35

In 05 my Mustang was 35.

Anybody outside of US get their STLE yet?

Nope I heard shipping to Canada starts tomorrow, expect to see mine sometime late next week by the time it travels from Toronto to Vancouver.

Aussies should have hit then?

Really, I just called Starburst in Toronto yesterday and the sales director told me Stern confirmed the LE's will be shipping to Canada November 20th.

Thanks Quarter Grabber, the wait is killing me as it is. Looks like last week in November then. My luck I will get machine number 666 as well. LOL

Here is an email my distributor forwarded me an hour ago:

"11/22 – 30 Canada ST LE should be ready for pick-up?????

Jim Belt
Director of Distributor Sales
708-786-7039
[email protected]
630-212-0871 (cell)
Stern Pinball, Inc.
2020 Janice Avenue
Melrose Park, IL 60160"

I just don,t understand that is stern can make up to 50 games a day and the LE has been on the line for weeks and by the 20th it will have been even more time how can there only be 30 ready to go?And at that pace will it be many more weeks before we get ours in the States.Just thinking

must be issues in test and inspection departments

I guess the distributor ordered 30 games.

Posted on the Facebook!

IMG_3827864778788.jpeg

OH MAN, OH MAN!!!!!

Last word from my distributor was that the LE is going to ship to Belgium/Holland in 10 days, give or take.

That sounds right, about the same time they ship to Canada.

no, that is not a LE, it's a Pro

They do show a LE inside a box open. Although they do show a coin door with one slot so it can't be USA.

That is an LE inside the box.

Good Catch! So these are the international versions. Would that be a #245 in the last panel?

I thought we all knew Le's were delayed because of a part needed. I thought I read somewhere end of the month for USA.

No. I'm Paid in Full have been since the first announcement.
These "delays" are retarded - They've had a year to design it right and get their manufacturing line primed with parts. These delays are really nothing but human mistakes that could have been avoided had Stern spent any real time developing a capable team.

Shipping End of October; should have happened. No "oh... we forgot to order this part" or "oh, we didn't test the VUK" or whatever excuse you guys are giving them for the past.

If we were talking about a new formfactor or board set; I say sure... given them some slack. But clearly they are just lazy.

I can be patient for this, I'd rather the make sure it's out the door working correctly (code aside) than have them rush it out the door, I doubt they are being "lazy" about it and they are probably very busy there, things come up, shit happens, SR wasnt happy with the VUK and wants us to have something fully functional, if that takes a few extra weeks to implement then I'm perfectly ok with that.

Zitt, if you don't like the delay or product, cancel your order and buy something else. I'd rather they ship a correct game than a hurried one. No product is ever launched and released without some mistakes being made.

Everything Stern does is lazy.
Code, Marketing, Customer PR, innovation, waiting until last minute to switch back to old platforms.

I worked for manufacturing for YEARS... I can tell you there is no way my managers would tolerate "delays" because someone couldn't order parts for ontime delivery.

IF SR really did want a VUK redesign... why did they wait until last minute to test the feature?! Lazy.

This is my first and only NIB Stern... nothing they've done makes me want to be a repeat customer.

Yeah ... ok. sure. That makes sense. Let's go buy the overprised MMR with a never ending shipdate. Or a WOZLEv2.0 with a 2018 shipdate.

Products are launched on time all the time.
No wonder Stern is lazy... you guys give them passes for "making it right" when it never should have been broke in the first place.

Don't order a product from JJP then.

What do you mean "you guys"?

You are giving them a pass too. You aren't happy, but you haven't requested a refund.

Mine has left Stern, won't get it for at least another 2 weeks though

Zitt, new pin buying is clearly not for you. And let a little sunshine in your life.

My thoughts exactly. If a month delay is bugging some, I cant imagine years. I do have to agree a little bit with Zitt. It does come down to management. I myself have heard one too many excuses. Losers make excuses and winners make it happen. When I heard Ritchie talking about how he was not given any information on the movie and nothing but a script to work from initially. This is unacceptable. As a designer you need full access to film, script, etc. in order to fulfill a given release production date. I would have been blowing up executives shit in order to give Steve what he needed. Now this delay with a part? Ritchie also stated he designs pinballs starting with the LE's and then strips them down to create pro versions. Well if that were the case why are we waiting for parts??? I have a conspiracy theory that the projection laser needed to go through legal to get green light? Shiny projector with pane of glass to reflect? Anyway I love Ritchie but Stern needs to step it up to meet production deadlines and most important have a game that does not require tweaks and has complete code.

So you are privvy to Stern's production schedule for Star Trek? Mind posting it here? I'd like to understand just how bad this is.

The bitching and moaning about ship dates/delays here is getting silly. When a game is READY to be produced and shipped, it will be. No benefit to Stern or anyone to do otherwise. Nobody's life is going to be significantly impacted if a GAME (aka fancy toy) is going to arrive a few weeks later than some artificial ship date a Pinsider dreamed up based on third hand info and speculation.

When a game is READY to be produced and shipped, it will be

Such crap. When a manufacturer wants to hit back-to-school... they hit it.
I don't buy this "ready" bs. Delivery dates are known for product. They just don't CARE to ship. Why should they?
Competition doesn't exist. They've been supporting us for years with new designs when no one else would... so why should they change?

