Sellers - the good

[andypinboy]

This morning a box in a heavy waterproof bag arrived. It was from RTBB. I took the bag off, opened the box & the items were impeccably wrapped - not all squashed together & taped - but bubble-wrapped including BETWEEN items. The parts I really needed were the leg mount brackets - but would they fit? Was my demo man just "different"? Had I f'd up & the other brackets from another seller were fine?

The RTBB leg mount brackets fit perfectly!! Hold in place, put in screws, done. All holes aligned, brackets not too wide, doesn't overlap the inside wood rail.

And they are far superior in quality. The surface is smooth - quality plating.

Here are pics of the RTBB brackets vs the incorrect brackets sent to me by another parts seller (RTBB on left).Notice width & how the other bracket's centre holes were too small - just nail holes - not big enough for the standard bally/williams wood screws. I must send this other vendor's bracket back but I'm glad I have the opportunity to verify what I said - they were, & are, an incorrect bracket.

Thanks Nino - I hope you can keep up this excellent standard  

[skywalker]

big difference, You would think all these plates would come from the same place.

[skywalker]

Any chance you can put up some measurements of both for future reference

[andypinboy]

Good idea - I'll measure them up & post dimensions later today.

[skywalker]

Cool 

Most likely some wrong plates will be circulation for a while, Guessing no one would spent $ to make these up knowing they would be wrong ?

[Strangeways]

Thanks for the feedback, Andy. Much appreciated.

For years I've been ordering from GPE, and Ed's method of packaging items professionally has rubbed off on me. Greg never packaged anything for me as it was always a good excuse for us to catch up. But I'm using his custom made boxes etc..

The brackets - Yes - I've been advised as to where they came from. Suffice to say that when you attempt to make inferior "copies", then quality is compromised. There are other good examples of "copied" products sold by sellers, that ironically, are more expensive than the originals purchased by Greg and sold through RTBB. That's why I've always used original parts. You can't compromise quality on restoration work. These are YOUR games that you worked hard to own and you should be able to at least have some level of quality and service.

Self promotional post over   

[andypinboy]

One of the Australian pinball parts sellers told me that parts come from the same place so it doesn't matter where I buy them. I think it's important that people new to the hobby (like me) are aware that there can be a discernible difference in the quality.

I'm trained in law & economics so I'm no tech drawer but I've attached a pic of the top-view of the leg bracket from RTBB - this bolts straight onto my demo man without any modification. For reference the width of this bracket is approximately 70mm.

And just noting that the other seller did give me a full refund on my purchase as well as a few extra dollars for postage so that business has looked after me in that regards. However I won't be purchasing from that seller again.

[Strangeways]

One of the Australian pinball parts sellers told me that parts come from the same place so it doesn't matter where I buy them. I think it's important that people new to the hobby (like me) are aware that there can be a discernible difference in the quality.

I'm trained in law & economics so I'm no tech drawer but I've attached a pic of the top-view of the leg bracket from RTBB - this bolts straight onto my demo man without any modification. For reference the width of this bracket is approximately 70mm.

And just noting that the other seller did give me a full refund on my purchase as well as a few extra dollars for postage so that business has looked after me in that regards. However I won't be purchasing from that seller again.

Some parts are, but this is not always correct. What some parts sellers do is send an original part that does not have a patent to a local manufacturer who copies them. Usually, you can spot these a mile away - like in this example. Does not matter where they came from, they are not made from original tooling. Even worse, they are nowhere near accurate copies.

I recently looked at a game for a disgruntled customer with a fake cliffy installed. Put the fake next to an original and they are nothing like the genuine product. In fact, the fake cliffy lasted 100 games before it basically disintegrated while removing it to replace it with an original.

As I wear two hats these days, I was aware of the rubbish sold off as "original", but I can definitely say that ANY game repaired, reconditioned or restored by APR would only use genuine parts.

I'll highlight this on an Addams I will be documenting. The copied ramp simply cannot be installed. It looks like the holes were drilled by a child.

[Caveoftreasures]

The holes probably were. By a Indian or Chineese kid in a factory somewhere like a lot of the stuff we see flooding our markets. It's sad countries use child labour but famine and starvation etc is worse.

This planet is a farked up place.