We have all been bit by bad deals before, and normally I wouldn't spend any time writing about it, as it tends to bring a lot of flameage. However, in this case, I think everyone should know what to expect when dealing with a company that claims to perform "High End Restorations"
I am going to try and keep this short, and my experience doesn't necessarily mean yours will stink as well. I'm not going to give the whole backstory here, rather just a list of things that were good, and then those that were bad. The machine in question here is a Williams Whitewater.
Total price (this includes the 390$ shipping though I was told it would be 300 or less)
- $3200
Good:
- All new art installed
- New targets installed
- All new ramps installed
- New boulders installed
- New flipper buttons installed
- New speaker covers installed
- Felt bad for taking 6 months to complete threw in a WPC-DCS sound board
- Provides tons of pictures of him working. Too bad they are all fuzzy and he leaves the glass on so you cant see any detail
- New rubbers installed
Bad:
- Took 6 months to complete when quoted 6 weeks
- Asked for more money after 4 months because he "Quoted it wrong"
- Machine showed and at least one hole on ea leg post was stripped and unusable. Needed to replace. Machine shipped on these legs wobbeling the whole time
- Back of cabinet was patched with bondo and rattle can sprayed
- The machine didnt come with a topper (My fault for not asking, assumed on a "Full Restoration" it would
- Top of backbox metal bracket (visible from the front) has been hammered and rattle can painted. Looks like an 80s honda
- Bubbles all over the new sideart from lack of attention on installation
- Flippers were not aligned, or even in the correct orientation
- Upper playfield has a huge crack in it and half the mylar is tore off
- Playfield was incredibly dirty with solid black areas still in the corners of the playfield and all over the upper playfield
- Flipper buttons installed but he didn't bother to make sure that they were making good contact with the fliptronics board. This caused the upper flipper to be very weak
- One of the targets was held in with one screw, and that hole was stripped. Needed to repair the holes to get the target to stay in. Playfield around switch was cracked from not being installed properly
- Upper GI was not operational due to a soldering error where he soldered both ends of the lighting series to the same connector
- Game did not turn on when I unpacked due to the main power lead to the transformer being cut, stripped, and twisted together. Apparently it untwisted itself in shipping. No idea why this wire was even cut and stripped to begin with. Had to resolder, and clean it up
- Back box main power GI board was only in with 2 screws and they weren't even tight. Found the remaining screws floating around the cabinet and the backbox.
- Used a rounded head screw for the back ramp on the upper playfield. This causes the ball to get stuck all the time. Had to dismantle a ton of stuff to put the right screw in
- Right slingshot did not have the leaf switches adjusted properly for operation
- Installed upper boulders improperly which caused them to rub on the glass
- Installed the gate that goes to the whirlpool so that it was stuck open because it was stuck on the ramp
There was probably more, but you get the point. This was the first time I had purchased a "restored" machine instead of doing the work myself. I was really hoping to take delivery, marvel in the amazing work, and just play some games. Instead, I spent 2 days getting it to even work properly, and was disgusted at the partial cleaning job that was performed. I sent an email to TxPinball noting my concerns and dissappointment, and as I expected, I did not receive a response, apology, or anything. I figured that since he took 6 months to complete the job he already wrote me off as a future customer and just did a crap job. I don't know about you, but that's not the kind of company I would ever want to do business with.
I am going to try and keep this short, and my experience doesn't necessarily mean yours will stink as well. I'm not going to give the whole backstory here, rather just a list of things that were good, and then those that were bad. The machine in question here is a Williams Whitewater.
Total price (this includes the 390$ shipping though I was told it would be 300 or less)
- $3200
Good:
- All new art installed
- New targets installed
- All new ramps installed
- New boulders installed
- New flipper buttons installed
- New speaker covers installed
- Felt bad for taking 6 months to complete threw in a WPC-DCS sound board
- Provides tons of pictures of him working. Too bad they are all fuzzy and he leaves the glass on so you cant see any detail
- New rubbers installed
Bad:
- Took 6 months to complete when quoted 6 weeks
- Asked for more money after 4 months because he "Quoted it wrong"
- Machine showed and at least one hole on ea leg post was stripped and unusable. Needed to replace. Machine shipped on these legs wobbeling the whole time
- Back of cabinet was patched with bondo and rattle can sprayed
- The machine didnt come with a topper (My fault for not asking, assumed on a "Full Restoration" it would
- Top of backbox metal bracket (visible from the front) has been hammered and rattle can painted. Looks like an 80s honda
- Bubbles all over the new sideart from lack of attention on installation
- Flippers were not aligned, or even in the correct orientation
- Upper playfield has a huge crack in it and half the mylar is tore off
- Playfield was incredibly dirty with solid black areas still in the corners of the playfield and all over the upper playfield
- Flipper buttons installed but he didn't bother to make sure that they were making good contact with the fliptronics board. This caused the upper flipper to be very weak
- One of the targets was held in with one screw, and that hole was stripped. Needed to repair the holes to get the target to stay in. Playfield around switch was cracked from not being installed properly
- Upper GI was not operational due to a soldering error where he soldered both ends of the lighting series to the same connector
- Game did not turn on when I unpacked due to the main power lead to the transformer being cut, stripped, and twisted together. Apparently it untwisted itself in shipping. No idea why this wire was even cut and stripped to begin with. Had to resolder, and clean it up
- Back box main power GI board was only in with 2 screws and they weren't even tight. Found the remaining screws floating around the cabinet and the backbox.
- Used a rounded head screw for the back ramp on the upper playfield. This causes the ball to get stuck all the time. Had to dismantle a ton of stuff to put the right screw in
- Right slingshot did not have the leaf switches adjusted properly for operation
- Installed upper boulders improperly which caused them to rub on the glass
- Installed the gate that goes to the whirlpool so that it was stuck open because it was stuck on the ramp
There was probably more, but you get the point. This was the first time I had purchased a "restored" machine instead of doing the work myself. I was really hoping to take delivery, marvel in the amazing work, and just play some games. Instead, I spent 2 days getting it to even work properly, and was disgusted at the partial cleaning job that was performed. I sent an email to TxPinball noting my concerns and dissappointment, and as I expected, I did not receive a response, apology, or anything. I figured that since he took 6 months to complete the job he already wrote me off as a future customer and just did a crap job. I don't know about you, but that's not the kind of company I would ever want to do business with.

