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Wrong....they seemed to have changed their policies. I had the $110 GI lighting board on my AC/DC go out one month after warranty and they made me pay for it myself. Trent tried to get them to cover it too and they refused. I found the culprit to be that they had stuffed the wiring to one bulb off to the side during assembly and the insulation got worn thru. During play the wired contacted and shorted the board. We sent them pics and they still refused.

I am surprised to hear this. In my experience, Pat Powers at Stern Tech Support has always gone out of his way to ensure that Stern stands behind their products. That is one reason that I am a repeat Stern customer.

Stern has no responsibility to sell extra parts for a pinball machine for the purpose of modding, or having "spares" (to mod).
And if they are trying to pull a few extra bucks, or make special editions from selling custom painted Sparkys, why would they even think of it?
Sounds like custom parts that are proven to be broken are replaced without issue, sometimes free.
Sux you can't get what you want, but they never promised anyone the ability to mod.

I was gonna down thumb the post because that's fuxing stoopid of Stern and makes me worry about the STLE.
But I didn't want to affect your karma as it's good info.

that's a pretty dickish move on their part.

I gotta say; that Stern proably makes a margin on all these parts; They really need to stop all of this alienating the enthusiast crap that Gary started a few years ago.
Embrace the Enthusiast crowd.... make money of them at 8k/machine... and then on "spare parts". seems like a no brainer to me.

This is another reason why I am leery of Stern machines. When something breaks, can you get parts to fix it. Im at a point right now where I am bored of the W/B games which I can get parts for but Stern you cannot and JJP you cant either. I just bought a POTC from a really great guy on this group and I wonder what I will do when something breaks. It is a HUO machine in great shape now so hopefully nothing will.

I am starting to see the hole being punched through my second plate, the original owner was able to get one and I installed it.
I am the second owner and none of the suppliers carry this part so I will have to make one up.
I am done buying Stern games, if a game specific part breaks you are SOL.
They can keep their games and their parts.

It wasn't cheap either. Around $50. I wonder if some kind of flat metal cliffy could protect that part and leave the magnet functioning...
I'm assuming the magnet was flush with the PF when it wore through your second plate. Is that correct?

Yes, I set it flush.
I sent the first one to Cliffy the problem is most guys don't have the ability to rivet then there is the decal.
I suppose if enough people asked he would cut some.
50 bucks, WOW! That is a poke in the whiskers for a small piece of metal and a sticker.
No wonder you don't see these games on location anymore.

Guys Stern will get you parts for anything broken.

Don't tempt me...

No Stress! I can't win them all. But I do want to make sure the pinball community gets taken care of.

JJ

Bingo! I had modified a apron for a bigger laser area and wanted to have a replacement factory one in case I ever decided to sell it. I had to send pictures of my apron damage and the serial number for the privilege to buy a replacement. Definitely tight on the LE parts. I'm glad though someone can't build number 801.

But if you could build an LE out of a premium for cheaper Stern is losing money.

Just a heads up, but my local distributors parts counter has all of the above for sale. Multiples. And parts for pretty much every other stern out there as well. So maybe it was not available, but it is now. Or if you were trying to buy from your local distributor maybe it was a issue between them and Stern.

Anyone 3D printing sparkies yet?