just that there way over priced.

Just saw an ad for a Data East Star Wars for $6295. More than double what the fair market price on that pin should be. More than a NIB Stern Pro model pinball machine. They really show how out of touch they are with the current market.

Does he owe the CC co. money?
Ask him to provide proof that your funds were never transferred to his account.
Call the CC co. yourself and ask if the store was paid for merchandise.
-Mike

OMG

Call your cc company and tell them to deny the charge ASAP. Find another distributor of. Sounds like this guys not worth the hassle.

Would be the best 4 hour and 8 min drive I would ever take.

Rottenchester

Do a chargeback and Move on. He didnt deliver the product, he has zero chance on fighting it.

That's a bunch of crap man! If your charge went through, he got your money and it's in his bank account! Your bank told you it posted! He's 100% lying when he says his Credit card folks are holding your money hostage because of a bad credit card transaction he was part of. He's using your money to do something else with other than supply you your game that you fully paid for with a credit card.

I'd also contact Stern directly and file a complaint with them as well. You have all the proof you need to show the purchase in full. I'd also disclose any e-mails from Pinball Alley aka Marlen Amusements to Stern also. They certainly don't want a bad reputation with regards to their products and these distributors are representing them since Stern doesn't sell direct.

Asbsolute HORSESHIT! I'd call him and say look I'm coming to get my pinball machine. When I get there you either give it to me or issue me a full refund or there will be hell to pay!

Ask any pinball vendor here to chime in. Once a charge goes through on your credit card it settles in his bank account within 24 hours!

Sorry to hear about your problem with this transaction. It would probably be a good idea to issue a chargeback.

[email protected] is their e-mail. I plan on sending an e-mail in support of your claim.

Way way overpriced.

As with every story there are two sides. Mr. Hunt did present his credit card and it was charged, except the monies never made it to us. Instead it was and still is being held by a company called Merchant Services out of Florida. They claim that due to COVID-19, all their employees were furloughed, and their "customer service" was moved offshore. They also claimed that this was the start of the "issues". I have assured Mr. Hunt that either way he will be made whole. I encouraged him to file a chargeback with his credit card company and that I would support his claim. We have been around for 79 years and always strive to do the best we can by our customers. We sell in excess of 250 pinballs a year. You will not find anyone who will claim any unscrupulous behavior. I am proud of that. This is a poor situation that I have never encountered before. We have filed legal actions against Merchant Services We have also moved our credit card services to Citizens bank who does their own exchanges to avoid this from ever happening again. I have apologized and again offer my apologies to Mr. Hunt. It is a terrible situation. I have offered him a sizable discount to make up for it. In the end, and unfortunately nothing moves as fast as we would like. Being in New York during the virus crisis has made things move even slower.

- Pinball Alley

It's official now , BlackBeard has made it clear .!! J/K

Well, hopefully it all works out now.

As I am sure you can understand, the guy just wants his machine. This is all part of the COVID 19 issues that have come up, but this is on your end, not his.

This is a flat out lie! your credit card services or merchant services is just the software portion of the transaction that communicates between the buyer & seller banks to authorize the charge. The buyer....you is purchasing an item for said price from the seller. The merchant uses software that communicates and authorizes the charge....first they notify the sellers bank of the transaction and then authorize your bank you are buying said item and the price. The merchant is given and Authorization Code this all happens within seconds once your card is swiped or keyed in manually. The charge itself is finalized once that merchant closes his credit card batch....which is typically done daily & that money deposits in their bank account within 24 hours. The merchant services company does not receive any money except the credit card fee typically 3% of the purchase price. He's saying it's his former Merchant Services that is holding the funds from him because of another bad credit card transaction. Does that make sense at all to you? If it does you might be a little naive. He's flying by the seat of his pants...that much is obvious...robbing Peter to pay Paul so to speak to keep his business financially afloat. He's blaming it on the Merchant Services portion of his business. So for his so called mistake by his own admission....he wants you to basically jump through hoops to fix a wrong that is no fault of your own. Pretty pathetic.....this guy should immediately be on the phone with his bank & former merchant services vendor asking them what he can do on his end to resolve this issue and get this buyer his pinball machine. Instead he's asking you to do all the legwork. RIDICULOUS! The fact that this guy has been in business for 79 years is irrelevant! Doing business like this they might not make to 80 years. Pinball Alley Your Despicable!

Why would I lie? We acknowledge the problem and are working diligently to correct it. The customer has done nothing wrong but we didn't either. This will get sorted out. This is what happens when American companies outsource work and train improperly on the job. I have learned a great deal of things during this unfortunate event. Not the least of which is to buy American and use companies who hire American. Believe me, I want to get Mr. Hunt out of this ASAP. Merchant Services wants to keep him in purely to apply pressure. I cannot wait to get them in the courtroom. You don't know me and while you are entitled to your opinion it could not be further from the truth.

