Quoted from PeterG:

Is it just bad wood?

Quoted from someoneelse:

Back on topic - look what a fellow pinhead in Germany experienced while unboxing his new GB LE...a new highlight from Sterns QC department...

Quoted from Mitch:

I told everyone that it took 2 days for them to appear on mine. Good luck with stern I haven't heard anything in 3 weeks. My distributor keeps saying they are looking into it.

Quoted from Manic:

Maybe not so odd. Initially seems well applied then the vibration of gameplay starts the lifting. OR maybe the inserts start moving a bit and it stresses the CC.
A little different than CV. My close-out had it right out of the box but it never got any worse either...my NGG close-out also had just a touch out of the box and both of those were done at around the same time. So Churchill had a bit of an issue for that very small time period.

Quoted from Concretehardt:

What date is stamped on your playfield? I havnt seen anything but the ones dated in May doing this.

Quoted from Banker:

I am sure stern will recup it's cost from the play field manufacturer .

Quoted from Kiwipinhead:

Thats exactly what I was afraid of... CC is starting to crack and will start chipping off...

Quoted from clg:

Here is an email our distributor sent out from Stern on this. Nothing to worry about this is just playfield dimpling.
You have told me that some customers are concerned about dimples in the game playfields.
As noted on the cover of our game manuals, each pinball machine has unique characteristics that make it a one of a kind American made product. Each machine will have variations in appearance resulting from differences in the machine’s particular wood parts, individual silk screened art and mechanical assemblies.
The wood utilized by us and our former competitors for playfields over the last decades has been made to the same specifications, as has the “hardcoat” coating. The routing, sanding, finishing, etc., processes utilized to manufacture playfields over those decades have not changed.
Some dimpling of playfields is to be expected. I have seen this throughout my pinball career. A steel ball is harder than wood and its coating, and the softer materials will always yield. The coating was developed a few decades ago to protect the playfield from the ball wearing through the art to bare wood as was typical in older games. The coating was not developed to prevent dimpling. Although referred to as a “hardcoat”, the coating actually was developed to be flexible enough to flex with the playfield as the wood expands and contracts with changes in the humidity and wood moisture content. Further, too hard a coating will crack during playfield assembly at the point of part insertion and rollover slot fluting. With the thicker application as desired for collector models, the coating itself will show more dimples, and the desired higher gloss of the coating makes dimples more visible. The layout of some game designs may result in more dimples in a particular area, and the art design of some playfield areas may make dimples more noticeable. My experience has shown over time the surface will level with game play, reducing dimple visibility.
I refer you to discussions on the Pinside forum. I am attaching addresses for posts relative to a Funhouse and an original Medieval Madness, confirming that playfields will dimple but level with play.
The Pinside posts I refer to can be found at:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/my-funhouse-beauty-queen-has-dimples#post-999911
and
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/playfield-dimple-reality-check
Thank you for bringing your customers’ concern to my attention. Please assure your customers that initial dimpling is normal in pinball and is within our quality parameters.
Best regards,
Gary
P.S. Ghostbusters is ranked #1 pinball in both the August RePlay Magazine poll and the August Playmeter Magazine poll.
Gary Stern
President
Stern Pinball, Inc.
2001 Lunt Avenue
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007-5605 USA
Tel: +1-708-786-7036 Fax: +1-708-345-7813
Mobile: +1-847-278-1398
[email protected]
http://www.sternpinball.com

Quoted from AstonEnthusiast:

Just unboxed our GBLE and have several immediate issues. Ghosting on the PKE inserts, slimer smashes into undesirable mechs on the play field and someone scratched the shit out of the play field prior to shipping. It's covered in scratches. Absolutely unacceptable and thanks KPG for the reassuring words. Sent info to distributor and Stern awaiting a reply on next steps to resolve.

Quoted from AstonEnthusiast:

Manufacture date is July 14. Play field date is July 7. Distributor has been super awesome, and have not received a response from Stern yet after submitting a video of Slimer tripping over the play field like a drunk high school kid under the bleachers.
No rusty balls used by me. Threw out the crap Stern balls and used Silverjets from day one. I would imagine during the testing and burn in phase they used some crap balls and an abrasive towel or buffing compound during manufacturing resulting in the scratches.
One would think that Stern would knock it out of the park on any machine, let alone LE's that are cleared with JT's signature.
The game is a blast, but want to hold off on adding any mods until I understand what the solution will be. Anything short of a populated play field swap would be no bueno IMO.

