The following is an account of a sale between myself and Manuel Metsikas (Manny10 on pinside, owner/CEO of lights out pinball). I would preface this by saying that I was warned about about doing business with him, by multiple respectable people in the pinball community. However I really wanted a Taxi and they do not come up often, so against my better judgement, I pursued the game. The game was advertised as full LED’s and as upgraded rubber parts. I put a refundable deposit on the game and it was to be shipped by his shipper after I found it hard to work pickup into my schedule. First, I believe that he used his sellers pictures, prior to having the game in his possession. It was pictured with leg protectors but that did not accompany the game, for what that's worth. After many inquiries he provided a video of the game working the night prior to shipment. He tried to up the price of shipping by $50, I declined and he agreed to ship at the previously agreed price. The pin arrived with no keys, the wrong legs (31 inches instead of 28.5). He blamed this on his shipper, stating that he was new. I believe it to be the responsibility of the seller to make sure, as best as they can, that the appropriate accessories to the game are accounted for. A simple label of the legs, and keys with the game would suffice. Apparently, his shipper gave my legs and keys to a person he was doing a trade with. Again, a minor mistake. The game had dirty rubbers (maybe he upgraded them with dirt) and had a few led’s on the topside (horrible ones) but was otherwise all incandescents with only two in the backbox with the only the flashers and a few lights present. There were no other lights in the headbox. When I spoke with him about this, in somewhat of a heated exchange, he still insisted it was all led’s. He then said he would send me led’s and when I said he should come and put them in he said he would “break the pinball game over my head” He also continually said I am the type of person that is never satisfied. I simply wanted a game, as advertised. He owns and LED company and I would figure he would know the difference. My impression is that he really did not look over the game and sold in in a hurried fashion. He tried to make concessions, and offered a full price buyback but that still would have left my hung for the shipping costs. The video he provided at the end showed the headbox and only the incandescent flashers present. I don't think I can upload videos but I am happy to share with any interested people. Either way, lesson learned and I would say that with any pinball purchase the best transaction is an in person cash transaction and "lights out" really means lights out.
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