STERN WARRANTY ISSUES - AC/DC BUYERS

[Caveoftreasures]

A few people who have purchased the new AC/DC LE machines have had some faults. I wanted to ask anyone who has had a issue to add their experiences here, AND add any info about whether you were offered a precheck on your machine or not ?

It seems the problem is that these machines are NOT getting the standard free precheck done by AMD, and I am not sure its AMD's fault at all if the precheck is offered to the buyer by AMD or its other Stern dealers in Australia, and the buyer doesnt take up the offer. I didnt take up mine, but I was too excited to get my machine. I know better for next time but.

I think it is important for people to remember these machines come from the other side of the world and have the shit shaken out of them in transport, plus the fact that humans on a production line make mistakes. BUT the precheck done by AMD in Australia should/usually fixes ALL these issues IF  the precheck is done.

I was offered twice by AMD when I bought my AC/DC Pro the precheck. They explained the precheck is where the machine is taken fully out of box, fully checked over, fully tested etc, any issues fixed and machine put back in box. I didnt go for the free precheck, and my machine was perfect. However, if I didnt go for the precheck, and if I had a problem, I was advised by Bruce that he would work with me no matter what, but he basically offered me the precheck and made it clear it was very important, just like a precheck on a new car.

It doesnt matter who is right and who is wrong here, but the precheck it seems overcomes all these issues and to my knowledge, is offered to everyone to overcome ALL issues. Its goes without saying, if u buy any brand new machine from anyone, and u are offered a precheck, definately take it up. The next time I buy a brand new machine I will be taking the precheck no matter what. This is something that everyone can learn from.
I have definately learnt to say YES nextime. To my understanding, all buyers are offered the precheck by AMD.

There is no use bagging Stern, all technologies and humans have failures. Warranty's are offered world wide on all products because the reality is humans and products arent perfect. We all know that. Thats why I am very interested if everyone else was offered the same precheck I was offered.

If you bought a AC/DC machine, were u offered a precheck.      
* This is important feedback for AMD if you were not and may help others in the future with brand new in box purchases.

[Pop Bumper Pete]

I have bought 3 games from the AMD dealer in Melboutne and nevrr been offered a precheck
But i have had no issues with my games

From what i understsng, bally/williams game needed a week in the shop befote thry could be put on location

[Retropin]

There is no use bagging Stern, all technologies and humans have failures. Warranty's are offered world wide on all products because the reality is humans and products arent perfect

???WTF???

All we have heard right from the start about this title is that it is going to be this,, that etc. Ive been bagged on this site for suggesting that STERN dont make the best quality machines. So i shut up as i was seen as being negative.
I KNOW you want this machine to be absolutely perfect in every way, but the reality is that it isnt and it is directly down to STERN. Balls getting stuck and modifications having to be made... optos dropping out etc

Cavey.. wake up pal and stop glossing over the cracks... its a well designed game.. no doubt about this.... it looks good to most people.. no argument there. But Stern just are not quite up to the task... for chrissakes you cant even do board repairs on this game - what happens when Stern stop making CPU boards for this machine?? Do you just part it out?
 Stern KNOW that the biggest market they have for these machines is the home market, and yet they dont make the machine collector friendly.. its a friggin joke!

There is only ONE warranty that ANY company should have to make, and that is component fault. For this you can expect a 2% failure due to natural variations in the manufacture of components..... all my suppliers tell me this.
You should NEVER have to give warranty on faulty assembly and ill thought out  production. That should be addressed before the customer receives the goods.
Far out... if i buy a TV, i expect it to work when i get it home... not have to make alterations to make it " Fit for purpose". If i buy a $10K machine i expect it to work, make tea etc.

Sterns motto shouyd be;

STERN - WE ALMOST GET IT RIGHT

[Freiherr]

No pre check was done on my BIBLE as I wanted the machine as is. Every thing apart from one minor scratch shown on other post was perfect.

