Quoted from JodyG:

OP isn't exactly the most patient person in this community. He sent me a snotty email at 3am because I didn't respond to his multiple new product requests three days prior. I get dozens of these requests a week, and OP couldn't wait for a response before sending me a shitty email lambasting my "service". It says right on my contact form that I cannot respond to all these requests at times (but I usually do anyway). 499 out of 500 people in this community are awesome...then there is Brian. He blocked me on Facebook when I brought this up to him today. So retailers in this community, be very careful engaging with Brian Burns.

Quoted from galore2112:

Man, that DRAMA over a I swear, adults can be like highschool children.

Your development in life so far...^^^^^

(likely some dude in his 50s)

Quoted from apostle90125:

So, the OP emails you wanting to do business with you on "multiple products", at least three days later you still haven't answered his emails, and then you show up here advising retailers to be careful engaging with HIM...? Seriously...???

Quoted from JodyG:

It says right on my contact form that I cannot respond to all these requests at times

Quoted from apostle90125:

So, the OP emails you wanting to do business with you on "multiple products", at least three days later you still haven't answered his emails, and then you show up here advising retailers to be careful engaging with HIM...? Seriously...???

Quoted from trecemaneras:

Even if he missed the information about responses, it's not like he placed an order and was ignored, right? I read "new product requests" as a request to create or stock a new product that the retailer doesn't currently sell.

Quoted from apostle90125:

Doesn't matter what you "read". The OP started

Quoted from apostle90125:

the OP politely requested that JodyG post the supposed email he received that somehow hurt him by waking him up at 3AM (wtf...?). He hasn't done that, so at this point, I have a hard time believing JodyG ever received an email from the OP. What I don't have a hard time believing is that JodyG is pals with Eddie Haskell... oops, excuse me... Craig Hassle - I'd wager money on that.

Quoted from Nevus:

I’m sorry you had a bad experience, sincerely. I see that you are quite angry.
I did notice this is the second forum thread you have started on this topic.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/nib-vs-used-opinions-please#post-6818721
As a long time customer of the store, I would like to again say that my experiences have been very positive and I would recommend them to others. I implore them to avoid this thread and stay away from the pitchforks.

Quoted from tp:

Reflect on this statement when your the grown up age of 50. With a little luck you might reach that age someday, or not.

Quoted from javagrind888:

