It's as hard as driving to the courthouse. As Vid pointed out a while back, I am sure they have been advised by legal counsel not to discuss it. Once they publicly acknowledge the issue, they open themselves up for all sorts of claims. I'll even bet when they do start addressing the issue, it will be done verbally, and individually. They don't want to write an email or letter that will make it's way to social media. If I make a post that says they are aware and looking into the issue, they are not liable because they cannot control what I post. If they put something in writing, then folks have a lot of ammo. This goes back to what I said before about social media....people posting about the issue brought it to a head with Stern, and are forcing them to correct it. But the same social media will severely hinder any fix, because they are never dealing with one person anymore....they are dealing with dozens.

I think there is an impact on Stern but I think the LE's are the exception to these cancelled orders (however many there really are). More people will risk GBLE then if it was just a base game. How many others that don't read pinside are oblivious to the ghosting issues going on? Now if I had took the plunge and purchased an LE and was waiting for it...I would not cancel my order as even with the known ghosting issues the machine is worth more defective then what I would have paid. I was going to purchase a NIB GB Premium but will hold off now till this situation gets resolved. I might just wait now for a HUO example so I can inspect the game prior to purchase.

I disagree. They have basically said this to people, it has been reported here and the topic is still going strong.

It will not become a nonissue until they solve the problem and know how they are going to take care of customers who are experiencing these issues moving forward. Even then, whether or not it's a nonissue depends on how they take care of the customers.

Well if they made a public statement like that then they would be admitting that they know they have a problem and don't have it resolved but are continuing to produce machines knowing they have a problem with a large percentage of those machines being manufactured. Seems like a lose lose situation to me. I don't think Stern can financially afford to shut the line down until this problem is solved vs producing the product and handle the issues down the road. I would bet that they have decided it is much more cost effective to go on with business as usual handle the known issues case by case and come up with a solution as quick as possible to these problem playfields.

Official Ghostbusters Pinball "Thinking Cap".
Exclusive offer from Stern, $500.
Limited Edition with extra clear coat coming soon for owners, no charge.

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Agree 100%. I've never met Jody and maybe he is a nice guy in person but the way he comes across on the Stern facebook page and the Jack Danger Videos he seems very arrogant, immature and not at all what PR and customer relations should be about. I'm just glad they haven't allowed him to respond to the complaints. Stern would be dead in the water for sure.

I just put my GB Pro order on HOLD with my distributor.
I didn't want to cancel it completely, as I love the game and hope Stern works things out in the coming months. I would rather wait it out than roll the dice.

I thought the cases were isolated until reading this thread.

We have put mylar over some of our inserts to stop the clear coat chipping. So far so good. The clear coat has not lifted any further since we have put the mylar on. Most of our inserts were ghosted straight out of the box. We are in Australia and waxed the playfield before we used the machine.

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Please remember that the pictures make the inserts look a lot worse than they really are. we like our machines to look and play as good as possible. We are not too bothered about the ghosting inserts but we are bothered if the clear starts cracking.

What I do know is Stern is about to experience a broomstick up their arse, with loss of general sales.
The word is spreading beyond PinSide.
Distributors are trying to calm the waters.

Absolutely true. Our distro has done everything they can to keep us happy and as always we are very happy with their service and will always remain loyal to them. The issue lies with Stern and is for Stern to address. I am sure that Stern is looking to find a solution and I am hoping that the solution suits us all. Time will tell.

Curious, what have they done? Is this regarding GB specifically?

It is not fair to the Distro. Distro's commercial decisions have nothing to do with Stern. I am not sure if the issue lies only with GB. We only have an issue with GBLE.

I get it but when you say your Distro has done everything they can to keep you happy, you've peaked my curiosity as to what it is they've actually done for you. Maybe my Distro should or can be doing the same.

arent they obligated to give a full refund ? they sold the machine...

what are distributors obligations in regards to manufacturing defects ? just pass on info to Stern about it?. and just act as a go-between ?

