Quoted from Jjsmooth:

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Quoted from meSz:

You missing a mini post???

Quoted from gdonovan:

How old is the playfield? Purchase date/build date?

Quoted from gdonovan:

I'm my curious as to when it was sprayed as there was a period he tried a different process and it did not work out.

Quoted from earetz:

All i was asking for was to put in clear inserts instead of colored ones, simple. They dont "make" or "process" it special. Not sure why you consider this so "special" a small handling charge from cpr was expected not a knife in the guts. But Mirco responded, same price doing a run of them soon. I Had my pf within 2 months

Quoted from mufcmufc:

I can do the customer service email from him for you:
“Djsolzs, you have tightened the posts too much, this should have been obvious to you, this is not my fault - it’s yours. Bye”

Quoted from gdonovan:

Somewhat negative view you have there pal, wishing misfortune on someone not a net positive.

Quoted from Jjsmooth:

And if it did happen to pool, I would mount every post to pf and let the pooling happen.
Use iron technique to flatten, and problem doesnt return.
I did this on a machine that we put in Pincinnati tournament this year. No way Id chance that abuse if I was concerned with recurrence.

Quoted from greatwichjohn:

I will chime in again. UV ink is not the problem! It is either moisture, poor manufacturing process at times (surface prep or cleanliness), or poor clear coat factors. Never had it happen to me for restorations or over 300 new playfields I did the last 15 years.

Quoted from Rum-Z:

Greatwichjohn's talking about the playfields he made personally (Greatwichjohn used to make repro playfields). If I remember correctly, Greatwichjohn used Varathane for clear coat and not auto clear. Maybe Greatwichjohn needs to call Mirco and tell him to switch to Varathane for clear coat, lol.

Quoted from Bryan_Kelly:

I've seen a lot of people saying this but it makes no sense. While Ron does a great job of touching up and clearing playfields, if the issue is art not sticking to the playfield, redoing what's on top isn't going to make a damn bit of difference.
Here are three pics of a Mirco FH playfield swap I did for an op friend of mine. He sent me these pics after about a week's worth of play. While it looks minro now, I guarantee you it will get much worse.
I'm so fucking tired of this shit!
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Quoted from romulusx:

You got to admit that it was pretty brave to sit there and then to be so bold as to answer questions that way.I know they can’t outright admit the issues but it would be nice to see if they’ve figured a better way forward

Quoted from Pdxmonkey:

Wait you can say you dislike CPR but if we say we dislike Mirco that’s being a crybaby?
What a hypocrite

Quoted from Warzard:

Completely agreed

Quoted from JohnTTwo:

I am a super picky guy, over the top maybe. Some say a wacko. I have no doubt a Mirco PF is not good enough for me.
Do you think normal non-picky people are happy with Mirco products?

Quoted from PPS:

What I do and will do is forward any issue to any of our suppliers with complaints of quality and work with them to get a resolution if you cannot come to one yourself.
What I won't do is deal with generalities, so if you have a specific issue on a specific product that you cannot get a resolution with then let me know.
I've already heard back from Mirco ... so will be digging into any issues ... which I've had one email so far.
rick

Quoted from meSz:

To be fair Rick it's been one day so it's not surprising that you have only one email thus far. A lot of the people that have posted their problems may not be following up on this thread.
If you look back at this thread you will see there's certainly issues with Mirco. One alarming one is post #852 where after 30 days the playfield is shot.
You posting here advising people to send examples of issues is great but I think you just opened yourself up to be Mirco's customer service now. As you can see, if you go back and read this thread, most people have already reached out to him and he refuses to help.

Quoted from PPS:

Unfortunately playfield manufacturers don't grow on trees ... any for anyone new it takes years and many mistakes to get things decent ... and then often they are tripped up by something (ink changes, chemical changes, process changes, regulation changes, etc). These are low volume endeavors very expensive to get all the elements lined up to call it a business, which is why the options are so few ... just the nature of that business. So, prefer to work with Mirco to move him in the right direction than to shut dozens of playfields down which will not be made for years if at all ... I guess hardtops would be the solution then ...
So, I prefer to try to solve problems than destroy people's ability to have a product in the marketplace. There have been hundreds of Mirco products sold, and there are not hundreds of complaints. We have a number of them and sell them without issues. We also have the option for customer to see the playfield in detail before we ship, which I think would help in some cases.
So anyone with issues, let me know, and we will advocate for you and try to get your situation in front of the supplier and resolved as best we can.
Team PPS

Quoted from Highclasspinball:

As I stated above. If you are a REAL customer who bought a repro playfield from me, you are welcome to send me an email to my email adress listed above.
Regards,
Mirco

Quoted from LORDDREK:

Am I the only one who looks at these photos and hears “Players fault…” In the background?

