Jerod was fantastic with us. We last spoke with him early December last year,

Great product.

Jared is great. The owner is really harder to work with in my experience. Doesn't respond well to emails so call him if you can't reach Jared.

I'll double that. Very very poor service from the boss, Jim. I've had a number of problems with their boards (I have purchased a lot of them...) and the responses are either non existent or "minimum helpful". Lucky I have a very clever tech here who helps me out and sorted out my problems.

Last correspondence I had was requesting some circuit diagrams for their Gottlieb Sys80 board I had, and they didn't have the time to answer two email requests I sent. So I threw it in the rubbish and bought a Pascal all-in-one. Now, that's a guy who always gives great service when it is required.

The other guys who are good:

Altek - responded to an email within 15 minutes even though it was on a Saturday evening (their time) and I wasn't expecting an answer till a work day

Homepin: Mike will always promptly answer an email, as long as it passes the chinese government firewall

Pinball life: but that goes without saying

Ks Arcade: always been responsive.

rd

I sent them an email through their website and never heard back either.

Rottendog gets back to you but slowly and might take a try or 2 but be patient and they'll be really helpful. Im actually being sent a new board by them now because of a fault in the board I bought from K's arcade.

I will say I am a little irritated with K's. I bought the board from them. Installed it 3 days after i got it. Emailed them letting know the board had an issue and they just sent me directly to Rottendog for warranty. I believe they should have tried to solve my problem first rather than passing me to rottendog immediately. I bought from them, they should solve the issue and be dealing with rottendog, not me.

I think of it this way. I work at Costco, a member buys a TV, they have an issue with the TV, they bring it back to Costco. Do I say- let me take care of this for you and get it fixed or replace it. Or do i say, you'll just have to contact Samsung about your issue.... Here's the number, good luck.

I have had a few problems with new boards from Jim. Hes hard to get in touch with. But once you get him hes very nice and will work it out with you. He always fixed or sent me another board. Frustrating to have issues with new boards, and Ksarcade will not be very helpfull and just push you to contact Jim. I never have any luck with emailing rottendog. It always comes down to getting him on the phone. But as I said he has always made it right with me in the end.

I recently bought a game with a rottendog power supply in it. Voltages were testing high and I called Jim and he answered right away. He said send the board back which I did. He got the board and it tested out fine. He sent me a new one while he was testing the old one so I had a replacement within 3 days. Turns out my voltage meter was bad. He was awesome to work with and was very helpful.

Jim is great! I have bought many replacement products from him. I just wish they did the shows!

Same song here, a mix of good and bad.

I bought a display from Jim at his final Allentown appearance a few years back and everything went swimmingly. Jim is quite personable and I'm really happy with the display.

I bought a Sys11 MPU from K's Arcade which had issues. K's strong-armed me into dealing with Rottendog to resolve the issue. It got fixed in the end--but I spent just as long trying to get in touch with RD as it did for them to repair the board and get it back to me.

I appreciate all that Rottendog brings to the hobby but I've heard more than one person (quite a few actually) have a bum Sys11 MPU right out of the box. It's too bad there isn't an aftermarket alternative for these Sys11 boards...it would bring choice to the marketplace and force RD to step up their QC and after-purchase support.

Marco specialties is the same way as K's, if they didn't build it, they'll forward you to who did.
I've had great responses when I've had a problem with rottendog produces,
They just seem to have more problems, than others.

I've only had problems with Rottendog MPUs. Their driver boards and power supply's seem to always work for me. Even though it was tough to get ahold of Jim for me, they did refund my money and were very pleasant on the phone. Trying to trouble shoot over the phone wasn't as fun. I asked for an exchange and he said he would rather just refund my money. Sometimes it's great and sometimes it's just not.

That is awesome feed back for us. We recently purchased Rottondog boards (MPU, main driver and DMD) for our TAF rebuild so we will see how they go!

It is my opinion that people blame the boards when if fact their issues are in or on the playfield. Rottondogs are current tech so are definitely more sensitive than the original boards. For this reason, we have rebuilt nearly everything in and on our playfield. We will be turning the machine on in the next few weeks so I can form my own opinion.

I share the same experience with Jim, asked him about a flaw in his Data East power supply and he swept the issue under the rug and called me a pot stirrer, on a public forum. What attitude. Heard of more problems than solutions with their brand, will definitely not buying or recommending them now.

For me. . .its been months. . .still waiting

They will help but you have to be persistent with calls.

Hey guys,
I keep having my funhouse board burn out fuse 101 (left two flippers dead). The previous owner put your rottendog board in so I don't know much about it. He had it over fused (per the original funhouse manual, supposed to be 2.5A, he had 3A but it's even blowing the 3A after running a bit. Not immediately. Any thoughts to get me started?

IMG_0990 (resized).JPG

I think the problem with some people involved with pinball machines is they don't realize 95% of the people doing pinball products, repairs, etc have real jobs also and they likely also have a life outside pinball. So I think the thing to realize is not everyone is pinball 24-7.

I try to reply to every email I get but I can tell you that sometimes it can take a week or more for me to find time to keep up with everyone. And I am semi retired selling a few used parts on eBay and some machines. I wouldn't want to be one of the "smaller" parts suppliers in this hobby. There just isn't enough money in to to make a living at it yet there is too much demand to keep up with at times if you are also working a job.

I am thankful new boards exist and and grateful for everything Jim has done for the hobby.

It is easy to say how others should run their business and I am not saying you are wrong. I am just saying there is more to life than pinball so a reply with in a week or so should be fine in my eyes. Hell they have had major car recalls that take the company months to contact everyone and some of that stuff can be deadly. So you have a broken pinball machine - the world does not stop turning because of that! If an email or two doesn't get you results try calling one evening!

I tend to agree with you. And I appreciate the help and email response you provided with my funhouse question.