That would be sweet

That's exactly what I did this morning. Found his home address and drove out there....with the camera rolling I knocked on his door. Wasn't sure what to expect. He wasn't expecting me. Told him I came for my circuit boards. He said yeah, ok and went and got them. That simple. Can't tell you how relieved I feel to get two non-working boards back!

The guy is nice enough, but I wouldn't recommend him to anyone. He had my boards over a month and didn't fix them. And he wouldn't even return my phone calls. No excuses. No apologies.

In the future I will be using the repair guys recommended on this site who are proven successful and timely.

sheesh. had he done anything? was he waiting on something to come in?

Awww......NO

One pin after selling dozens to stay alive is hardly a hunt

You however can help me with some goodwill by helping my hunting!

He said he replaced a lot of chips but wasn't sure what else it needed. He didn't say he was waiting on anything.

I shall keep my eyes peeled.

My eyes were not peeled back in Feb. when Izzy had just what the pin doctor ordered.
My bad.......

Had been considering various games and had some major expenses come up in the past few months, so had to pass on them. Now I'm on the hunt for a Wonka LE to play with my almost six-year-old daughter, who's really liking pinball and Willy Wonka. If anyone has one they'd consider selling please let me know. Thanks.

Yeah.... That's about right. He asked if "i was mad at him" because I would not lower the price.

sorry to hear you had a problem. sam is a very honest and competent repair guy. He would not take someones boards. I will call him and ask what happened. good luck with the repair. Hope it works out for you.

I bought my defender pin off him many years ago. I sold him my IJ pin that I owned for about 2 hours...

Yes, call him and ask what happened. I'd be interested to hear what his excuse is/was....sort of. In a way, I don't care. I'd never use him again. I didn't want to stand at his door and have any discussion about what was going on and why he didn't return any of my phone calls. I was a little nervous to go there in the first place, and wanted to get out as soon as I got my boards back in my hands.

Maybe the first red flag was when I initially called for a service request. I left my phone message on his answering machine several times over several days before he ever returned my calls. I was about to send my boards off in the mail to one of several service guys recommended here on Pinside, but found California Amusements to be local to me here in San Jose, and according to their website, looked to be competent. And I figured I would be saving the shipping costs that I would otherwise need to pay for service out of state.

After several days of me leaving phone messages he did return my call then came to do the service call on Friday, June 5. As he was leaving with my boards (the MPU and Driver board), and $100 cash, he said he would work on them on the weekend. I expected to get a call on Monday saying they were repaired.

I didn't hear from him after the weekend, so mid week I called leaving a message asking for a repair status. I left several more calls over several more days leaving messages asking for a repair status. He eventually returned my calls, much to my relief, saying he was swamped with commercial jobs but he was working a little on my job too. Just the fact that he finally returned a call led me to believe I wasn't getting ripped off, but the expectation I had based on what he said when he left my home on June 5 was he would have them turned around in a couple days.

After a few more weeks I started calling again, leaving messages asking for a repair status. Several calls over several days and no returned calls. Finally, I got a return call and he stated he had worked on the boards, got the dead board to power up, but still wasn't fixed and wasn't sure what the problem was. I guess about a week later I started calling and leaving messages that I wanted my unrepaired boards back, and I would come get them. No return calls. Again, I am feeling sick to my stomach that this was all a scam and I was ripped off. He had my money and my boards, for a month, and wasn't returning anymore phone calls.

I think I left 3 phone call messages in the week preceding me knocking on his door asking for my boards back. By this time it had been over a month. Not really knowing who this guy was and what his real intentions were, I was afraid to go knock on his door. So it worked out I guess. I'm out $100 but at least I got my boards back. They ship out today Fedex to Chris Hibler. Everything I have read about Chris is good.

One final note: From what I have learned doing some research, if you have the test ROM's you can easily diagnose the Williams MPU board problems. Sounds simple enough. I could attempt that, but don't want to start desoldering chips on the board. Leaving that to the experts. I'm guessing Sam doesn't have the proper test ROM's, test equipment, or knowledge. I don't think he's that busy, just unqualified to do these boards as advertised. Honest? Can't say. Grade for returning phone calls? "F"

It's all about having the right tools. Get a Hakko desoldering gun . It will make you an instant expert in cleanly removing components without damaging traces.

The real skill is knowing which components to replace. (Pinside can help out there) . For equal or less than the cost to pay others, get a tool you can re-use. You'd be surprised how easily they work.

You're gonna spend it anyway, why not get something that will save you in the future?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BKSLLG9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_MCBdFb0XM7REE

Agree with you, it's all about having the right tools. But in this case, it's more than just a desoldering gun, and in fact, I do already own a desoldering gun!

I've done a few board repairs to my own games, early Bally and Gottlieb SS. I've found lots of help here on Pinside for that and found it immensely satisfying to DIY. But with this System 7 board, after some basic troubleshooting, it was evident that advanced skills and additional tools were necessary. I would need a better logic probe, perhaps an oscilloscope, and maybe even a ROM burner, and for sure some test ROM/ROMs.

