I think it is the overall package that stern is offering that is the problem. Between concerns about PF, cabinet, decals, Spike, decontenting and steadily increasing prices I think it is fair that people have concerns. The games are fun but those things hit the fun factor.

As to Gomez's comments, he answered questions without responding to the underlying concerns raised. He basically reinforced my nervousness about Spike by the way that he answered.

I bought a SW recently, paid for it but ended up selling it before receiving it. Mostly this was becasue of a personal thing that came up but all the rest made me nervous. I didn't want to get a bad game and Spike worries me.

Stern coming up with universal node boards would be absolutely huge in making me more comfortable about the system. Until they do that though I don't think I will buy a Spike game.

That is why I got it, I knew it would earn well. Problem is games here take a fairly big depreciation hit, I would have lost at least 20% in about a year reselling it and don't want to hang on to it any longer. If I had node board or PF issues it would have gotten even worse. In the end it was just not worth the risk.

I paid for a SW pro and ended up selling it to friend before it arrived. I was checking it out the other day and the PF is fine so far after a few days and maybe hundred or so games. No sign of ghosting and it survived the trip down here fine. The only issue so far has been that the level seems really important to avoid some cheap drains but that seems to have been fixed easily enough.

Fun game and hopefully it will hold up well!

All it would take to make me happy with stern is a better written warranty. I don't like the trust us or work with the distributor approach. My one experience with that was not good.

Well I guess I am just not that trusting. I think Stern cost cutting can be taken as a given and we have all seen multiple stories of build problems. The problems are real just not sure how common, only Stern knows that. I'm not willing to gamble with them though. Great that you are so trusting that they will make things right for you but not everyone feels that way.

If Stern are so confident about their product and support why don't they put it in writing instead of adding written language watering down their already vague and very limited warranty.

If I were in the USA and had a range of more customer focused distributors to deal with along with cheaper shipping of parts and better resale value of used games I would have no problem buying NIB Sterns and would probably buy most TBH. Unfortunately the calculations work out a bit different for me and Stern's distributor centric operating model doesn't work so well for people with distributors focused on adding as much margin as they can and not much else. JJP really has a big edge for me there as I can deal direct with them and their warranty is pretty clear.

If Stern would do a one year warranty on boards I would be MUCH happier. I operate games and the numbers just get horrible for me if I have to replace a node board or two between the game being down and what it costs to land a board here. It is just not worth the risk to me.