Well S***, suffering from the standard STERN problem

i'm pretty sure stern puts their decals on via the wet method. you will never get as good adhesion as applying them dry.
hoping this is a 1-off and people don't come home one day and all the decals are lying in the floor!

Could you post a pic of the dozens of other wwe machines out there without decal peeling? I think that would be fair.

He doesnt have to be "fair" he is just posting a pic of a defect.....There is a obvious problem with this machine, and it is helpful so other owners can look for similar problems...

this is a common problem with the wwe le.
only the decals on the top box suffer from it, I think it's the powdercoated underground from the top box that doesn't hold the stickers well.

Yes, apparently it is a more common. More people are talking about it in this thread...

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/wwe-discussion

I don't get why people constantly try to defend Sterns well known quality problems. I like playing Stern pins to, but it is a fact that the quality is not sufficient in many cases.

And by the way, you do not need to "look for" similar problems, they jump at you while unpacking the machine - here some pics from this morning, unpacking of WWE by a fellow pinhead in Germany:

DSCN8544.JPG
DSCN8541.JPG
DSCN8540.JPG

My AC/DC Premium starting peeling in that exact same spot.....

wow. Unacceptable..

Stern probably figured out a way to cut $3 per machine by using a cheaper printer/decal paper. Just like they've cut dollars on the lockdown of the front bar, head, etc., etc.

Wow. You can't blame that on shipping damage either. I'm sure Stern will say it left the factory fine, which it probably did, but hopefully they will make it right.

I'm just floored at this though, and it is either a case of poor prep or poor decals.

I'm really interested on how Stern is handling this. I'm assuming it's being reported to Stern. A problem with prep, the sticker, application or etc....

Has anyone got an official response from Stern, and what are they offering to remediate it?

Maybe I don't want a NIB so much anymore.....hmmm.............Joey

Lately most of the answers I have gotten from Patrick at Stern go something like this "I've seen worse/ I can't do anything for you" all that and it usually takes 2 to 4 weeks just to get a return email.

I think I need to find a hobby where I can get fecked for WAY less money... ..............Joey

2 weeks? Ha! I had them take 6 months to send me a damn bottle of hard coat because my shooter lane was chipping in my METLE. 6 f*cking months! With a number of calls and emails going unanswered. Finally said I was taking it to Pinside...

The next week I get a package. No response, just a package. But I bet the Stern fan boys will have a defense for that too. Don't get me wrong I like their games, they have some deficiencies just like most companies. Customer service however is totally within their control.

Could of been exposed to extreme environmental conditions while being shipped. I would make Stern aware and if the decal wasnt damaged and they ship me proper glue i would be ok with fixing it myself.

Mine does not have this problem on it

Wow. Thats terrible. Maybe the fix would be the proper removal of the entire sticker, cleaning of the surface and application of an adhesion promoter. Thats rather intensive yes, but this is pretty bad. At least it is something that is repairable.

Pretty sure the new cabinet material is a big cause of this

Maybe this is their answer to Heighway's swappable decals?

I assumed this thread was about more than the head decal... might want to change the title to reflect that.

In fairness, at only 7.5K what would one expect in terms of overall quality and attention to detail?

"Only 7.5K"? For one, I'd expect decals not to fall off while still in the shipping container.

Is it just the LE that has the problem, or is it happening on the Pro, too?

In any case, it's an easy fix. Just grab some duct tape or superglue.

Pete

I like the looks of thumbtacks. Doesn't everybody? Especially the brassy ones. Brassy thumbtacks exude class.

7 . 5 thousand dollars

If the paint was peeling off your brand new car it's no big deal, just paint right?

This is not some 20year old container game. Use Gorilla glue at minimum

I had this issue on our Floor Machine WWE LE. I suspect a possible bad batch of decals. Stern is sending me new ones. I'm sure if you reach out to Pat he will make this right ASAP.

JJ

So its easy to replace decals?

amazing that people miss sarcasm so easily on pinside.....

fwiw we have a pro on location and head decals are still great and felt firmly attached. we sold an LE locally and I told the tech to check them next time he's out there.

