I bought mine second hand and it had April 14 2015 build date. Had less than 100 plays and decals where peeling off the head. A couple weeks after I got it home and put another 100 plays on it the playfield started chipping everywhere. I have no doubt the original owner new that build date was defective because I got it cheap. So I just played the crap out of it for last 2 years. Called stern a month ago and they sent me new head decals and a new populated playfield. Got everything installed Friday and I basically have a brand new game. My old playfield was wrecked. I would stay away from April 2015 build date unless you know 100% stern will warranty it or you get it super cheap. Stern took care of me but who knows, every case might be different.

Hi Rob

I actually did exactly what you did (sent pics to email) and then followed up with stern by phone a week later. They never did let me talk to a decision maker but the process was very smooth and I am happy. I will say this, my playfield was a wreck. 3 inch radius around magnet was gone and chipped away, shooter lane was bad and exiting shooter lane had a quarter size chip missing. They probably fix major issues first.

Yea, I think it depends on who did the playfield. If your playfield has the layers in the shooter lane your good. My shooter lane had no wood grain layers and chipped horribly. Stern hooked me up with a beautiful new playfield. I have already put about 50 plays on it and it does not even have any dimples yet.

Bad wording on my part, I think vid had told me that he could tell by the grain in the shooter lane who produced the bad playfield. The playfield with heavier grain in the shooter lane seemed to be on the good run.