Just wanted to open a conversation about Stern and their parts supply chain issues and quality. Share my experiences and compare and hope someone reads this from Stern. My rant.

I'm an operator who keeps his games 100 percent.
I have a Mando Le that I have had more issues with than I can share. But I will try to share two of my complaints.

Mando Le

Stern wants the serial number of the game. Okay fine

Stern won't talk to me cause I'm not a distributor. Aggravating but fine.

My distributor has no pull to get Stern to even jump a little for me. What the hell....

I can't get anyone from Stern on the phone to talk about what I need and why and how long. The amount of pure aggravation on this is absolutely insane. I want to take this game and set it on sterns lot and set it on fire! I'm there .

The left ramp broke
The guns on the razor crest broke
The magnet ( stainless protector is flaking off (platting).

The upper playfield stopped registering switch hits and leds were dimm. ( Harness failed (no strain relief)

The diverter for the upper playfield welds broke

The drop down scoop mech never worked from the factory.
It binds on the factory welds in the unit. ( Still waiting)

The right ramp rivited plastic assembly that is bent over to keep the ball from launching into orbit is broken. ( Just now ordered).

We are at 3229 plays here .

Stern with great reluctance and tons of emails has been willing to warranty these parts this far. I strongly say great reluctance. .

My distributor has begged them to call me and the one time they tried they called with a private number I can't call back.

The coil stops on the upper playfield turned to dust and had metal shavings every wear in the game.

This is absolutely insane. Some may say dont operate an le and this is why. No. Its more expensive , the mechs and ramps should be able to handle the abuse. I'm not even 500.00 in to having it paid off. And have spent more in parts.

I wouldn't be upset if they could just ship me the parts so I don't have a 12,000 paper weight in a commercial building I have to pay for.

Stern pinball does not appreciate me as a customer and the few I have talked to have even gotten mouthy with me. I have 13 of their newest titles. I can't continue to buy there games if they can't supply me parts to keep them working.

Ninja turtles Le

Spinner mech disables ( worn out)
One is on order under warranty for over two months.
While I can still operate the game, if I were to sell it , I can't get it's full value due to it not even working fully because I can't get Stern to get up and help a brother out.

But they will send me posters and stuff for Stern army but not the parts to keep the damn things working. I can't be the only one?

In short. Stern pick up the phone and us operators need access to parts and we don't need a 10 mile investigation on a warranty part please and don't be afraid to talk to us.

I'm told getting pricing from Stern on the distributor end is also awful. The lack of communication and structure inside the building when it comes to parts is awful. I am a angry customer. That being said Stern is learning ( more metal ramps, stepper motors are nice)( software is great) ( parts department experience G- GRADE .

WHILE IM RANTING let me mention these god awful gi sockets that give me seizures. Can we fix these? It's been years. Blink LEDs when you it the flippers on every game le or pro.

My rush le opto #40 shipped bad ( no solder on the opto led) ( factory)

Missing screw on rubber bumper Infront of time machine yup rubber is bad soon to be dinted ramp.

The whole scoop thing and warranty void crap. No words , none nice.

In short. Stern slow down and help us ops catch up to keep pinball alive.

Please improve the customer experience, not everyone is home owner who just sees Rainbow wires underneath.

Can we fix these pressed two piece coil stops? Machined one piece stops please. I'll pay extra as a performance part gladly. Less metal shavings in my coin counter would be great( of course I change them )

What's your experience? Thanks for reading my awful grammar and sharing my pain.

Check us out on pinball map west county lanes, we use Shaffer distributing.

Also Stern. Can we get manuals with part numbers and exploded views and what not for toppers please? Lol

It's only made me 500. Because of the cost of parts I have had to purchase and I only make 80 percent of the revenue . As well most players do the pay 2 to get 3 quantity buy in. It was purchased new. I just wish someone at Stern would help me out or be willing to contact me to talk about it. I don't feel like my investment was a secure decision at this point. Mando still down. Dan with Shaffer in parts said Stern said no eta on parts.

