt was the only distributor to tell me to wait a few weeks for a 2.0 even though he could have sold me one of the the older versions that day. Using a reputable shipper was also important to him even if that meant cutting into his margin a bit. It made it to Colorado without issue. After the sale he helped me with a couple small issues that were quickly resolved.

I bought a ghostbusters from him. Being aware of the ghosting issues, he made sure there were none before picking up the machine from Stern. To this day, still absolutely no ghosting. Kurt is the cream of the crop when it comes to ensuring as perfect of a game as he can get.

You should send an email to other distributors with a heads up about this guy. I'd imagine you know who most of them are.

In my industry, we share this kind of information all the time. Most of my competitors, I'm very friendly with. We don't want to see each other get financially hurt.

Thank you, your words are greatly appreciated. Although you're really starting to show my age LMAO..... Ugh.... where does the time go

Again guys really appreciated. It really makes the long hours worth it when I see stuff like this.

I turned down a lot of sales because of that. But in my book it paid off because I only had one limited edition with ghosting. I try to stay away from GB for a while and stocked nothing. I knew Stern would resolve it I just told everybody that would call me hang tight don't by now and unfortunately I hated doing it but I did not want the headaches and the hassles. Who does?

I already did that. Unfortunately I don't know all the dealers but the ones I do deal with I absolutely notified them. I wouldn't want to see any of them hurt either. The good news is I finally got someone with some decision making authority at PayPal and got all my fees back. I was relentless. The bottom tier puppets are a joke. I finally got ahold of a woman who spoke English clear as a bell out of Nebraska and she was awesome. Very apologetic and said she don't know why this went the way it went but this is a case that we will absolutely review. Apparently they've been having a lot of issues with sellers bailing out because of the fact that as a seller you literally have almost no rights when these buyers lock up the funds like this. It is a very automated process and there's very little human decision-making involved. She said there's a computer system that basically takes in all the documentation it gets reviewed briefly but it's pretty regimented. That's a joke! I was relentless and it took me almost an hour on the phone to finally get to her and that was my 3rd attempt over the weeks to get to somebody who actually knew their @$$ from a hole in the ground over there. I'm sure I could probably fight the carrier for mishandling the box but quite honestly, I don't care. I'm just happy to be done and over with with this guy.

What kind of business are you in that you take PayPal?

I pave roads, parking lots, driveways, tennis courts, running tracks and snowplow in the winter. I only accept checks.

Kurt, thank you for posting what happened. You're the kind of businessman I want to deal with.
Cheers.

We're here if you need ANYTHING. Customer or not. We are always willing to help. We are only 20 minutes from Stern.