Not sure of the exact reason behind the delays, but there are August build GB LEs with confirmed clearcoat issues, so this is not yet resolved.

Maybe...

I'm not sure what you are insinuating with this post. I don't disagree with anything Ripleyyy stated.

His distributor and Stern made sure he was satisfied. And it sounds like he is.

It's good that your distributor took care of you .... even if they are legally obliged, they could have drawn it out and made it very difficult.

But on the other hand, this is completely fucked. Stern are hanging their distributors / resellers out to dry ....

On a personal note, aside from not wanting to buy machines with a bunch of issues, made on the cheap, for an inflated price, I don't want to buy a brand which treats their network of sellers like dirt.

@kapsreiter ... if Stern are saying LEs (and only LEs) by January '17, that means they'll drag it on further, almost certainly. Once people have waited that long, most will feel too defeated if further delays are inflicted. Eventually a good number will give up. Also farcical that they're trying to get away with only replacing LE pfs and not Pro or Premium.

Hi All,
It is my impression from talking with Stern that dragging their feet is the furthest thing on their minds. They seem very eager to resolve this problem correctly and get it behind them ASAP. The problem is that pinball production is complex and scheduling is difficult as production is still behind. They are being very responsive to distribution. They understand that a good name and consumer confidence is important.

-J

he was satisfied with what his distributor did.... what did Stern do in his situation ? are you sure you read his post.

Sold a new pin to the distributor at a reduced cost to replace the damaged one, so he isn't out thousands when he replaced Ripleyyy's machine.

As a business, you wouldn't have any distributors if you made them eat the cost of your (or your suppliers) mistakes.

I have a Pro with ghosting. I am on a 'list' with my distributor. I'm pretty confident my distributor and Stern will make sure I am satisfied.

The hearsay and speculation in this thread about how terrible Stern is with replacing damaged goods is laughable, since all evidence from previous miss steps says otherwise.

Oh, Pinside!

Talk about hearsay...

Nowhere in RipleYYY's reply did he mention Stern stepped up. He said his distro took care of him. You took it upon yourself to make assumptions and then present it as if Stern took care of him...

Indeed, quite the contrary.

A few (handful) of people in Canada and the US are saying positive things.

From EU, the little we have heard has been awful, and otherwise silence, with Stern stone walling for months now.

Australia I don't think there's been any news either.

I'm basing my assumption on the many times Stern (and their distributor network) has stepped up in the past, and is currently doing so for their customers.

Could you find me some examples of Stern screwing their distributors? You must have many examples to come to that conclusion.

Ghostbusters, SMVE, and the various other affected games this year would seem like a pretty relevant example ...

They refused to even reply to most resellers and some distributors for months and months, and now the only solid info we have is that they intend to replace LE playfields from January next year (maybe).

So Stern does not have a program set up in conjunction with their distributors to replace said play fields for end customers.

Seems legit. I'm glad you cleared everything up.

Point. Proven.

Absolutely not, as this now 82 page thread would tend to suggest.

Until Stern promise publicly to replace all of the effected Pro, Premium, LE and VE machines or populated PFs with the problems, there isn't one. They haven't, and I don't expect them to.

What we've heard so far is that they intend to do it for GB LEs and then try to skip over the rest ... and their ETA even for that is 4 months hence.

So no examples of Stern screwing their distributors over. Thought so.

So, when people get their play fields replaced, they actually won't be? I'm not part of the program like my distributor told me and many others in this thread?

Cool.

Let me know what your distributor tells you to fix your game.

Sort of like no examples from you of Stern stepping up to the plate.

rubberducks,
have you talked to your supplier or distro in the UK?

got a batman LE and GB Premium on order.

My GB is due to arrive at the end of the month and if its got these issues it'll be going right back for refund until its clear that these issues are resolved.

Neil.

can you imagine trying to ship a play field from Europe or Australia back to the US?

it will be a nightmare, not to mention duties in both direction.

Neil

I don't have one. I just find it extraordinary that people are giving Stern a pass on this when they're clearly trying to sweep this appalling saga under the rug. They shouldn't be allowed to get away with it. Were this one of the new upstarts in the industry, some on Pinside would likely be waging a concerted campaign to have the staff / management lynched.

