Ffs really ? Call your distro. That's unacceptable

WOW - unbelievable! I'm a big Stern fan and have bought numerous NIB games from them, but have never seen or heard about a quality control oversight as bad as this.

This is just plain INEXCUSABLE!

Idk the mismatched side rails on a batch GE LE’s was pretty bonkers over the top too

Maybe when they get to $20k Ultra LE’s, you’ll get actual testing and QC.

Nah, they’ll still be built worse than the SAM era games.

Buuuut, keep pre-ordering these hyped up games!!!

Even with no ball trough, it's still better than GB.

Wasn't aware of these, but that's pretty bad too. Jeesh - c'mon Stern!

That’s shit. While it’s fantastic Stern is cranking stuff out, I can’t believe LE’s go through the door without even being play tested... which this clearly wasn’t because it’s impossible to even play.

This is an obvious FAIL on Stern's part, no question. But you don't know what happened in the factory. It's totally possible they play tested it, everything was fine EXCEPT the ball through, which was subsequently taken out, and obviously then they (probably another worker) packed the game when they shouldn't have.

It looks like the screw holes underneath the apron was used.
I am guessing you are right.

Wow...just Wow !!!!

On the plus side, it might be some time before there are any noticeable dimples or cracks in the clear coat.

I hear ya buddy! But at least they didn't stick a forklift thru it.

4/20 build... that explains it!

did Stern blame shipping?

How you are being chill right now is amazing - I'd be steaming.

Stern should be ashamed.

Crap happens. Contact the distributor. I'm sure it will be made right.

My guess is a non pinball person on the assembly line was told to get a ball trough for who knows what or why, and they grabbed one from a game heading to shipping, instead of where the ball troughs normally are. Hence it got missed because it already passed inspection.

Really weird. Really rare. And unfortunate. Stern cares and will set things right.

LTG : )

Can’t believe the forgot the ball trow!

Which once again begs the question “what are distributors for?”.

My guess is after they finished #199 Supreme game, they came up one ball trough short, and it being such an important release they didn't want to screw up, they simply "borrowed" yours with the knowledge they would have more in stock by the time you received your game.

It appears to be this metal guide that is missing, not the ball trough.

bracket (resized).JPG

Who is your distributor? I would like to avoid them in the future.

insult on top of injury

Exactly. The distributor is basically saying "I got my money, take your problems somewhere else". Complete dick move.

No shit. Let me click buy from your website! It’s 2018!

Not to be blunt, but find another distributor for next game. My disty (Mike @ Automated) would be all over this if it happened. Would never pass you off to Stern like that.

Wow. Not sure what the bigger fail is in this thread. Stern missing an obvious part of a game or a distributor that doesn't service his customers. Shoot some of the larger distributors have parts on hand and I'd be surprised if they wouldn't have overnighted you the parts you needed to get your game up and running while they fought with Stern to get things resolved. Especially for an LE buyer.

i can understand your frustration. but let's be realistic. this isn't the biggest mess-up in the course of western civilization. error's happen, it's part of life. as lloyd pointed out, stern cares and right's things when they screw up. you'll get the new part, screw it in, and all will be right with the world. not to mention forgotten.

no, it's not the biggest mess-up, however it is still unacceptable

how can they claim that they test every single machine and then have something like this happen. there's no way that they ran any balls through the game (I would think that's a test to make sure that the trough optos are functioning properly

additionally, this should have been caught prior to the apron being installed to the playfield assembly

Pretty easy.

Seeing it's a lane guide type wall. It got stopped in final testing. The part there was defective. Pulled. And for what ever reason someone forgot to put it a new one in. You can see the screw holes. something had been there.

The removed one most likely had a cosmetic issue. So no need to keep testing. It was noted and pulled and continued down the line past testing. It was there that a non pinball person, or human error, didn't get the new one in before boxing it up.

Unfortunate for the buyer. But Stern is on it after he contacted them.

LTG : )