Who is your distributor?

Sound like the distributor sold you a demo machine. Not Sterns Fault.

This is your very first post??? Pictures or something...you can’t just throw that out to us with nothing... what does box wear have to do with leg damage and 1200 plays...charge back

NIB game, right? You need to leverage your distributor if the game arrived damaged. You purchased a new game and as such, must receive a new game. The caveat would be if there was shipping damage and it wasn't documented on the BOL. At any rate, this seems like a simple fix for a distributor to resolve on your behalf.

Youre first post on pinside was to rail on Stern?
What else did they say to you? What did the distributor do for you?

If the distributor sold you a used pin as new. Isn't it the distributors fault and not Sterns ?

Was it shipped to you boxed ? Did it come from Stern ? Did it come from your distributor ?

LTG : )

Six posts in 60 seconds. This topic seems to have triggered the evening crowd

I don’t believe this... why didnt you spill those beans when you first opened the box...not a week later...

What distributor was it?...throw a name out...can only help you if factual

“Global Lifestyle Brand” just means they sell merchandise now like t-shirts..

Also, post a copy of your bill of lading. I want to see where this game actually shipped from. Just because it says Stern on the box, doesn’t mean it came direct from Stern.

Lastly, who is your distributor?

Let’s see pictures of the damage too!

They have a phone number...nothing?

Give this some time and it will be made right. This is not a common occurrence. This is the first time I have heard of a used game being sold as new from Stern.

Wild... Truely.

I’m calling BS. No pics, first post. Troll?

Something smells rotten !

Deadpool LE is old news. No way this came direct from Stern. They sold them all a long time ago. Has to be distributor stock and was likely a demo machine.

Not necessarily. I bought a NIB DPLE from FlipNOut Pinball (see how easy it was to name the distributor!) and it shipped from Stern and in perfect condition just 2 weeks ago. Kind of an odd post. You share praise that your Distributor was awesome yet your not willing to give them that call out.... Would love to see even a few pics of the game as delivered and packed. I suspect a demo unit sale here.

Its certainly possible it came from Stern. How do you know they didn't use it at shows? That being said I highly doubt they would market the game as brand new....Dont u have to buy from a distributor? sounds like there was some serious miscommunication on someones part.

You are definitely talking with the correct person @ Stern.
Can you post some photos?
Patience and I am sure everything will get sorted out for you.

Wait yeah — does stern sell directly to customers, ever?? I don’t think so — and as indicated there is a distributor involved. Def sounds like it was a distributor demo machine. 1200 plays sounds about right for that scenario

Forget what the software says - one look at the playfield would tell you if it has 1200 plays on it or just a few from testing on the line...

I don't believe so.

I don't know if they even drop ship them anymore for their distributors.

LTG : )

This doesn't make much sense:

1. The distributor should be handling this issue.
2. Stern doesn't sell "direct."
3. No pics at all.
4. Is there 1,200 games worth of play on the playfield? Should be obvious. Again no pics.

Photos??

My guess is a miscommunication....probably between Stern and the distributor.

Stern does ship directly from their factory to customers. Stern do provide demo units for shows that sometimes go back to their factory (though I am a bit surprised they do that with LE models). So this could have been a case of the distributor calling Stern and asking if they had any Deadpool LEs left, Stern saying yes and then the sale going through and Stern getting the paperwork to ship out the game to you. Stern may have even mentioned it was a demo unit to the distributor and they didn't catch that....or maybe they thought you would not care or notice. Maybe the demo unit was just logged back into inventory by mistake. There are probably a lot of small mistakes or miscommunications that could have happened to cause this issue for no nefarious reason.

So someone might have been trying a sneaky on you, but it could have just as easily been a miscommunication. In either case, it sounds like you are on top of things and I'm expecting it will get resolved.

This sounds like bullshit

Is there is 1200 plays you would be able to tell as there would be dimples all over the playfeild.

If the playfeild looks new it's either a new playfeild in a used game which is bullshit for them to sell as new

Or it's a refurb board like they said which is still kind of BS Considering it should be new.

I have found Pat Powers and Stern in general to be very responsive to issues.

This has to be trolling. Op says he owns a woz ybr, I didn’t think anyone bought one since the monkey mechanic was removed.

So what is the outcome you are looking for? Just a refund? I can’t see Stern denying that (if you’re telling the truth).

Some people actually DID pay more for less. You can't make this stuff up.

He also owns a Beatles...

What address is on the shipment paperwork? Should be easy to tell who/where the game came from.

Pics or it didn't happen. And name the distributor while you are at it.

I smell poop.

Calling the poopy wagon to haul this BS away

Pics definitely. If the legs are beat up I can't imagine a good distributor not throwing you a set of legs just to make you happy.

As long as the distributor is not identified, or given a chance to explain, I become suspicious of the customer.

Not sure how you can give credit to and praise the great customer service of your distributor, when this is 100% a distributor issue. As others have stated, there is a small possibility that a bunch of innocent miscommunications/errors added up to get you this machine, but even if so, your distributor should be the one dealing with this, not you. If he was such a great distributor, he should have had the game returned, on his dime, and given you a full refund as soon as a problem of this magnitude was shown.

My guess (and it's just a guess), your distributor, knowingly or (somehow) unknowingly, sold you a show demo. 1200 balls is ~400 games...and that about tracks with a busy show weekend. A quick glance at the playfield should tell you if there were actually that many games on it, or if it was an old board reused without being wiped.

I will say i think they may reuse PCBs. A friend's Metallica had a flipper transistor go out. When the driver board was removed from the NIB purchased game for the first time ever there was obvious rework already done to the board. A couple of parts had been replaced in the past already as there was flux residue and different date codes on a few things. So either Stern reused a board that had been sent back for service or the game needed things fixed around the time of assembly / initial testing.

I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. The rework was done pretty well besides they didn't clean up flux residue.

Welcome to Pinside!

waiting (resized).jpg

To the OPs credit, these photos are better than some FS threads.

IBTL