Believe it or not, there’s actually worse tech support departments to deal with than Stern…TouchTunes is probably the worst. They read prompts off the screen when you call for a warranty exchange.

Right now, however, the Bain of my existence is HarborTouch. They’re selling POS to locations where I own the jukebox, ATM, GT, etc. After one of their “factory trained technicians” leaves, I’ve got to go reconfigure them router because all of my stuff (which was working before they arrived) is now fire walled out, and they won’t correct it. Fucked up thing is HarborTouch and TouchTunes are owned by the same venture group, so you’d think that’s the one thing they’d be trained not to block.

spectrum-1980s be patient. This too shall pass. And if you can’t be patient, figure out a way to bypass shit so the game still earns. Hell, if you’re gonna be an operator, you might as well run some drywall screws in it somewhere…

Some might think I’m being a bit of a jerk here but Ive heard literally thousands of times in my life that all operators do is drive around and count their money. spectrum-1980s you’re operating how many pieces? And you’re having this much trouble with disgruntled customers and the run around from tech support? I know you’re frustrated with getting the run around and having a boat anchor on location. You’ve got two options when this stuff happens-have a backup piece to replace a machine that has a catastrophic failure/event, or keep an ungodly and overwhelmingly expensive parts inventory on hand. And to whoever said you should have a spare of every board for everything you operate, I’ll keep it G rated and just say go fly a kite. Imagine running 300-400 pieces, and there’s probably 2 dozen manufacturers you buy from, and for the sake of the easiest example, 4 hardware platforms just for jukeboxes. Being a vending and amusements operator isn’t easy. When I was a kid, dads business card had the slogan “Working for YOUR Extra Profit!” I never realized just how true this was until he passed. I’m not bitching about what I do. It’s my livelihood and I take great pride in it and if we’re being honest, I’m unemployable anywhere else because I can be a bit coarse when irritated, but until you’ve walked the walk, think twice about throwing your local operator under the bus. Maybe say thank you once in a while for them leaving free games on the pin or dropping the pool balls for free or leaving credits on the jukebox? I’ve had customers thank me just for operating pinball again and just hearing thank you from someone is worth more than the financial gains some days.

TL:DR operating ain’t easy, keep your chin up, this too shall pass

I finally got my Mechagodzilla hinge plate after 9 months. On the bright side, it’s easier getting Stern parts than TouchTunes parts

if I buy a new model jukebox, I buy more than one so we’ve got parts. Need 3 AMI Curves? Order 4. Need a dozen TouchTunes? They’re such pieces of shit you better order 15 so you’ve got enough spare shit.

spectrum-1980s have you been in contact with your distributor? I was getting nowhere with Stern emailing on my own. Once the distributor stepped in, problem was resolved in less than 24 hours. Since then, we’ve had two other still under warranty machines with failures in which the parts dept at the distributor has got in touch with Stern and parts shipped the same day.

I was actually going to ask in a PM which distributor you’re using, but Shaffer is reputable and should have more than enough clout to get the ear of someone at Stern.

In Stern’s defense, these are strange times. They’re overwhelmed with builds and parts orders. They’re tasked with keeping assembly lines moving without knowing which part will become unavailable overnight and they’re also having the same staffing issues everyone else is. They’ve probably shipped more games the past 30 months than anyone could’ve ever imagined possible with all these factors playing major roles. I’m not making an excuse for them by any means. The utter lack and disregard for communication is the true disgrace. A prompt reply to an email or phone call goes a long, long, long long way.

So, I ordered a GZ pro for a friend. Game shipped missing two of the building mounts. Now the driveshaft is bent. Sent pics via email to our distributor. This was about 2 weeks ago. Got a new building via UPS this morning. Never expected this to be resolved so quickly.

Ya, that’s a typo on my part. It’s a Prem

The CC chargeback isn’t a thing here for a few reasons. For one, once you’ve paid the statement, it’s very difficult to dispute a charge. And secondly, you took possession of a working machine with no damage or issues. 45 days later, you file a dispute. The merchant immediately represents the dispute showing the machine arrived and was accepted with no issues. CC company immediately sides with the case of the merchant. Dispute closed.

In all reality, there’s no excuse for how Stern has handled this and many other similar situations, but at the same time, this is the unfortunate world in which we currently live. Parts, materials, labor shortage etc. it’s all snow balled into where many of us find ourselves. While I certainly side with spectrum-1980s (as I’ve had a similar issue) you could look at it from the stand point of at least you’re in the position to make this capital purchase. Many of our local, national and global neighbors are far less fortunate these days. Dude, just keep after your distributor and Stern. Your parts will arrive eventually. And I’m saying this from the standpoint of an amusements operator. We’ve had machines which we cannot source replacement parts for and have either pulled that piece of equipment for a lesser machine that’s fully operational or looked around the route and pulled some under performing machines to use for parts or replacement piece. I’m not kidding when I say that when TouchTunes was having all their parts issues, we pulled two Virtuo jukeboxes for either an older model TouchTunes or an AMI so we would have two spare monitors, computers, power supplies and control boards. Hell, I pulled some duck catcher cranes and put in other cranes just because we couldn’t buy the damned 2” rubber ducks for the better part of 2021, and when we could, we could get 20% of what we needed and were paying 70% more per duck. Crazy times.

The market has shifted to the overwhelming majority of NIB sales are to homes, but don’t forget, if not for an operator, how many people would’ve ever experienced pinball? Pretty sure it was a group of operators not homeowners that got pinball legalized in New York. Leagues and tournaments and IFPA were all started by operators. It’s not all about us, but don’t forget that Stern has made it a point to ship the newest title games to operators first to get more games in the wild and drive location play for those that may not be able to afford a NIB purchase or are on the fence about one. The life of the pinball operator isn’t as easy as you think.