- Pinball Alley

Problem is on Jerry's end--buyer Hunt should have his pin. End of story.

Interestingly, Jerry said he was forwarding my e-mail to his lawyer "for the file" . What a brilliant move. Pay your lawyer to review an e-mail from someone looking to make things right.

Psst, pinball alley: your prices of used pins are INSANE.

$2895 for a Flash?!

Absurd.

Go on cl in the Rochester area to see this jokers pricing.

We specialize in high end restorations. Our new products are priced within manufacturers specifications. We sold 283 pinballs in 2019. We post our prices clearly and never pressure sell anyone. BTW the Flash is sold. It is pristine and the new customer is thrilled. We also provide a one year complete warranty. Included is delivery and set-up within a 250 mile radius. Many of our restorations feature NOS playfields. We work on a 12% mark up. We pay our employees a real living wage. We are not cheap and we never said we were. Our goal is to restore pinballs to as close to their original condition as possible. We also restore antique games , jukeboxes and other old electronics. Many of our customers are repeat customers. We take great pride in our work and I would put it up against any other restorer anywhere. Admittedly, we are a niche provider and we like it that way.

-Pinball Alley

I'd encourage everyone to check out the Instagram of their painter Ashley - she does some amazing restoration work. https://www.instagram.com/ludwigsynopsis/

Thank you for recognizing Ashley. She is one of our stars and her work is amazing!

It was posted on Craiglist 4 days ago.

You mean to tell me someone saw the ad for a $2,895.00 Flash within the last 4 days, rushed in and bought it?

Something sounds fishy.

Lol it is getting delivered next week. It is very nice. it is a great game. We all know that 99% of the Flash pinballs are hammered. This one was an HUO that didn't get played. We did our usual restoration and it looks brand new. Feel free to come in next week it will be gone. It is paid for and ready to go. IMHO it is worth it. I like the game (Maybe I am a little old school. Been doing this for 43 years.) and she is perfect. The customer is thrilled. he has been looking for a "nice" Flash for a long time. The game may not be your cup of tea but thankfully the pinball world has wonderous variety and a broad range of taste to match.
(BTW it was on our website longer than 4 days

Well congrats on the sale. I too love the title.

I guess the gripe most of us have with retailers is that the prices charged inflate the prices for us collectors.

I don't know how many times i've heard, when attempting to purchase a pin from a non collector: "well ebay/pinball alley/pinball shoppe" sells gorgar for $2985.00", which we all know is absurd.

Rant over.

Not necessarily. Our company switched credit card processing services a while back. We were promised lower fees and overall costs, and we fell for it. The new company sucked, and at times held payments to us. Nothing like this length of time, but they held a payment of over $20K and it took days for them to transfer the funds to us after our client's card was charged.
It took our office manager weeks of emails and phone calls to get us out of our contract with that bunch of scam artists and back to our original service.
Not saying I know what happened here, just that the card processing service CAN hold a payment, without reason.
If you are tempted to change your service, check them out carefully. There are some scammy ones out there.

I thought you said Flash was sold? Also "paid for and ready to go".

I just received your response to my message now:
432AACB4-3986-41B2-A7B1-260FA47245C9 (resized).png

They probably have 20 Flash games!

Remind me not to get on Blackbeard's bad side. I have too many secrets!

Same pics/same ad.

I could be so much more productive at work than i am currently, without pinside & pinball.

That is not my message!
We are delivering it Thursday.

Goddammit!!

Don’t try to pin this On Lauren she’s doing the best she can!

Lauren ain’t no patsy!!

Seems cruel.

Blackbeard - maybe send another message to Lauren and let her know she’s about to get fired over a harmless mistake in the middle of a pandemic.

Oh what a tangled web we weave...

Are we going to have to do a godfundme for Albany Lauren?

Since you got her fired you better contribute Blackbird. And you can be damn sure we are gonna price police the shit out of your donation so don't be cheap.

location pinball can't come back soon enough... y'all are dying for something to do

Yeah it's rough. Great time for nurturing petty grudges though.

I'm currently running an internet search on some guy who welched on a deal 6 months ago. Oh and I'm working on the license plate of the guy who cut me off last week.

I'll report back on the results.

Harmless? Sounds like a someone trying to grind an ax and catch someone in a lie publicly just got someone fired. Not so harmless.

I’m on Lauren’s side in all this.

Not until their comments in this thread.

I'm ready to hire her to work on my FH!

I have been admiring Ashley's touch ups for years now. Great skills

He’s now changed his post to not seem harsh about the desire to fire Lauren.

I don’t care about the original drama - this place will never have my business based on how he treats his employees.

I doubt “Lauren” is the one behind posting his ad.

Seems obvious the whole Lauren story is a coverup for his lie about selling that overpriced Flash.