I did potentially dodge a bullet though in March / April. I wanted an ST Premium, but decided to buy a HUO older build date one instead, as I didn't trust even '15 build Sterns to not have significant issues, and knew their construction had been cheapened ... and this was before the chickens came home to roost, so to speak.

There's no way in hell they'll do that. Though duties (as they're replacement parts) should be waived.

They could ship dozens (if not hundreds) of built up, boxed PFs over in containers with new games. But it simply wouldn't be worth shipping the old ones back. They'd need to write them off ... which I'm doubtful they'd do.

Most likely it will fall to distributors / resellers to rebuild PFs. Even in Europe, as opposed to UK/AU, there are relatively few people that do this on a professional basis, and those that do charge (rightly) large sums to do it given how time consuming it is on relatively complex modern games. Are Stern going to pick up that bill? Doubtful.

This is likely why they're trying to get away with just replacing GB LEs.

Let's see. Personally?

- Met Pro play field no cost to replace poor clear (first run). No swap, just a spare play field.
- kiss head decals due to peeling
- 3 xmen LE aux boards
- 2 roll over switch boards for TWD
- new dmd due to solid lines in acdc Pre
- and now in on the GB program for my Pro

They have fixed every issue I have had with their pins since I first started buying them.

As a distributor I never felt like I was going to get "screwed" by Stern over anything. I would be surprised if any would come forward and say they feared that they would get screwed. Stern is a good company with good conscientious employees. Unfortunately a small percentage of machines ran into issues. The question is if Stern is going to stand behind their product. This isn't like religion where we stand by our faith and wait until after we die to see if it worked out. Most of us will live long enough to see the outcome of the great playfield debacle of 2016. The hardest part is that it will take some patience as this appears to be a longer fix than anyone wanted. Luckily the playfield issues are not the kind that stops you from playing the game. If I were a betting man, I would bet that all the owners of the pinballs that have defective issues with new Stern pinballs will have firm and reasonable answers before the year end. Not perfect. I am sure some will flame on. Being a recent cancer survivor has taught me about what is important. That would be living well. I love pinball and have spent most of my life working with them. I really believe that GB is a true classic. Given the perspective that passing time grants us, I think most will be glad they hung onto their GB's. For all these issue, like the man says "Time will tell."

Happy Labor Day All!
-J

I find it comical that you are demanding proof from those that are questioning your obvious speculation. What proof do you have in this particular situation or are we all to take your speculation as gospel?

Of All the time people waste posting negative assumptions on pinside a small part could be spent calling stern themselves instead of calling your distributor.

Tbh if all of the affected people so far spent this week calling stern directly and asking what is being done re a program I bet stern would move a lot faster and maybe even issue a statement.

It seems most of the noise is coming from people who don't even own a ghosted machine. I guess they just love drama.

I guess we can just wait and see what happens. You believe Stern will screw their distributors and customers, I believe they won't.

I'll admit I was wrong if that happens. Will you?

No doubt.

no they didnt.... what are u on about?

no, they just want affected loyal customers to be looked after in a timely manner...

hope that noise, is not affecting you too much.

I don't own one because I don't want the drama of having to make sure my playfield will be dealt with in a timely manner or the drama of knowing what Stern considers an issue great enough to be part of the program.

As someone that had to deal with that on a prior NIB purchase, different manufacturer, the drama is real and it sucks.

If Stern does indeed replace all the defective playfields, that would sure be showing up CGC that didn't.

Isn't it a little ironic that CGC are owned by Churchill Cabinet, the company that at least until recently made Stern's playfields?

Wow, I feel bad for people who are spending big time cash for games and having issues. I've bought 3 NIB games, 2 of which had issues, but I talked with Stern first and they have always stepped up and fixed my issues in coordination with my distributor. Hopefully they do the same for all of those affected and more importantly I hope Stern can figure out what's going on. It sure does suck getting a new game though and having issues. Me, I'm out of room and money for pinball machines so I won't be buying anything new for a while. Once my line up gets stale, if Stern wants my money they better step up their quality. Good luck to both sides.

