I tried. I really tried; but there comes a point where you get tired of banging your head against the wall.
Back in late September 2019 I paid Robert $2,000 for an Eight Ball Deluxe Pinball Machine. Before I took it he gave me time to play one quick game on it at his shop. I did, and the flippers and bumpers seemed to all be OK. He seemed trustworthy and said if there were any problems he would take care of them. The machine was delivered and it did play very nicely, until I realized that the free game Specials and the Extra Ball feature did not work at all. In addition, the LED scores on the backglass started to flicker constantly and would sometimes turn off for minutes at a time during a game (didn't happen during the test run).
I texted Robert and his response was that I should bring the machine back to his shop for repair. Really? I had the machine for about 10 days and I live about 15 minutes from his place. To make a long and frustrating story short, he finally came about 2 months later on December 17th. He then proceeded to wax the playfield, check the flippers and bumpers, and tinker with the circuitry of the machine under the playfield and behind the backglass. Then he left.
Turns out he didn't fix the Specials or Extra Ball, he didn't fix the flickering, but he did do two things--- he raised the volume of the machine to an intolerable level and now in addition to the flickering the first number of the score has completely vanished (score of 1,234,567 shows as 234,567). Apparantly fixing anything more difficult than bumpers or flippers is out of Robert's grasp. I texted him the next day and he said he would take care of it. He never showed up, and when I texted him a month later (Jan. 24th) he never responded.
I was trying to be a nice guy and not constantly contact him, but this was really getting ridiculous since I just wanted my machine to work. Then Covid-19 hit, so for over four months I let it go until this last Friday, June 12th. Of course my text got no reply, so today I stopped in his shop. He saw me and said "I'm not open to the public", and literally ran out the door and into his car (I am not exaggerating).
Enough is enough. Robert's lack of concern and glaring incompetence has left me with a $2,000 machine that doesn't work, and I am contemplating legal action. Be very cautious about handing over your money to him. read more