I debated for a long time about posting this. I'm new to Pinside and I don't want to cause any issues, but eventually, after hearing some other stories, decided to post the story of purchasing my first pinball machine. I have all the pictures and documentation to back up everything I say here but the thread is already huge, if you want more info, just ask.

April 30th I found a pinside ad for a Black Knight 2000 while searching google. I think at the time I was already a Pinside member, but relatively new. Cory's Pinside ad (Now deleted) Said the machine had some minor cosmetic issues but was fully working and playing and had been recently shopped. Choggard was asking $3000 for this machine on his ad. After a few days of going back and forth we settled on $2500. Before paying, I reiterated multiple times that this machine needed to be %100 working and that I did not want a project. I stated on multiple conversations with him that I was paying a higher price with him because I needed the machine working. I verified with him that there was no known issues with the machine other than some bubbles in the mylar, a couple broken plastics and the magna-save was a little worn. All cosmetic issues, nothing that would need to be fixed.

Cory was very nice to talk to and was more than happy to explain things to someone new to owning a pinball. He even told me how this particular machine had a diamond plate mod and chrome trim that cost him over $100. He arranged everything with the shipping and packaged the pinball nicely. He even added some corner protection at my request.

Here's the Black Knight 2000 I received:

The RANSOM lights were not working correct, they just flashed with the playfield lights
The playfield lamp matrix had a short across 4 columns
The GI connector on the interconnect was removed and had all of the GI soldered together, directly to the board
The drawbridge motor was getting a motor error about every 5-10 games (Now completly gone and had to replace the motor for $49 +sh)
There was a smashed flasher socket with a broken bulb still stuck in it. One of the wires for this socket was disconnected and dangling under the upper playfield.
Some of the GI lights in the backbox insert had been disconnected, left bare and bypassed
Game had an F-14 Tomcat board in it. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fs-f-14-tomcat-by-williams-1650
Playfield was filthy, not waxed, machine was not shopped.
All but 5 of the flasher bulbs were burnt out.
The fancy 'Diamond Plate Mod' was stickers that were hiding damage to the sidewalls
The chrome trim was hiding damage to the edge of the backbox where it meets the playfield when folded down.
A mason jar's worth of spare parts were found in the bottom of this 'shopped' pinball machine

When I called Choggard to explain the issues, Choggard blamed it all on the shipper and stated that the machine worked fine when it left his house.

After some research and speaking with some local Pinsider's I was able to determine that all the 'Damage' except for possibly some of the flasher bulbs were definitively pre-existing. When I called and explained this the Choggard he started to do the right thing and told me to have it serviced and he would pay the bill. I was pretty upset because I specifically bought his machine because I did not want to have to work on it, I wanted to play it, that's why I payed his inflated price, but something is better than nothing and at least he was trying to make it right.

I'm new to the "pinball scene' and don't know any repair techs, I found one online, but he charged $100 just to come out ($50/hr and the trip was an hour each way), I thought that this could end up real pricy, especially if he had to return with parts or something, so I asked around some more and found a local tech that would do the work for the same price ($50/hr) without charging for the travel time. It took him a couple evenings but he got most of the issues fixed, I payed him and sent the invoice to Choggard.

He refused to pay. He said he needed to talk to me about it.

We get on the phone and he tells me that $350 is too much that his tech is way cheaper and I should have had the work done for less and that he's not paying that much.

I've already Paid premium from him to get a good working machine that was undeniably broken before it shipped and then had to shell out another $350 out of my pocket because I'm and Idiot and trusted him. Then he steals $100 more from me by only paying me back $250 of the service bill that he said he would pay for, after I went out of my way to try and save this jackhole some money.

This guy is a scammer, a liar, a cheat and a dirtbag pin flipper. Be warned. I didn't find out until after the sale that he had this reputation, here are some examples.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/choggards-defective-2300-blackoutrepaired-by-ray-brackins
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/should-choggard-be-perma-banned
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ban-choggard-and-hugsc
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/choggard-has-his-msf-on-ebay-buyers-beware.

