Quoted from PinballAlley:

I would agree with the statement "not all distributors seem to be equal." I think Stern took a big step forward when it decided to control who sells it's product. I think as time goes on, Stern will weed out the bad apples. One of the things that must be remembered is that this paradigm is new. Up until a few years ago the target market was primarily vendors. The conversion away from that has been done poorly.
How many people remember attempts using high end catalogs? Then big discount wholesale mega-stores. Then wild cat sellers (flippers, back yard dealers, box bouncers....). They all failed because they lacked one thing. There was no real support for the customer. It took far too long to embrace a dealer model that finally gave the end user a voice.
I am not sure what can be done about rising prices. If they effect sales enough , then it will be addressed. It might take the shape of a scaled down version. I am not sure that will ever come about. As I had previously mentioned, there are so many used titles selling for much higher. I think the real issue is about quality control and customer satisfaction. What can be done to give the end user a voice. I think that being heard would go a long way toward satisfaction.
I am a pinball seller. We restore many old titles but realize that new titles are very important to the future of this hobby. If you are a true hobbyist then you have to realize that Stern is very important. The used market could never support the current demand for pinball. The old Bally, Williams, Gottlieb, Data East (and so on) are becoming more challenging to restore as replacement parts are becoming furiously harder to procure.
As a dealer I would be willing to work toward helping bridge the gap. I can tell you all that it is extremely frustrating to read some of these issues. We (most dealers) want to see eager and happy customers. I feel like it is part of my responsibility to facilitate a good relationship between the end user and the manufacturer. Without getting into a bitch fest, with the idea of constructive and positive attempt to improve things: What do you want from the Dealers and from Stern?
-J

Quoted from BOBCADE:

I thought the Stern Store chatter was not directly affiliated with Stern rather some guy opening his own thing in PA.

Quoted from markmon:

Stern added those callous to the Le only on purpose. It's not an oversight and they are not interested in hearing people's opinions on what could be done to improve completed games. They have the old school game developer mentality that they create the games and you get to play them. If something is not finished then theyll eventually finish it to how they feel it should be finished.
Transformers and avengers have always been finished (released with all planned features and a wizard mode) . If you listen to Lonnie on transformers, he basically wanted the game to be the way it was.

Quoted from jackofdiamonds:

Stern=Data East
If you played pinball on route in the nineties you would remember that the B/W stuff was the best,The Data East games were always second rate and nobody dropped quarters into them unless the B/W stuff was broken or removed.B/W closes.All we are left with is the second rate Data East stuff.
Except now its called Stern.
And its 8k.And comes with incomplete software.

Quoted from jackofdiamonds:

Its my opinion.Gary stern was CEO of both Sega and data East.He brought all that with him.The art,the flipper mechs(BUZZZZZ).Pops ,all of it.A Stern pin is a 90s Data East pin.

Quoted from dzoomer:

Dude's a well known stern hater and broken record. Just look at his history.