Craig posted this on Facebook in response. He also posted refund receipts.
"My company has been smeared by would be customer by Brian Burns of Arlington, Tx. His post is unjust and I feel the need to defend myself and my company as this person has blocked me and several fellow colleagues in the hobby/business who denounce his accusations as they have had similar bad experiences with this impulsive, entitled and difficult to work with customer, they like myself are blocked by Brian Burns with the inability to defend ourselves.
It’s a shame this had to go this way and I’ve tried to let it blow over, but the blatant lies with no proof are definitely on the grounds of defamation of character and borderline slander. So all that being said I’ll make my own post as my defense and let the jury make their decision as to how we handled this and know we will never sell to Brian Burns again and I’d advise others to proceed with caution. When dealing with this
Many false accusations were made in his post (that I can only see from people sending me screenshots)…since he has blocked me.
FALSE:
Fun required my game to be delivered and wanted to charge $150 for delivery and they put 65 games on my new machine.
TRUTH:
We DO NOT require a $150 delivery fee. Customers are always welcome to pick up their machines from our store free of charge. We do however require that a new pinball is unboxed / checked for concealed shipping damage (which happens more times than you think) and play tested for proper operation prior to or at pick up. This is to ensure the game leaves our store free of damage and to preemptively squash an immediate in home unnecessary service call. At the request of Mr. Burns we photographed his boxed pinball before it was opened and and he wanted to know how many plays he could expect on his machine, I estimated 5, and it was delivered with a total of 4 plays. I must admit I was apprehensive for our technician to play test it anymore than that as it seemed odd someone wanting to see the boxed game and wanting to know the precise game play on his new game but I know how eccentric some collectors may be. He claims 65 games? Why would we deliver him our floor model? That is simply setting us up for failure. Hindsight I wish I would have have a taken a screen shot of his "LIFETIME PLAYS" Screen but never thought it would have been necessary until now and considering he has had the game for upwards a month now, there is no way to prove this other than his blatant lie.
FALSE:
Fun promised to deliver both of my games for $150 and changed terms prior to delivery
TRUTH:
Upon visiting our store in January and trying out game’s in our showroom Brian decided to preorder a Rush Premium and Godzilla Pro. I informed Brian that both of his games would be arriving in March and offered our delivery service of both games TOGETHER for one delivery/setup fee of $150 to which Brian agreed as stated on his sales invoice. In early March Brian’s Rush Premium arrived into our store. I contacted Mr Burns and informed him his Rush had arrived in and gave him the option A: wait until your Godzilla arrives in for both to be delivered as originally agreed upon B:We deliver Rush now and follow up with a separate delivery at a later date when Godzilla arrives in but a separate delivery fee would incur of $150 would be applied. Brian immediately lost his cool and demanded I deliver his game and a second delivery charge was b***s*** (his words). Trying to save face and keep the customer happy in the offset chance there was a misunderstanding and appreciative for him spending a considerable amount of money with us, I conceded and agreed to deliver the Godzilla separately at his residence - located an hour away from our store.
FALSE: FUNS warranty is BS and they wouldn’t help or replace my LED board.
TRUTH: Upon writing up ticket for these games to Mr. Burns I informed him of our warranty period and did tell him it includes 30 days labor and 6 months parts support from Stern Pinball. I further explained to him that if a warranty issue would arise we ask that you call into our store, and speak with our inhouse technician and try to resolve over the phone before sending a tech to your home as most issues on a new game are minor and can be resolved with tech advise in a matter of minutes. He agreed and told me how he owned several other pinball machines. Seems like we were completely on the same page at this point.
Fast forward to a week or so after his Rush was delivered he Facebook messaged me and informed me that the LED board wasn't working on the button on his lockbar and asked if we could check it when we delivered Godzilla. I told him of course, but suggested that he remove the lockbar and take a look at the LED board and see if it's possible the connector came loose from the LED board. To which he said he would
Last week Brian's Godzilla Pro arrived in, my son contacted him collected the final balance and scheduled delivery of his Godzilla Pro.
On the evening of April 6 at 5:56pm (and all of the following takes place within the next 3 hours via Facebook messenger) I was Facebook messaged by Brian stating that the lockbar button LED was still not working and asked if we could bring one upon upon delivery of his Godzilla. I informed him I did not have that part on hand and getting parts for Stern games has been difficult and I would not be able to get it in time for the delivery. I made the suggestion to expediate getting the issue resolved quickly to drop a line to Stern via e-mail (providing him their e-mail address) and said to give them him your name, phone number, game title and serial number and someone from their tech department would contact him to troubleshoot over the phone and send the replacement part. Immediately Brian got hostile, cussing calling our warranty BS and a joke. I told him I was not trying to blow him off.....moments later he messages me and told me he bought a new LED board off of Marco's web site. Why? If it's under warranty the manufacturer should replacement it. I further went on to say, I was not blowing you off and by all means we would come out and fix it but you've literally went off the rails before following proper protocol's with Stern Pinball in an effort to order an Advanced Warranty Replacement Part.
Next I'm being told, you have changed everything about the purchase of our two games and I'm coming tomorrow to pick up my Godzilla in the Carton and I'll be leaving you a scathing review of this entire transaction. I informed him again, that if he is picking the game up in the carton, he voids our 30 day warranty on the game. Again further insulting our warranty.
I'm at this point actually in shock that this customer has became so hostile, vulgar and irrational on just about every step of our transaction. I never intended to blow him off on the repair and by all means I would have had our technician come out to his house, but to demand I have the part on hand when I make the delivery is absurd.
Giving it second thought of how difficult he has been, knowing I was getting a bad review no matter what. I made the business decision to refund Brian Burns his payment in full for this Godzilla Pro. As difficult as he has been to work with and demanding to pick his game up in the box. Furthermore, considering his payment for this game was made by credit card, it really just drew a red flag with me. Everything about him has been odd, and demanding. I honestly don't trust the guy. I felt like letting him pick the game up in the box, I could almost certainly see a charge back on the premises of a false damage claim or something else about the game didn't meet his standards.
I informed Brian that I had made the decision to refund his payment in full for his Godzilla Pro. He then accuses me of being unethical in letting him pick up his game and states he has friends in the police department that will be on stand by as he picks up his machine the following morning. Bottom line, it just isn't worth selling a game to Brian Burns. I told him if he wants to have the police present...by all means please do. They can be present as I issue you your refund back on my credit card terminal first thing in the morning. To which I did, full refund was issued first thing in the morning April 7th. The deposit was originally collected on the previous owners merchant account prior to my ownership, I informed Brian we would (and did) cut him a check for his deposit and it was mailed Express Mail, with signature required for delivery to which he has already received and cashed.
FALSE: FUN! Billiards is not an authorized Stern Distributor
TRUTH: We are not a Stern Distributor, we are a Stern Dealer and specializing in game sales to the consumer home market. We can be found on the Stern Page, in the dealer section. We sell well over 200 new Stern Pinball Machines a year and are proud to do so with many happy new and repeat customers from around the United States. ....but there is always gonna be that one. If this is my first bad one in about 5 years...I think I've done pretty good. This is business I don't need, Brian Burns can go buy his pinball machines somewhere else. I don't need his business as bad as he thinks I do.
I'm happy to screen grab our entire text diatribe. As others have stated, there are two sides to every story and Brian Burns only wanted to show his, without letting anyone defend themselves and make himself look like the victim."