Quoted from djsolzs:

Email sent to you PPS and Mirco per your instructions.

Quoted from radium:

You mean he just sent that to you recently or this was an old email?

Quoted from High_End_Pins:

Not citing Mirco here specifically because I see this issue with other playfields as well.
Washers were never a big part of ground floor playfield assembly.
Originally they would only be used under certain ball guide spade post to keep the guide from digging into the actual wood when tightened.
Having to install them to basically pad and or shim every part from actually touching the playfield is not a rational nor reasonable solution.
It adds countless steps and time to playfield assembly that is not factored into what is already a tedious process.
In my opinion and experience adding washers to everything is only camouflaging or trying to avoid the issue not solving it.
We should be able to place post on playfields tighten them down without worry or concern just as we had been able to for several decades prior to.
If we cannot. Why not?
Are we being sold useable parts or just pretty pictures?
I spoke at length with Rick today at PPS.
He is definitely interested in addressing reasonable concerns.

Quoted from Faust:

I decided to post anyway the childish reply I got from Mirco on my request to only replace my backbox decals, which I have been asking for for months.
I wrote a polite factual email with PPS in CC by the way, so nothing offensive.
Funny thing is he does admit he has a lower printing quality (that was not my complaint though, haha).
Mirco’s new argument for not sending replacements makes absolutely no sense. But he is very good at finding reasons to not help you
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Quoted from mbeardsley:

Obviously. If there were no players then this wouldn't have happened...therefore it's the players' fault.
Similarly, shipping damage is caused by the receiver opening the box.

Quoted from jaime:

I was very skeptical ordering a playfield actually bought the package with rad cals then thinking I'd get a poor quality playfield considering the price. I was actually please at the condition of the playfield very very minor mis alignment but will be covered when populated. Over I'm happy I've bought several rad cals from mirco and I love the quality of them
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Quoted from Flipper_McGavin:

Unleveled inserts

Is Foo Fighters using Mirco also? No. This is just a common issue when using plastic inserts in wood. It's probably very difficult to get perfect, which is why is happens for more than one company.
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Quoted from robin:

There's no secret here. Mirco runs a Pinside shop, and pays a commission over his sales. He gets no special treatment, and the mere fact that all these threads are allowed to exist (rather than being removed for monetary reasons) should be enough evidence that I'm always on the side of the Pinside community. I hope you realize this.
I have been asked numerous times why I allow Mirco to keep selling playfields via a Pinside shop, in light of the complaints and issues people have been posting about. The simple truth is this: the number of orders/sales Mirco gets via Pinside do not match the number of complaints I see on Pinside. Far from it. That tells me that the issues are still an anomaly and not the norm.
That's not to say there are no issues! There are plenty of documented cases here on Pinside (some posted by respected Pinsiders) that tell a different story. And especially in the customer service department, Mirco's reputation on Pinside isn't exactly immaculate.
...
It is my hope that by allowing constructive discussion, manufacturers can learn and improve their products and, maybe even more important, their customer service and QA. On the other hand, mob mentality can sometimes over-amplify rare issues which is also undesirable.
To level the playing field (pun intended) for manufacturers and Pinsiders alike, I have been considering adding the option for product reviews to Pinside Shops. It will help establish a sense of which products are good or, uhm, not so good. It will award good customer service. It will disclose bad business ethics. And by only allowing actual customers to post reviews, you can be sure the review is legit. The system could also show when people send stuff back or if they got a refund, i.e. full transparency.
...
In closing, and for no particular reason other than to look cool, I'll end with a great quote from Warren Buffet: "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently."

Quoted from Faust:

I disagree with Robin’s argumentation that it is only a very small amount of complaints.
Sure, in this thread maybe. But:
My POTC was pooling/chipping. There are hundreds of games with this problem.
Then GnR: same problem if not worse with pooling chipping.
I know 2 other GnR owners and they have this issue too. I’m not believing it is just a very few games.
GnR thread has plenty of complaints.
Maybe ask Pinmonk how many silicon sets he sells.
And this is only about the clearcoat issue.
I invite anyone to visit the TBL owners thread and you can see there tens of cases already reported there.
I can guarantee not every TBL owner is on pinside and/or reading that thread.
Now sure this is not the complete case but it does show there are many more issues than reported here if you look around or just look at his shop (only chipping/clear coat).
Then last, and most importantly : I could well live with a lot of things( imperfections, problems) if it weren’t for Mirco’s blunt and unrespectfuls treatment of customers and partners. He gets away with everything for the simple reason he is the only supplier, and he knows it. This will not be good for the community on the long run.
I hope he changes his behavior (and quality) in the future.

