The Big Lebowski
Dutch Pinball, 2016Quoted from Spelunk71:I’m approaching two years. Others have waited for much less time. That is the problem—not necessarily the wait but the lack of consistency and communication. I was just told I’m in the next batch—for the third time over the past year. We’ll see.
Were you a $1,000 cash deposit? Or are you one of the earlier "no money down" preorders that seems to have been repeatedly shuffled down the list?
Quoted from fosaisu:Were you a $1,000 cash deposit? Or are you one of the earlier "no money down" preorders that seems to have been repeatedly shuffled down the list?
No money down. I guess that was the issue? Who knows. Still…they should have told the no money down people to pay if that caused the leapfrogging. I actually offered to pay the deposit a few times if that would help, but Melissa didn’t seem interested.
Quoted from Spelunk71:No money down. I guess that was the issue? Who knows. Still…they should have told the no money down people to pay if that caused the leapfrogging. I actually offered to pay the deposit a few times if that would help, but Melissa didn’t seem interested.
Yeah that was the mistake. Can't even remember when I was put on the non deposit list but I put down my 1K whenever I seen the people leapfrogging my date. Not sure why she wouldn't take your deposit but my guess is that you are behind everyone that has. Kind of a tough spot but I would try getting more clarification on that...
Quoted from vwallat99:Yeah that was the mistake. Can't even remember when I was put on the non deposit list but I put down my 1K whenever I seen the people leapfrogging my date. Not sure why she wouldn't take your deposit but my guess is that you are behind everyone that has. Kind of a tough spot but I would try getting more clarification on that...
Agreed. I would give Melissa a call and discuss with her.
Quoted from Spelunk71:No money down. I guess that was the issue? Who knows. Still…they should have told the no money down people to pay if that caused the leapfrogging. I actually offered to pay the deposit a few times if that would help, but Melissa didn’t seem interested.
That shouldn’t matter. I put nothing down. On the list Feb/Mar ‘20 and received invoice a year later. A friendly call to Melissa regarding your timeline should resolve it.
I’ve called (and emailed) several times, most recently a couple of weeks ago. She is always great over the phone and then….nothing. Hope things will be different this time.
Got my “Order has been shipped” email from CT! (9-18-20 deposit)
Question for you guys…does that mean it got on a boat and is making the journey, or does that mean it left the CT shop in Pennsylvania?
Quoted from ezatnova:Got my “Order has been shipped” email from CT! (9-18-20 deposit)
Question for you guys…does that mean it got on a boat and is making the journey, or does that mean it left the CT shop in Pennsylvania?
Good question which I don’t know except one thing, they go by plane and not by boat from NL to US. So shipping time won’t be long in any case.
Quoted from Rensh:Good question which I don’t know except one thing, they go by plane and not by boat from NL to US. So shipping time won’t be long in any case.
Interesting, thanks. I’ve actually read this whole thread over the past 6-8 months and swear I saw that the crates were filled with X number of machines (10-20?) and then shipped off on a boat. Thought that at one point in time, CT was offering air freight for an extra charge.
Anyway, maybe someone else who recent got theirs or knows what’s “shipped” means can chime in as to whether it just left NL or if it’s out from Coin Taker.
I posted this earlier, has some info on travel
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-big-lebowski-preorder-club/page/258#post-6176716
Quoted from turbo20lbs:I posted this earlier, has some info on travel
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-big-lebowski-preorder-club/page/258#post-6176716
Thanks for the reminder. Obviously that was from nearly 10 months ago. It’s likely that the customs hold process might be substantially longer these days
Quoted from ezatnova:Got my “Order has been shipped” email from CT! (9-18-20 deposit)
Question for you guys…does that mean it got on a boat and is making the journey, or does that mean it left the CT shop in Pennsylvania?
From my experience with them, once you’ve paid the final invoice they send, you won’t get another email until it’s shipping from Ct. Receipt of my final invoices on both my Alien and TBL were when the games where supposed to be getting on the boat or plane soon.
After I paid the invoices, I didn’t get a “Your order has been shipped” from them until the games were actually leaving Ct PA. I had both games at my house in less than a week after that.
Quoted from sammiesguys:From my experience with them, once you’ve paid the final invoice they send, you won’t get another email until it’s shipping from Ct. Receipt of my final invoices on both my Alien and TBL were when the games where supposed to be getting on the boat or plane soon.
After I paid the invoices, I didn’t get a “Your order has been shipped” from them until the games were actually leaving Ct PA. I had both games at my house in less than a week after that.
