Author Topic: F stern - F stern - F stern  (Read 2306 times)

Offline notime2play

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F stern - F stern - F stern
« on: December 04, 2017, 09:28:29 PM »
After speaking with rep and wasting my time, F stern. Never again. Last time I purchase one. Will buy anything but there garbage ever again. Oh did I say F stern. F you stern.

Offline busa32927

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Re: F stern - F stern - F stern
« Reply #1 on: December 04, 2017, 09:32:31 PM »
umm whats the story?  did u try your local distributor first?
vids:   246/256 (tekken 5 and soul calibur),  robotron, joust w/jrok, centipede


pins:  Star Trek premmy, ACDC prem, SW(stern) prem,  BM66 prem, GnR LE, jjp potc le, Woz, The Hobbit,  JP(stern), Godzilla premmy,  AIQ (prem), EHoH. LoTR, CCr, F-14

past pins: TFTC,  MSF, PotC, PotO, BK2K, DM, LAH, BoP, LotR, Hook, Spiderman, GoT, Metallica, IMdn, Munsters, Grand Lizard, WhirlWind, BKSOR, Alice Cooper, RZ, BSD, Firepower, STTNG, TMNT prem, TWD, Gilligan

Offline bjones

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Re: F stern - F stern - F stern
« Reply #2 on: December 04, 2017, 10:03:16 PM »
Please don't post stuff like this without any context behind it.

Offline Centaur Brother

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Re: F stern - F stern - F stern
« Reply #3 on: December 05, 2017, 06:44:35 AM »
Wow, I've had only great experiences with Stern and Distributors. They have been nothing but helpful with any of my questions and issues. Hard to imagine that you had such a bad experience. As bjones said, please post details, I'm sure someone on the board can help.
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Offline pindan3

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Re: F stern - F stern - F stern
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2017, 06:50:30 AM »
Is there a Stern rep in the MIA area? If not you got Curly and Marshall, maybe they can help
MB=Monster Bash**CFTBL=Creature from the Black Lagoon*BoP=Bride of Pinbot*RFM=Revenge from Mars*Diner*Shrek** DSS=Scared Stiff *Metallica * BSD= Bram Stokers Dracula . & Rock-in-BowlaRama. ,Silver Strike LIVE bowler ST (Stern Star Trek), PAST PINS  Funhouse, South Park,CP, FT, RS, Big Hit, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Dr Dude, PZ, JY,RBION, TSPP, Popeye, Flintstones, JD, Strikes N Spares ( gotlieb) HS2, TAF, Wish List..AFM le, Aerosmith, DAN

Offline notime2play

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Re: F stern - F stern - F stern
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2017, 08:34:58 AM »
Thanks guys, but I'm done. 3rd strike your out deal for me. First, issues with Star Trek with bad leds and bad inferred lights right out of nib. Second, broken flipper springs and issues with snake on nib Metallica. And finally I'll try to make short cause I could go on and on, and over it, I have a new pos nib ACDC vault with split cab both corners inside and out, split by coin door, broken off flippers leafs, broken off buttons, dumb asses that put both latches for coin door (I fixed) and back glass on backwards, cannot get to easily, can't lock backglass. I'm done now, you can end this post.

Offline busa32927

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Re: F stern - F stern - F stern
« Reply #6 on: December 05, 2017, 08:37:36 AM »
did u get them from a local distibutor?  especially if they are new in box i would have contacted the distib. first.  sorry to hear u had issues.  i have had several NIB with no issues at all.
vids:   246/256 (tekken 5 and soul calibur),  robotron, joust w/jrok, centipede


pins:  Star Trek premmy, ACDC prem, SW(stern) prem,  BM66 prem, GnR LE, jjp potc le, Woz, The Hobbit,  JP(stern), Godzilla premmy,  AIQ (prem), EHoH. LoTR, CCr, F-14

past pins: TFTC,  MSF, PotC, PotO, BK2K, DM, LAH, BoP, LotR, Hook, Spiderman, GoT, Metallica, IMdn, Munsters, Grand Lizard, WhirlWind, BKSOR, Alice Cooper, RZ, BSD, Firepower, STTNG, TMNT prem, TWD, Gilligan

Offline k7

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Re: F stern - F stern - F stern
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2017, 10:06:32 AM »
I don't have an issue with a post like this, but yes...details.

