Hello, Pinside!!
First off, I want to take the time to thank you all for the many years you've been a part of my growing business. I'd like to thank Robin for creating this amazing, game-changing site, and for the incredible community we've all become. I've been building mods since 2008, and it's been exciting to see how the modding scene has grown since then. Heck, people thought I was insane trying to sell shooter rods for $60 in 2008, and yet here we are lol.
That said, I find my pinball business is reaching a bit of a breaking point. This can be in a good way, or in a bad way. Essentially, near the end of last year my individual orders had grown to a level that simply could no longer keep up with. It was affecting my personal life, my family, and my mental and physical health. With that said, since November I had to take a step back -- which is why you haven't seen me on here much. Obviously, as you all know, my customer service has left a lot to be desired in the past. The only explanation I have is that when it's only one guy conceptualizing, sculpting, molding, casting, building, painting, packing, shipping and advertising the products, all while also working another part-time job and raising 3 toddlers.. well.. it's hard to do anything well at that point and something has to give. Not one to cut corners on my product (I'm a perfectionist!), this meant my communication and customer service has slipped drastically, and for that I apologize.
So after giving it much thought near the end of last year, I had decided to close up the sales and get caught up on all my back orders. I also decided I either need to make a change in my strategy or fold the whole thing up entirely. "Sh*t or get off the pot" with my pinball business as it were.
Well, the good news is, I love this hobby, I love the people and I love coming up with new creations -- so the business carries on! However, moving forward I would like to officially announce that I will --- NO LONGER BE TAKING INDIVIDUAL ORDERS on most of my parts --- This means if you want to buy my products, you'll have to do so via one of my North American distributors (currently Pinballdecals.com, Mezel Mods and Cointaker). I've spoken to all three of these companies and we all feel this is the best route to go for everyone. They handle all customer service and shipping, and I work in the background building a steady stream of parts for everyone. I've already amassed a sizeable inventory since December, and that will continue to grow.
Other parts will be available directly from me ONLY if no distributor wants to sell these products. So far, that list only includes the BSD coffin mod. I'll continue to sell those parts individually, but it will be on a first-come first-served basis and only when I list the products for sale. The reason for this is, these products will only be produced during my down-time from my top commitments to my distribution partners.
I'm also pleased to officially announce my partnerships with Mezel Mods and PinGraffix. These two amazing companies build great things for the pinball community, and I've signed on to come up with some pretty awesome parts available EXCLUSIVELY through either company. Some of you already own the Metallica 3D snake mods Joe and I have concocted, and I just shipped some really cool product to Kristen and Tim over at Mezel Mods which I think you GoT owners are really going to enjoy! I can't wait to bash heads with these creative teams and see what else we can come up with!
So once again, thank you to ALL of you amazing people out there for all the support, through thick and thin, rough times (2016 sucked) and good (2017 is gonna rock!). I look forward to building parts for this great community for years to come.
- Brock
Pinball Customs
Kitchener, ON
