Contact your distributor first. That is what they are there for. Patrick and Chas, etc. are not the right people to contact about cosmetic issues like this imo. They can help you troubleshoot and fix things on your machines, help out with broken parts/plastics. They are not going to be able to authorize you a whole new playfield, or new pin, or comment on Stern policy with an issue like this.

Distributors are Stern's customers. They are the ones placing the orders. Where most people buy one or two pins off of a distrib, a distrib buys 10, 20 100, whatever from Stern. They can talk to the sales guys and managers and can get a lot more traction in Stern with issues like this. A good distributor will be on this and will hear something about it long before any one person emailing Stern tech support would.

I also wouldn't hold my breath about some sort of big announcement from Stern. They might, I know nothing about what they are thinking, but historically I don't remember it happening. Not with the magnet boards in Met, Aux boards in X-men LE, cannon motors in AC/DC. They might post a service bulletin on their own website, but they aren't in the habit of taking out press releases to highlight problems.

Stern builds the machines.
Distributors buy the machines from Stern.
The end user buys the machines from the distributor.

Distributors get a discount from Stern, partly because they are supposed to be handling the end user relationship.

So while yes, Stern is the one providing the warranty, you have to go through the distributor in order to get the warranty service, just like you would have to go through a local dealer if you need service on a car. In some cases for small parts Stern may allow you to skip the distributor, but for things like boards, etc. they generally like you to go through the distrib.

That sucks. Don't know who your distrib is, but my guess is having a good one who is going to go to bat for you is a big part of the battle and depending on the distrib I would take what they say with a grain of salt. Might be worth emailing Stern (through Chas/Patrick maybe?) directly before giving up.