I was skeptical I'd find the tech support I needed, found the test ROM instructions incomplete or lacking explanations for a newbie, and I guess doubted in the end it would be cost effective for me to DIY. This time I'm leaving it to the expert, albeit he's half way across the country. Just looking forward to getting my game up and running again.

Chris Hibler has been very good to me. Good call. Sorry to hear about the bad local experience.

Here is a better photo for you guys to chew on.
Don't forget to tell all your friend to check out https://pinballpickers.com

IMG_9885 (resized).jpg

I see on your website you still show the WPT you bought from me which you immediately posted for sale for thousands more.

It's funny because you didn't even bother to reset the scores when you posted the pics. Pretty lazy move

My first name is still clearly visible on the DMD high score in one of the pictures of the game.

- Mitch
21 (resized).jpg

Hold up a sec, where's my popcorn

Could throw in a set of new legs at that price.

I'm confused. Does adding chrome armor not double the value?

I believe its only 1.25x value added. The .75 comes from falsely claiming its a prototype

On Antiques Roadshow you don’t wanna fuck with the patina

LOL

And when it doesn't sell raise the price! That'll show 'em.

Someone did that to me on eBay. I made an offer and seller was like “no sorry now I must raise the price” (from $1599 to $1999) so I followed by increasing my offer by a penny. Every time he declined, I raised it by a penny. That was some fun trolling!

He hounded me over 2 days to "buy something" last year when I casually asked about a price. I think the following tells you all you need to know about this guy:

Capture (resized).JPG

I think this is more telling...go read the reviews for "Mallory". Nobody likes this guy!!!
Screen Shot 2020-07-15 at 6.37.23 PM (resized).png

Pop quiz! Who can name the other 2 local a-hole sellers?

Hint: Both have been banned from Pinside

I’d rather not soil my mouth.

I'll play. Whitney aka (whitey). Its hard to forget a guy who's been a dick the whole time you've known of him.
Gorf- ya, well, that story to long to go into. Just sitting in his driveway to buy machine and he has a lot of talk and no sale.

Gorf for sure.

Sean Casey. Anybody?

I had no idea their odiousness wafted all the way to So Cal. LOL

Sean is a nice guy from my experience. Polite and helpful. Used to be a big flipper, but I haven't seen his ads in a while. Have people had a bad experience with him?

When I was just getting into pinball Sean gave me a couple boxes of used parts and assemblies. I've been picking parts off if them for years. He always impressed me as a decent guy.

He was selling a lot of parts and game recently. Sounds like he might be getting out of the business. He gave me a transistor on a Sunday when I blew up my favorite game - was nice of him to do that for a stranger.

I've never bought a game from him as his prices always seemed slightly above market, but then again he did offer a warranty with his games - I don't need it myself but for someone new to the hobby that's not a bad thing. And me and a friend needed some transistors to get a game up and running in a hurry and it's not like you can walk in to Fry's these days and pick up what you need - Sean had some for us, free of charge. So yeah, I think he's a good guy.

That said, there were some ads on CL a month or two ago and it looks like maybe he got out of the hobby completely - he was selling all his spare parts. Boards, mechs, plastics, LEDs, playfields, just a whole lot of stuff. Games too I think. Not sure what happened with him. UPDATE: Nope see his response below, he was just selling parts.

Hi, friend! I swear we didn't coordinate posting that story at exactly the same time - LOL.

What are the odds?

For those wondering, I'm still around in the hobby. I'm not selling much lately except for lots of boards and other parts. If you're looking for parts locally, feel free to email me at sean at eapinball dot com.

Sean

Had him lie to a seller to get a cheap game i was on the way to get. Gave a sob bs story, and seller decided to sell to him instead. Found out when i got there. Mind you, i arrived there before he did, had money, and game was still there.

I have a Tommy that was missing some pieces from the blinder assembly. Sean was kind enough to open his game up for me and remove the apron. As a result, the ipdb now has photos of the Tommy blinder assembly and I was able to fabricate the parts needed to get mine working.

If you are referring to me, I call BS.

I have to back dsuperbee. I guess it’s the difference in attitudes between being in a hobby and running a business. You did something similar to me.

You are saying that I lied to a seller to get a game, when you were on your way. It did not happen, not by me. I am not calling anyone a liar here, but I know my dealings.

I have had many dealings with Sean. He's always been a stand up guy to me.

Well I didn't get the TZ, and the next day you had it for sale. Same exact game. I don't know why the seller would lie to me.

Last from me on the subject. This happened a long time ago 12 or 13 years ago.

But really, you kind of are.

Brian and Steve are both stand up guys and have absolutely no reason to lie about you.

I’m not calling anyone a liar, as that would violate the Pinside rules against personal attacks. I do question those that tell the seller anything/everything necessary to acquire the game, including harassment.