Quoted from Highclasspinball:

I think I have to chime in here again which I usually did not want. But if someone external would read these comments it sounds like we produce only crap and don't care. That is simply wrong.
Compared to the volume we produce the issues are really low. Please keep in mind here that we run approx. 20 times as many playfields per year or more than the other manufacturers do. This does of course result into more public issues, especially after being in business with playfields for more than 15 years.
Of course mostly pitchforkers are writing here as complains always cause more attention than other feedback.
Let's say you are right and we produce only crap, how can you explain that there is not a single playfield issue reported on TS?
Yes there are people writing about their experiences and issues. But the fact they don't write, most of the cases are years old. Not all, but most.
Of course I take popping up issues serious and adjust production as far as possible right away.
Does anybody here believe I have not changed anything in the past 15 years?!? Really?
There was a ton of quality control added to the process steps and also in process monitoring to make sure all boards are what they are supposed to be.
Yes, sometimes things slip trough quality control, especially as humans do the final inspection. But if so and there is really a big issue I ship out replacements right away. And even if it is not a qc issue but more cosmetic, you can always ship the part back and get a refund.
Good thing of this thread is that it does the opposite of what the pitchforkers want to reach here, it pushes sales instead of blocking them. Guess the reason is that people don't believe everything written online.
Best regards,
Mirco Steffen

Quoted from sethbenjamin:

I want to buy your products, but I need to know that they are reliable and that on the rare chance that I receive defective merchandise, you will stand by your product. Seriously.

Quoted from Zitt:

The idea is to test the clear coat in a inconspicuous area to see if it's impacted by horrible/soft clear... Not to install any posts on the main playfield

Quoted from c818919taylor:

If the posts (etc) are checked for tightness chipping is nonexistent. Gotta check the playfields when the pin is first received
Worked for willy. Worked for g&r.

Quoted from Maverick222:

I just bought a playfield and rad cals from Mirco four days ago and haven’t received an e-mail update saying anything about the order, but payment has been pulled out which is always alarming to me.
Does anyone know what his process is when buying a playfield? Reading all these posts makes me a bit concerned. Just hope I actually receive the playfield!

Quoted from pingod:

I am one of the guys who cancelled his GF CE.
Once I found out it was still Mirco and there was issues even on that run, I was out.
Fuck that no warranty crap.
Just won’t buy new.

Quoted from CLEllison:

I'm happy for you that the pf worked OK and has remained viable and thanks for your comment which only helps reinforce the validity of my claim. That's the complete confusion here. How this mans "quality" can be absolutely all over the place is just mind boggling. I find no value in harboring ill will, but I also choose not to be complacent, a willing participant or an accessory by remaining silent either.

Quoted from Zitt:

The clear coat is a very big problem... but it's not the only problem Mirco has.
Last 30 or so posts have been about his sh1tty clear process.
Let's remember... he does more than clear. He sends PFs with "Cad errors" (as stated above). He sends PFs with missing Art. Not his problem.
He sends PFs with laughable art choices. Not his problem.
He steals PFs but never actually completes them.
He steals Plastics but never actually produces them.
He claims to be a service to teh customer; but denies any claim of responsibility.
His partner is crime at PPS claims to be able to resolve these issues... but he actually didn't do a thing other than getting scared when people started threating lawsuits to PPS for substandard licensing.

Quoted from bakerhillpins:

He shipped you a production reject so that it didn't cut into his bottom line. Plain and simple. There was no good faith in shipping that "replacement" to you period.

Quoted from The_Pump_House:

I have ordered 3 IJPA playfields from Mirco. The first went off in a full restoration to a buyer in PA so I don’t know how it is holding up (purchased play field on 9/26/22 sold pin on 1/23/23)
Second two playfields ordered on 12/1/22 and we are just now doing the second restoration.
We put metal washers the same diameter as the interior of the main support of a star post. The star posts have been installed for a few weeks so I thought a would pull a couple and check for pooling.
No damage to report but the presence of that playfields protector speaks to my level of confidence. There are rings clearly visible from both the washer and the star post in a pic taking with a zoomed in camera, but they can't be seen without the camera and are not detectable by touch.
Will see how it goes...
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Quoted from ASAC_Schrader:

Mirco is still dead to me
Terrible product
Horrible support
Money grab

Quoted from underlord:

Why not? Cuz someone may take a pic behind him or not ask questions at a meet.
Finger wags and furrowed brows abound Sir. Have at you!

Quoted from cottonm4:

Thank you. I try to look for the best in people. Most of the time it works. Since that minipinhead guy emailed Mirco and got an August date from him, I'll cross my fingers. But on 8-31 I'll figure all hope is lost and with nothing to lose I will accept nice offer for help navigating the German system.

Quoted from cottonm4:

What I am hoping for is that in the last 2 years he has gotten his shit together with his finishes and pooling and chipping will no longer be an issue.
I'll post more when I know more.