Quoted from OLDPINGUY:

I have heard Stern is working on an Official Announcement to address this in the very near future.....Stay Tuned! Dont Touch that dial!

Quoted from MrMoose:

I believe that you are correct. Build date on this game: 1 August. Work in progress…

Quoted from MapleSyrup:

What I'm saying is that IF IT IS merely a cosmetic issue, then it IS a non issue for me. Some people are more particular about such things. That's understandable too.
I'm saying, let's not assume it's beyond cosmetic, just because a few people (who may not know what they're talking about?!!) have concluded that the issue leads to serious problems.
Either way, THIS absolutely is the place to discuss it. I'm merely recommending a more considered reaction. We don't need to ready the lifeboats just yet.

Quoted from flashinstinct:

Just to reinforce for MapleSyrup

Quoted from CNKay:

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.

Quoted from ledge:

its defective, why wont the distro accept it back.
he sold a defective product. isnt that contravening consumer laws?/and rights.

Quoted from kpg:

Playfield self-destruction mode: Initiated
Subject: Ghostbusters LE pinball
Suspect: Stern Pinball, Inc
Victim: KPG

Check out how this thing is peeling like a scab now, and how the clear coat is coming off as easy as a pair of undies in a brothel:

Quoted from golfingdad1:

Almost wanting to cancel, what ?
Why in hell would you not at least postpone unfortunately I need to call my distributor today and do exactly that.
Cmon Stern, you guys sure fucked this one up.

Quoted from Concretehardt:

I talked to my distro again today as my GBLE was supposed to have shipped from the factory yesterday. I was informed that the last run of GBLE is on hold for a couple weeks (including my game), I am happy to wait! Hopefully they have a fix in the works and don't want to ship more games until it is in place.

Quoted from DeadFlipTrip:Deleted post

Quoted from pinballrockstar:

Ok f@ck it...i am doing this...draindraindrain!
I get nowhere! Love the machine but it is not playable?

Quoted from o-din:

No, it was a fresh out of the box pro. It was one of the easiest recent games I played to keep the ball in play. I hit everything. Fortunately the ball finally hopped over the right flipper because I was getting seriously bored.

Quoted from OLDPINGUY:

Mine is Ghost free, no issues, and am aware of 8 others in Florida reported to be fine.
Please see the Poll created, to see that on GB, by those choosing to respond, it is 50% roughly the last time I checked.

Quoted from smokedog:

I would like a bunch of populated play fields for new games for $1000. Could you point out where to buy them? Thanks in advance.
That way, I can just keep my Pro on route, not send my old play field back, keep it in for 4 or 5 years, then when I sell the game put the new one in. Sounds like a great plan for me!

Quoted from MikeS:

Did you guys even read Trent's post? The $5K is just a hold and your card won't be charged unless there's an issue.

Quoted from MikeS:

His post said it wouldn't get charged. He might run it similar to what a hotel does when you check in just to make sure the card is good and approved for that amount just in case. If you're worried about it you can always sign up for a 0% introductory card and use it for this very purpose.

Quoted from Concretehardt:

From what I can tell they are not making GBLE right now so hopefully when they start running them again a fix will be in place.

Quoted from NeilMcRae:

two months in and nothing from them and apparently still duff machines being shipped. less convinced they are going to do anything.

Quoted from Kiwipinhead:

The longer Stern takes, the more ghosting inserts I will have, found 2 more now on mine

Quoted from robotron:

funny how you have to be the "lucky one"
if you got no issues on your 8000 pin!

Quoted from Flato:

"the program" is actually only replacing non ghosting playfields this way Stern has to replace way less saving money and telling everyone ghosting was by design

Quoted from Butch2099:

I just saw a new Premium with a sliver of ghosting in the Tobins insert. Slimer broke along with magna slings..

Quoted from newpinbin:

Metallic made in April.

Quoted from phyreteam:

16 Games/66 balls on a Premium, playfield date stamped Dec-07/2016.