Quoted from chuckwurt:

Who-Dey posted a bunch in that thread.

Quoted from RyanStl:

You know who else posted several times, ASOA. Kept chastizing Fun for stringing along OP about payment being in the mail. Classic.

Quoted from javagrind888:

Craig posted this on Facebook in response. He also posted refund receipts.
"My company has been smeared by would be customer by Brian Burns of Arlington, Tx. His post is unjust and I feel the need to defend myself and my company as this person has blocked me and several fellow colleagues in the hobby/business who denounce his accusations as they have had similar bad experiences with this impulsive, entitled and difficult to work with customer, they like myself are blocked by Brian Burns with the inability to defend ourselves.
It’s a shame this had to go this way and I’ve tried to let it blow over, but the blatant lies with no proof are definitely on the grounds of defamation of character and borderline slander. So all that being said I’ll make my own post as my defense and let the jury make their decision as to how we handled this and know we will never sell to Brian Burns again and I’d advise others to proceed with caution. When dealing with this
Many false accusations were made in his post (that I can only see from people sending me screenshots)…since he has blocked me.
FALSE:
Fun required my game to be delivered and wanted to charge $150 for delivery and they put 65 games on my new machine.
TRUTH:
We DO NOT require a $150 delivery fee. Customers are always welcome to pick up their machines from our store free of charge. We do however require that a new pinball is unboxed / checked for concealed shipping damage (which happens more times than you think) and play tested for proper operation prior to or at pick up. This is to ensure the game leaves our store free of damage and to preemptively squash an immediate in home unnecessary service call. At the request of Mr. Burns we photographed his boxed pinball before it was opened and and he wanted to know how many plays he could expect on his machine, I estimated 5, and it was delivered with a total of 4 plays. I must admit I was apprehensive for our technician to play test it anymore than that as it seemed odd someone wanting to see the boxed game and wanting to know the precise game play on his new game but I know how eccentric some collectors may be. He claims 65 games? Why would we deliver him our floor model? That is simply setting us up for failure. Hindsight I wish I would have have a taken a screen shot of his "LIFETIME PLAYS" Screen but never thought it would have been necessary until now and considering he has had the game for upwards a month now, there is no way to prove this other than his blatant lie.
FALSE:
Fun promised to deliver both of my games for $150 and changed terms prior to delivery
TRUTH:
Upon visiting our store in January and trying out game’s in our showroom Brian decided to preorder a Rush Premium and Godzilla Pro. I informed Brian that both of his games would be arriving in March and offered our delivery service of both games TOGETHER for one delivery/setup fee of $150 to which Brian agreed as stated on his sales invoice. In early March Brian’s Rush Premium arrived into our store. I contacted Mr Burns and informed him his Rush had arrived in and gave him the option A: wait until your Godzilla arrives in for both to be delivered as originally agreed upon B:We deliver Rush now and follow up with a separate delivery at a later date when Godzilla arrives in but a separate delivery fee would incur of $150 would be applied. Brian immediately lost his cool and demanded I deliver his game and a second delivery charge was b***s*** (his words). Trying to save face and keep the customer happy in the offset chance there was a misunderstanding and appreciative for him spending a considerable amount of money with us, I conceded and agreed to deliver the Godzilla separately at his residence - located an hour away from our store.
FALSE: FUNS warranty is BS and they wouldn’t help or replace my LED board.
TRUTH: Upon writing up ticket for these games to Mr. Burns I informed him of our warranty period and did tell him it includes 30 days labor and 6 months parts support from Stern Pinball. I further explained to him that if a warranty issue would arise we ask that you call into our store, and speak with our inhouse technician and try to resolve over the phone before sending a tech to your home as most issues on a new game are minor and can be resolved with tech advise in a matter of minutes. He agreed and told me how he owned several other pinball machines. Seems like we were completely on the same page at this point.
