Nothing official announced that I know of (and knowing Stern never will be) but for what it's worth I've heard the same thing from sources that are usually very accurate.

http://www.funindustries.com

I'm not shit talking Fun, don't know a thing about them. Could be an upgrade for all I know. But probably something to pay attention to in case it's not.

Also found this page that lists more company info:

http://www.casinovendors.com/vendor/fun-industries-inc/

Headquarters
627 15th Avenue
East Moline, Illinois 61244

Toll Free: (800) 747-1144
Phone: (309) 755-5021
Fax: (309) 755-1684
Website: www.funindustries.com
Email: [email protected]

Upper Management: Mr. Bud Johnston, President
[email protected]
Mr. Mike Talbot, Director of Operations
[email protected]

Additional Information
Date Established: January, 1992

I agree that as a buyer, I would be disappointed with that insert.
Still guys, everyone seems to be reacting as though this is the new standard, and all play fields are being sent out like this.

I had a WOZ arrive with issues so bad, it was returned and refunded.
Same thing with Full Throttle.

You have to take some of these issues as one-offs, until proven otherwise.

Huh?

Am I the only one that thinks the crack in the R is the best looking insert there? It's cracked, but you can barely see it. That spider arrow looks like crap.

Exactly, as long as people pay the rediculous prices Stern is asking, then they will just continue to bend us over and laugh.

Who ever is running the quality department should be fired. Unless, of course, Gary is at the end of line to busy counting $

Stern reminds me of 1970's GM. Sure the quality sucks, but they're making money hand over fist. The consumer knows the product sucks, but doesn't really have any better options. We need a pinball version of Honda and Toyota.

Yeah, the insert crazing is ridiculous. My NIB Met Pro has the same thing on every insert. Apparently it's too much to ask for clearish inserts anymore. They honestly appear cloudy and opaque. The flasher insert in the middle of the pops on my old TAF was clear like a diamond in comparison.

So here's my question. What did the OPs distributor say about this and what is stern doing. Updates OP?

Stern is not TS or ISO rated so they don't need to be compliant. I don't think they issue too many 8-D Corrective Action Reports.

I definitely don't think that. Shit happens. It's weak that someone looked at that and said "eh, good enough" and sent it out anyways, but for all we know it looked okay at the factory and went bad in transit.

The question is what now? This world of crazy expensive collector games means expectations are higher than they were in the pure commercial days. That's how Stern can sell $500 toppers and hugely marked up LEs, so it's not like they're not benefitting.

I think everyone just expects that something like this is made right (from any company).

Sad part is when/if Star Wars gets made, everyone is going to forget about this and the Premium will be $7500+, and dedicated fanboys/people who put emotion ahead of logic will continue to buy. I'd be willing to believe some people right here in this very thread lamenting and bemoaning Stern will continue to buy.

Stop buying their product, and Stern will have to pay attention. I sold off all my Sterns and am now in the B/W class of 1992-1995 pins. The B/W games I have with 21 years minimum worth of age look better.

wth hell does everyone always say "contact your distributor" the distributor is the "middle man" everyone knows where the problems lay so why not contact stern directly? If I buy a new car and it ends up being a pos I'm calling the damn company who made it AND the people who sold it
I have called stern out many times on things and usually get a response from jody or Gary himself. The day I can't speak with "STERN" myself is the day I stop buying STERN products

Because Stern doesn't give a shit

Carguments were ruled out of Pinside in 2015; please stop.

Probably reallocated QC resources to LCD development team so we can finally enter the modern age.

Check out this video of the Stern plant where Gomez says they go over EVERY playfield twice and make sure there are no issues before using it:

This is making me think about canceling my LE and wait on a premium after all this shit shakes out.

Which i should do anyhow, I love that slimer green though!

Wow the president of a company is a liar...shocking!!!

I can sympathize with the OP, and would probably be just as upset if it were my own fresh NIB game exhibiting such symptoms (disclaimer: I'm a long ways off from a NIB experience).

But for a little perspective, allow me to share a photo I took during the factory tour just two weeks ago:

GBpopped_(resized).jpg

Sometimes shit just happens. Like when you receive and check a playfield and deem it ready for use. It goes all the way through the assembly process above and below, works through all the checks, and just when it's about to get put in the cabinet.... POW! (or "pop" in this case) goes a random insert...!

Of course this happened and was caught in the factory. But now all that prep and assembly labor and time was essentially for naught, and more time and labor will be spent stripping and reclaiming the parts which will themselves likely not all remain "as new" once it's done.

If this can happen in the factory, I imagine it could happen in the box, or anywhere down the line.

Pray that it doesn't, know that it could, and hope it's the exception and taken care of. Shit happens. But this particular kind only exists in the first world... life will go on.

Best of luck to the OP, I hope Stern makes things right for you.

I don't think it's a simple fix with the LEDs. I'm just trying to live with it, but it does make me wonder what the hell is up with QC. I guess it could be worse, but not what you expect from a 5k plus product.

What's perfectly clear here is that SOMEONE at Stern is responsible and needs to pay dearly!
This could never have happened in transit or anytime after the game left the factory.
(Yes, I'm being sarcastic)

Oh Pinside; will there ever be a rainbow?

This is why I swore off nib sterns a couple of years ago as well as any other games made by Stern under another manufacturers name.

