You need to go through the distributor for your warranty repair. The place that you bought the pin from. They will put pressure on Stern to get it fixed for you.
Sorry that happen. Good luck.

I had the same problem and a little 100 % silicone lubricant on the washers worked perfectly

Sorry to hear about problem from Stern
We never had anything but positive experience with their customer service

Stay safe
matthew

I emailed them a question on my Metallica pro with less than 100 total plays that was messed up from the factory. Never received a response. It’s pathetic. Where can you get away with that buying 10k plus toys- assets and have no customer service?

You buy appliances for your whole kitchen or a car and you have a problem, you can get great warranty customer service.

You buy a boat or a four wheeler brand new, you have a warranty and great customer service.

Not at Stern. You have to go back to your distributor and beg your distributor to help you.

Distributor first always, why else would we need distros? I have always had great Stern CS.

Ive only had to use it once but they got back
To me pretty quickly about my Stranger things TK lock. I forget the guys name but he was pretty responsive.

Resurrect Chaz.

Go through your distro , but it sucks you don't get a response to emails .
The Pinball companies are too busy these days to care .

Pablo has been amazing at Stern. Helped me resolve a few issues. He is very busy. I would just send a weekly reminder and try not to be too pushy and see if he can get it sorted for you.

Your distributor should’ve told you how this works. It’s on them. Always start with them when you have an issue.

If you have to beg your distributor for help then you obviously need to find a new one.

If you had bought a new Stern you would realise the distro in Australia does a fantastic job of looking after and caring about their customers. That is how it is supposed to work.

Are they really not answering the tech line anymore?

That is a shame as had great help via phone and crickets via email in the past.

Your machine isn't covered under warranty. Read page 59 in your manual.
Your distributor or Stern may help you anyway but you're not entitled to warranty coverage.

JPsternWarranty2 (resized).png

Get a better warranty with a $300 55” 4k tv. Glad my next NIB pin will be Halloween. I hear their customer service is top notch. Will be my first spooky pinball.

If you had read my post properly , you would realise I was talking about manufacturers and not distributors .
My tech does all the Victorian warranty work for AMD and you couldn't get better .
And I've always had great service from Zax's .

You’ll have a better chance getting your $50 from your distributor. I suggest talking with them about it.

So if you buy a new car and have an issue with it do you call Honda/Ford or call the place you bought it from? If you buy a TV and have an issue do you call Sony/LG or call Best Buy where you bought it from? I don’t know why pinball should be any different…start first with your distributor.

I think we’ve explained to death that pinball purchases are in no way similar to car purchases. I don’t know why we keep comparing them.

Completely agree. But it is.

Confused. You reached out to Stern and they replied with a “how to repair” to help. You had no luck and replied back with a request for “warranty service” which is not an option nor in warranty? Why did you not contact them and say I tried your suggestion and I couldn’t do it and they Likely would have responded with a call or an alternate fix? Sounds to me like they did try to help but you are waiting for something that is not offered.

You can and will move on whether you get an answer or not. Your sense of entitlement gets you no special treatment.

Pablo at Stern has responded to all of my emails and helped resolve my issues.I think you may have had better luck going on the thread for your machine here on pinside and someone could have helped walk you through your issue.

because of the positive responses from Pablo and Stern I will not hesitate to buy another Stern.Thats my experience ,cant speak for others.

Im sorry some of you have had not so great experiences. I have had dozens of new Sterns over the years and have NEVER had an issue at all with their CS. I would say exactly the opposite of that. I have had nothing short of excellent service from them over the years.

Some people really shouldn’t own pinball machines.

I’ve also largely had good CS from them, far better than JJP, but that doesn’t dismiss someone else’s legitimate issue. There are certainly enough examples on here that Stern obviously has room to improve. They encourage buyers to call 1800Kickers so there’s no good excuse for not responding one way or another to multiple, polite requests.

You are right, but when Stern started to market to a different customer base problems for their customer service is inevitable. Everyone says that pinball being compared to other appliances at this price point is different, but if their new customers look like the ones in the picture, distributors and Stern are going to get a lot more calls from people that just want it to work. This isn't the 90's when owners had pins on route and were more concerned about what was in the coin box versus pooling around a post.

Stern marketing 1 (resized).jpg

True, but the pinball companies decided to charge big bucks and go after the type of customer that they are not prepared to service.

How is a pinball company possible supposed to offer the “warranty service” the OP craves?

If you can’t tinker or follow instructions - or be willing to pay someone who can - pinball ownership isn’t for you.

I do think these companies need to be a little more up front about this. TNT Amusements has had a disclaimer on their web site for decades pointing this out, while also marketing to home users.

You guys also always assume people are buying from authorized dealers or distros.

That not always the case... remember ASOA?

There are no lack of random people around with NIB games they get one way or another to resell.

I don’t think they can, but these are the kind of customer cravings they should expect at the prices they charge.

So what’s your suggestion? They hire a full time fleet of field techs in every town in America to keep these people happy?

Wouldn’t they have to double or triple their prices on pinball machines to make this work? Stern sells the cheapest pinball machines on the market, by far. This isn’t a stern issue, it’s an industry issue. What happens when the OP buys a $9000 spooky game and a wire comes loose from a flipper coil or a rubber breaks? Exact same problem.

I think they need to be more upfront to the brand new market of noobs who they are trying to sell games to. Pinball will never be a maintenance free product; it’s simply impossible once you get beyond the “star explorer” type of game.

Selling pinball machines to people who expect owning them to be similar to owning a toaster is still a relatively new phenomenon. There’s a lot of kinks to be worked out still obviously. This is a very old industry that suddenly has a very young market and a very new problem.

Most customers shelling out 10K-15K have expectations which are not unreasonable when compared to other consumer luxury goods. These companies are now swimming in the deep end of the pool and should have anticipated these customer service issues. And I’m not singling out Stern, this is a growing problem for the entire industry which I do not envy.

You are right. There is no way pinball will ever be a maintenance free product. Stern needs to either change their marketing, or change how they service this new base. If they don't, you are going to see more and more people reach out on here. It wasn't too long ago that Stern was selling pins at Costco and Best Buy. Different customer base = different problems. It can't be said these new customers knew what they were getting themselves into.

Pinball owners have two choices: learn how to maintain their own games or pay someone else to do it for them. No other way around it.

If OP couldn't figure out how to make the JP2 truck spin, he's very likely in latter category. Unless something's broken, it's a disassemble/adjust/clean/reassemble operation. If something's broken, take a pic and Stern will send you a new part.

It took longer to make all those posts than it would have to clean the truck.

Also...he found a guy willing to do this simple task for FIFTY BUCKS and he's still complaining?

I wouldn't have answered this call for less than $250. This is the exact kind of guy who is gonna call you back in three weeks and blame your repair call for a light bulb that just went out.

I cannot understand how you would assume the manufacturers have no care for customers when you have no access to them. Distros are meant to be the representative of the manufacturers so if your mate does such a great job you would think the manufacturer is good too.

One of the MANY reasons folks are fleeing new York. Gotta pay that rent.

Blznearl This is definitely going to happen again. If you didn't see what your tech did, here is a Key Post from the owner's thread about the jeep:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jurassic-park-stern-2019-owners-club-welcome-to-jurassic-park/page/106#post-5683784

In the future, do a search in the Club Thread. Odds are someone has already dealt with any issues that might arise.

Yes, I guess I need a new one.