I had to order new rubber bumpers for my time machine ramp on rush le. There a new bumper if Stern doesn't send me these soon there going to be replacing a time machine ramp too.

You know what your right Mando has made me more about 1500 ish. For some reason I was thinking quarters not dollars.

Update. No parts recieved.

Rush le node board 10 failure
Drum clock stepper and lift ramp do not work

Placed order just now via email.

Ramp would go up all the way and now does not move at all. Thinking the stepper killed the board.

That's a good idea. But if there is no power to the stepper it won't hold the position. Right now I have them set to disabled. But I will try that.

Just talked to Adam from Stern over the weekend. Got the run around. Provided him with all needed information and pictures kept asking questions for a whole day until he agreed to send me a new node 10 board. So I gave them my address will see how long it takes. I have a feeling when I plug it in it's going to instantly not work do to a shorted stepper but they don't seem to want me to have a new stepper until I blow another node 10 board so that's perfect. Circle jerk. Will see. Hope I'm wrong

Can't keep waiting so. I did this for now. Players are upset at me , not my fault. But best I can do. Will try it tomorrow.

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I didn't think about that. I'll have to add it to my repair box.

Yeah if this works then the warranty part will stay inside the game.

I wonder how the uv reactive glue would work.

Yeah , I can hardly get them to send me one. Let alone a collection.

I guess this is confirmation of order.
So in theory it should ship today and arrive in 2-3

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Still no word on my Mando or turtles parts ordered and no one at Stern will reply about them to my distributor. BS.

That's true. I just went for the quick and easy. Sense a new one will come at some point. Definitely would be a prettier fix than mine . I didn't have those tools set up though or lexan. But I agree it would be better.

Proof than another distributor can't reach Stern. Orders same parts from a different distributor to make sure it wasn't the distributor and to have spares. Game room guys can't get a response either. And I paid for them.

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Proof Shaffer can't reach Stern here

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I did talk to Adam again . Adam is the only contact I seem to be able to talk to at Stern via the email system.

Looks like rush node is coming. I did tell him thank you for keeping in touch and helping me out. I do appreciate that someone is trying to help.

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What's on back order still?

Rush time machine rubber bumper and screws

Mando right ramp X2
Mando rivited plastic assembly X3
Mando Ramp decals X3
Mando scoop assembly

Turtles
Glider assembly
Pizza spinner assembly

Godzilla
Plastic above magnet

Guardians pro
Insider kit

Elvira prem
Insider kit

Batman 66 prem
Insider kit

It's been fine on my Godzilla. But in Godzilla it only controls one stepper..... But jp has it for the t rex right?

This is getting ridiculous on a historical level.
What a piss por way of keeping operators in business.
Go Stern.

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Here is an email sent previously saying that that part was in stock.

Tired of getting screwed with.

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I'm going to try to mail a letter to Stern pinball and see if I can get a response back that way. The only thing I have not tried.

I understand your point. I was very calm and waited a long time before I even posted this thread. The begining was over three months ago. But after mentioning this thread to someone at Stern. I have three people from Stern trying to help me as of 10 minutes ago, it was like a fire being lit. positive traction and kindness and communication being recieved.

Update. Positive. People do seem to care. This is only after months of trying to get my games fixed. Try to understand this from a collector who operates perspective.

Games with broken parts are worth less
Games with broken parts don't make money
Broken games= upset players
Upset players = bad talk and reviews and less plays
Less plays= less food sales
Etc etc and so on.

It looks bad, it is bad. I'm glad we're on a track to recovery though. It appears.

Having 30k dollars of paperweight pinball machines gets me upset. I'm sorry.

Right direction.

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I asked Adam spreadbury about this. See what he says. Could have been forgotten on my machine if required.

Well spoken.

Update. I received a package of Wich is nothing I ordered.

Service bulletin kit for ball trough switch on rush le.
Service bulletin kit for scoop protectors for rush le.

Node 10 still down

Yes right angle p1 screwdriver or right angle ratchet screw driver with a p1 bit.

