Nino, I honestly didn't mean to offend you with my original comments and respect your decision to end up with a new playfield to clearcoat and install down the road.  Faced with the same situation, I would have chosen the same outcome. We have the ability to do this kind of work and do it properly.  But what about those that don't?!  Those that are left in the hands of Stern support??

My original comments were aimed at a higher level of overall customer satisfaction and delivering a quality product. If Stern had a real incentive, that being to avoid either further cost/time consuming penalty, such as supplying a new completely wired playfield where this type of thing has occurred, then I bet their quality control would improve and the cost cutting focus would change.  They were especially bad for this during the time where they were the only manufacturer.

There is a thread on Pinside, where a bloke bought a NIB Metallica and the playfield was warped.  https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/met-playfield-twisted  The playfield wouldn't sit on the lock down assembly straight and level, which effected game play as well.  It literally took months for Stern to rectify the problem, around 6 months!  That sort of customer service is pathetic.  They eventually built and sent him a new playfield, only after they had his playfield for months, so in effect he had no game, just and empty cabinet for months on end.  The real killer was when he installed the new playfield, it had multiple faults, wiring errors etc.  The playfield obviously wasn't thoroughly tested prior to being sent out.  So this customer gets hit twice!  Luckily enough he had a friend and Stern Tech support help him rectify the problems over a few days.  It's absolutely pathetic the way he was treated and my fear is this will continue whilst Stern is allowed the freedom to treat its customers how they choose.  It may have been another time, but you wouldn't have seen Dave Gottlieb treat a customer in such a fashion.