Oh jeez. Wonder why they didn’t send any sort of tracking. Probably a delivery that someone should be around for, when it arrives lol
You will get a call or text from the shipping company. I never heard anything from Cointaker but did get a text from Fed ex that it was shipping.
Quoted from ezatnova:Oh jeez. Wonder why they didn’t send any sort of tracking. Probably a delivery that someone should be around for, when it arrives lol
Quoted from paulbaptiste:You will get a call or text from the shipping company. I never heard anything from Cointaker but did get a text from Fed ex that it was shipping.
Hopefully that’s the next thing that happens, that’s what took place in my instances.
Quoted from vwallat99:Got my invoice today. Looks like the wait is nearly over!
When did you originally commit to buy?
Quoted from cpr9999:When did you originally commit to buy?
His post history says last November.
Just joined the pre-order club today!
FYI, the final price has jumped up $500 as of 10/11/2021.
Still a $1k deposit though.
Quoted from damadczar:Just joined the pre-order club today!
FYI, the final price has jumped up $500 as of 10/11/2021.
Still a $1k deposit though.
I figured that was coming given increased parts and labor costs and also the fact that every other Pinball manufacture has increased their prices recently.
Quoted from ThePinballCo-op:His post history says last November.
Yes last november
Quoted from damadczar:Just joined the pre-order club today!
FYI, the final price has jumped up $500 as of 10/11/2021.
Still a $1k deposit though.
Hmm hopefully that's not retroactive
Quoted from joetechbob:Hmm hopefully that's not retroactive
Per cointaker’s website “ ALL ORDERS PLACED PRIOR TO THE 10/11/21 ARE HELD AT THE 12500.00 PRICE.”
Quoted from cconway84:Per cointaker’s website “ ALL ORDERS PLACED PRIOR TO THE 10/11/21 ARE HELD AT THE 12500.00 PRICE.”
Quoted from vwallat99:Yes last november
Oh baby, getting close to march 11th order.
I just got my invoice! Almost two years waiting, but received a nice apology for the delay. This dude abides.
Little spoiler:
I was yesterday at the factory.
There was a lot of 10 machines waiting for the career to pick them up. All machines are for the US guys. 
Quoted from vwallat99:Yes last november
Oh dang I just realized that you put your deposit down the same exact day that I did.
TBL bros!
Quoted from paulbaptiste:You will get a call or text from the shipping company. I never heard anything from Cointaker but did get a text from Fed ex that it was shipping.
Good news and bad news.
Got a call at 7:30 this morning from FedEx. Which I didn’t pick up because that’s the time this Dude is trying to get some rest.
Just checked voicemail and was mad I missed it since it was the call to schedule delivery.
Called them back and they said “well, your shipper didn’t approve a lift gate truck. Can you get this off the truck yourself? It’s 375 lbs. our drivers are only required to lift 50 lbs.”
Ummm. No? The Dude doesn’t abide. This aggression will not stand.
I explained how CT ships these all the time. Very expensive machines. Very long build time. Very far shipping. And how I don’t think it seems normal that it’s a tactic of “good luck, lift this sucker off the truck and enjoy!”
Something seems odd. So FedEx said they’ll reach out to CT. So frustrating since it’s few miles away sitting there!
I have a pickup truck but probably not a smart move to try and go get it in case there’s shipping damage, God forbid.
Quoted from ezatnova:Good news and bad news.
Got a call at 7:30 this morning from FedEx. Which I didn’t pick up because that’s the time this Dude is trying to get some rest.
Just checked voicemail and was mad I missed it since it was the call to schedule delivery.
Called them back and they said “well, your shipper didn’t approve a lift gate truck. Can you get this off the truck yourself? It’s 375 lbs. our drivers are only required to lift 50 lbs.”
Ummm. No? The Dude doesn’t abide. This aggression will not stand.
I explained how CT ships these all the time. Very expensive machines. Very long build time. Very far shipping. And how I don’t think it seems normal that it’s a tactic of “good luck, lift this sucker off the truck and enjoy!”
Something seems odd. So FedEx said they’ll reach out to CT. So frustrating since it’s few miles away sitting there!
I have a pickup truck but probably not a smart move to try and go get it in case there’s shipping damage, God forbid.
They did the same to me. Luckily my work is close by and we had forklift access. Fed ex even told the driver I’d have people there to assist lifting it out of the truck….never once had that conversation.
