Buyer Beware - TXPINBALL

PDXGeek

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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.
 
You would do better to put it in the right section for more to see. Negative feedback section.
 
Sorry man I hate to break the news to you, but if you search RGP you'll see a good guy turned bad. IIRC (pretty sure I d) he announced not too long too long ago he was shutting down.
A ton of bad "press" on this guy.

Anyways I'm really sorry to hear about your terrible experience. If it makes you feel one iota better the last shipping deal I did resulted in a machine shwoing up the was GROSSLY misrepresenated. Never again will I buy a game that I can't physically see in person. Sad when a person has to look at life and say 90% of people suck. :mad:
 
Never again will I buy a game that I can't physically see in person.
This is definitely the safest way to go. Not only can you carefully examine the machine before committing money to it, but you can play it as well. Unfortunately, it can often be difficult to find a particular game you are looking for locally. In this scenario, all you can do is try to find a reputable seller and keep your fingers crossed. As far as high-end restorations go, there are only a handful of people that I would be comfortable dealing with:

Christopher Hutchins
Bryan Kelly
Chad Keller
Treasure Cove
Action Pinball
 
My take away from this was that I will never be buying site unseen again. Its just not worth the risk. This is not to say that I wouldn't trust work from say Treasure Cove, but at full resto prices (clear coating etc which I despise, I prefer all natural and believe clear coating ruins the game) I am not sure I would be happy. There is a guy locally who does amazing work, and he has a TOTAN thats just totally pimped out. Topper, gold everywhere, etc. But restoring a game and making it look good, and actually setting up a game are two different things. I think with a little time, anyone can install new parts, but I have yet to run into someone that then takes the extra day to make all the small adjustments that are necessary for a game to run good. You know, things like adjusting scoop direction, flipper alignment etc. Fortunately, my area is blessed with someone who is probably the best OP in the entire US. No one can get flippers to snap like mr. Mike Mahaffey. Guy is just stupid good and setting up machines.
 
This is definitely the safest way to go. Not only can you carefully examine the machine before committing money to it, but you can play it as well. Unfortunately, it can often be difficult to find a particular game you are looking for locally. In this scenario, all you can do is try to find a reputable seller and keep your fingers crossed. As far as high-end restorations go, there are only a handful of people that I would be comfortable dealing with:

Christopher Hutchins
Bryan Kelly
Chad Keller
Treasure Cove
Action Pinball
What about bill heatherly?
 
Chris Hutchins is the only one that does all of the restoration work himself, nothing of any consequence is farmed out. He does his own playfield touchup and clearcoat instead of sending that work to someone else. He is also the most expensive but if you have the money to drop on a restoration he does the best work bar none. You have to see his work in person.

I'll settle for having one of his playfields :)
 
What about bill heatherly?

Bill Heatherly is another great guy. He does great work and is super trustworthy. Bryan Kelly is also another really nice guy who you can trust.

To the OP, sorry to hear about your predicament. Unfortunately like Deadly said TXPINBALL has been on the slide for a few years now. I can understand your frustration.
 
My take away from this was that I will never be buying site unseen again. Its just not worth the risk. This is not to say that I wouldn't trust work from say Treasure Cove, but at full resto prices (clear coating etc which I despise, I prefer all natural and believe clear coating ruins the game) I am not sure I would be happy. There is a guy locally who does amazing work, and he has a TOTAN thats just totally pimped out. Topper, gold everywhere, etc. But restoring a game and making it look good, and actually setting up a game are two different things. I think with a little time, anyone can install new parts, but I have yet to run into someone that then takes the extra day to make all the small adjustments that are necessary for a game to run good. You know, things like adjusting scoop direction, flipper alignment etc. Fortunately, my area is blessed with someone who is probably the best OP in the entire US. No one can get flippers to snap like mr. Mike Mahaffey. Guy is just stupid good and setting up machines.

You are correct that a restored game that is not tweaked for proper play isn't any fun to play. It really takes a lot of experience to properly restore a game and make it playable. For example putting in reproduction ramps without modifying them is a travesty; they look great but because they are thicker they cause playability issues. You really need someone that knows exactly what they are doing.

I understand your frustration with clearcoat but if you find one that is done right I guarantee your opinion would change.
 
(clear coating etc which I despise, I prefer all natural and believe clear coating ruins the game)

You currently own games that are clear coated. The two big differences between what you have VS getting a PF freshly clear coated:
1.) Your current games have been roughed up/beat down (broke in) and the CC is very thin as well.
2.) A freshly CC'd pf takes time to rough up/beat down. Until it gets "broke in" the ball has a really tough time of biting the PF and more or less is slid around.

Don't be "too" dead set on your opinion of CC ;)
 
Every game ever made was ruined before it left the factory? OH NOESSSS!!!

;)

LOL.... That was pretty good...

Although to be fair- The "Stealth Coat" experiment on DE Batmans was extremely horrible.

While I know that Gottlieb System 3's were made with cost cuts in mind (although their mechanicals and electronics are rock solid), I believe the factory clear coat on my R911 and CO1812 was made with some sort of chemical that actually removed the paint and not protected it.

I have had two R911 PFs where the factory mylar was the only thing holding the paint on, and if you look under the factory mylar, you can see where the paint is actually flaking, ready to come up with it.....WTF?
 
I guess what I should say about the Clear Coat is that there is a big difference between the clear coat used at Williams factory vs the automotive grade clear coat used by after market companies. The original Williams clear coat allowed for expansion and the play properties were quite good out of the box. I agree that, given break in time, newer clear coats become nicer, but they still just dont react the same way the Williams coating does.

Speaking of ramps, I noticed someone post about after market ramps causing playability issues, and this is something that is happening on Whitewater. The ramp transition from the upper playfield to the left ramp is sticking sometimes. As in, stick so bad you have to tilt to get it out. I haven't dont any searchs on this yet, but is this something you just sand down as so to speak to solve?
 
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