I've been told the distributor has a lot more pull to get things resolved than the actual consumer so I've always assumed they are just a go-between but then this will be my first NIB and purchase from a distributor.

It does seem that the distributor would bare all the responsibility for any defects but then again I'm starting to think a lot is backwards in the world of pinball.

You may want to call your distributors and ask this..."out of all the LE's you have shipped how many are reported ghosting?" If you look on here it looks like about 10 or so folks are speaking of it. So I have spoken to 2 distributors and both stated they had not gotten one call or complaint about it after shipping LE and Pro models. So it makes me ponder, is it just a couple batches of playfields, or a small % of units overall are just badly produced? Either way I find it interesting to figure out how bad it is. A few folks on here with the issue seems a lot, but maybe the reality is like 1 in 10 LE units have this issue. Any thoughts?

Wow..that picture of the pf convinced me, this is a big f-ing deal. The ghosting is one thing but the clear chipping off is something else all together..it's basically game over for that pf. That pf needs to come out at some point. This will also majorly affect resale value. Also not many people can swap a palyfield, I sure as hell don't.

clear has been chipping off since 88, nothing to see here...move along

Which one if your NIB Stern games started chipping after 150 games? Oh never mind you don't own any.

Your distro should always want to look after you. Once you are addicted to pinball most people cannot stop at one machine and your distro knows that. Collectively the distros will definitely have more pull than us as a single customer. This is why I believe that Stern will be forced to do something. Stern are normally fantastic at resolving issues and I honestly cannot see this as being any different. It may take some time. The only machine we have ever received new without issues has been TWDLE. What a fantastic pinball experience. One out of seven!

The world of pinball is definitely very different! Lots of fun too.

OK..my bad, Without the half-dozen sarcasm signs it was hard to see that. Sorry.

I must lead a charmed pinball life, my first NIB, Mustang Pro was perfect right out of the box and still is, the same goes for my 2nd NIB, GB Pro. So I'm 2 for 2 with NIB games. But I'm really sorry to hear of others troubles.

That is some funny stuff right there! lol

We do not mind. They have to come a long way to Australia and it is all part of the fun for us! Most of the issues have been easy to fix. eg. X-men 3 aux boards and 1 year later the machine is fantastic. It has run perfectly since then. Who was to know that the cycle rate in Aus would blow the transistors.

I feel like crying in my cheerios

Beautiful pin. Great fun!

No ghosting out of box.

Need the left ramp protector. Air balls off of those posts are unreal.

I'll post pics and review this thing later. Off to play.

Future ghosting or not, so happy I decided to keep it.

So happy you are into it!

Enjoy it as others are...its one special game, and in my house and friends, chosen as the most "fun"
from all the games I have!

Glad to see that you are loving it! That is great news and what pinball is all about.

My wife and our family love ours. We can live with some ghosting and clearcoat issues for now the machine is that good! We are sure that Stern will come good in time.

Great to hear Ice

I contacted our distributor to see where ours are, he is getting back to me tomorrow.... it's in the country... somewhere

I think the clearcoat is chipping off your sarcasm detector.

I actually used this situation last night as an example in the marketing class I teach about how challenging it can be for companies to "get it right" when problems arise. It was a great case study bc Stern is still in that brief window where consumers are frustrated but optimistic, yet it looks like there are potentially a lot of complications behind the scenes (technical, legal, etc) that may be limiting their response.

If anyone cares what a bunch of MBA students in CT think, they all pretty much felt that transparency was still the best option at this point, assuming Stern is working towards a resolution. Let consumers know that they've been heard and then keep them up to date on expected timelines for addressing the concerns.

Exactly they can save my order - but not for much longer. I just keep reading about crappy switches - and other issues they wore off that compulsive I need to have it... Now all I think about is linera code and always having to adjust the really expensive game.

very cool to use Stern as your case study.