Quoted from Zitt:

Robin has already spoken on this topic. I think in this thread. Not going to happen unless he really goes off the deep end and demonstrates obvious fraud across the board

Quoted from cottonm4:

I am not for laying any heat on Robin. He has a website that needs to be fed. All the time. Mirco advertises here and helps generate revenue to keep pinside going.
What would anyone expect Robin to do? If Mirco was taking money but not delivering product, then Robin would need to get involved. But my own experience was when I bought 2 different play fields from Mirco I had both within a week of placing my order.
That said, I would not make any handshake deals with Mirco. It is kind of like buying something from Ebay; If the seller screws you over, Ebay gets involved. But if you buy from that seller off-Ebay and he screws you, you are on your own.

Quoted from Colehvac1:

Crispin robin so crispin was never sent his playfield back, you continue to allow Highclasspinball to rob pinsiders by allowing him to be a part of this community. I recently donated to pinside to support it, i have to ask myself why? In this case Mirco responded to you that he was going to send crispin back his items. He lied, its time for you to protect this community.

Quoted from cottonm4:

Using your logic, then shouldn't Texas Pinball Festival not sell space to Mirco for displaying and selling his play fields?
" Hey, Ed, Mirco has not returned my play field and you should not be letting him set up shop at TPF."
or
" Hey, Ed, I bought a play field from Mirco and it started chipping and pooling. You need to stop selling him space at TPF since he has some quality issues."
How do you think that is going to fly? TPF would tell me to haul my smelly ass out the door.
OTOH, if I handed Mirco $1000.00 for one of his play fields at TPF and he did not want to hand it over to me but keep my money, Ed and TPF would need to get involved.
All IMO.
I'm no Mirco apologist. He hit my shit list when he was issuing empty threats to John Greatwich saying that Greatwich needs to cease and desist from reproducing Seawitch play fields.
And while we all have problems of one sort or another with Mirco, I don't believe I have heard anyone come in and say they bought a play field via Pinside and Mirco did not deliver and just kept the money.
The transgression of taking the money from a Marketplace ad on Pinside and not delivering the product is an issue where Robin would need to get involved. But for me, or anyone else shipping a play field over to Mirco and it not being returned is not Robin's problem. The play field I buy and it starts chipping and pooling is not Robin's problem. Robin is not a quality control inspector, IMO.
I may be building another Quicksilver someday. Mirco is the only game in town. What should do? Go without because I would be buying from Mirco.
Now, Nine Ball, which I have recently scored the parts needed to build another Nine Ball, I have options. I can buy from Mirco, but I also now have the option of buying from CPR. And I would go with the CPR unit---and this would only be after CPR has already has worked out the kinks from how it seems to manage to make crazy and inexcusable errors in some of its first run play fields.
What I know that I will not do in the future is send Mirco another play field to reproduce. His less than honest answers, hid bullshit answers over the last 3 years has left a bad taste in my mouth.
None of this is Robin's problem, IMO.

Quoted from cottonm4:

First test: Ball guides
There are 3 ball guides on DF. All 3 mounted right up. All the dimples/predrill holes are dead on the money. With the exception of one missing hole. The ball guides fit right up. No issues. No tweaking. No forcing.
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[quoted image]
The missing hole. I will talk about this missing hole when I have more time.
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Quoted from KJS:

I don't want to be negative or slanderous.
I just want a replacement playfield.
Stern if you are reading this please get in touch and make it right.
Unfortunately the manufacturers ( and a lot of podcasters) seem to slam pinside and everything in it which is a shame.
Yes there a lot of dicks here and my block and ignore list has grown, but there are also some fantastic people and resources and I am very glad we have it as a forum. I think its a nasty balance of manufacturers getting pounded by the web warriors and they have walked away. You dont see any of the brands not getting a caning.
I will email Patrick and my distributor again and report back with what is happening.

Quoted from Highclasspinball:

If there is an issue with a recently bought playfield, it is replaced, usually if purchased in the past two years. The problem with many people here is that they are screaming and bashing even if they received a new playfield. Many other people here bashing are not even my customers. No idea what their Intention is to participate here...
Yes, sometimes I miss an email or pm but so far every massage was replied. Latest a reminder helps here...
Nearly all cases shown here happened on playfields made years ago with a different process which is no longer been used for years.
Does that mean I need to replace 10+ years old playfields which have now problems? Have you tried that with a car you bought, maybe second hand? Good luck...
The screamers here will probably not believe but there is usually less than 1 board out of 500 shipped ones which has issues out of whatever reason. Sometimes packages got lost or damaged or my people missed something. If that is the case the situation will be taken care of.
That is all I have say here. Go ahead bashers and scream more if that makes you happy.
Regards,
Mirco

Quoted from pencilneck:

This is why he has no incentive to fix the issues..... chumps will still give him money. I understand the desire... but nothing will change until he is forced to so.