Quoted from paulbaptiste:They did the same to me. Luckily my work is close by and we had forklift access. Fed ex even told the driver I’d have people there to assist lifting it out of the truck….never once had that conversation.
Well, I have clarification.
Melissa was awesome. Called her and she said “nope, FedEx is wrong and they didn’t read the info. Tell them to look and it’s “basic by appointment” which includes residential and includes lift gate” ”
Called FedEx back and sure enough they said “oh yeah you’re right. That all is included”
I asked if he just drops it off the lift gate and that’s that or if he’ll bring it around my yard to my walk out basement and he said the driver can usually do that but talk to him when he calls.
Anyway. A+ Melissa. And TOMORROW MORNING I will be going bowling!!
Quoted from ezatnova:Well, I have clarification.
Melissa was awesome. Called her and she said “nope, FedEx is wrong and they didn’t read the info. Tell them to look and it’s “basic by appointment” which includes residential and includes lift gate” ”
Called FedEx back and sure enough they said “oh yeah you’re right. That all is included”
I asked if he just drops it off the lift gate and that’s that or if he’ll bring it around my yard to my walk out basement and he said the driver can usually do that but talk to him when he calls.
Anyway. A+ Melissa. And TOMORROW MORNING I will be going bowling!!
Nice. Congrats. They have a pallet jack and will pull it anywhere they can that has a hard surface.
Quoted from insight75:Nice. Congrats. They have a pallet jack and will pull it anywhere they can that has a hard surface.
Interesting, thanks. The hard surface to my basement French doors is about 300 feet of lawn lol. Worse case I’ll just put the machine on my dolly and pull it around if he won’t.
Quoted from ezatnova:Interesting, thanks. The hard surface to my basement French doors is about 300 feet of lawn lol. Worse case I’ll just put the machine on my dolly and pull it around if he won’t.
Congrats!! So about 3 weeks from paid invoice to delivery...not too bad. I'm coming up very soon. Keep us posted on unboxing and how the machine plays out of the box.
Quoted from ezatnova:Interesting, thanks. The hard surface to my basement French doors is about 300 feet of lawn lol. Worse case I’ll just put the machine on my dolly and pull it around if he won’t.
If you know someone with a pickup truck I’ve found the best way to receive a NIB game is back the truck up to the lift gate then drive it where you want it. Un-box on truck and team lift it off the back. My game room is a walk out basement so this works great for me…….best of luck! Glad to hear games are starting to flow, my late January 2021 order seems like it could be invoiced sooner than I was planning!
Quoted from ThePinballCo-op:Oh dang I just realized that you put your deposit down the same exact day that I did.
TBL bros!
Hell yeah man ! Excited to finally receive the game.
Is 3 weeks from invoice the ETA give or take for getting the game through shipping?
Quoted from PinballHaven:If you know someone with a pickup truck I’ve found the best way to receive a NIB game is back the truck up to the lift gate then drive it where you want it. Un-box on truck and team lift it off the back. My game room is a walk out basement so this works great for me…….best of luck! Glad to hear games are starting to flow, my late January 2021 order seems like it could be invoiced sooner than I was planning!
Cool, thanks. I have a truck so that’s an option. When I bring games home myself, I just back right up to the basement doors and bring them in with a helping hand. Heard these machines are beefy!
Hopefully will have pics in a few hours!
Another game in PA congrats!
Quoted from ezatnova:Cool, thanks. I have a truck so that’s an option. When I bring games home myself, I just back right up to the basement doors and bring them in with a helping hand. Heard these machines are beefy!
Hopefully will have pics in a few hours!
Quoted from ezatnova:Cool, thanks. I have a truck so that’s an option. When I bring games home myself, I just back right up to the basement doors and bring them in with a helping hand. Heard these machines are beefy!
Hopefully will have pics in a few hours!
Alternatively you can put it in the truck, drive about 100 miles to my house and we can set it up by me! haha! 
Quoted from vwallat99:Hell yeah man ! Excited to finally receive the game.
Is 3 weeks from invoice the ETA give or take for getting the game through shipping?
It’d be nice if you get it within that timeframe. My final invoice was dated 4/26/21, and it said on the invoice that the games were shipping from the Netherlands on May 8. I received my game on June 9. I have a feeling that it fluctuates an awful lot. So I think you could get it anywhere from a week to six weeks. I believe mine was more of an exception than what’s typical from what I’ve read. Three weeks is a fair guess.
