I would say the onus on the customer all depends on how that customer was acquired. If this is one of the non-pinheads they found by advertising in the WB book, a different level of service would be expected by them, they are basically buying a consumer good (if their eyes).

If Jack wants to expand the market by doing things like promoting in movie books, he has to handle them differently.

I don't doubt for a second this customer is a pill to deal with, but besides the handful of us nuts, the types of people out there willing to drop $10k for a pinball are ones that are going to expect white glove service.

I just bought a lazy-boy chair for about $1500, and paid an additional $150 for an extended service contract on it. I have young children, and was concerned about damage from them using the motor excessively or damage to the leather.

That was my option to buy that additional service. They love to sell it because it is high margin, but in this case I wanted it.

It would probably be wise for pin re-sellers to come up with their own program, explaining to the customer these are commercial products meant to go on location and serviced by professionals. There is a manufacturers warranty, but if they are not comfortable working on their machine (basically anything that involves pulling the glass) they can buy extended service for 10% of the sales price.

At least offer a solution.

Thanks for stopping in, Jack.

I think most of the comments in this thread aren't as much critical of how you do things, as they are a commentary on what it will take to expand the market and the expectations of those new buyers.

Unless you're going to include this quote:

Just food for thought.

My business partner lives across the country from me. He would probably buy a pinball from me talking about it all the time, but he has NO INTEREST in pulling the glass to do anything. So I've advised him to not buy one. All I'm saying is that there is probably a decent amount of people like that out there.

Reminds me of salt water aquariums. Lots of people like them, but most don't want to do the work, so they go on a service agreement with someone who comes once a week to maintain it. Obviously they pay for that service.