Quoted from math08:

Just had a long knock down drag out call with the dealer. At first I spoke to the owners son who said "well, I don't know why the owner told you February. Its up to Stern and we are now told May-June, but if you want you money back, no problem, we have others that will take you place." He then puts on the owner who says that the Factory has my money, and he will keep 10% because I am cancelling prior to the first week of April, which is when we have a written agreement that I would get a full refund if they don't deliver. I say, but you son just told me my delivery would not be until May June. Clearly this is after April, and he also said you have other buyers who would take my place so not problem. Owner says, "I am the owner, he is not, and he is wrong. Then he goes on to say "you are just too much trouble. I will give you a full refund." The then hangs up. Wow, what drama.

Quoted from hassellcastle:

Our preorder business model is simple and it works for us.
If the game is not in stock and we are taking a pre-order we collect a $500 "non refundable deposit"
Why non-refundable? Simple because I'm guaranteeing you, you will get your game and with a deposit of an amount such as this ...they will not likely be placing deposits all over town ....planning to cancel with every other distributor they may have pre-ordered with for same title once the first one says their game is ready. I want to work with you....I want you to work with me. This is also in an effort for us to not over extend ourselves by collecting extremely low deposits and waiting lists for games that are going to keep people waiting 1-1/2+ years from getting their game. All dealers are still given a certain number of games no matter how many we order. These allocations we receive are based off our companies sales volume. It would make no sense to me to take $1 deposits and collect 200+ orders knowing I'm only going to receive less than 50 of any certain game built per year. It would take upwards of over a year and a half to fill all of those orders. It sounds to me like the $1 deposit thing while it may have seemed like a great idea at first is now working to a disadvantage to the customer.
Now there are two instances where we will refund a deposit, and this is clearly explained to the customer at the time the order is placed.
A. If the game is announced that they have pre-ordered has been cut or temporarily suspended from production. This could be said for any Rush Pro or Premium orders we had. Tentatively Rush is not on the production schedule at this time for 2023, but I had a few preorders for the game. We contacted those customers once the 2023 build schedule was announced and gave those customers the option to take the refund on their deposit or move it to a different title.
B. Price is subject to change. If an order is placed and the manufacturer has a price increase that effects the cost and price before their game is scheduled to be delivered, we will inform the customer of the new pricing. They have the option to stay the course at new pricing or take a refund on their deposit.
Now...here is clearly an example of what I will not refund a deposit for. We just received in our shipment of February Godzilla Premiums. We are reaching out to the customers and informing them that their games are here and it is now time to collect final payment and make shipping/delivery arrangements. One customer we called to inform him of his Godzilla Premium was available told us, he already purchased a Godzilla Premium elsewhere and wants his deposit back. Never once did he call us, but he has left himself on our order list all the while. I've informed him he can move that deposit to another game in stock, or place it to pre-order another game or forfeit the deposit. The deposit as collected when the order was stated as non-refundable.
I inform my customers with the information that is provided to me by the manufacturers when I believe their game will be available based off of where their place is in line with me with the allocations I've been given by the manufacturers. We fill our orders in the order they were received. Any customer of mine that orders a Stern game persay...can call me anytime and I'll tell them what # position they are in and when I believe they will be receiving their game. I'm happy to do this. I don't seem to understand why other dealers I'm reading about on here can't seem to do this. They know exactly how many they will be receiving of each make and model and the estimated month from Stern it is said to be built. If they can't give you a reasonable answer on lead time and are collecting payment up front for a game you are pre-ordering ....find a new dealer. There is no reason for them to collect payment in full, like Troy said..... however unless it's an LE as that's a whole different story.
I'm very transparent with our customers and very fair. If all that I've said above about our non-refundable deposits are relayed to the customer up front upon placing their order there shouldn't be any issues and we should both be on the same page and no misunderstandings.

Quoted from mstang01:

I’ve never purchased anything from FUN! And don’t know them but this seems perfectly reasonable. Everyone wants the dealers to be fair, transparent and responsible (and they should) but customers also need to be responsible. If you’re preordering something know the terms you are agreeing to and abide by them later without crying. If you’re on a preorder list that lets you cancel (even a $1 one) and you buy the game somewhere else let the dealer know so they can update their lists. Just be adults…

Quoted from hassellcastle:

Exactly! Thank you.

