I've been following this thread for a while now. Last friday I recieved my GBLE, got it set up on saturday and been playing since then (not that much, like a game or 20.....). Untill now so far as I can see my playfield is fine.... But your stories worry me (a lot). So for the most of you who have problems, they occure after about 3 days?

My GBLE is manufactured on 21 of may 2016. So I assume that it was part of the batch of pinball machines where the playfield with ghosting is seen. I still hope I'm one of the lucky ones with no ghosting issue's, but I will keep you informed.

I can't imagine Stern isn't going to do anything about this problem. I mean pinball machines are very expensive and here in Europe we pay like €9400,- to €9800,- for a limited edition...... Stern has to fix this!

I got my GBLE last week. Playing it for almost a week now (not a lot of games) and the playfield still looks ok......... (jinx, jinx). I live in Europe and have one of the machines from the first batch of GBLE's that came to Europe. So mine is one with potential ghosting problems..... My GBLE also has the "lower outlane wire", the balls sometimes just bumps over it......

Just like you I'm really wondering how many customers experience the playfield problems. For now I'm fine, but a bit uncertain about the comming weeks / months......

Maybe it's an idea to make a list of machines who are fine and not? That way we can put some presure on Stern together!

For you guys who allready have the ghosting and clearcoat rip problems, the least Stern could (must) do is send out a (good quality) replacement playfield!

So lets give it a try to make a list of machines with and (for now) without problems so we get an idea how big the problems are:

- GBLE #208 (Europe) -- No playfield problems untill now (22 july 2016)
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Will check immediadly when I'm home later today. Must be from the same batch, mine is produced in the same periode. Will also check the production date of the pinball, playfield and who verified it!

My GBLE is produced on 26 may 2016, playfield on 13 may 2016.... Unfortunately I have a small ghosting spot on my playfield now in the extra ball insert. Hopefully it doesn't get worse.....

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- GBLE #208 (Europe) -- factory date: may 26 2016 -- playfield date: may 13 2016 -- A (small) ghosting spot at the lower end of the extra ball insert
- GBLE #242 (Europe) -- Playfield problems (20 May 2016) - Inspected by Harold 9

If you look at it from Sterns point of view you're right. As a customer there is only one option and that is 3 including a full swap. If I buy a new television and there are a couple of dead pixels in the screen out of the box, I bring it back and ask for a new one, don't you? We don't except that kind of quality for a lets say $1200,- television..... What's the difference in buying a new pinball machine, in this case with play field issues?

Also people who are saying you knew the problems, you decided to buy anyway, so don't cry now? I can't believe that so many people here protect Stern. It doesn't even matter if somebody could have know about the problems, Stern delivers bad quality (play fields), Stern has to deliver and install a complete new playfield, it's a simple as that. It's there choice to lower production cost to try and make more profit....... Again the comparison with a tv: nobody would accept a new tv display (to build in yourself) if there where several dead pixels in your new lcd 4k TV.....

If you look to the past and what Stern did with production or design failures, I'm not optimistic that Stern will do a complete playfield swap though.... I'm not a lawyer, but it would be intersting to see what happens if affected customers would go the legal way and demand a acceptable sollution for this problem from Stern.

I know for a lot of us (myself included) a pinball machine is a more emotional purchase then (for example) a new tv. But let's be honest here, Stern is a profit driven company just like Samsung or LG (to stay in the TV business). If they deliver bad / unacceptable quality out of the box, they have to (partly) replace the product. We expect that from manufactures like Samsung and LG, why not form Stern?

Update on my machine with playfield issues, which could be interesting for European GBLE buyers with issues....

My playfield has 4 ghosting insert not out of the box, but after about 50 games. Made pictures and send them to my distributor and Stern. My distributor was on holiday for 4 weeks, got his reaction 2 days ago. From the pictures I send him 5 weeks ago my playfield situation was not bad enough he said. The same day I got a reaction from Stern (by e-mail) that my case was still under investigation and no decision was made yet..... Strange.... Mailed my distributor with Sterns reaction and asked him how it is possible that Stern tells me something different from his story. Still waiting on his answer.

I also send new pictures to the distributor and Stern, because my playfield has gotten worse in the last couple of weeks. Seems like the extra ball insert and the light storage facility insert are sinking into the playfield. If you rub over these insert with a finger you can feel that they are 'sunken'. The clear coat at bottom of the extra ball insert is cracked (you can feel that clearly if you go over it with a fingernail) and it seems the clear coat at the light storage facility insert is starting to crack (see pictures). Here a pictures taken yesterday, what do you think? Should my playfield be "in the program"?

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Good to get Your support

Sure I Will post the outcome when I get a response from my distributor and or Stern!

I'm really confident that my case Will meet the recruirements to be part of "the program". Like you said, if this playfield isn't bad enough to get a swap, which one is.....

Luckely in the meantime I can still play my GBLE for now, it's still a blast to play!

I asked him what the criteria's are to be considered for a playfield swap and why I would not meet these based on only the 4 ghosting inserts. Again he based that on pictures I send him 5 weeks ago, then the inserts had ghosting, but the clear coat wasn't cracked at that time. I assume that based on the cracked clear coat and the fact that the problems are obviously are getting worse I will get a playfield swap..... I post it here when I get an answer from him or maybe Stern.

Could be that Ripley has the same distributor as me, I'm not sure. His was a pro, right? I like my le and would like to keep it in my collection, the problem is that my distributor doesn't have a Le to replace mine with. For now I assume that my playfield will be replaced, if not then I think I have no other choice then to demand my money back or look at legal action. I don't want to go that way and I'm confident I haven't, but we will see.

I assume that distributors don't have anything to say about when the playfield meets the 'requirements' and when not. Hopefully stern will communicatie these criteria in the upcoming weeks, so we as "bad playfield customers" can review for our selfs if we're entitled to get a playfield swap.

Here in Europe from what I know, same situation. My GBLE playfield is very bad (4 ghosting inserts and cracked clear coat on one of them) Distributor and Stern know, but still no official statement from Stern..... According to my Distributor Gary is in Europe this week and he is meeting him, so hopefully they will work out a solution.

Stil can't believe that Stern is handling this mess like they do, really disappointing.......

My distributor called me yesterday. He met Gary in person on Sunday (Gary was in Europe he said). This is what Gary said about the issues in general, what also counts for my playfield:

- Stern will replace all the bad playfields, mine included. What he understood is that Stern will look at each case individually.....
- in January Stern will ship the new playfields to everyone, and not before. My distributor didn't mention how this is done, so I asked him (no answer yet). I assume that it's the same procedure as mentioned earlier: the customer gets a return box to send the bad playfield to stern, after they receive it, a new one is send to the owner. So a complete playfield swap.

So the program that is mentioned for the USA applies to European customers as well and I can't imagine the rest of the world. So everyone who has issues and haven't informed their distributor / seller, let them know!

Will Stern make this 'program' public in the upcoming month? Let's hope so!

Any news on playfield swaps happening in Europe? I got confirmed that my GBLE playfield would be swapped back in october 2016. Timeline then was February 2017.......... Stern is pushing the delivery of my replacement playfield back without any information about when it is really going to happen. This is so frustrating. The distributor offered me a NIB dialed in pro to trade with my GBLE as it is, but I'm not interested in a pro dialed in. So is there anybody in Europe which has their broken playfield replaced, or heared when it is going to happen?