Melissa told me a fair number of games have been arriving with damage from shipping. They do an initial check before sending them out to customers. Obviously, damaged games will push back delivery dates. Fingers crossed this shipment is ok!
Yesterday was a fun day.
FedEx arrived on time. Guy looks at my property and I show him where I want the game to end up. He said he’ll just take the skid across the yard to the basement doors for me…awesome!
Then he tries to get the forks into the pallet and realizes the pallet is too narrow and only one fork goes in. So he said he can unload it from the truck but can’t transport it across the yard on one fork.
So then we put it on my dolly and strap it and he has me pull it across the yard while he supported the downhill / side hill parts. Got it into the basement and that was that.
Started to inbox it and noticed a huge area had plain brown tape over it. I peeled that back and sure enough it was a gash in the box about 24” long and 1” wide. You could see right in. Wanted to puke knowing what was likely coming next.
Went about opening the box the correct way, and when I got to where I could lift the sides away, I saw it did have damage but AMAZINGLY whatever punctured through the box just BARELY touched the backbox left side. I mean it came so close that it tore the decal but zero damage to the wood or structure.
I wrote SP and Rens wrote right back within minutes. He agreed I was super lucky, and was kind enough to get a new decal sent out. I’m thankful it wasn’t real structural damage or a whole shipping insurance claim etc.
Sounds like from the above posts that FedEx is a disaster with these things. I’m surprised they aren’t shipped with a private shipping company.
Anyway, I took a good 4 hours to assemble it, inspect and learn what’s what and how things work, installing plastic protectors on the plastics where I didn’t have to do major dismantling, and installing my bowling ball and Donny can mods.
Then fired up the machine and all was glorious. Made sure it worked and then went and got the new code file and loaded that on (shipped with 0.56 and I could hear the annoying power clicking. To a newbie it sounds like the game is breaking and something isn’t right at all in the backbox!). New code cleared that right up.
I chose to fold my rug so that it fits under the machine, to avoid foot traffic wear and tear.
Finally, I grabbed my bottle of Absolut, bottle of Kaluha, and a quart of Half n Half, and some greasy burgers and fries (sadly can’t get In n Out on the east coast), called friends over and we played the hell out of it til 1:30am.
Everything seems to work 100% with no adjustments or anything needed. Game is gorgeous, the speakers are AMAZING, and the music and call outs are fantastic. We were commenting that the game seems more chill and non irritating to have the song versions without lyrics. Easier to just keep playing without the words over and over and distracting you.
A+ job by Rens for quick responses to my newb questions and the damage help.
I’m super excited to see what the code updates bring, and eventually have the Wi-Fi Live capability and all. More importantly I need to now learn what I’m supposed to actually be doing in each mode and all.
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9D672B01-DD5C-4CF3-BF5E-2C392B2E7740 (resized).jpegQuoted from ezatnova:Yesterday was a fun day.
FedEx arrived on time. Guy looks at my property and I show him where I want the game to end up. He said he’ll just take the skid across the yard to the basement doors for me…awesome!
Then he tries to get the forks into the pallet and realizes the pallet is too narrow and only one fork goes in. So he said he can unload it from the truck but can’t transport it across the yard on one fork.
So then we put it on my dolly and strap it and he has me pull it across the yard while he supported the downhill / side hill parts. Got it into the basement and that was that.
Started to inbox it and noticed a huge area had plain brown tape over it. I peeled that back and sure enough it was a gash in the box about 24” long and 1” wide. You could see right in. Wanted to puke knowing what was likely coming next.
Went about opening the box the correct way, and when I got to where I could lift the sides away, I saw it did have damage but AMAZINGLY whatever punctured through the box just BARELY touched the backbox left side. I mean it came so close that it tore the decal but zero damage to the wood or structure.
I wrote SP and Rens wrote right back within minutes. He agreed I was super lucky, and was kind enough to get a new decal sent out. I’m thankful it wasn’t real structural damage or a whole shipping insurance claim etc.
Sounds like from the above posts that FedEx is a disaster with these things. I’m surprised they aren’t shipped with a private shipping company.
Anyway, I took a good 4 hours to assemble it, inspect and learn what’s what and how things work, installing plastic protectors on the plastics where I didn’t have to do major dismantling, and installing my bowling ball and Donny can mods.
Then fired up the machine and all was glorious. Made sure it worked and then went and got the new code file and loaded that on (shipped with 0.56 and I could hear the annoying power clicking. To a newbie it sounds like the game is breaking and something isn’t right at all in the backbox!). New code cleared that right up.