I probably have the worst ghosting and chipping of any GBLE owner here.

I know for a fact Stern is working hard on this and will make it right. I also know it will take time.

My game plays great and it's a lot of fun. Knowing all the plays and usage will be on it during this time, and I'll get a perfect condition playfield at a later date, is good enough for me. It doesn't affect how it plays and I know it will be resolved.

It is only going to prove how good of a company Stern is in the long run, and make people more confident buying their machines knowing they will make it right.

Together with a friend I operate a few machines on location (not for a living, only a side project) here in Norway, and we received a GoT Premium with a bad playfield. I took photos and videos, and sent them to our distributor, who passed it on to Stern. Was informed soon after that our videos were the topic for a QA meeting that same day. We haven't received a replacement playfield yet, but I do not doubt that we will be taken care of, based on the feedback we have gotten.

Does Ghosbusters have its game-code all done yet, or just like the majority of Stern latest releases, the code will never be finished?

No it's not completely polished, but as it stands the code is very good and definitely much better than most Stern games out of the box.

When did you get the game?

So it sounds like all games currently being made are having problems, no exceptions?

Where have you been? Stern's been finishing code lately. Hell, even the long dead Avengers got an update.

"Finished" and "good" are separate concepts .

While some games have clearly unfinished code, just having uninspired, buggy or uninteresting code that is "done" has been more common lately.

I don't agree. Stern has shown more recently they update code even long after a game is out of production.

If you're referring to KISS, it's coming. There will be other updates as well.

I see some people saying "oh don't worry Stern will take care of us" I think their tunes will change when they get their new play fields and have to repopulate it themselves and or fubar their toys and cabinets doing so in the process of switching them out. Sorry but if you told me I could have A GBLE for a 1000 off but would have to redo a play field.......riiiiiiiiiiiight.

They send you a new populated playfield. Talked to Gary myself.

If I get a bad one my distributor will come and take out the old one and put in the new one for me even.

The program is to have you send in your populated playfield and upon it arriving at Stern they send you a fully populated playfield.

Oh we know!

So you get a new populated play field? Good to know. What happens if you drop it or mess up your cabinet while you are in the process of swapping it out though? Is it then your fault you messed up your cab or new play field? I for see many an issue with this.

I'd say yes it is his fault.

I think there's only three cables to disconnect with SPIKE.

Two people can put a playfield in or take one out in seconds.

We are very lucky, I would totally trust Nitro to sort me out. I assume that is your guy based on where you live. I don't think there are too many places as awesome as Nitro.

I am following this thread closely not because I currently have skin in the game as I don't own any of the affected machines. I do however own quite a few older Sterns (without issues). I hope Stern resolves this satisfactorily for everyone as how they deal with this will determine whether or not I buy a NIB. I was already to buy a NIB GB or TWD until this blew up. This is keeping my cash on the sideline. I had never bought NIB before and am quite contented to buy used (knowing what I am getting) but after years I was finally wanting to get something new while it was still new (incomplete code and all).

This is why Stern needs quicker and more timely disclosure when there are issues (or perceived issues) as I am sure there are many people like me. They need better PR advice - quick and immediate public response is ALWAYS better as it stops speculation. They don't have to be up front about everything they just need to assure their audience that they are addressing the issues and sending a few private emails or phone calls is not the way to do it. The mysterious "program" sounds like something only a government agency could cook up.

With all the contradictory information provided by various pinsiders - I don't know what to believe. But Stern could set the record straight if they wanted to.

Signed an attentive service oriented prospective client.

Of course it's your fault if you drop your playfield or mess up your cabinet putting it in...

I thought that you were accusing Ripleyy of telling some BS story. That is just not true. If you meant it otherwise (as I can also imagine) then I apologise for misinterpreting your post.

Stern did nothing by the way. The distributor has sold the machine to an operator that does not care much for the ghosting at a reduced price. He had to swallow the cost of that himself.

You could elaborate on what made the playfield 'bad'?

Rob