Fast forward to a week or so after his Rush was delivered he Facebook messaged me and informed me that the LED board wasn't working on the button on his lockbar and asked if we could check it when we delivered Godzilla. I told him of course, but suggested that he remove the lockbar and take a look at the LED board and see if it's possible the connector came loose from the LED board. To which he said he would
Last week Brian's Godzilla Pro arrived in, my son contacted him collected the final balance and scheduled delivery of his Godzilla Pro.
On the evening of April 6 at 5:56pm (and all of the following takes place within the next 3 hours via Facebook messenger) I was Facebook messaged by Brian stating that the lockbar button LED was still not working and asked if we could bring one upon upon delivery of his Godzilla. I informed him I did not have that part on hand and getting parts for Stern games has been difficult and I would not be able to get it in time for the delivery. I made the suggestion to expediate getting the issue resolved quickly to drop a line to Stern via e-mail (providing him their e-mail address) and said to give them him your name, phone number, game title and serial number and someone from their tech department would contact him to troubleshoot over the phone and send the replacement part. Immediately Brian got hostile, cussing calling our warranty BS and a joke. I told him I was not trying to blow him off.....moments later he messages me and told me he bought a new LED board off of Marco's web site. Why? If it's under warranty the manufacturer should replacement it. I further went on to say, I was not blowing you off and by all means we would come out and fix it but you've literally went off the rails before following proper protocol's with Stern Pinball in an effort to order an Advanced Warranty Replacement Part.
Next I'm being told, you have changed everything about the purchase of our two games and I'm coming tomorrow to pick up my Godzilla in the Carton and I'll be leaving you a scathing review of this entire transaction. I informed him again, that if he is picking the game up in the carton, he voids our 30 day warranty on the game. Again further insulting our warranty.
I'm at this point actually in shock that this customer has became so hostile, vulgar and irrational on just about every step of our transaction. I never intended to blow him off on the repair and by all means I would have had our technician come out to his house, but to demand I have the part on hand when I make the delivery is absurd.
Giving it second thought of how difficult he has been, knowing I was getting a bad review no matter what. I made the business decision to refund Brian Burns his payment in full for this Godzilla Pro. As difficult as he has been to work with and demanding to pick his game up in the box. Furthermore, considering his payment for this game was made by credit card, it really just drew a red flag with me. Everything about him has been odd, and demanding. I honestly don't trust the guy. I felt like letting him pick the game up in the box, I could almost certainly see a charge back on the premises of a false damage claim or something else about the game didn't meet his standards.
I informed Brian that I had made the decision to refund his payment in full for his Godzilla Pro. He then accuses me of being unethical in letting him pick up his game and states he has friends in the police department that will be on stand by as he picks up his machine the following morning. Bottom line, it just isn't worth selling a game to Brian Burns. I told him if he wants to have the police present...by all means please do. They can be present as I issue you your refund back on my credit card terminal first thing in the morning. To which I did, full refund was issued first thing in the morning April 7th. The deposit was originally collected on the previous owners merchant account prior to my ownership, I informed Brian we would (and did) cut him a check for his deposit and it was mailed Express Mail, with signature required for delivery to which he has already received and cashed.
FALSE: FUN! Billiards is not an authorized Stern Distributor
TRUTH: We are not a Stern Distributor, we are a Stern Dealer and specializing in game sales to the consumer home market. We can be found on the Stern Page, in the dealer section. We sell well over 200 new Stern Pinball Machines a year and are proud to do so with many happy new and repeat customers from around the United States. ....but there is always gonna be that one. If this is my first bad one in about 5 years...I think I've done pretty good. This is business I don't need, Brian Burns can go buy his pinball machines somewhere else. I don't need his business as bad as he thinks I do.
I'm happy to screen grab our entire text diatribe. As others have stated, there are two sides to every story and Brian Burns only wanted to show his, without letting anyone defend themselves and make himself look like the victim."