I can imagine how many phones were thrown against walls before this post.

you should have recourse with stern somehow, unless they were sold outside of an authorized dealer...then, I have no idea.

but with build dates easily readable, I think the factory will cover you, the last thing they want is an unhappy NIB owner.

that being said, I know someone else who had NIB issues and while they were eventually taken care of, it did take a lot of calls to an out-of-state distributor and a bunch of calls and "jump-thru-these-hoops" steps.

and to look at it from stern's side, there are a LOT of people who just look for free stuff from stern to throw on eBay to offset that sting of a new in box purchase.


good luck.  :)

p.s. - those recent stern cabinet issues are well documented, and while it's not fun, there are at-home fixes. again, if I spent the money, I don't want a box that was dropped in transport, but outside of fork lift damage, it's hard to point blame at transport, even though we know that's what it was. the buttons, the leaf switches, the latches? I wouldn't touch that anymore, talk to the seller/dizzy/stern direct. that's unacceptable.
« Last Edit: December 05, 2017, 10:10:17 AM by k7 »
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Offline PinFever

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Re: F stern - F stern - F stern
« Reply #8 on: December 05, 2017, 10:26:05 AM »
depending on the Vendor and communication you should be helped and stern should resolve the problem. Last few games I have bought I have had these issues as well how every in the end I was made happy . Not so much an easy task though. It is like pulling teeth , however it is worth waiting to by second hand and let the NIB peeps get it sorted and then buy it and save money most times.. NIB is a tough decision at best 

Offline ratsflif

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Re: F stern - F stern - F stern
« Reply #9 on: December 05, 2017, 11:51:38 AM »
I like stern pinball machines, they are fun to play.

Offline number six

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Re: F stern - F stern - F stern
« Reply #10 on: December 05, 2017, 11:51:51 AM »
The DMD on my GB PRO went out but Curly/Stern replaced it with no fuss.. they mailed me a new one and I mailed the broken one back.

That's the only problem I've had. I know other people had problems with Slimer, mis-spelled words on the playfield and ghosting but mine was OK.. that said it wasn't the first run which I think is where most of the problems happened.

Never had a problem with my Tron.

That said I can totally understand how you'd be pissed if you paid $5k-$8k for a machine that was put together poorly or had problems. I know Stern is making bank right now on these games so QC should be high.

Offline khabbi

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Re: F stern - F stern - F stern
« Reply #11 on: December 05, 2017, 12:16:45 PM »
Thanks guys, but I'm done. 3rd strike your out deal for me. First, issues with Star Trek with bad leds and bad inferred lights right out of nib. Second, broken flipper springs and issues with snake on nib Metallica. And finally I'll try to make short cause I could go on and on, and over it, I have a new pos nib ACDC vault with split cab both corners inside and out, split by coin door, broken off flippers leafs, broken off buttons, dumb asses that put both latches for coin door (I fixed) and back glass on backwards, cannot get to easily, can't lock backglass. I'm done now, you can end this post.

Have you called Curly to see if he can help you out?  He comes highly recommended here and I'm sure he can help get some of these things resolved!
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Offline the architect

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Re: F stern - F stern - F stern
« Reply #12 on: December 05, 2017, 12:21:49 PM »
My first job was a Spider-Man (original run), spider inserts were orange. That was totally weird in my opinion considering nothing having to do w/ sm is orange at all. Wanted a different game/swap. Curlys hands were tied as a few came off line having run out of inserts.

This was around the time that stern was paying unhappy customers in playfields. I was where the buck stopped. I received a signed translite (yay).

Starting to feel like Gary’s signature should actually devalue a translite
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Offline NormaJ

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Re: F stern - F stern - F stern
« Reply #13 on: December 05, 2017, 12:48:11 PM »
I have seen a couple of pictures of a couple of these issues he is referencing, and I was stunned. I have to believe two things are at play here: there was poor QC before it left the factory, and somebody dropped the box hard during transit.

Honestly, if it were me, I would be taking a million photos, putting the game back in the box and sending it back to the distributor for a refund.

Offline pinmaniac

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Re: F stern - F stern - F stern
« Reply #14 on: December 06, 2017, 02:44:43 PM »
Sad that these things happen.  I'll bet I have bought as many NIB Stern games as any non-operator on the Village.  I have had a few issues through the years with the majority of them in the last year or so.

My issues, that I can remember are (all NIB):

LOTR with no GI.  Loose connector in backbox.  Fixed in a couple minutes.
Family guy with playfield planking straight out of the box.  Stern support basically said sorry but suck it up
Xmen LE (wolverine) with crap in the blue powdercoat on the lockdown bar.  Distributor got me a new lockdown bar.  Later Wolverine broke and dist got me a new one.
Kiss LE with hole punched through it from forklift.  Not noticed by my secretary when she signed for the game.  Took a couple months but received a new body from
   Stern
Whoa Nellie with non-working score reels.  Took about 4 phone calls with Stern support with me testing different things but eventually got a new score reel assembly
Ghostbusters LE with the flipper contact screwed into the cabinet about 4 inches below the flipper button.  Fixed this myself. 

For those who remember Williams/Bally NIB games they had problems straight out of the box as well.


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