It's insanity.

Exactly.

All I need to hear:

The distributor or Stern won't try and charge a restocking fee, or pass off damage concerns as normal condition for NIB.

Send it back and they can send you one with the new sturdier cabinet.

Reminds me of the time I had some fender-bender damage and had our local Ford dealer do the repair. They misaligned the work, and snapped a mounting tab on the brand new headlight by over-tightening the bolt. I took it back and showed the service manager. His response: "I can take you to any one of the new cars here on the lot, and show you that they have issues too."

I was fuming. I told him to show me a hood where the gap on the left is .0001 inches from the fender, and the gap on the right is .75in. And to show me a broken tab on the headlight. Then I asked him if that's what the salesmen also say when they are selling those cars on the lot.

If anybody can get this resolved its JJ. I completely trust him. Even if Stern sticks it to the OP, JJ wont settle for anything that's not right.
JJ treats people how he would want to be treated, that's why I have confidence in his ability to resolve issues like this.

Airing of grievances? Pinside - where everyday is Festivus!

Seriously, let JJ do his job. He has helped many people in Northern California and will come though for the OP. He has my support

I don't get the "reporting of f-bombs", are we in 6th grade here? Is someone damaged because they read the word fuck? Please, some need to grow up and put some big boy pants on.

Surely the best solution is a new bottom cab ? Pre wired with the transformer, speaker etc. Swap the playfield and the backbox then return the original cab to Stern/distributor. Sending decals is a shitty solution for someone who has never applied decals before.

+1 Had the same experiences with JJ
I've had some issues with stern in the past, absolutely felt like jj went to bat for me 100%. Never had him be dismissive of a problem and always felt like he's given me honest feedback. Since he's a large distributor, Stern takes him seriously, if anyone can get this resolved it's JJ. Hang in there OP. It'll likely take a while, but I have no doubt JJ will do the right thing, rest assured knowing you picked the right distributor

This is a family-friendly forum with people of all ages visiting it. Please be respectful of that. Cursing is fine when using sparingly, but there were more than a few f-bombs dropped in this thread that were specifically directed at individuals or groups. That's what most people took issue with.

Why don't you go outside and play a good old fashioned game of hide and go ____ yourself?

Just kidding. Had to chime in with something, and didn't want to be dramatic.

I can dig it. So we are talking PG-13, not a hard R.

Pretty much

Only people with red hearts next to their avatar can drop F bombs

Maybe we can all just speak in Johnny Dangerously-ese, you farging iceholes!

It's amazing how low the bar is set with a NIB. My first thought is that is not so bad and i would probably just live with it. I have seen so much worse posted here and my perception is that it would just be a hassle to sort out. That being said it's completely insane that shit like this happens. Also my perception may be completely wrong maybe Stern will sort it right out for him. They really need to work on PR though because I suspect a lot of people share my perception.

WTF (resized).jpeg

Pinside sure has made the lives of Stern distributors hell.

You mean people seriously run to you mods and go wha wha wha they said a bad word? Crazy

So what words can we actually say? You need to give us a list so we know just what explicatives are allowed.

If you have questions, please open a moderator feedback thread to discuss it.

metallik basically summed it up for me.
That said; It seems that you've come back with a better response so my pitchforks are back in the shed.

I'm really sorry that Stern has put you in this situation. I'm with the OP here; if Stern had shipped my STLE like that I'd be pissed and be expecting a new game for poor cabinet damage. That kinds of work is just another example of Stern not caring about the end customer and owning up to "quality control".

As the "voice" for stern... since they don't deal directly with the customers; I hope you are impressing upon them that their QC issues and junk code implementations are actually costing both of you customers.

This is why I just can't buy NIB. There is no excuse for shit like that. It is a clear example of a company that simply does not give a fuck.

Man That is one hell of a cool pic! Even though it is sad. That would have been a deal breaker for me.

Not what you would hope for but far from a deal breaker for me. I would have made stern buy me a set of mirror blades and not worried about it.