Quoted from Mbecker:

Two very different sides of the story. Not sure what to think exactly. Oh well

Quoted from Mbecker:

Two very different sides of the story. Not sure what to think exactly. Oh well

Quoted from galore2112:

Haha, I’m just amazed how adults from 18 to 99+, with the sweet spot around 50 (judging by the popular themes (OMG BTTF faint!!!) and the looks of pinball enthusiasts at various events), behave when buying and selling a game.
Borderline crazy and quite immature.
Combine this with $5000 “gold leaf plated” toppers, the prevalent scalping to exploit the severe lack of patience and general greed, this community makes me feel like I entered the Twilight Zone LOL.

Quoted from apostle90125:

Interesting that Hassle would recruit someone else to post his reply here, and that it fails to contradict any claim the OP made while "fabricating" a few claims the OP didn't make.

Quoted from mikeflan:

My only comments about the LED board are trifold. One, since it's a $12.99 part at Marco, that's a legitimate reason why I (or Brian) would have bought one instead of bothering/dealing with the dealer/manufacturer warranty. It's not worth their time, or more importantly, my time. Certainly not worth a repair call.
Secondly, why is that part $12.99 at Marco and $1.49 at Pinball Life? Seriously Marco, WTF? Gouge much?
Marco - https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/520-5333-00
Pinball Life - https://www.pinballlife.com/rgb-pcb-led-replacement-board.html?Category_Code=
Finally, after reading the entire narrative, it sounds like I would both not like to sell a game to Brian nor buy a game from Fun! While I like Craig personally, Fun! has always represented bad mojo to me for.... well... forever. Literally as long as I've been collecting. While new owner Craig may be trying to turn it around, their reputation is a dark black hole within the collector community for all sorts of reasons going well back to the RGP days. Furthermore, Pinsiders may not be his audience anyway (informed buyers who know that there are other distributors who can might make a better deal, provide free shipping, no sales tax, offer better service, etc....)
Anyway, I hope it worked out for everyone in the end.
>>>
On the evening of April 6 at 5:56pm (and all of the following takes place within the next 3 hours via Facebook messenger) I was Facebook messaged by Brian stating that the lockbar button LED was still not working and asked if we could bring one upon upon delivery of his Godzilla. I informed him I did not have that part on hand and getting parts for Stern games has been difficult and I would not be able to get it in time for the delivery. I made the suggestion to expediate getting the issue resolved quickly to drop a line to Stern via e-mail (providing him their e-mail address) and said to give them him your name, phone number, game title and serial number and someone from their tech department would contact him to troubleshoot over the phone and send the replacement part. Immediately Brian got hostile, cussing calling our warranty BS and a joke. I told him I was not trying to blow him off.....moments later he messages me and told me he bought a new LED board off of Marco's web site. Why? If it's under warranty the manufacturer should replacement it.

Quoted from Chisox:

Woah woah woah. Don’t try to rope the Gen X’ers into this mess. This whole shit show is a mashup of boomers and newb millennials. We’re just eye rolling and snarking on the sidelines.

Quoted from way2wyrd:

Is your new distributor gonna fly to hore house to fix your issues. I think not

Quoted from way2wyrd:

Sorry compadre you're just being petty. Noting in the fb chats contradicts what Hassle said in his post.
Obviously there was some miscommunication.
Work to resolve it instead of throwing a temper tantrum.You could have picked up your machine in the box or had the FUN warranty. Not both. The Stern warranty still would apply
Is your new distributor gonna fly to hore house to fix your issues. I think not

Quoted from apostle90125:

Whether the repair part is $1.99, $12.99, or $1,299.99, OP may or may not be proficient at repairing pinball machines, but given Hassle’s promised store warranty, that should not be an issue. It’s obvious that Hassle is jerking the customer around from the time the deal was struck, doesn’t matter how many of his friends try to defend his actions.

Quoted from trecemaneras:

Sort of off-topic, but 100% in the spirit of the drama in this thread, apostle90125 what's the back story leading to you making an account exclusively to post in this topic?

Quoted from apostle90125:

Whether the repair part is $1.99, $12.99, or $1,299.99, OP may or may not be proficient at repairing pinball machines, but given Hassle’s promised store warranty, that should not be an issue.

