This is Brooke with the Pinball Company writing in on behalf of my husband, Nic Parks. Nic and the seller had agreed to a price of $3000 for the Airborne machine. I was unaware he had sent a $300 paypal deposit and went ahead and wrote the check for the full $3000. Now, while Nic is one of the nicest, most honest and generous people I know (seriously), his memory isn't the best and he forgot to mention to me about the seller wanting cash. He also forgets to tell me many other things on a daily basis. So when our driver got to the pick up, we had a predicament. Nic was not happy that we sent a guy all the way to pick up the machine and he wasn't going to give it to us and they had a bit of a heated discussion, but he certainly did not yell and cuss (we were at a Subway restaurant with our 4 year old son at the time in the middle of lunch). Finally Nic just told the guy that the deal was off and we would leave. At that point, the seller changed his mind (probably when he realized the check was written out for more than we agreed on) and said he would do it. A week or two later we realized that we had overpaid for the machine with the $300 deposit and Nic tried contacting the guy for a refund. He never responded, so we had no choice but to file a chargeback. While the deal didn't go down exactly the way the seller wanted, that did not give him the right to just keep the overpayment.

We have bought countless games from Pinsiders over the years and have had wonderful experiences as they can all vouch for and we very much appreciate the opportunity to buy such nice machines from collectors and hobbyists. We make all transactions about as easy as possible. I guess every now and again when doing this many deals, a deal is bound to go sour. In the end, we got the machine and the seller ended up with the $3000 agreed upon. I can think of a lot worse ways for this to have turned out. We are sorry for any ill-will associated with the transaction, but when he didn't respond to us, we were not just going to let him keep the money. - Brooke

Just to be clear, we have not yet received the $300 back and it remains in dispute status with Amex, which indicates that the seller has not agreed to the refund. "Yelled at, lied to, and cussed at..." Come on now... Seems a bit dramatic. I am sure Dung had only kind things to say to Nic. If someone was THAT big of a jerk to me, I certainly would not have done a deal with them and told them to be on their way.

Nic here...

I did get offended when the guy told me my check was no good even after he asked around and someone vouched for me. I usually get cash when asked but it slipped my mind. I was having a lunchtime issue with my son at Subway and was a bit frustrated. I did text him an apology. Got no response. When I realized the check was $300 too much, I asked for the PayPal money back. I truly am sorry for forgetting to get cash and for the way I handled the phone call. I can't remember a Pinside buy that didn't go smoothly so I was confident our reputation would be okay. Again, I'm sorry to have upset any Pinsider and I'm sorry the rest of you got dragged into it.

dung Regardless of what happens with PayPal money, come to Columbia and I'll buy you a beer. No hard feelings.

Nic

dung No beer for you!

Don't we always overpay? That's why sellers like dealing with us.

I'm done. I still apologize for how I handled it. Should have sent cash with my employee as I agreed to. Should not have bullied him about the check. Paying cash is not the best for accounting purposes, but I agreed and subsequently forgot. Badmouthing me and my company is not cool, but what can I do? Moving on now.

Nic