I chose to fold my rug so that it fits under the machine, to avoid foot traffic wear and tear.
Finally, I grabbed my bottle of Absolut, bottle of Kaluha, and a quart of Half n Half, and some greasy burgers and fries (sadly can’t get In n Out on the east coast), called friends over and we played the hell out of it til 1:30am.
Everything seems to work 100% with no adjustments or anything needed. Game is gorgeous, the speakers are AMAZING, and the music and call outs are fantastic. We were commenting that the game seems more chill and non irritating to have the song versions without lyrics. Easier to just keep playing without the words over and over and distracting you.
A+ job by Rens for quick responses to my newb questions and the damage help.
I’m super excited to see what the code updates bring, and eventually have the Wi-Fi Live capability and all. More importantly I need to now learn what I’m supposed to actually be doing in each mode and all.
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Great story and pictures, thanks for sharing. Glad everything worked out.
I got sick for you... 24x1? Oof... glad you got lucky.
Why is shipping so terrible? They are moving multiple units worth $12,500 each! Come on Fedex!
Quoted from ezatnova:Yesterday was a fun day.
FedEx arrived on time. Guy looks at my property and I show him where I want the game to end up. He said he’ll just take the skid across the yard to the basement doors for me…awesome!
Then he tries to get the forks into the pallet and realizes the pallet is too narrow and only one fork goes in. So he said he can unload it from the truck but can’t transport it across the yard on one fork.
So then we put it on my dolly and strap it and he has me pull it across the yard while he supported the downhill / side hill parts. Got it into the basement and that was that.
Started to inbox it and noticed a huge area had plain brown tape over it. I peeled that back and sure enough it was a gash in the box about 24” long and 1” wide. You could see right in. Wanted to puke knowing what was likely coming next.
Went about opening the box the correct way, and when I got to where I could lift the sides away, I saw it did have damage but AMAZINGLY whatever punctured through the box just BARELY touched the backbox left side. I mean it came so close that it tore the decal but zero damage to the wood or structure.
I wrote SP and Rens wrote right back within minutes. He agreed I was super lucky, and was kind enough to get a new decal sent out. I’m thankful it wasn’t real structural damage or a whole shipping insurance claim etc.
Sounds like from the above posts that FedEx is a disaster with these things. I’m surprised they aren’t shipped with a private shipping company.
Anyway, I took a good 4 hours to assemble it, inspect and learn what’s what and how things work, installing plastic protectors on the plastics where I didn’t have to do major dismantling, and installing my bowling ball and Donny can mods.
Then fired up the machine and all was glorious. Made sure it worked and then went and got the new code file and loaded that on (shipped with 0.56 and I could hear the annoying power clicking. To a newbie it sounds like the game is breaking and something isn’t right at all in the backbox!). New code cleared that right up.
I chose to fold my rug so that it fits under the machine, to avoid foot traffic wear and tear.
Finally, I grabbed my bottle of Absolut, bottle of Kaluha, and a quart of Half n Half, and some greasy burgers and fries (sadly can’t get In n Out on the east coast), called friends over and we played the hell out of it til 1:30am.
Everything seems to work 100% with no adjustments or anything needed. Game is gorgeous, the speakers are AMAZING, and the music and call outs are fantastic. We were commenting that the game seems more chill and non irritating to have the song versions without lyrics. Easier to just keep playing without the words over and over and distracting you.
A+ job by Rens for quick responses to my newb questions and the damage help.
I’m super excited to see what the code updates bring, and eventually have the Wi-Fi Live capability and all. More importantly I need to now learn what I’m supposed to actually be doing in each mode and all.
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You should let CT know as well.
They used to use DHL shipping on these. Not sure why the change.
Congrats to all new TBL owners! Hopefully more EA's will join this club soon.
FWIW: FedEx has been THE WORST shipping outfit I've dealt with. Multiple delivery debacles with them. The last game they transported sat in their local terminal for weeks before I found out my distributor had shipped it and I subsequently contacted them!
Quoted from Tuna_Delight:Congrats to all new TBL owners! Hopefully more EA's will join this club soon.
FWIW: FedEx has been THE WORST shipping outfit I've dealt with. Multiple delivery debacles with them. The last game they transported sat in their local terminal for weeks before I found out my distributor had shipped it and I subsequently contacted them!
I've had several good experiences with FedEx shipping from Stern. Just throwing another data point out there so future TBL owners can unclench a bit.
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Rockford, MN
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