Quoted from shacklersrevenge:SO finally got through to a guy named Chaz, and the exchange was polite.
I explained to him the issue, that it was ONE switch not working and how I troubleshot it, and I asked him if there was anything they could do.
Chaz: "'well...they're kind of designed a certain way that makes them very difficult to repair, not sure what we can do...maybe send it in, and we'll look at it...''
Me: Is there a way you can swap it out so there isn't a lot of down time?''
Chaz: "it's something you need to order from your distributorrrrrr, or parts supplierrrrrr, eeeeyah...I mean, we're goingggg to be offering the schematics for them soon, very sooooon, but they're not easy to repair..... but I mean, you can try....''
Me: So my game needs to be down for several weeks unless I spend $220 for a new one, that isn't really guaranteed to not fail like this one and it runs two of these things, which means the other one can or will fail eventually too probably, and there is no real way to repair it over ONE simple switch? I own 6 Stern machines and like what you guys do but this isn't really good work''
Chaz: Yeahhhh...well...I mean, that's really all we can do right now, not sure what else we can do...sorry you're having troubles (chuckles) but you'd have to buy a new board
...thanks for calling (chuckles a few times more) WTF?
Okay Stern, game on. I'll buy that new ridiculously overpriced board and keep the rest of money going forward and chuckle all the way to the bank! From now on, SAM or before works for me and I'll sing the song of your Stern node JUNK.
Adios boys!
Quoted from metallik:Stern meets Apple? This is one of the most customer-unfriendly statements I've heard from any company in years. Sad that it actually came from a pinball company.
Even better, offer a "maybe" warranty so customers think they're covered... til they're not.
6 years without schematics is complete bullshit. I want a Maiden but I guess I will have to make do with location play til Stern sorts this out. Thanks for the reminder, Shackler.
He's tip-toeing around the fact that they're designed to fail. Built in redundancy. He will know as well as anyone that the boards are super cheap and Stern are price gouging horribly.
The laughter is likely nervous laughter.
He'd probably like to help, but can't. If he admits the blindingly obvious about the situation, he'll likely be sacked and won't get a reference.
Would you give up your job in a similar position, on principle?
Stern's bullshit isn't his fault. This is high level direction. The shareholders, Gomez, Gary etc.
Doesn't make it any less frustrating for the customers, though. Fortunately, I was warned off Spike early on, and took heed. SAM only for me.