I got mine last Monday. It was built on 4/9. I can tell you this, it doesn't have any of the issues that were reported with earlier ones. It was numbered 1222. I say that because I imagine other than the 'matching' machines, they are coming off the line in numerical order. This means they ahve to be very close to done with the LE run if not already done.

It was well worth the wait.

I don't understand this mentality. There's nothing saying you have to pre-order anything. Most of the pinball hype train is fake FOMO. It is especially bad on this website. Much of the frustration is brought on by the customers themselves. To state what you just stated really just shows how big of a problem it is, because it has zero impact on anyone except impatient impulse buyers. CGC has been upfront and transparent about their issues. I guess I consider a pre-order exactly what it is, a pre-order. There is no guarantee you will get an item by X date. You get it when you get it as most 'new' products are delayed for multiple reasons. The reality is there are still LE's unspoken for out there.

What COULD use improvement is the middle man dealership steps and how money/pre-orders are handled. I don't personally have any complaints about the one I went through, but that could have easily went the other way had they asked for payment earlier.

I completely understand and agree with that. You can always pick one up later (now) or used. The whole 'writing them off' though seems a bit overboard.

Not even remotely comparable.

Or you know..don't preorder? Then there's nothing to complain about...it's the same regardless if it's a video game, car, blah blah blah. There are ALWAYS delays and people complain. Unless you are kickstarting something, there is usually zero reason to preorder these days. Now, if they were only making 100 of something you wanted, sure, I get it, but that's hardly the case here.

There were updates/explanations in the main MBr thread from CGC, but I would expect lots of people didn't read or follow that thread. Even my distro sent out an email explaining there were technical issues delaying things. That is the entire point of the distros. THEY communicate to the customers, not CGC. It makes less people calling them directly to say the same thing.

I get that people are anxious, but again, it's a pre-order. You bugging them every month isn't going to speed things up or make things better. I'm going to assume you've never pre-ordered anything before because this is how it has always been and continues to be. Today people are just impatient and used to people twitting/fb posting every 5 seconds rather than doing their actual jobs.

Either way, just hang in there. You'll get it.

CGC is a much smaller company and newer company (for making pins) than Stern. Also, their issues/delays (at least for MB) have been QA issues related to changing their actual process. I give them a pass because they do have quality (from what I've seen). Could they have handled things a bit better? Sure..every company could, but I have no complaints as of yet.

There's a larger reason teh AFMrLE's didn't sell as fast, and it has less to do with 'time to get them' than the other factors. Mainly the sudden uptick in available NiB options.

You'll be fine, they haven't sold out.