I am pleased that members "look out for each other", as Brett has done in this case, and I'd expect nothing less from him.
I've been lucky enough to have lived and breathed pinball since I can't remember, and there have been some "interesting" stories that I've witnessed over the journey. Seriously, I could write a book on dodgy deals (now there's a thought).
My "all time favorite" is a story I never get tired of telling. A friend of mine was royally ripped off by a dealer who charged him a whopping $3500 for a KISS in 1998. That was expensive back in the day. Anyhow, he had it delivered and setup (for free), and within half an hour it developed a fault - it would not fire a slingshot and there was a "burning smell". He called the dealer, who explained that the warranty was "return to base". Remember, this is while the delivery driver was heading back into the city - so he could have turned around to pick it up. My mate checked the manual and could not find anything obvious, so he agreed to pay $180 for them to pick it up for repair. They picked the game up, and called the next day - the game was ready. Rather than pay $180 for the machine to be returned to his place again, my friend asked me if I could pick it up in the truck. I agreed and drove into town. As we walked through the showroom area, we noticed another KISS. My mate looked at the game and said "looks very much like my playfield - nice !". So we went out to the pickup area, and there is my mate's KISS. He looked at the game, and he said to me "that's not my KISS. My playfield did not have wear around the slingshots or bonus area." So we challenged the "service manager", and informed him that there was a mistake. After some lip service, I asked the "service manager" to raise the playfield. The operator who owned the game had an asset number unique to his business and unique to this game. It was written where the cashbox should have been. My mate mentioned that the KISS in the showroom has his playfield. So we checked that game and it had the EXACT asset number on the playfield. So the dealer was caught "red handed". He swapped the playfield and also the solenoid driver board.
What was even more dishonest was that the game manual was missing. I looked in the display cabinet (as I noticed that was where they had some manuals previously), and there it was, the KISS manual they had removed from the game, placed in their display cabinet with a $30 price tag. How did I know it was my mate's ? It had the same asset number on the cover, written in texta. I've never sent a single soul back to the dealer.
A recent gem was a story which is similar to the decal installation of Brett's. Instead of preparing the cabinet correctly, the decals were simply applied to the old decals. But the "installer" made a big mistake - he left the original decals dirty - he didn't bother cleaning them, so the NEW decals peeled off easily after a month.
Both of these stories are years apart, but both are from Melbourne. There are sore rippers I heard of from interstate, but the assertion that Melbourne dealers have halos around their heads is simply not true. Not from my experience, anyway. There are more dealers in Melbourne and more machines are sold, so there are potentially more issues. The BEST advice I give people is to view the games WORKING - play the game before buying it - and always have a warranty (if supplied) handed over in writing. This is the same advise I give when any machine changes hands - Dealer, private, eBay or Auction house. Always ask for references (good or bad) and ask questions on forums or "word of mouth".
My best dealings have always been with other like minded "backyarders" - The hobbyists and collectors.
Again - we need more people like Brett to have the decency and honestly to let others know of their experiences. Certainly, his advice saved someone $1500 !
