Bingo...

As an early JJP supporter, I wasn’t pissed that he did a RRWOZ after getting my LE.
It looked uglier than the ECLE and was missing the sweet wood apron.
As a second game JJP supporter, the first Hobbit art was pretty disappointing and even after they lazily put the same image of Smaug in three places as a “free” upgrade to the pre-order guys, it still wasn’t a thematic slam dunk in my eyes.
10 months go by from that lukewarm Expo showing and I finally get my Smaug.
(Two weeks before all the factory fixes no less too! )

A few months later and Expo finally rolls around.
JJP announces a “Black Arrow” edition after their Dialed In presentation, which finally ditches the goblin nut-sack/Smaug from their respective cabs.
As a Hobbit fan, the Black Arrow edition is what I WANTED my game to look like all along.

Did I get that choice to switch after finally getting my game?
Nope.
Jack didn’t seem to care about my simple request and we haven’t spoken since.

So, for you guys throwing money his way today...

Don’t be surprised to see a POTC “Black Pearl” edition announcement next year after you get your games because, I can almost guarantee he’s already got it in the works.

WOZ had the same cab art so it wasn’t really a big deal.
DI hasn’t done it yet, and it’s been a full year.

POTC currently has lackluster “floaty head” cab art so yes, I’d expect they’d follow suit ala Hobbit and go for more “badassary” on a Black Pearl edition down the road.
Plus,
Now that the old pre-order system to save $1k is dead, it doesn’t really matter to anyone but those few folks like me that wanted a better art package from the get-go than what’s currently available.
Especially at these inflated prices.

No problem, glad I could help.
(“Party at Ground Zero” pirate edition TBD.)
Or,
You can do what I did fishbone.
Spend your hard earned $$$ on a TNA instead.
“And the world will turn to flowing pink vapor stew...”

Several things actually.
Everybody’s heard of Costco right?
They take pretty much everything back.
If you’re not happy 100% with a product they sell, you can bring it back, even without the original receipt, and even if it’s past what the manufacturer deems is “too late.”
It’s just how they roll.
Sooo,
Since I thought I was a “good” customer in JJP’s eyes being said early supporter in giving him not one, but TWO games worth of money before even seeing my first game, I thought my request did seem simple enough.
If he really cared about keeping me a buyer of his future games, he could’ve told my local distributor to switch out the machines (since the Smaug was technically a higher value game at the time.) and replace it with a Black Arrow edition when they were ready.
The local distro could’ve easily sold a sub 50 play Smaug for $7500 to any of his/her clientele (since they were still a scarce item) and I’d have the game I wanted the whole time.

But that didn’t happen.

I got to do ALL the legwork on selling my game (which I did...) and still never got the factory updates/fixes that went on the later models before the game sold.

Could I have used the $$$ to buy a Black Arrow edition? Sure.

But,
Why bother continuing to support someone that doesn’t seem to want to keep you as happy as possible in the first place?
(Especially after helping them literally start up a business?)

Plus,
It doesn’t matter which industry you are dealing with.
People send back food all the time in restaurants because they weren’t happy with the final product.
Stern (for example,) learned their lesson the hard way with GB and still took care of people’s games.
Even the vocal KPG got a new populated PF.
Some even got brand new machines.

It’s all in the eyes of the beholder I guess.
The good distributors will have your back most of the time but, since I went with JJP direct on both games, my “guy” was less than helpful in my case.

Good customer service/relations keeps people coming back, period.
Yes, even if you (the manufacturer) decide to keep raising prices for no apparent reason.

I didn’t say anything about that.
PF2K asked if I had any success with returning OTHER stuff not Pinball related and I answered him.
(Although, they did sell Sterns so you could have technically returned it past Stern’s warranty period if you wanted to.)

Yes, word for word.
Exactly what I was saying...
(This was sarcasm.)

You must be confusing me for half the guys on here losing their $#!t over 2mm of ghosted inserts, to which I give two f*cks about on my games.

Glad to see carguments back in the mix though.
Levi must be jazzed.

Maybe if I gave August Horch some startup money back in the day he would’ve been more accommodating?
Too bad I returned my time machine and everything else I ever bought to Costco to go and find out...

Haha, thanks RandomGuy for the bit of levity.

I just came into this thread originally saying (warning?) there will probably be a Black Pearl edition down the road similar to what they did for the Black Arrow edition, if current buyers were wanting more (themeatically) than what the current cabinet artwork is offering.
I then told a story...
Costco was later mentioned.
I am now known as the Freddy Kruger serial returner of all things on Pinside.
Great.

All I wanted was a Pepsi.