Stern should come out with a WE edition.

The Whiner Edition will cost an extra $2k and have a special inspection and special crating.

u know what; I'd pay that to have a perfect freaking machine that is guaranteed to be functional and defect free.
I know you are trying to be cute; but the fact is that some of us expected perfection when we put down that kind of money.
I don't think improperly drilled leg holes is a sign of good workmanship at $7k. But obviously some people think it's ok.

When I buy NIB It needs to be new, Not gouged in the box, not scratched in the box, not smashed in the box, not crushed in the box, not ghosted in the box, not chipped in the box......

Jeez, it would sure as hell beat the 7K Rip Off Edition that Stern now peddles.

Just realized something.... this thread is not really titled correctly. It should read NIB Metallica defective from the factory. Damaged eludes to was built and manufactured properly and then something happened...

Jesus I can't wait till SW nib owners turn Pinside into a mushroom cloud. Will be time for me to take a purge/vacation.

Well, I think this brings up some pretty valid issues for buying NIB Sterns overall.

1) Contacting Stern directly, the OP was told he could not return the purchase to the distributor

What's the point of having a distributor then?

2) If he shipped it back to the factory, he'd be hit with a 20% restocking charge

No way, no how is this ok for a damaged or defective purchase. Gex's policy is 30% restocking, which he stated was flexible, but moot if Stern is saying the buyer can't return the purchase to the distributor. Again, what's the point of having a distributor?

It's not Stern bashing to point this out. The quality of their machines continues to dive as the price climbs. Home buyers are the pinball market for Stern, and they expect a whole, intact product for their money.

Damage Inc ?

GO!

lol!

Looking at the bolt holes in question, there seems to be a continuation of pattern in the wood grain. Is it possible that a jig to drill leg holes was improperly placed on the corner of the cabinet and made indentations and no actual holes were drilled in the wrong place?

Also OP, could you post pictures of the scratched decal from a little ways away so we can see it in perspective? Just trying to get an accurate picture before choosing a side. Either way, I think GEX could have been given 72 hours or more to come up with a solution before this thread was started.

It's going to be EPIC!!!!!!

Stern must be starting to wonder if catering to pinside and their users "dream themes" was such a good idea after all. I'm sure once was a time they sent out machines with a few blemishes and that was that.

You mean like the bricked bottom on some of my older Williams SS titles. Man I could see it now.

I mean any scratch. It's a whole new set of buyers pinball companies have to try to please now.

Gone are the days when these machines were slammed down on location with the intent to hold so many quarters the bottom would bust out. And they were a great place to stick your bubblegum when you were done chewing it too.

That wins "post of the week" from me. Well done.

Why are so many here so eager to carry Stern's water? Some act like they're part owners of the company rather than the consumers that they are. I don't understand the human psychology behind working against your own best interests. It's almost as if some feel more sorry for Stern having to field complaints than for the people who've gotten a shoddy product from them.

I'm just an observer not defending anybody, and I have observed numerous threads like this over the last year or so. Lots of complaints and lots of problems, but that doesn't seem to stop people from buying them.

And some of those guys will go ape shit when you try and sell them the game. "oh well the cabinet is scratched.... and look at this repaired cabinet... no way I'm paying top dollar for that".....

This is exactly one of the reasons why Stern is not getting any of my money until they get their head out of their ass.

No Stern has made the distributors life hell. Their testing and quality control are gone! They are going to go bankrupt if they don't fix things fast. Sooner or later a class action lawsuit will come if they don't clean up their act. When they raise the prices of the game people expect more. The GB issue was the end of my relationship for me with new stern games. They did little to help the problem.

This is crazy, I would be not be satisfied until I got a replacement machine. The scratches are one thing, but the covered up holes is just bad craftsmanship, no pride in what they were building and un-acceptable.

Can you tell if the misplaced bolt holes go all the way through? Someone suggested it could be marks from a jig and not holes drilled completely through. I could see that as a possibility.