"I know the pinball and coin mechs can co-exist peacefully."
-mof

I have no horse in the race, but I wanted to make one point that I haven't heard made yet.

1. This "incident" at its core, is about not meeting customer expectations, and the lack of an agreeable outcome to all customers in the face of that. I won't say more about that, since it's been well-addressed already.

Some of the responders in this thread have really puzzled me. Some have said, "I don't care about coin mechs..." I'd like to address those people with my point:

If I were going to own an MMR, I wouldn't be able to predict at least three things:

1. Can I be 100% sure I'll never choose to trade or sell it?
2. If I choose to sell or trade, can I predict if my next buyer will care about coin mechs?
3. What will I do, if I choose to route the game for a short or long while?

Bottom line is, I shouldn't be asking those questions when I buy a pinball machine.

In short, it's easy for me to say right now, "Yeah, I don't care about silly coin mechs (in the immediate short term.)"

I question whether you can predict with 100% certainty whether you'll for sure hold the pin for the next 30 years in your home, and never wish at some point that you had mechs in there... How can you be so sure you won't care at some point?

I'm sorry that we are examining asking these questions... It seems like a situation that can be still be remedied.
-mof

Not cool that you gave away the answer man...

Many of us were really enjoying the blissful ignorance of having no idea what a coin mech is.

-mof

The time you guys spent on reading/contributing to this soap opera, you could have done this to one of your machines... Oh yeah, you know which one I'm talking about...
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/repairrestoration-miracles#post-1821016
Get off your butts and go fix something ! ARGH !
-mof

awesome scene.
-mof

I have no horse in MMR race, so I can only observe and make a few suggestions at a distance.

Can you think of some good reasons to NOT start an argument with someone?

I can think of two: (surely there are more than two good reasons)

I try to ask:
1. Is this person open to seeing other points of view? If not -- why am I investing time on the argument?

2. Am I sure we are both about to argue about the same thing ?

I think a few people in this thread, are past the point of being open-minded to having a discussion to help brainstorm some ideas to remedy the customer expectation/trust situation that has unfolded.

Also, I would assert that a few of you aren't even arguing about the same damn thing...

1. Rare is arguing: "What is the DESIGN/MODEL?"
Answer: Coin Op.
2. Others are arguing: “Is PPS delivering on expectations set as MMR being a coin-op machine?"
Answer: "PPS shouldn't declare that they are about to deliver a 'coin-op-working-right-now' machine"

Both arguments are correct. Rare is right, the rest of you are right. The bickering will never end at this rate, if y'all focus on separate arguments.

I hope y’all get the argument(s) on the same page, and keep looking for bright solutions.

-mof

Oh snap, I'm lost. Help me out here...
How does the outcome of the Ironman argument make a difference to the original concern of the thread?
-mof

Now I'm more confused. Are you saying two guys here are living an identical life? That's truly amazing detective work. How did you come to that conclusion?
-mof

The bottom line is — running a small business is about setting customer expectations and meeting them, and it's about maintaining trust with your customer base. When you fail to meet expectations, how you respond to the situation defines you as a businessman. It's not about being perfect. When expectations aren't met, if communication and action are delayed or missing, trust is appropriately brought into question.

We've observed vendors on Pinside (including PPS) deal with bumps in the road and overcome them with prompt communication and action. From what I've observed, many people were hoping for a high level of communication and responsibility regarding this issue to match the faith they demonstrated to PPS in a 3-hour sellout of the product offered. The customer base demonstrated a truly remarkable level of faith and trust up front in being delivered an excellent product. I presume PPS earned that trust with their previous track record with the customer base. I imagine that anything less than an excellent performance on the delivery side will meet quick scrutiny.

-mof