Update. Recieved my warranty pizza spinner and glider assembly for turtles Le. No rush node board.

Recieved rush node board. Rush and turtles back up. Stern installed the zip ties upside down on the new glider, fixed already no biggie.

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I got updates.

We just did a remodel on the bowling alley so I was bussy for three weeks doing that.

I have not received any emails , calls etc from Stern or distributor about the parts I still need.

Still need pizza spinner and glider I ordered as spairs from game room guys

Still need rush le time machine ramp bumpers and screws

Still need Mando warranty scoop assembly

Still need warranty rivited plastic asembly for mando

Still need purchase rivited plastic assembly for mando

Still need Batman 66 insider kit

This is completely insane.

Oh and they sent me some parts for Mando my two ramps and decal sets ( says decal set on the invoice) they sent me two plastic sets instead... What the hell.

Update. Recieved new Mando scoop assembly. Of Wich this one still has the same issue the original had. Binds up on the welds. Not machined enough. Oh well. I'll take it into my own hands to fix it and swap it. Check your Mando prem and le scoops for smooth operation and hold.

Nothing changed still waiting on parts. Beyond insane. Pisses me to the max. All this money in equiptment and can't get parts to keep it nice. Bad customer support. They want to try to help them move on to the next thing and leave you back where you started. May have to try to bark up the tree again.

None of my games were purchased via credit card, parts are not charged from my main distributor until they are sent. Game room guys charges in advance though. So it depends on the distro. Shaffer won't charge you until you get it. It seems that everytime I put up a post on here on this forum I get a quick reply back. Got one today. That's almost more frustrating.

I did receive my Batman insider kit. I'm honestly done updating this post because I'm so disappointed and itl just get me worked up to a aggravation level. But politely I am extraordinary disappointed. I'm being ignored again.....

I I know I'm approaching 8 months on some of my parts now. Mando rivited plastic assembly , decal set,. Turtles Le spinner and glider spairs.

I would check to make sure they are plugged into the cabinet node board. It is easy for some of those plugs to be pulled out when you lift up the playfield or drop it down.

Your not important or valued, thank you come again , we know you will , bend over. At least that's how I feel at this point. 10,000$ games can't make money off of them because we can't get parts it's absolutely hilarious and looney at this point. All I can do is laugh. They need a online parts ordering system for operators.

Game of thrones le is down because of node 8 failure, purchased and paid through coin taker. These distributors need to wake up and start barking up the Stern tree they are the only ones with power, Stern is making the distributors look bad. If the trend continues it may severely hurt Stern sooner than they think.

Just hilarious

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Does Stern realize and actually understand how bad this kind of stuff makes them look? Or care? I would like to think someone does and all I want is communication. I understand the struggle. Rant over.

True. However they are the leading pinball manufacture and it's what people want to pay to play when you are an operator, I do enjoy their products and they are designed and made well, it's the support that is lacking. I'm hoping that things may be subject to change in the service area by voicing our experiences. The other downside is if you don't place a parts order it's guaranteed you won't get your parts to repair your new valueless paper weight. But you are correct for sure.

I will be attending expo and plan on voicing my opinion politely if I can at the q and a . This is utter bull shit. Game of thrones le needs a node board noone has in stock and Stern won't talk to their distributors yet they will make another game and use parts people need and won't sell. How can we make any god-damn money with broken shit.

I contacted every email I can. We will see if I get a response. If anyone has any Stern parts emails please pm me.

I managed to get a response from one of my emails. Seems to want to help , however get this . His response to my node board question was "we can not get them from our board manufacturer due to parts shortage, there is no eta on availability" So I have a 10,000 paper weight. I sent another email asking if I could send my board in for repair, waiting response. But there board manufacturer can make the ones they need for production games. Stern could push them , I'm sure they are a large account and could source the parts there missing or work with them to help eatchother help us. But we're not important. I really hope they will repair this board otherwise I may loose my mind.

