I applied and was denied because Gary apparently read a post of mine on pinside talking about the issues Stern has been having and reminding people to hold them accountable by not purchasing till they get things figured out. I guess you have to kiss Stern a$$ in order to be part of their army?

No bearing on the fact that we have purchased every new Stern in the past three years, run launch parties for each event, and wholy support their porduct on route.

I know it definately makes me think more about future pruchases (esp since there ar emore options than ever on where to send our money).

I have a conversation with person A and B and then decide.

Person A >> They are obviously passionate, care about pinball greatly and have done much to rejuvinate it already in their region, will possibly help me make my product better and have a greater impact on my bottom line in the long run, have already supported with multiple purchases and in some cases early adoption beta testing (and kept quite when unvieling big issues) and are not seen as a kiss ass so having them on my side in the long run may be the best thing for my business.

I was told directly that Gary read a specific post and then removed me himself from the list of possible people to be part of the competitive/promotional operators (i.e. the Stern Army)

I tried to explain that I expect accountability and am willing to toe the line for any company which wants to form a more solid partnership but am unwilling to hold my tounge (it is easy to only state the good even when you see the bad so long as the company is taking the rights steps; I do this for many others which I support) in advance of any partnership.

yes, I have an email directly from their rep for the Stern Army. I replied letting them know my ability to support (and hold back any negative) if we form a partnership and that I woudl liek them to reconsider bringing me on board.

They never replied any further, which to me means they have no desire to bring me into the army. Pretty sad since we are actually one of their top 10? operator supporters in the past 3-4 years up to this point. We have bought GBpro, SMve, GoTprem, Kisspro, WWE, TWD, IM, Mustang, ST, and MET in the past 3 years. We have run promotional launch parties for most of those games.

agreed. I may be vocal when they have issues (becuase I expect them to fix it; we have GB, GoT, and SMve ghosting inserts plus a KISS with code in need of major refinement/finishing) but I/We are also huge supporters by putting games on route, running tons of events to give them exposure, promoting sales to numerous locals, and I also give credit where credit is due (i.e. St code polish was great, TWD is one of my favorites, GB is super fun to play).

lol!

my understanding is they are dead serious. I actually think it is one of their better promotional ideas, enough that I actually wanted to be part of it and would have happily done more to support them if I was.

As I understand it the OPs that are Stern Army will get special promotional stuff to give away to players. This would hopefully then bring in more players and help with more coin drop. More players of course would mean more promotion for stern. I see it as a nice win/win and honestly think Stern shoudl be giving out more specials to OPs that promote. Having games on route actually drives lots of sales.

just a guess. I was not referring to only sales/ game number but to actual support. There are around 10 OPs that I see always supporting, running launch parties, multiple monthlies, quarterlies, etc...

This Stern Army thing is about promotion of competition, hence the partnering with IFPA/Stern.

i laughed out loud! Thanks Gryszzz!!!

exactly.

We will continue to make the best decisions for the route. Reality is that Gary will get less and less of our route money over time. In fact we recently spent what was reserved for PabstCC and BM66 on an AFM and IJ instead.

I am sure we will continue to buy Stern games but fortunately there are plenty of other options that do better in many cases (In case you are wondering, Full Throttle has done consistently better than most new Sterns so there is real reason to put business dollars elsewhere). Alien kit sure looks interesting at $3600 compared to the new Stern pricing model (on top of that the Heighway service has been stellar and so far we are still dealling with 3 ghosted insert Stern games and told to sit tight and keep taking photos).

are you joking... I am a CUSTOMER!

I am not the one that needs to repair any relationship. If they are concerned with continuing to get promoted sales then they know how to get a hold of me. Hell, they took the effort to email and tell me why I was not being selected to be part of the Stern Army but they cant take the effort to tell me what is going to happen with the ghosted insert GB, SMVE, and GoTprem we have on route... WTF you have seriously got it backwards.

At this point they have zero relationship with us and have proactively tried to kill what little good will they have. So far the message seems pretty clear to me that they want me to spend route dollars elsewhere and promote for other companies.

As a customer I am definatley at my limit. With 3 currently defective machines and no response form Stern, but Gary has the time to scour pinside and then have the rep personally email to tell me they dont want me as part of the Army becuase I am critical of their issues and expect them to be fixed (i.e. be accountable)...

I hope they do attempt to repair the relationship. The ball is in their court if they want to try and make ammends and I gave ample time and suggested they rethink and get ahold of me over 2 weeks ago to discuss. Gary > if you are reading this then feel free to call >> you/your rep have my number.

I offered whole heartedly to help out and would have gone above and beyond to give them everything they were asking for plus more. With as many events as we run and Stern games in the lineup it could have been mutually beneficial.

They could have easily just ignored my application, instead of taking the time to respond how they did...

from my experience you may want to consider diversifying your line up. (assuming you want to maximize coin drop while getting the most bang for your buck in games you invest in)

I am not the one that has lost anything in this scenario Lloyd.

I attempted to play the game and offered to do so (i.e. wont talk bad about Stern/ just wont talk when I see crap coming out the door). They took it upon themselves to look for previous posts where I have called for their personal accountability and then actually took the time/effort to respond and let me know. If you can't see how that is beyond screwed up, then you are speaking from another planet Lloyd.

That is akin to you being unhappy with a regular whom plays your pins and interviewed to work for free at your store. Instead of just telling them thanks but no thanks, you seek out previous things you dont like about them and throw it in your customers face to make yourself feel better for not taking on their free work. I can't imagine you would ever do something like that.

I actually did gain plenty. I gained an even greater respect for companies like Heighway whom has done all they can to earn our business. More respect for Charlie whom made multiple trips over to help with an odd bug on a game that we were unable to diagnose. I gained the ability to make more critical decision on where I spend my money and definately gained more ability to influence customers when they contact me asking where to buy a new pin and what pin to buy (I get asked this on a weekly basis and up till recently the answer was always in 1 direction).

lol

I always wondered what was the straw that put Bally detroit out of business...

I just keep hoping I get another shot at the interview.

I plan to come more prepared next time.

Gary interview items.jpg
interview with Gary.jpg

I still think it would be cool if places like LTGs were able to be part of the Stern army also. It definately would not hurt Stern if LTG was able to give out a little free swag every once in a while. Would be good for LTG also.

* unless they say anything constructively critical about Stern's current QA/QC issues

there you go with the same disrespectful bullshit!

actually I tend to be critical yet very constructive with my feedback to Stern (or any manufacturer)

They have some major failures as of late and while I may ask for accountability I am also happy to be part of the solution.

I have been very involved with other manufacturers to help them over come issues in both software and hardware. Amazingly you have not heard many of those initial critiques in public becaues the other companies actually seemt o care about their customers, recognize my passion as valuable, and have been happy to leverage my assitance to make things better.

Hey everybody, look at someone that can take a single post out from the whole to try and make a point for their bais. How about you go link up the numerous posts singing the praise of Stern once they finally allowed Lyman the time to completely revamp the code.

side note: you are a creapy guy if you just had those old quotes at the waiting.
and they say I spend too much time on here, lol.

best laugh I have had in a LONG time...

Funny part is that many of the things I have brought to light and harped about have been improved... Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets greased...

I LOL'd

Thansk for the support BoJO. I need a shirt made up by Flash!