Tonight's assignment - have them read Pinside to see what perspective people with a vested interest in Stern & pinball have. How many of them supported stringing Stern up? My guess is not many, yet we've had a few here. I'd just like to see them tarred and feathered until they resolve the issue and compensate the impacted Owners. The students might judge the structural and physical aspects of the insert issues as more of a cosmetic thing. This is where reading some of posts explain that the problems are real, they can be bad and sometimes get relly bad.

Also apllicable to your students is the legal perspective. Stern's warranty is a piece of swiss cheese - it does not recognize these issues as faulty so no remediation would be required. Instead, it is important to keep Stern's operating practices in perspective and to recognize that Stern has always stood behind their pinball machines and has gone way beyond the legal requirements to make things right for their customers. There is no reason to assume this time will be different.

There is still hope for the future....hope these kids keep it that way in the big bad world out there.
Transparency is the only way to go. I will keep faith as long as they inform me. Even if they decide not to do anything in the end and can give me a reasonable explanation, I will feel better than this silence.

Just put a deposit on a Hobbit, decided to avoid anymore Stern's until things get better.

Smart move. I would insta-cancel my GB order if I had one.

This is the current problem at hand , I'm glad your class thinks that transparency is the best route , yay class, but where is it ? Zero word from stern on how it will handled or even the fact that they HAVE a problem. Speculation on how stern should handle it and how they actally handle are two different things.

Stern is obviously silent on Pinside, but are those affected not hearing anything via distributors?

Does a month of getting the runaround, ignored emails and no offer of a resolution count?

Sometimes, silence is deafening..........

Then it looks like I got the desired result. FYI I don't own any pinball machines, they own me. By the looks of things I'm not alone.

And sorry, I only let my friends or people I trust come over or know my exact location.

I'm not sure anybody could find me anyway.

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Their silence stopped me from getting a NIB TWD, got a used one instead. Also shifted my thoughts of a Metallica over to a Hobbit....Guess their silence cost 2 sales right there. I'm happy though, TWD LE is sweet and the Hobbit looks amazing too. So thank you Stern for your silence on these defective playfields.

Mid-cycle updates are not their forte... I wouldn't expect an updates until they have a 'here are your options' discussion. We won't have that until Stern has figured out playfields that don't ghost 3 weeks after being manufactured

OK I now heard rumor that the imported plastics from China had new employees that missed the step of ultrasonic cleaning process. So in bags of a100 inserts they left factory with the mold release agent on. Now while careful wipe down of pf does in fact happen before the paint process it is only IPA as fact that with all the ridiculous EPA laws that is the preferred solvent of choice. But compared to many other solvents really not the solvent to be used. And of course to make matters worse the clear coat does not like to stick to the new plastics which are still outgassing. And that was due to a change in clear coat formula due to more EPA regulations.

Don't be mad at Stern. Be mad at the EPA.

A made up public service message from a fan of imron, lacquer paint, xylene and chrome.

damn you clean air act! bring back acid rain and lead paint so the pinball industry doesn't have to change! think of the children!!

Todays paper: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-pollution-deaths-20160810-snap-story.html

"More than 2,000 Southern Californians die early each year from polluted air, and the region would benefit the most of anywhere in the country from reducing ozone and fine particle pollution below current federal limits, a new study has found."

So quickly do people people forget...again.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-nib-never-again
245 posts of fun, read them.
Lots of JJP shenanigans as well, in alternative threads.
More see saw.

If people took the time to understand what can happen with pinball machines, they would be less apt to look like a$$clowns.
The GB Pinball "thinking cap" is still available for $500 from Stern for anyone that needs one.

Remember I never condemn a person for complaining, only for lack of logic of "this problem has never happened before" and similar nonsense as a means of purchase defense, as the knowledge exists for education across the spectrum of this industry.

Don't say "pull my finger" and then say that it was not that you that farted.
Half the posts in this thread are exactly this point.

If it truly is a new problem, everybody should know.

So the puck just keeps getting passed from Stern to playfield manufacture now to a Chinese company and the EPA wow we got a conspiracy on our hands who knows maybe aliens are behind the whole thing

I once outgassed......had to blame it on the dog.