Maybe I don't understand your problem, but I thought you were being sarcastic in your previous post. Are you saying that the red led under the playfield was just put in the wrong slot? There isn't a colored insert on mine..

image_(resized).jpeg

image_(resized).jpeg

Yeah I kind of wish I had waited and found a nice used Met Pro instead of going NIB but I didn't even realize that heavily crazed inserts were a thing at the time.

Not to mention the clear starting to chip off the drain hole area within 100 plays, still waiting for a response from the distributor on that.

So yeah, "underwhelmed and disappointed" is not how Stern should want their new customers to feel if they expect them to buy again.

What's needed is another higher-volume competitor that can keep them honest. Maybe Heighway in a few years...

I will keep my 350,000 mile 70's GM but thanks anyway. No, this is not a cargument. Ha ha.

image_(resized).jpeg

Now I'm a little freaked out to buy a nib met pro I've had my eye on. Anyone have any of these issues with recent met pros?

Not sure where you live... but that didn't work in Oregon.
You have to take the dealership to court. Not the company.
I even went so far to complain to Dodge about piss poor manufacturing QA check... and they said "we empower our dealers to handle these problems".. and told me to go pound sand. As a result; I'm not buying any more Chrysler products. Let them pound sand trying to get my biz back.

So no; I don't buy your argument.

Still Stern has issues... and they still sell out of product. Who's really at fault here?

I see the issue with the R but what I am seeing are marks from the molding process. Here is GB.

image_(resized).jpeg

image_(resized).jpeg

Sorry, thought it was something else. My GB is good. Keep following up with your distributor.

Call 1-800-KICKERS and talk to a person. Email is fine for follow-up, but you need to call first. Good luck. Stay calm and you'll come out ahead in the long run.

Total horseshit. You're defending a possibility, this has become the new norm and it is not acceptable. Your statement lets them off the hook. Again not acceptable.

I stopped buying NIB due to these kind of issues.

My HUO TWD bugged me as having to go round the game and stick down edges of decals is not acceptable.

So, due to prices and these kind of issues I no longer buy NIB.

The distributor is the best way to go with a playfield issue. From my own experience Stern can be less than willing to deal directly with customers that have playfield issues. In my case Stern did replace my warped MET playfield, but it took me over 3 months to convince them to.

Rob

That´s the best Gary Stern together with his underpaid Latinos will do for you.....

The quality goes down while the price goes up!

The day Stern got rid of Joe Blackwell is when QA took a turn for the worse.

Based on the original presented photos, I am quite sure that Stern will correct the matter with a replacement SM VE playfield for this game. That particular PF should not have been used in production, as it was defective similar to late model BLY/WMS game rejects.

Things do happen, but people should not be getting out the pitchforks quite yet.

Sadly this is the only way this trend of quality continuing on a downward spiral while prices continue to rise will end. Stern don't give a crap what we think but they certainly care what our wallets think.

Could the container ride overseas be the problem? Have people in the states and Canada been reporting the same issues...just curious?

JJP did show that the market would pay for $7.5k to $9k games. However, did Stern then up their game and increase quality as well as value to match JJP? Did Stern finally include an LCD, put shakers in all LE's, offer high quality powder coats, put out regular substantial code updates, put real black glasses in all LE, offer an invisiglass / PDI type glass in LE's, offer 100% RGB lighting in all premiums / LE, etc? No, they didn't do any of those things and instead keep figuring out where they can cut and then increase the cost of games.

What Stern did would be like Ford today taking a look at GM and thinking "Well, GM is charging $55k for their Corvette, let's charge the same price for a basic Mustang GT, figure out some additional cost savings and yeah I'm sure people will be willing to pay the price". That would never fly but it happens here as like you said as long as people keep slapping down the money nothing will change.

As for this issue I hope it's just a one off and that the OP get's either a new populated playfield or a replacement game. When spending $5k-$9k on a pinball machine the last thing owners should have to worry about are playfield issues. No matter the company having the problem (JJP has had their fair share of playfield issues as well in the past) you would think playfields of all things is one thing that would be right.

I'm with you. Check out my collection.

Stern does care. They've always stepped in to help me with NIB games I've bought - no call to distributor...just direct contact.

Does that mean they are perfect? Absolutely not.

You have to consider that Stern is selling a product that will have some amount of error in it. Just like JJP and Spooky. Manufacturing results in some amount of error. It's just a fact of life.

Back in the day, this error was likely overlooked because the machines were immediately thrust into a money earning roll at just about any kind of location you can imagine. Most operators can barely be bothered to replace a light bulb let alone care about a cosmetic issue (and most customers playing a game would never begin to look for errors, even on a new machine).

The home collector adds in a whole new layer to this process. Now, I don't disagree with the OP bring upset... Seems legit... But you have to imagine that Stern must have to deal with some over the top nit picking. It's very hard to tell - over the Internet - (a) how someone approached Stern and (b) what the actual problem was and (c) if the problem is really that bad.

the fact that home buyers are now shelling out $5-9k for new games certainly has changed the game... And manufacturers are really under the spotlight.

Operators in general taking much better care of their games than in the past.

The entertainment market demands it, or the operators folded. Hence, the few primary operators that remained in business through the 2000s and the same ones that are making some revenue now continue the cause.

Venues are no longer arcades they are "barcades". If the games won't play properly they patrons won't come back and go somewhere else where the operators do care, because choices are now back on the rise.