Hopefully we both end up at the same pinball show someday...

My replacement drawbridge motor should be here today, I'm super excited to play my Black Knight 2000 for the first time since all the issues have been worked out.

I wasn't looking for a bargain or a project, I just wanted a fully working BK2K and was willing to pay extra. He was more than happy to take the extra money in exchange for lying about it's condition.

The shipping is the only part of the entire transaction that I didn't have an issue with. STI was great, the dispatch worked with me on a delivery date because I was going to be out of town for a few days, machine showed up with no damage, only issue was they would only deliver to ground level and since my house is 3 steps up from my garage they would only deliver to the garage, but that's true for most shippers unless you pay extra or get a driver in a good mood.

I won't make that mistake again, if I can't touch it before I pay, I ain't buying unless it's someone I know personally.

This was my first big Paypal purchase, Choggard recommended that I send the money as a 'gift' to avoid the fee's. When I called Paypal to dispute they said there was nothing they could do for me because 'gift' purchases are not covered under the buyers protection program.

I'd love to know who bought this because I have a feeling I have their F-14 CPU board and they have my BK2K board. I suspect this is why the RANSOM lights were plugged in wrong.

Thank you guys for all the support.

I installed my replacement drawbridge motor last night and it's finally working right (was not a 'switch adjustment' as I was told).

Finally, after over a month and a bunch of BS, I was able to play my game!

If the Mods want to close this thread, please do so. The information is out there now, not sure there is much to add to the conversation. Thanks again for all the support you guys and being so welcoming.

It's pretty awesome, still needs some work but it's playable. My 7yr old son and I played for a couple hours, he had a great time, kid has some natural flipper skills, won't be long before he's beating me. We had been playing it before but about 1 out of 5 times the drawbridge wouldn't go down or stop half way up, nice to have it working reliably.

Now it's time to add some mods, but that's for another thread

A couple things.

First, I agree that I shouldn't expect a machine to be %100 on arrival after shipping, Things happen. Cory and I had conversations after I received the machine where I expressed my concerns, He blamed the shipping. I told him that if indeed the issues could even remotely be shipping related then I would assume they were But, If they were pre-existing and I could prove it, we would have problems. There are some issues with the machine I haven't even mentioned to him, such as the broken wireframe going from the upper to the lower playfield that could have been shipping related, even though it was covered in super glue. I don't have a problem fixing things if I'm buying a project, this wasn't sold to me as anything other than a 100% working "Plug and Play" BK2K that was well maintained and shopped, It wasn't.

There is damage on the sidewalls and I can even see it in his blurry pics, It's not a huge deal, just needs some paint. My problem isn't with the damage, it's with the fact that he covered it up with a sticker and tried to upsell it to me as a pricey mod that increased the value of the machine. I haven't removed the chrome molding from the backbox yet, but you can see the scrapes from the sides, it's in the top right, cropped out of the picture. Again, not a huge deal, just some paint. It's just that I didn't pay him that much so I could paint it and fix it and order parts for it and hire a tech so the lights would work properly, I paid him that much because he said it was in great shape and needed nothing. I wasn't expecting a collector/show quality machine, but I was expecting a well maintained and working machine.

The CPU board IS from an F-14 Tomcat, It's a system 11a board, BK2K is a system 11b machine. Everything I've read says it's totally compatible with BK2K, The only reason I brought it up is because he just happened to sell an F-14 Tomcat right before I bought BK2K from him. seems like too much of a coincidence, no way of knowing for sure without the buyer of that F-14 telling us the numbers on the board.

By the way, when I questioned why most of the flashers were out, why the playfield was dirty, why was there broken bulbs and sockets, why the barrel spring on the shooter was shot and why was the bottom of the cabinet full of old parts if the machine was shopped his answer was "It wasn't a restoration"

Here's the pics of the interconnect, Since someone wanted to see them. It's all I have on my phone, I can take a pic of the CPU when I get home. When the tech saw this he said that it was a good thing I had the machine worked on because this was a fire hazard. I have no idea if that is true or not, Choggard thought it wasn't when I told him about it.

