He got lucky years back with purchasing the rights to pinball.com or something? I thought he owned it-now looks like Planetary does? He gets lots of traffic based off website url(Google leads) but has always been a high retail brick and mortar distributor. They sell all sorts of high retail amusement games and have cornered a good portion of the on-line sales market(mainly to un-experienced newbs).

No not talking about Michael talking about Nic and Brook

Weird, when you would type in pinballs.com years ago Google leads would lead you to either Automated or Thepinballcompany? Now it goes to Planetary? What kind of deal went down for that switcheroo?

Pinballs.com goes to automated. Pinball.com goes to PPS.

That makes sense, but still curious how much The Pinball Company must spend on Google leads or something?-because they often get the redirection of Google leads when searching for pinball.

ahhh yea.gif

Not sure what’s going on with them, the outrageousness you refer to has been going on a few years.

I bought a NIB Met Prem from them in ‘16, and the experience was faultless; there was a shipping snafu that was no fault of theirs, but they (Brooke) handled it and refunded my shipping charge plus a little more for my trouble. At that time, the prices on their web site were completely reasonable and consistent with pricing at other well-regarded distros.

Unfortunately I think something has changed in the past couple of years. During this time, their pricing has rapidly gotten wacky, and I have seen several instances where they jack up the price of a given title by $500-1000 over the course of just a day or two; one specific example I recall is a BK2K that I initially saw priced at $3999 (a bit expensive, but not ridiculous) which escalated to $5999 (bats**t insane) in increments of $500 over the course of just a couple of months!

Sadly, they also may have declined in terms of service as well. I called them in ‘19 to inquire about a BKSOR prem and the owner was extremely abrasive (borderline rude), impatient, and clearly in no mood to answer any questions. I was simply asking for any tips he knew of regarding known out of the box issues I’d need to watch for, and his overall attitude was one of “I don’t have time for this s**t”; it was truly a complete “180” from the treatment I received when buying Met, and really took me aback. Needless to say, I ended up buying from a different distro (Hemispheres, strongly recommended).

And yes, no connection to Automated/pinballs.com in CT (another excellent distro, BTW).

All of the brick and mortar distributors advertise high retail pricing, so I feel it is part of the business model.

I was given attitude by Brook once and that is all it took for me

Michael is a great guy-please do not confuse these companies!

It’s true that B&M distros typically advertise prices on the high side, but Pinball Co. seems way out of proportion compared to most others.

So you got attitude too, but from Brooke rather than Nic? (Brooke was fantastic to me when I had problems with Met shipping.) No point speculating on specifics, but clearly something has changed over the past few years.

And yes, Mike at Automated is super excellent (and stable)!

I got my first game ( used ) from them. They had sent me pics that I requested. But failed to mention the dirty rubber rings, broken ramp enterances and display that was on its way out. They state they go through their games before purchase but this wasn't the case. When I talked to nic " the dick" I was yelled at when I mentioned these things and was told he didn't want my business in the future. He did later email me to apologize. They did send me a rubber ring kit and went half on a new display( which they should have covered in full) When I asked if he was gonna send someone out to change the rubber rings he thought I was nuts . I only wanted the game to be as described. Brooke on the other hand was more than friendly and helpful as best she could. Now I see the prices are through the roof! Look elsewhere .

Brooke purchased a machine from me recently and was really easy to work with. Haven't been on the buying side of things, but I had a very good experience with them.

I tried to get a LOTR from them years ago. Site said they had it. Called them and got the run around. Never got one from them. Way overpriced anyway. Never again.

Same here

Here is a link to their "investment" GoFundMe . This whole concept seemed like a reach.

They claim that all of their Google traffic is organic based on the Google algo

https://wefunder.com/thepinballcompany

Whatever happened to their plans to build a large arcade in the Chicago that they announced at Expo a few years ago?

You'd think, putting up for investors, they would proof-read..

Why investors us
we've raised $550,200 since our founding

I’ve had four transactions with The Pinball Company. Around 2005 I contacted Nic because I wanted a Medieval Madness. He was new to the business and didn’t know much about the game (unbelievable, I know). But he found me one and we did a layaway plan for it lasting 2 years. I eventually got it paid off and it only cost $6300. It was a great experience. Then I decided I wanted a Rambo shooter game and began another layaway plan with Nic for it. I paid for four months then he called me and said he could no longer get the game. He was very apologetic and refunded my money. Fast forward to 2018. I wanted a POTC LE and contacted Nic. We set up another layaway program and he did not charge me any more than other distributors were charging. I got the game once I’d paid for it. Another perfect transaction. Then I started a layaway for a TOTAN. I was paying a bit more than TOTANs I’d seen for sale on Pinside but it was in great shape, powder coated, etc. and he worked with me on a layaway so I figured it was worth it. Then COVID hit and I got nervous about my finances. I called Nic and he refunded me $5000 of the $7500 I had paid thus far. We agreed that he’d refund me the rest when he could find another buyer for the game. But my finances improved and I was able to pay everything and get the game. So, in summary, I’ve had nothing but great experiences with Nic and Brooke. I agree their prices have gone higher in recent years, and I can’t speculate on why. But I have nothing but good things to say about them. I found them very accommodating and willing to work with me, letting me set the terms of the layaways and never pressuring me about making payments. And him returning $5,000 to me when I panicked over COVID was, in my opinion, a stand-up thing to do. I would buy from them again.

Bought my Star Trek LE NIB from them back in 2014, a-ok transaction. I also sold them a game a couple years ago, also a-ok transaction. I think they are fine people. I can’t speak to the pricing in general, but if you look across all distributors and Craigslist it seems that pinball is in high demand and prices are up everywhere.

they put one up in columbia mo. had about 10-12 pinballs, a few fancy driving games, not very well done.