You guys are entitled to your opinions. So sorry that I'm pissed that these "leaders in pinball machines" are no better than the new companies. this "WE are stern" ego is just well... tiring.

This is still the only industry I know of where people pay for a product without seeing it, knowing it's flaws, or knowing when it'll ship. I don't pre-order a car... I don't preorder the nerf machine gun. Call it what you want... but this is a pre-order as there is no STOCK to order from.

Yes I'm guilty of not canceling my LE order... if it was ANY OTHER machine; I would have.

Great news

I sell new construction homes all to be built. Current deliveries, I am sold through August 2014...

Pinball is a botique market... nerf guns and cars are not (unless you want a special car). Stern will be lucky to sell 5000 star trek games over the next few years. If you don't like the business model, go out and get more people hooked on pinball so they can be manufactured like other 'mainstream' appliances and electronics.

Still haven't seen your evidence that the delivery dates were known (and therefore "missed"). And making pinball machines is not like making blue jeans for K-Mart's back-to-school sale.

Add all the other things that bother you (none of which apparently mattered when you placed an order for an eight thousand dollar toy) and you have vaulted on to the "Top Ten Pinside Hypocrites" list. Good job!

Ok. so.. the bank has paid you full retail price up front?
The bank or new owners don't have final right of refusal once they see the product?
No... not an apples to apples comparison.

I'm just saying that if you told your customers it'll be ready on Oct 21... or even implied it would. Your ass would be in a sling having to answer to them as to why the house isn't done. You certainly wouldn't allow your buyers to "drop the ball" and forget to order a dishwasher which needed to be installed by Oct 15th.

It's alright; I'm sure you don't have to worry about people coming out of the wood work to "forgive" your delays. That's exactly what is happening here. Everyone's saying... "they're good people; give them the time to make it right". When the reality is good people make and MEET commitments.

OMFG... Really? Pinball machines are the same thing. You have a bill of materials... you order that bill of materials. You order 1000s of inserts, pfs, coils, and then pay someone to assemble them. It's MANUFACTURING. Thousands of companies do it well... what makes pinball a more difficult market to deal with manufacturing?
Just because it's a toy makes it ok? Clearly I'm a minority because I care how I'm treated and don't mind calling Stern on their laziness. Whatever.

Did Stern have a published time schd for the release?

LOL- obviously not. They can't even be bothered to provide real documentation or videos of their machines in action.
There in lies the problem. No communication and it becomes acceptable business practice for the whole industry.

Well, Jersey Jack, Skit-B and others post here and keep us up to date....a bit...

I hear ya buddy. I understand your frustration, especially since this is your first new pin from Stern. This is a little unusual for Stern to be this late on delivering games. Usually they are very good at getting games out fast and on time. I can only guess that it's probably because they are really trying hard to get things right this time. People have been complaining about Stern rushing games out with sloppy QC.

From those pictures above it looks like the LEs are already being boxed up for shipping. USA customers may be getting their games late next week. Looks like this LE is going to have a single coin slot just like my Tron LE. Some people are going to be pissed but I don't really care about a coin door. Might be a good omen. Tron LE was huge hit for Stern. Maybe this one will too

All I can say is grab a beer and chill out. When you get your game it will be a great experience. I love NIB days!

Thanks. I think the concern I have is that If it were about QC... or bad code... then I'd be a little more tolerant. However, based upon what've heard from the haters here on pinside (of which I'm now one)... I have no faith that Stern is actually doing anything responsible here... more than just being lazy. I hope I'm just plainly wrong.

There is your first mistake, LOL. Don't listen to the haters. Iv'e bought five NIB Sterns and I have enjoyed them all. If I listened to the haters I would have never bought any of them and I would have missed out on some of the best games I have ever owned.

Of course making pinball machines is as easy as making blue jeans. That's why there are so many pinball manufactures in business these days.

You obviously don't understand. Just like you don't know what Stern's production schedule is.

If someone from Stern had said "thanks for your order - your machine will be delivered on <date>" and then they didn't, I'd agree with you for being upset. But that's not how it works.

Would you be happy with a product that was a piece of crap or didn't meet your expectations, but was delivered "on time"? Of course not. As far as Star Trek being "on time" the only schedule I've seen (since you don't seem to want to share the one you have) says "Winter 2013", so as far as I know deliveries are still on time.

I called Stern Wednesday and asked when my LE would ship and what was the delay? Response was redesign of the Warp issue and new parts had to be ordered. I was told the USA games would ship the week of the 25th. I guess we'll see.

I am still awaiting some what patiently......

I think I speak for all of us, We would rather have it right, then Quick and wrong.

But I'm ready for them to be shipping too! already got a large shipping list sent to them and our Freight Broker to ship.

JJ

Patience is a virtue young grasshoppers. Kick back relax and enjoy your game as it evolves by one of the best in the biz, Steve Ritchie.

The truth is actually code related. the LEs go to all the big mouthed Pinsiders, so Gary is delaying, simply to wait for the Killer code, that will shut us all up. You watch STLE will get a mind boggling code update around Dec.1.