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I asked him what he did for a living and he also told me he was an 8th grade teacher.

In my very first post I said I have all the evidence to support my claims, not that I really appear to need it, but since you keep calling me a liar, I'll keep defending myself.

Notice how he didn't post this one? Hmmm, I wonder why?

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Maybe it's because at no time, during attract or gameplay do the RANSOM lights do anything other than display the status of The Kings Ransom. RANSOM is lit from left to right and the only time the M would be lit is when you are actually in the RANSOM mode.

Not good enough? Here's a video from when I got the machine.
All the fun starts at test 04 32.

I think I'm done with dealing with you Cory. Your ruining the hobby for me and I just want to move on and enjoy pinball. Thanks again to everyone for the support and coming forward with your 'Choggard's'

I never got any pictures of the inside of the backbox other than the one with all the LED bulbs, no pictures of the boards were ever posted in his ad or sent to me. I did ask if all the boards were ok and if they had any battery acid damage and he said they were fine. For the record, they did not have any battery acid damage.

_{Post edited by NextoPin: typo}

Some people never learn.

For my own sanity and for all Pinsider's I'm not going to reply to this thread anymore, I'm sure you can understand why.

I'd have to go through my email, I saved them all, both from his ad and from his emails to a folder. I didn't get any pictures of the boards. They appear to be the same pictures he sent. It doesn't matter much because other than the lights you can't see any of the issues in his pictures. I only noticed the GI hack when I was trying to find the short in the lamp matrix, It's behind a lot of wires, I doubt it would have shown up in a picture of the boards, if there is a picture of the boards.

As Requested

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F-14 Tomcat / IPD No. 804 / March, 1987 / 4 Players
Model Number: 554

I bought those ROM's after we repaired the board, It had version 7 prototype ROM's in it when I got it.

That clown on fire shit was funny, Thanks, I needed that.

Clay,

Because I'm new, I don't know you but the way people responded when your name was mentioned leads me to believe that you are a respected member of this community so please know I'm posting this with the utmost respect.

Cory advertised and sold me the BK2K as fully working, 100%. I know how old BK2K is, I know things break when they get old which is why Cory and I had multiple conversations over the course of a week about it's condition, maybe 10+ phone conversations and many emails. He represented himself as a upstanding member of Pinside and a knowledgeable pinball collector.

None of the problems I had with this machine were shipping related, they ALL existed before he unplugged it from the wall. He flat out lied about the condition in order to make the sale. Even after I discovered all the issues I still did not post anything about this sale, I attempted to work it out with him.

When I backed him into a corner about all the lies and deception he said, and I quote "Call someone to have it repaired and send me the bill". There was no stipulation on the cost, and because he didn't, I felt he was honestly trying to make this right, so I did my best to keep the costs down on the repair.

The total cost for the repairs was $350 which I thought was very reasonable for the time the tech spent working on it and the professional job that he did. I payed the bill out of my pocket and sent the invoice/receipt to Choggard. He refused to pay it and eventually after some heated conversations he sent me $250.

If he had of just payed the damn bill like he said he would I never would have posted and nobody would of ever heard about it.

He's a liar and a cheat. He takes advantage of people for his own personal gain.

Robin,
Please lock this thread. It was intended as a warning but it seems to be starting conflict between members. Folks can still link to it if needed and the information will still be there if someone does the buyer research as recommended.

_{Post edited by NextoPin: typo}

It was the straw that broke the camel's back.

I didn't sling any mud. The guy sold me what was at best a $1500 machine for $2500 (was asking $3000). It's fine if I over payed and got what I was expecting, but that's not what happened. Everything I said was true and I can back it up. That's not slinging mud.

Why don't you ask Choggard that question.