Quoted from DCfoodfreak:

My old life was high end AV. Systems from a couple grand to 200k plus. It was all tweaking. Almost nothing was plug and play.
When I decided to get in to pinball's I read enough to know that I would either need to learn a few things or be ready to pay for repairs. I have never heard of any pinball that did not need to be fixed.
Just is what it is.
In relation to the OP I have had folks here walk me through things and even had forum folks come over and help me out. Its two way street and worth driving on.

Quoted from DCfoodfreak:

Not disagreeing but again Pinball will require this kind of fixing/Tweeking. To me the similarity was reading post how someone spent 18k on a turntable but did not know how to balance the arm and was pissed because the needle scratched a classic recording. Or the 25k projector that was unwatchable until they learned to calibrate or in many cases paid a tech $150 to come do that for them. Heck a 30k Home theater that needed a tech to calibrate the room for them before it would sound right.
Just using a hobby I know well and seeing similarities in the need to either learn to be technical or prepare to pay. That does not mean a game should not work new out of the box but it does mean in this world of flying steel balls know in advance the glass will have to come off or dont play. Or, prepare to pay.

Quoted from jonnyo:

Dealerships prep their vehicles for sale, and that includes fixing anything that broke during shipment or items that came defective from the factory.
If that's the kind of service you want, buy your games from a retailer who will go through the game and make sure everything is good before delivery.

Quoted from Eryeal:

Well I see it as you can't have your cake and eat it, too.
How many of you complain about Pinball manufacturer XYZ for being cheap, using cheap(er) materials, etc. And then come on here and say as a pinball buyer, you have to expect to fix some things right out of the box.
That's a dangerous path to go down - the more you "expect" a few things to be broken out of the box, the more they will be. If manufacturers are not held accountable, it will only get worse. Once they start spending money on technicians going out to redo solder joints, reconnect wires, make adjustments, etc - the better the quality control will be with the manufacturer process. Yes, every now and then something SMALL should happen (plastic piece becomes unglued on playfield, glue it back on, etc). But as far as the electronics - it should not happen. There are ways to ensure this.

Quoted from jimjim66:

Anything that costs any significant amount of money? Yes

Quoted from jimjim66:

"so if you spend a significant amount of money on something, your expectation is that it's ok that you should have to fix it yourself right out of the box? but if it is cheap, it should work correctly right out of the box and/or the manufacturer should take responsibilty for making sure you have a functional product?
oddly enough, i feel differently..."
No, if I spend a significant amount of money, I should NOT have to spend anything. I would expect it to work like it should, and if I did not have the skills to fix it, I would expect the company to make it right because I paid a significant amount of money.
If I did not spend a significant amount of money and it did not work correctly, I would bring it back to the store and either get a refund or replacement like I did with my trimmer I got from Home Depot last week.
Both examples I am not accepting items that don't work. Pinball machines because of size and shipping costs are probably best fixed by a technician at the cost of the company if it is the company's fault the item is not working correctly.