Quoted from javagrind888:

I further went on to say, I was not blowing you off and by all means we would come out and fix it

Quoted from javagrind888:

Craig posted this on Facebook in response. He also posted refund receipts.
"My company has been smeared by would be customer by Brian Burns of Arlington, Tx. His post is unjust and I feel the need to defend myself and my company as this person has blocked me and several fellow colleagues in the hobby/business who denounce his accusations as they have had similar bad experiences with this impulsive, entitled and difficult to work with customer, they like myself are blocked by Brian Burns with the inability to defend ourselves.
It’s a shame this had to go this way and I’ve tried to let it blow over, but the blatant lies with no proof are definitely on the grounds of defamation of character and borderline slander. So all that being said I’ll make my own post as my defense and let the jury make their decision as to how we handled this and know we will never sell to Brian Burns again and I’d advise others to proceed with caution. When dealing with this
Many false accusations were made in his post (that I can only see from people sending me screenshots)…since he has blocked me.
FALSE:
Fun required my game to be delivered and wanted to charge $150 for delivery and they put 65 games on my new machine.
TRUTH:
We DO NOT require a $150 delivery fee. Customers are always welcome to pick up their machines from our store free of charge. We do however require that a new pinball is unboxed / checked for concealed shipping damage (which happens more times than you think) and play tested for proper operation prior to or at pick up. This is to ensure the game leaves our store free of damage and to preemptively squash an immediate in home unnecessary service call. At the request of Mr. Burns we photographed his boxed pinball before it was opened and and he wanted to know how many plays he could expect on his machine, I estimated 5, and it was delivered with a total of 4 plays. I must admit I was apprehensive for our technician to play test it anymore than that as it seemed odd someone wanting to see the boxed game and wanting to know the precise game play on his new game but I know how eccentric some collectors may be. He claims 65 games? Why would we deliver him our floor model? That is simply setting us up for failure. Hindsight I wish I would have have a taken a screen shot of his "LIFETIME PLAYS" Screen but never thought it would have been necessary until now and considering he has had the game for upwards a month now, there is no way to prove this other than his blatant lie.
FALSE:
Fun promised to deliver both of my games for $150 and changed terms prior to delivery
TRUTH:
Upon visiting our store in January and trying out game’s in our showroom Brian decided to preorder a Rush Premium and Godzilla Pro. I informed Brian that both of his games would be arriving in March and offered our delivery service of both games TOGETHER for one delivery/setup fee of $150 to which Brian agreed as stated on his sales invoice. In early March Brian’s Rush Premium arrived into our store. I contacted Mr Burns and informed him his Rush had arrived in and gave him the option A: wait until your Godzilla arrives in for both to be delivered as originally agreed upon B:We deliver Rush now and follow up with a separate delivery at a later date when Godzilla arrives in but a separate delivery fee would incur of $150 would be applied. Brian immediately lost his cool and demanded I deliver his game and a second delivery charge was b***s*** (his words). Trying to save face and keep the customer happy in the offset chance there was a misunderstanding and appreciative for him spending a considerable amount of money with us, I conceded and agreed to deliver the Godzilla separately at his residence - located an hour away from our store.
FALSE: FUNS warranty is BS and they wouldn’t help or replace my LED board.
TRUTH: Upon writing up ticket for these games to Mr. Burns I informed him of our warranty period and did tell him it includes 30 days labor and 6 months parts support from Stern Pinball. I further explained to him that if a warranty issue would arise we ask that you call into our store, and speak with our inhouse technician and try to resolve over the phone before sending a tech to your home as most issues on a new game are minor and can be resolved with tech advise in a matter of minutes. He agreed and told me how he owned several other pinball machines. Seems like we were completely on the same page at this point.
Fast forward to a week or so after his Rush was delivered he Facebook messaged me and informed me that the LED board wasn't working on the button on his lockbar and asked if we could check it when we delivered Godzilla. I told him of course, but suggested that he remove the lockbar and take a look at the LED board and see if it's possible the connector came loose from the LED board. To which he said he would
Last week Brian's Godzilla Pro arrived in, my son contacted him collected the final balance and scheduled delivery of his Godzilla Pro.
On the evening of April 6 at 5:56pm (and all of the following takes place within the next 3 hours via Facebook messenger) I was Facebook messaged by Brian stating that the lockbar button LED was still not working and asked if we could bring one upon upon delivery of his Godzilla. I informed him I did not have that part on hand and getting parts for Stern games has been difficult and I would not be able to get it in time for the delivery. I made the suggestion to expediate getting the issue resolved quickly to drop a line to Stern via e-mail (providing him their e-mail address) and said to give them him your name, phone number, game title and serial number and someone from their tech department would contact him to troubleshoot over the phone and send the replacement part. Immediately Brian got hostile, cussing calling our warranty BS and a joke. I told him I was not trying to blow him off.....moments later he messages me and told me he bought a new LED board off of Marco's web site. Why? If it's under warranty the manufacturer should replacement it. I further went on to say, I was not blowing you off and by all means we would come out and fix it but you've literally went off the rails before following proper protocol's with Stern Pinball in an effort to order an Advanced Warranty Replacement Part.
Next I'm being told, you have changed everything about the purchase of our two games and I'm coming tomorrow to pick up my Godzilla in the Carton and I'll be leaving you a scathing review of this entire transaction. I informed him again, that if he is picking the game up in the carton, he voids our 30 day warranty on the game. Again further insulting our warranty.
I'm at this point actually in shock that this customer has became so hostile, vulgar and irrational on just about every step of our transaction. I never intended to blow him off on the repair and by all means I would have had our technician come out to his house, but to demand I have the part on hand when I make the delivery is absurd.
Giving it second thought of how difficult he has been, knowing I was getting a bad review no matter what. I made the business decision to refund Brian Burns his payment in full for this Godzilla Pro. As difficult as he has been to work with and demanding to pick his game up in the box. Furthermore, considering his payment for this game was made by credit card, it really just drew a red flag with me. Everything about him has been odd, and demanding. I honestly don't trust the guy. I felt like letting him pick the game up in the box, I could almost certainly see a charge back on the premises of a false damage claim or something else about the game didn't meet his standards.
I informed Brian that I had made the decision to refund his payment in full for his Godzilla Pro. He then accuses me of being unethical in letting him pick up his game and states he has friends in the police department that will be on stand by as he picks up his machine the following morning. Bottom line, it just isn't worth selling a game to Brian Burns. I told him if he wants to have the police present...by all means please do. They can be present as I issue you your refund back on my credit card terminal first thing in the morning. To which I did, full refund was issued first thing in the morning April 7th. The deposit was originally collected on the previous owners merchant account prior to my ownership, I informed Brian we would (and did) cut him a check for his deposit and it was mailed Express Mail, with signature required for delivery to which he has already received and cashed.
FALSE: FUN! Billiards is not an authorized Stern Distributor
TRUTH: We are not a Stern Distributor, we are a Stern Dealer and specializing in game sales to the consumer home market. We can be found on the Stern Page, in the dealer section. We sell well over 200 new Stern Pinball Machines a year and are proud to do so with many happy new and repeat customers from around the United States. ....but there is always gonna be that one. If this is my first bad one in about 5 years...I think I've done pretty good. This is business I don't need, Brian Burns can go buy his pinball machines somewhere else. I don't need his business as bad as he thinks I do.
I'm happy to screen grab our entire text diatribe. As others have stated, there are two sides to every story and Brian Burns only wanted to show his, without letting anyone defend themselves and make himself look like the victim."

