Bay Area Amusements?

brypten

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So I just called them to ask if the Black Knight Manual that they sell includes the schematics...

I get this woman on the phone that was extremely bitchy. She kept on repeating that they are reprints. I asked about 5 times if the schematics are enclosed and I finally got a "nobody has asked me that, I would have to ask the owners" and then she hangs up on me.

WTF?! It's a pretty simple question and to be honest, has cancelled my $100 order with them.

Anyone know the "owner" or does he post here? They are in serious need of better customer assistance.

Any other experiences with this establishment?
 
I've done online ordering from them with great results, always get my order within 3 days.

Dealing with them face to face at CAX - yep, they need some serious people skills.
 
The owner is one of the guys that owns planetary pinball as well as far as I know. They couldnt even tell me the status of projects theyve licenced out and in progress for more than 6 mos. with no marketable product in sight.

Bunch of gimps. They do what they need to do for money and nothing more. Thats why theyre selling repro coil wrappers (WTF SERIOUSLY??) when theres far more important things that need to get made like ramps pop caps and drop targets that have never been remade....
 
So I just called them to ask if the Black Knight Manual that they sell includes the schematics...

I get this woman on the phone that was extremely bitchy. She kept on repeating that they are reprints. I asked about 5 times if the schematics are enclosed and I finally got a "nobody has asked me that, I would have to ask the owners" and then she hangs up on me.

WTF?! It's a pretty simple question and to be honest, has cancelled my $100 order with them.

Anyone know the "owner" or does he post here? They are in serious need of better customer assistance.

Any other experiences with this establishment?

I had a HORRIBLE customer service experience with them too. Took forever to get someone on the phone and then I pretty much just got a big F-U from the person I was talking to over the order they had screwed up.

I did finally manage to get ahold of the owner who was quite apologetic and reasonable to deal with and even gave me a $20 credit with them over the issue. Of course the next order I placed with them got screwed up too so I just gave up on them. Good customer service really doesn't seem to be much of a hallmark with any of the pinball parts distributors I've dealt with. Apparently whoever you dealt with was probably the same bad person I dealt with. Must be a family member or something for them to tolerate that, or they are clueless at how important customer service is to actually keeping customers.
 
Good customer service really doesn't seem to be much of a hallmark with any of the pinball parts distributors I've dealt with.

terry at pinballlife is fantastic to deal with. just to cite a counter-example to this.

i have had two pretty bad customer service experiences with BAA as well. dunno how they stay in business at that rate. even though they do tend to have some parts that nobody else does, it would seem that eventually folks would just refuse to deal with them.
 
terry at pinballlife is fantastic to deal with. just to cite a counter-example to this.

i have had two pretty bad customer service experiences with BAA as well. dunno how they stay in business at that rate. even though they do tend to have some parts that nobody else does, it would seem that eventually folks would just refuse to deal with them.

I have done an order or two with PinballLife and not had issues. Frankly, I wish I could do more business with them, but when I'm putting together an order I seem to always end up with parts that they don't have so that then forces me to dealing with Marco most of the time.
 
i deal with jeff wager sell very nice manuals/schamatics/flyers for a bunchs of games and once you order he send you like a book with what he has in stock he on e-bay too but i dont remenber his screen name .heres is his info [email protected] or 978 475 0144
 
I have done an order or two with PinballLife and not had issues. Frankly, I wish I could do more business with them, but when I'm putting together an order I seem to always end up with parts that they don't have so that then forces me to dealing with Marco most of the time.

Nothing wrong with Marco.
 
BAA was pretty good to me for a while. My last order, I had ordered some old pop bumper caps NOS, and they came in with the top decals terribly scratched up. The picture on the website showed brand new, unscratched decals. I asked Rick for a refund, and he told me to send them back. Why would I pay 1/2 the value to send them back? Just refund the money. I never sent them back, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. I had done THOUSANDS of $ with BAA in the past.

Now I hit MAD amusement or Marco before I hit them. Over an $8 set of shitty pop bumper caps.

I also use pinballlife for rubber and bulbs.

Mike
 
I've not had issue with BAA, but honestly I've only ordered stuff from them once in the past. Think it was for a FunHouse disc diverter and some nyliners that nobody else had in stock.

I usually try to go in the order Marcospec -> Pinballlife -> MAD Amusements -> BAA -> Action Pinball. But the first three are practically equal in my mind, tons of flawless orders with all three, usually just depends on who has what I'm ordering. MAD for instance has tons of nice stuff the other guys don't (hot stamped drop targets, target sets for some games, etc.).

And to note Action Pinball is only at the bottom of the short list due to their prices. Seems like almost everything they stock can be had cheaper elsewhere.
 
Nothing wrong with Marco.

If you are in Canada shipping is the deal breaker :( In regards to BAA, I've ordered from them in the past twice and very happy with them and service. Terry from pinballlife I've ordered from multiple times in the past 2 years for my pinball machines and pinmame projects and his customer service and shipping is top notch.
 
I have ordered a couple of times from BAA with no issues and I have received the parts farily quick.

MAD Amusements on the other hand doesn't seem interest in returning my phone calls or emails, and they seem to be the only ones that have the items I am wanting.
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Don't forget Steve Young! He usually has a lot of things you'd never think he would.

He'll definitely tell you what's in a manual if you ask.

I've known Rick at BAA for years. He's a good guy but I'm guessing he might have bitten off more than he can chew.

If Terry at Pinball Life has your stuff, buy it there. He's great to deal with.

-Al-
 
slightly off topic.

Marco's site seems to hang really bad for months now. This last time it took me 5 tries to purchase with paypal. It happens at work and home. Really odd. Does anyone else have issues with the site hanging?
 
Steve Young at pinball resource has always been great. The lady on the phone is kinda dry but if I have a have a question she cant answer Steve gets on the phone and helps me out. He is always my first go to guy.
 
slightly off topic.

Marco's site seems to hang really bad for months now. This last time it took me 5 tries to purchase with paypal. It happens at work and home. Really odd. Does anyone else have issues with the site hanging?

Yyyeeeeessssss, I end up calling and placing by phone, great service and professional
 
Nothing wrong with Marco.

Their rubber kits suck. Of course I've learned the hard way that EVERYONES rubber kits suck!!

For the longest time their website was un-navigable it would hang so bad. Finally about a year and a half ago they fixed it and I've found it to be very usable.

My frustration with Marco is that they tend to be the most expensive by far, but they also have the most comprehensive inventory and the best website by far....so I get why they are more expensive. That being said if I have enougn stuff to order I try to split the order between sites based on cost and volume (as long as I have enough stuff to make the savings worth the hit on shipping).

Steve Young has the best pricing but also the worst site. So I tend to only order from him when there is some really obscure Gottlieb stuff no one else has.
 
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