Yeah, I get that...but I've gotta give Stern credit, they always seem to come through and make these things right.

It's only a big deal if you want it to be so.

Pete

Just checked mine, 0 issues. Looks great.

The WWE LE at PATZ was mine. I posted about the problem last week. I also posted how I contacted Stern and they immediately resolved the problem, they simply asked for a picture of the decals and my serial number. Decals were overnights to me. I did not replace them before the show simply because I was taking it to the show. Does it suck it's happening...sure. Would suck a lot more if I didn't have the game I wanted for months and months or lost my pre-order money, or if they denied I had a problem but none of that was a problem. Stern simply handled the situation. The game is also lighter, by a pretty considerable anount, due to the new cabinet design and spike system greatly reducing boards and wires required in the game.

So, they ship you new decals and its easy to peel the current ones off and put new ones on?

Wow. New game and there's a simple sticker issue that stern will address and fix and change in future shipments. Stop complaining guys. Even Ferraris get recalled for defects. At least they are shipping pins.

sorry, but they need to send a trained person to your house to install the new decals.

Shipping you a new sticker in the mail does not come even close to cutting it in my book.
At the same time, they should probably make a public announcement on their FB page to let potential customers know that they have seen the problem, acknowledge the solution for all current games, and set forth that they have fixed it for all future games.

I know this is a pretty big screw up in my opinion and something they should try to get out in front of.

They thought sales were getting bad now for WWE? This is surely not going to help, esp with the complete radio silence on the matter. Their silence leaves LOTS of unanswered questions and it is never good when you leave potential customers to their own conclusions.

I know I will now have another thing to think about when buying any new stern from WWE and onward. Are the decals going to fall off in the future?

^ Exactly.
Had replacement decals shipped to me back in the Transformers days but who the hell is going to replace their own cab decals? Not me.
At least it is only the head decal which is a lot smaller and way easier to replace than a cab decal. Still the reason I never liked decals and preferred screened cabs. I don't care if decals are hi-res. They are still cheap and look worse when they get torn or peel.

Most people will just keep the decals and eventually sell the game as it with the new decals included. It's not easy to replace these correctly IMO.

I have bought every new stern since 2003, had less issues than maintaining the 40 + B/W, SG, and DE,
that I owned.

i think thats beside the point. easy fix or not... should not be like that.

??? You do realize this is a discussion about WWE issues and currnet Stern Quality/customer service?

Had a STLE that did exactly the same about 3 weeks after purchase. Was pretty p**sed off but was an easy fix with some spray adhesive. Got replacement decals from my distributor but never used them in the end.

Omg chill man. I love how everyone on here boasts about their skills fixing machines and one little back box sticker fails and it's sound the alarm guys the world is ending. If it were the cabinet decals yeah i would be pissed but come on now this isn't a huge deal. You really expect stern to send a tech out for this? They will fix the issue. No need to go nuts like this

Thank you. Easy fix.

So you are saying you have never replace backbox or cabinet decals?
Your ignorance is showing through clearly.

Go play your gold pecker LOTR in your dragonballZ pjs and report back after you have even begun to figure out the amount of work to correctly install cab or head decals.

This is a HUGE deal on a brand new LE (isn't this supposed to be their top of the line game)

For those that may not be following: (Photo credit: The Korn)

lotr_hair_dick.jpg

I'll never understand why anyone would prefer stickers over screen printed cabinets. I love my screened cabs! Even the "crappy" Stern pixelated ones.

The argument that "well if your cab gets scratched, you can just swap them out" is ridiculous. No one uses the Stern decals they get for their cabs anyway.

As far as the resolution issue. I am fine with the old Stern cabs, they were still beautiful with rich blacks. One that pops up in my mind that was a bit weak is TSPP, that may be one of the worst screened Sterns. Other than that I thought the cabs were just fine.

This is just cheaper for Stern, it was never about bringing "High Res" art to their games.

It was also very disappointing to see JJP switch to stickers on their games. That original WOZ cabinet was amazing.