[GORGAR 1]

I had no pre check done either by the way aren't the board components on my WH20 soldered direct to the board ? What's the difference?

Peter

[Replay]

i opted for no Pre-check on the BIB, checked all plugs and
connectors upon set up, plays sweet with only one issue..

blue LED in the slingshot failed after 290 games, fortunatley
it was the wedge type and not one of their LED boards

[Retropin]

I had no pre check done either by the way aren't the board components on my WH20 soldered direct to the board ? What's the difference?

Peter

WH20 is through hole mounted... larger components whose legs go through the PCB and then soldered. With some skill, anyone can fix these so long as components are still manufactured.. solder sucker, soldering iron, component and away you go.

ACDC is Surface mount component... very small components that are float soldered on. It is very difficult for anyone to repair this.. the legs on the components are so small its a real issue to see what you are doing. Most people wont have float solder capabilities and testing these tiny components is also extremely difficult. A surface mount board is pretty much a throw away item that gets replaced. No problem so long as the boards are still being made.
Mike Homepin DELIBERATELY makes all his boards as through hole so they can be repaired... it would be cheaper for him to supply surface mount... but this is pinball and 90% of us can fix our own games. Mike understands and recognises this and so supplies a product to his market.
Stern who are now targetting the home pinball enthusiast market have not taken this into account.
We all know from experience that transistors fail/ burn out due to a stuck switch etc. What happens when the warranty runs out ( how long is this?? 3 months... 6 months.. a year?) and a transistor blows taking out its driver chip also?.. Most people will have to buy a whole new board... like i say, no real issue so long as the boards are available, but if i was an ACDC owner it would be something that i would want to address so i can keep my game running 10 years plus

[Strangeways]

I posted this in Damien's thread, but it relates to the warranty issues ;

Unfortunately this is proof the games were rushed out of the factory before being properly tested. I don't think anyone bothers with the "Supplier Pre Check" for three reasons ;

1 - They have paid for the NIB "experience"
2 - Game might be damaged at Dealers (accidental)
3 - The owners reporting issues are home users. Pre Check or "burn in" was done before operators sited them.

Each owner with a problem should politely contact the dealer they bought it from as this data is collated to Stern and they then release bulletins if the fault was a issue on the production line or a part is fatigued too early in it lifetime. Stern can't simulate 100 games on each NIB game, but they need to know if there is a trend with faults occurring. What we should also remember is THIS title was always going to be a big seller into the home market. These faults would have been picked up by operators and reported. So they would be losing income with the machines off site. Reporting the issues immediately is the best course of action.


I want to elaborate on the pre check. That is mainly for machines delivered to operators. Irrespective if you want to take out the pre check or not, a rushed production of a title with numerous faults may or may not have been detected. A scratch on a decal to an operator means NOTHING. We all saw the idiot operator screw in a flag to an AC / DC head. They don't care about cosmetic issues (operators). I doubt if a dealer would highlight this as ANY delay would mean they would lose income. Most of these new games won't even be cleaned for the first time until 2014. If a fault occurs, there's a delay on delivery. So instead of OWNERS finding issues, the Dealers would find them, and then would be waiting on a fix. So instead of reporting NIB issues, we would have the same number of complaints - the difference being owners would be complaining about "delays" rather than "faults".

Brett's comment - "I think it is important for people to remember these machines come from the other side of the world and have the shit shaken out of them in transport"

I disagree. I've pulled 20 year old games out of a container, plugged them in and they worked perfectly straight away. This is without foam and cardboard packaging.

Don't fall into the trap of believing a "pre check"  would have miraculously reduced the number of reported faults. The faults are still there. The problem lies in the production line. Whether that be poor workmanship or short cuts. Stern needs to address this issue. The only way WE can help Stern is to notify them via the dealers.

[Cow Corner]

This whole fiasco is starting to turn me off any future Stern releases.
I would hate to shell out that type of coin and have problems from day one, it could even turn me off the hobby altogether.
I really hope that all problems are sorted out asap and you guys can enjoy your machines instead of worrying about problems and warrnaty etc.