I can do surface mount re-work and after the last email. I am stuck with one option. Try to fix it myself. Stern said no repair, no parts , you wait. Maybe they have parts to make boards around March maybe plus time to get through Stern to me. Call it 9 months. Bull shit.

I was told it was not being discontinued. However I will say, if your buying a new pinball, if it looks like it might brake order an extra assembly once the manual comes out in advance with these wait times, and if it's a game that's on the line. There are zero fucking excuses Stern should give. Pay there price . Zip it and ship it.

I still have no walking ball lock for my avengers le either... Stern has not prosesed the PO because they have not sent pricing back to my distro. Over a month now. Wich seems like there doing that on purpose.

Still missing turtles Le spinner and glider assembly ordered on 3/8/2022 from game room guys #PO148130 including my order numbers and dates from here out.

We are planning on starting a pinball stream. Play throughs reviews etc. I would like to think we are considered a flagship location of Stern products.
www.westcountypinball.com I will definitely be telling people why things don't work right on my games if I'm streaming them . Nothing against Stern but, I'm the kinda guy that takes things to level 12,999.00 when talking about le pinball machines just like them.

Stern does make the best pinball. But currently the worst support. What made me get this involved into Stern products and business is this story I will share. Wich I now know to be absolutely false and was a complete fluke.

Shrek 2008. This is a game I bought from a operator in lin mo who was kind enough to let me make payments I paid 3,200 total. This was my intraductory big newer title for me. It was a big deal. The year is 2013. It had the tops display topper and said chuck e cheese on it had the big ticket dispenser. Reading the manual no directions on how to tell it to stop saying welcome to chuck e cheese. Drop target bank would not register. I called Stern phone tech support. I told them. My Shrek I bought used says chuck e cheese how do I turn it off? Told me take the glass off locate dip switch blah and flip it with the game off. Disable now sweet! He then asked is your game code up to date, I responded with what? Walked me through it over the phone and stayed on the phone with me the whole time. Got to the drop targets told me Wich pins to short out and verify it was the opto board, verified it was the opto board , gave me the part number and the web address of an authorized distributor with the part in stock and told me to call back when it comes in. Called back when it came in walked me through replacing it. Was level 100 service perfect 10 out of 10. I was so impressed and so happy a company went that far with me on a used game and I said yes Stern here on out. What a fucking shame.

This is what sold me on Stern. If I could do it over again, I wouldn't have invested as deep as I have.

I'm sorry for ranting here constantly. But thank you for your guys support and reading these. It's so frustrating that your future depends on parts availability. financially when your this far into being an operator that provides for you family in this case my girlfriend it is infuriating to think someone or a company can do this and be okay with it. I love pinball, we want people to play working pinball and experience the greatest best playing tuned machines. That why I get upset is because I love it so much and enjoy doing it. I would just think, maybe I'm greedy but when your Stern army, have 250,000 plus tied up in Stern pinball you would think you could get a damn person on the phone. I'd like to think I'm a somebody to them.

Po1017438 placed on 4/04/22
Rivited plastic assembly Mando le
2x Mando le decal sets

Po1017436 placed 4/04/22 (WARRANTY!!!)
Rivited plastic assembly Mando le

This rivited plastic assembly is still broken and if I had not attempted a botch repair the game would still be down. Further back I showed pictures of where I rivited the two broken halves together with some metal.

Correct. Call the number yourself. It will say we are handling all service via email. Emails that get ignored or pushed off or marked not important.

That is exactly what I have done Brian!
But when I go to sell the game one day it will affect the value of the machine drastically without that part functioning.

Stern should have sent out a service buliten stating for location use it is recommended to remove that part and change the settings to disable that feature because it is a high wear part. Before they all went south or upgraded the design and sent out updated versions similar to Ghostbusters slimmer recall.

That's because of the walking ball lock. There is a setting to disable the lock feature it's called pass through or something like that. Remove the locking assembly and change the setting. The mech also relies on gravity to bring the fingers back to the proper position Wich can torq and bind sense the assembly uses a plate with e clips on one side in staid of a solid unit.