Quoted from mikeflan:

My only comments about the LED board are trifold. One, since it's a $12.99 part at Marco, that's a legitimate reason why I (or Brian) would have bought one instead of bothering/dealing with the dealer/manufacturer warranty. It's not worth their time, or more importantly, my time. Certainly not worth a repair call.
Secondly, why is that part $12.99 at Marco and $1.49 at Pinball Life? Seriously Marco, WTF? Gouge much?
Marco - https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/520-5333-00
Pinball Life - https://www.pinballlife.com/rgb-pcb-led-replacement-board.html?Category_Code=

Quoted from apostle90125:

Are you kidding? If those are the actual fb texts the OP posted, Hassle is telling several outright lies. He has the OP making statements that OP clearly didn’t make in the fb chats. Also, halfway through the exchange Hassle goes bipolar - “you can pick the machine up tomorrow” “you can’t pick the machine up, I’m selling it to someone else“ “we offer a 30 day warranty” “you need to contact Stern for warranty”.
Whether the repair part is $1.99, $12.99, or $1,299.99, OP may or may not be proficient at repairing pinball machines, but given Hassle’s promised store warranty, that should not be an issue. It’s obvious that Hassle is jerking the customer around from the time the deal was struck, doesn’t matter how many of his friends try to defend his actions. The guy’s a snake.

Quoted from trecemaneras:

Sort of off-topic, but 100% in the spirit of the drama in this thread, apostle90125 what's the back story leading to you making an account exclusively to post in this topic?