Quoted from dnapac:

Can you give us a picture/more details?

Quoted from iceman44:

There will ALWAYS be people that are NEVER F ing happy with ANYTHING!
And if you guys own a business you know what I'm talking about.
It's obvious Stern has issues that needs to be resolved, nobody is denying that. Nobody is holding a gun to anybody's head to buy anything either.
I don't know about you, and thankfully it happens very infrequently, i red flag and stop sign the potential "pain in the ass". Some clients aren't worth ANY amount of $$ they pay you to put up with their shit. Just saying.

Quoted from fosaisu:

Stern's written warranty does not cover cabinet decals. Or the playfield. At all. In practice, Stern covers many more things, including ghosting playfield inserts, defective/peeling decals, etc. The written warranty is really quite limited, take a look and you'll be amazed given the amount of warranty-type service Stern actually provides for its machines.
I don't think Stern has ever publicized its "limits" (time, number of previous owners, number of issues reported on single machine, etc.) for offering customer support that falls outside of the written warranty. It would be surprising if they did, since they seem to want to maintain a "case by case" standard and that's harder to do once you make promises in writing.
So as with any issue with decals/playfield/etc., you should contact your distributor and ask if Stern's willing to do something. Even years after purchase people seem to have had good luck getting covered for things like board issues. Probably less so for "cosmetic" issues like decals and playfield defects, but you won't know until you ask.
Good luck! Worst case do what Neo says and buy yourself a colored marker. It won't look quite as nice but will save you the trouble of re-decaling your cabinet.

Quoted from fosaisu:

The written warranty says "Warranty periods are effective from the initial date of shipment from [Stern] to its authorized distributors." Doesn't matter in your case, of course, because the written warranty does not cover decals, playfield, or anything other than "printed circuit boards" and "dot matrix display boards." But again, in practice Stern covers these items for longer than the warranty states, and covers a bunch of other things as well ...

Bingo! Their written warranty is still what you'd give if all of your customers were commercial operators routing machines. Since that's no longer the case, Stern provides much more warranty service than is written on the page. But as you say, it is "nebulous."

If Stern still has the decals in stock (and they probably do for a game that new), I'd bet they would sell you one even if you cannot get your distributor to get you one for free.

Here's a link with the JJP and CGC (AFMr) written warranties, take a look and see what you think:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-pinball-60-day-warranty-lets-talk-warranties/page/2#post-3938048
To summarize, they're somewhat more generous than Stern's written warranty but still not nearly as generous as Stern's actual practice in providing warranty coverage (I gather JJP, like Stern, has also sometimes provided service outside of the written warranty period, don't know about CGC).

Quoted from fosaisu:

Did you try contacting your distributor? 100% of the reports are that that is what you should do, instead of contacting Stern directly. Your distributor has influence with Stern that you as an individual buyer do not.
Go to your distributor now, I'd bet they can get your decal for you.

Quoted from Chambahz:

PLAY BETTER!!!
ACDC is a punishing game but I suggest you not sell it, and tough it out instead.
It's one of sterns best.

Quoted from Rarehero:

I've never had this problem. You see the ball coming, you know it's physics and trajectory, and can nudge & save it on the right.
The "X blocks my view" phenomenon is interesting. There are some pinball players who can't track the ball unless it's 100% in sight...the people who say the hammer on Metallica blocks their view, for example. I've never felt like it blocked my view...I know where the ball is during that half a second that it's behind something and know where it's going to be momentarily.

Quoted from jimy_speedt:

Do not want to interrupt this "God bless Stern" enthusiasm . However, can someone explain to me why the US prices of these machines fall in second hand, and the williams/bally prices rise or at least are steady ?
I have the explanation

Quoted from jimy_speedt:

J'en pense rien je m'en foutrais complet
I know that on the french forum, there are big fans of Stern machines, because the game is fluent, themes match todays's mood, they are bright and so many other reasons.
Honestly, the question is not "must Stern close or not ?"
It is (for me) "when will they deliver quality playfields", "why are there less and less features for a higher and higher price", "why creativity is poorer than 20 years ago", "why is it commonly accepted that they can be little defects like switches to adjust, stickers or bulbs loose etc., on a brand new expensive stuff".
That's my point, and I am happy that challengers come to the market for a few years now. Hopefully, the pinball future will be bright

Quoted from Black_Knight:

I just don't see a significant diff in Stern designs over the last few years. SW isnt significantly different than IM and the complaints on that one were similar at the time. Original AC/DC pros look pretty similar too.
Have the legs doors or ramps really changes at all in modern sterns? I can't see any difference from my Dale to my TWD to my Aero - spanning 10 years so what are you talking about?
JJP machines may be better built and have more toys but cost 60% more for the base model DI. (Base vs base)
Feels like stern and JJP have very similar cost/quality/playability ratios.