The subway tunnel is still there, the balls virtually lock instead of physically being held in the walking lock. Portal still opens per normal.

Anytime in any email I mention please turn the phone back on and they complete ignore my comment about it and dance around it.

I don't believe they have service tickets anymore. I don't think there is a service department. I believe they have a support department that focuses on Stern insider issues ( IT) department.

Wow! Somebody talked to somebody about me. All the sudden no one can share po numbers anymore , strictly against policy and can cause distros to get in trouble. Way to go Stern to hush things up. But things are moving according to my distro and distros are getting angry.

I was told my distro is beging to push back at Stern about over due orders. Good. Damn straight. Push baby.

Several of my pos were " not received by Stern and submitted via there system, the distros that submit orders are having issues with Stern recognizing and putting them into the system, apparently it's a big issue.

Sterns response always seems to be

"We don't see that po listed"
So the order you submitted was never submitted. I personal believe that's an excuse or push back to delay.
It's happens almost every order with multiple distros.

I think I'm stealing your idea. Making shirts now.

If I follow through yes..

My idea for the back is text saying turn on the phone please with a Stern employee skating around the text.

I bought shirts. Will be wearing one and have some for sale at expo. Please keep in mind we do love Stern pinball machines that's why we're upset about the parts supply issues. I have 10 large and 10 xl I am bringing.

What in the actual fucking bullshit. God fucking damn it. I have waited so long to get these damn parts.. my turtles glider and spinning disc assembly.

The picklist says 9/27/2022
What the fuck? I ordered it way before then.

The ship date is 3/11/2022. I don't understand the bullshit.
Dates.

Anyway. Order is fucked.

Part#500-1187-00 turtles disc assembly

On the picklist.

Part # on the bag 500-1187-00

What's in the bag? Not 500-1187-00

See pictures

How can you fuck this up so bad. I waited damn neared a year to get fucked.

I want someone to call me and get me my damn shit. I have broken shit that needs parts . What is going on over there?

Hire me for the parts dept and move me to Chicago please.

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Yes my distro is pissed at Stern. I guess Stern hates my distro.

I appreciate your support and love for pinball. Thanks man.

Playable yes. But customers or pinballers want there dull feature game. Also if I were to sell the unit I could not get near worth price.

I'm waiting on a building I ordered 3 or 4 months ago and mechagodzilla. All they sent me was a magnet out of my order.

Well I ordered the whole assembly.

All I want is someone to call me from a phone number that I can call back God forbid me not being available when there un reachable. Someone that is in a position to help me and somebody that wants to help me support Stern products and keep them running ...

That's all I fucking want. Please . I'm begging.

Yes. The magnet is chipped , the bracket is cracked and the hinge is very close to being worn through.

On tmnt the assembly has design flaws and is very high wear. They cheaped out. To stabilize the spinning disc they used a plastic nylon bracket to support the end coming out of the gearbox on the dc motor. The dc motor is not designed to work verticle as the grease inside melts and seats to the bottom not coating the gears. It then behinds to work it's way into a out of balances rotating platter that grinds into the playfield.

Yes it does

I've explained the situation very kindly to dorthy, Eddie, Rebecca, tahlia , And a few others. All I want is help. They pretend to want to help or pass me to someone else. For instance Rebecca seemed like she actually wanted to help them she went on vacation and I never heard back and she won't reply to my emails. Ghosted. My orders have had to been re-submittes 5-7 times by my distributor.

Have not had time to post them. I sent some to my distro Wich they thought was helarious and epic.

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I just woke up in the middle of the night depressed and with nightmares. This shit has me so fucked up mentally, physically. The amount of hours of trying to remind everyone and stay on top of things and get into touch with people has been depressing . I'm not throwing those words around lightly. This is making me sick in my stomach literally. I just want to be treated like a human being. Iys like it's a game for them. I'm at my breaking point. I have been so patient. I'm depressed. I was joking about lighting a game on fire in the parking lot. It's no longer a joke I'm serious. If someone does not help me Im bringing the news and doing it. I am a man of my word.

