Pinball Manuals "Open at Your Own Risk" angry rant inside

[elkor-alish]

What the hell is it with people and Pinball Dealers/sellers?
Why do you take the F*$%ing manuals out of the machines!?

For what? An extra $20-$30? Or more from the rip off merchant dealers.
Try getting a full manual for a modern Stern machine, you can't buy one, you can't download one and don't even mention the dribs and drabs of the manual that you can download off the Stern site.
Ever done that? You only get a fraction of the original manual!
Sure you can buy a disc that has that years releases on it but I got a hold of one and it's the same BULLSH!T as what's available from the web site.
Soooo......    why would you bloody pay for it then!?
F*$K!

I swear, and I don't care about copyright on this particular issue, for every Stern manual that I can get my hands on I'm going to pull the F*$%ing thing to bits, scan it and load it up for anyone who wants a full manual for their machine.

Rant over.

[Pop Bumper Pete]

you are lucky, some of my NIB Sterns were so hot off the press that not all pages were printed
IM had hand numbered pages

but yes, an owner of a game should be able to acess a full manual without too much bother (or $$$)

[Strangeways]

This has been happening for years and years. Dealers ALWAYS do it for a few extra bucks. For two reasons - Extra cash as they list it on their site, and so that you are discouraged from doing your own repairs.

In the mid 90's, a "well known" dealer STOLE a manual out of a machine that was in their workshop. My friend took his KISS, which was STILL under warranty and they swapped out a poorer playfield AND stole the original manual out of his game. I found it in their display cabinet. When I prompted them, they lied, but I knew it came out of the KISS because the operator's stamp was inside the game and on the manual with a serial number. They had it for sale for $60.

Nowadays, the practice of removing the manuals is commonplace. They are no longer reprinted, so why are they on Dealer's websites ? This practice really annoys the crap out of me.

[Caveoftreasures]

I bought some games from Ken Priest from the Pinball Warehouse in QLD. (Ken is old school and a nice bloke) His prices used to be much lower i might add, but thats a different story for later.
In each of the machines I bought, Viper Night Drivin,Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 2 x Data East Star Trek 25ths, and something else I cant remember, they all came with Manuals incl, BUT on the day of pick up, the manuals would go missing. ? and would be replaced with a disc copy of a manual. (I like the orig manual pls) a tech he has (and NOT Logan his senior tech who is the nicest bloke u could ever meet) a tech he has who is a contractor so to speak, would nick all the manuals and keep them.

So oneday when i went to this guys house, for a pinball related part purchase, I saw all the manuals from all the machines, and I said "ohh thankyou for minding them for me, I will have them now", and i just picked them up and kept them since my name was on them.  
A machine shld come with the original factory manual if available.

If u take a machine to someone for servicing, and they rip stuff off from your machine, thats a definate punch in the face hard when no one is watching offence.  

 

[oldskool1969]

Yeah pretty rough!  like we aren't talking a cheap hobby to start with . What about you try and buy a complete Manual / Schematic for an older machine at an exorbitant price from another state and only get a coin schematic and instructions , no schematic ??? 
I will try and buy local from now on ( if possible )  that way it can be sorted on the spot if I have a drama .

[mickthepin]

Nice one Brett.

I got a machine from Tony at pinball shed and for what its worth he made sure I left with full original manual and schematics and I didn't even ask for them. This is the extra mile that should be taken if you want a good name for yourself, and Tony deserves his.

[Caveoftreasures]

bought apx 6 machines from Tony, even put the phone system and alarm into his pinball shed premises for him etc apx 4 yrs ago.

he imports lots of different stuff, from project to HUO. some of his prices have risen dramatically but.