Quoted from mbl1116:

You can write 100 paragraphs here if you like, $500 is too much to keep without actually providing any service

Quoted from skink91:

It doesn’t matter how many times you bang this gong if you aren’t taking into account the fact that a distro could get stuck with inventory they cannot move. That is the risk THEY are taking and why the idea of non-refundable deposits makes sense. This really doesn’t seem like a very complicated concept to grasp, not sure how you guys aren’t getting that.
If you are telling someone you are committed to buying something from them, you give them a deposit to show your intent… it shouldn’t be on them to adjust their business model or take a financial hit based on your bank account or changing your mind (and say buying a Porsche) Not every game moves as quickly as GZ is right now, so continually using it as an example is silly. It never ceases to amaze me how many pinsiders can’t grasp basic business concepts.

Quoted from skink91:

No one is suggesting you can’t either have your own opinion or do things as you see fit to (regardless of your reasons). But that’s not what is being discussed here - you’ve made the contention a couple times now that there is something shady or unfair going on here (e.g. “Wonder how Stern feels about Distro's keeping deposits.”) Like I said earlier, this is neither unfair nor abnormal.
That is fine that your distributor has a relationship with you and lets you do this, but thats between you and your distro.

Quoted from PantherCityPins:

So you also disagree with earnest deposits in real estate? There are lots of houses out there and few are custom builds yet you are required to put down a non- refundable deposit.

Quoted from hassellcastle:

Here is another way to look at the deposit.
Don’t look at it as a deposit, look at it as a DOWN PAYMENT. You obviously connected with us because you WANT the game. I will get you the game. To show your good will that you are serious about making the purchase and claiming ownership to a position in my allocation. I’m collected a down payment from you the buyer for said game you are purchasing.
If the deposit or down payment is completely refundable, then what is the point of taking it in the first place???
Here is another way to look at it from the other side of the coin from me the dealer/distributor’s perspective.
Let’s say manufacture introduces a game (and there have been some like this in the past 10-15 years). Pictures drop on product launch and I receive 10 orders for the game out of the gate. These customers liked what they saw and committed to making the purchase by putting down a $500 REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT. Me the dealer is going to order from the manufacturer at least 10 games to cover the deposits collected and maybe a few more for stock. Did I originally intend to order 10+ games, no. I ordered enough to fulfill the orders placed by customers and a few for stock. Less demand = less ordered.
Games ship and let’s say I receive 13 total. Well I know 10 are already presold based off of preorders. Now I circle back around to the customers to let them know their game is here. After calling all 10 customers, 5 of them, now have cold feet, they don’t like the reviews they’re seeing on the game, they found it somewhere else sooner, pick whatever excuse you want. I refund these people their deposits and now I’m stuck with 5 additional games, I HAVE TO PAY FOR THEM. That is cash flow now tied up in product I never intended to order in the first place.
Come on. This is a two way street and there has got to be some accountability on the buyer to make a good and well thought out decision on their end to make the purchase and follow through.
Having a refundable deposit/down payment leaves no accountability to the buyer. It’s just not a good idea in my opinion.
Let me finalize by saying no one yet has ever called in to place a preorder, found out the deposit was non-refundable and then decided not to place an order. It has literally been a non-issue. VERY RARELY has someone forfeit their deposit. Most everyone has followed through with their purchase and not every game is on a long backorder like GZ. Yes obviously someone passing on a GZ I have someone behind them that wants it…..but that’s not always the case with every title.
To say that I’m willing trying to do something shady by keeping someone’s deposit if they don’t want to follow through with the purchase is unjust. Both parties knew the terms upon making the preorder. Buyers just need some responsibility on their part, and honestly most everyone one of them do…so the non-refundable issue rarely even becomes an issue.

Quoted from PanzerKraken:

They will likely cut the run short, most places got a ton of these and it seems like every dealer has some still in stock. I think everyone expected it to do better, initial orders were quite high, our local place got a TON of them in. And then now dealers are kind of stuck with stock now as word of "meh" code is out there. They should consider pushing back the run if possible to help move stock, or if anything they are gonna shorten the planned April run.

Quoted from Sorokyl:

Nobody has gotten a hint of receiving one of the 1000 LEs, so more likely your dist has jumped the gun?

Quoted from Tilt:

very odd, considering they havent built a single one except for shows, and cant even supply the shows yet, i know, since i had a show this past weekend and one in two weeks that tehy cant provide a premium for, so unless its one of the ones from TPF or the kingpin booth at MGC, there have been no others made

Quoted from Nicholastree:

I would definitely reach out to your dealer/distro. Stern usually finishes the run of LEs before making premiums... and I know someone that is expecting a premium next week.

Quoted from Multiballmaniac1:

They started using cheaper coil stops on the newest titles.