It's not one game it's six games of parts

Still waiting on warranty periode parts for Mando le

Still waiting on avarngers walking ball lock mech. And more.

I'll tell you what if it comes from the warranty dept usually get parts quick. Comes from parts forget it

If anyone reading this knows somebody at Stern in a position to help. Please someone drop them a line and they can contact Dan swisher at Shaffer or me pm me for contact info. All I want is someone to help me out. Make sure my orders are still not forgotten about a millionth time etc..

Stern has not responded to my distro about the wrong parts sent. Figures....

We are currently trying to figure out my rush stepper motor issue though. There responding to that .

New node. Still intermittent. Zip ties too tight on stepper harness caused visible damage. Molex Crimps read resistance. I wish they would just send a new harness and stepper. There making me jump through 10 hopes for them trying to track down a constant issue that is intermittent. It's clearly the harness and stepper..... As long as they communicate I will jump though. No problem. Like I told them there crimps suck.

Just filled a parts request through distro on worn out Munsters topper. Cam switch died motor ran constantly all day I wasn't on location and burned up the gearbox for the clock. Raven door hinge and solenoid glide block bad.

Our games get tons of play. I don't think they get that.

Stern is sending a new stepper motor and harness for rush le under warranty. Thank you Stern! If I receive the part and it is correct this will be my first smooth extremely positive experience.

No stepper or harness. Go figure. Yet.

Does anyone know about the legality side of company's supporting commercial equipment and products? Is this something we can go after....?

Still no rush parts. ....

Exact issue with my game of thrones le spike 1 node 8. Total bullshit.

The rush warranty stepper has arrived. Without the fucking harness they said they were sending wasn't even on the warranty order. Who the hell needs smacked. Sit and wait to sit and wait.

Still nothing on the Mando warranty rivited plastic assembly. That's over a year now I believe.

We did purchase a le model 007 pinball. Why? Purchase it's what the players want. I just want to say pinball brothers has been an absolute pleasure to work with we met them at expo and gave us free parts and set us up with a 500 parts store gift card in exchange for some of John's precision products we endorse for him and just ask for Simon at pinball brothers. Responds next day and super knowledgeable and there prime goal is operators. Amazing people. Super friendly. Pro operator. Support for days.

Everyone I tried to talk to at Stern was to bussy to talk to me except jack.

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Stern needs to come out and publicly apologies to operators. At expo Stern even said most of there clientele are home owners. Does that mean we are no longer important? That's what it sounded like to me. Stern pinball expo tour on YouTube and skip to the q and a section. It's pretty clear Garry does not run the ship anymore.

Both when the node fails. Poor crimps and overtigh ted zip ties on the harness caused the stepper load on the ramp to be unbalanced and fry the driver chip on the node.

My point here being not that we deserve anything special. Unfortunately with higher plays on a commercial grade machine we suffer a higher rate of failure. Both parties should have equal parts supply and help yes. They should treat homebuyers as operators they bought there product.
If a machine is on the line and a home buyer or operator need a part for a already purchased game off the line it should be shipped to them they already committed

Well today Stern has been responding with multiple replies regarding my rush warranty and Eddie has been a big help. I have been given the green light to install the new stepper motor and test.

There is also an official Stern support phone number again.
Eddie said.

Yes I am to blame equally as much as a home buyer is.

I received one of my orders with the avengers ball lock mech. Still no game of thrones node. Game is sitting dead.

I have the skills to replace problem is identifying.

When all four flippers are flipped at once they drop and the node re-initializes.

Three flippers and your fine, hit any fourth and this happens. Happened on another board two. Each one lasted about two years. 10,000 plays or so.

If you look at sterns schematics for the 6935-10 it shows u31 current fault ic. I would be my life it is that chip. However it is not present on my board. The schematic I'd for a e revision and schematics are not posted for the -00b revision I have.