[necroscope]

I had a problem with a playfield on a New stern,got in touch with patrick powers @ stern sent him a heap of pictures and within a few months i had a new playfield waiting for me at the dealers,then the dealer wants to charge me freight on the playfield  So i ask patrick about this and he said that wasnt right and he would sort it out which he did.,Stern are only too happy to sort it out if you have a problem with a machine.

[Strangeways]

This whole fiasco is starting to turn me off any future Stern releases.
I would hate to shell out that type of coin and have problems from day one, it could even turn me off the hobby altogether.
I really hope that all problems are sorted out asap and you guys can enjoy your machines instead of worrying about problems and warrnaty etc.

Daz - I think you will find that the warranty claims are probably on par with all Stern's releases. The difference is that this game has predominantly gone into the home market. There are more collectors owners than games onsite. Some of the claims like scratches etc are ignored by operators. Collectors are more fussy and demand quality without any blemishes.

[GORGAR 1]

This whole fiasco is starting to turn me off any future Stern releases.
I would hate to shell out that type of coin and have problems from day one, it could even turn me off the hobby altogether.
I really hope that all problems are sorted out asap and you guys can enjoy your machines instead of worrying about problems and warrnaty etc.

I agree with this it is a worry and it makes you scared to turn your game on just in case something goes wrong-I've been lucky and the game plays great, but what you guys are saying about the boards is scary is this sterns 1st game with these boards? and I wonder what a new board would cost?

Peter

[Cow Corner]

I had a problem with a playfield on a New stern,got in touch with patrick powers @ stern sent him a heap of pictures and within a few months i had a new playfield waiting for me at the dealers,then the dealer wants to charge me freight on the playfield  So i ask patrick about this and he said that wasnt right and he would sort it out which he did.,Stern are only too happy to sort it out if you have a problem with a machine.

I emailed patrick a year or so ago when I had my spiderman. My sm did not have the connectors in the cab to get a shaker motor kit hooked up.
He was very helpfull, came across as a very nice guy with a passion for pinball and a passion to help and he went out of his way to help me even though I bought my game 2nd hand and not from a stern dealer.

[Cow Corner]

This whole fiasco is starting to turn me off any future Stern releases.
I would hate to shell out that type of coin and have problems from day one, it could even turn me off the hobby altogether.
I really hope that all problems are sorted out asap and you guys can enjoy your machines instead of worrying about problems and warrnaty etc.

Daz - I think you will find that the warranty claims are probably on par with all Stern's releases. The difference is that this game has predominantly gone into the home market. There are more collectors owners than games onsite. Some of the claims like scratches etc are ignored by operators. Collectors are more fussy and demand quality without any blemishes.

Yeah that makes sense mate. Little imperfections don't bother me too much( my im has a couple) but I can understand that they would bother some people.
I have heard( dunno if it is true or not) that stern has always been a bit lazy on quality control and I was hopefull that things were on the improve with so much interest in this title.
I would love another NIB.

[markc]

I had a problem with a playfield on a New stern,got in touch with patrick powers @ stern sent him a heap of pictures and within a few months i had a new playfield waiting for me at the dealers,then the dealer wants to charge me freight on the playfield  So i ask patrick about this and he said that wasnt right and he would sort it out which he did.,Stern are only too happy to sort it out if you have a problem with a machine.

hi Ben

as the dealer here , we only asked for the funds we had been charged for the shipping by stern as we never thought it was fair that we should have been charged at all for warranty parts ( mind you we never even got told the playfield was coming by stern ) stern should send these out for free and also cover the postage costs , which in the end they did and all worked out for everyone  , the freight was explained from stern and there was no charge to you or us 


as for the recent AC/DC  , we have already replaced one motor  , fixed 2 bells and still have some that haven't been unpacked

thanks

mark