CPR - ship speed and communication?

kspiff

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UPDATE 2/13/12: They replied to the PayPal dispute today. Apparently they only get one F2K pf clear coated per month since the typical demand is that amount or less. Mine just got back from their CC guy and will be mailed out once the clear hardens up a little more. On the bright side he also mentioned a $50 off coupon towards the repro glass when they re-run them soon which they only give to those who buy the combo. Didn't even realize they ran any sort of promotion like that, definitely a nice bonus.

Please keep in mind that I am NOT posting a negative experience here. It is really just curiosity for now and I have not considered a dispute quite yet.

For those who have purchased repro playfields and plastics sets which were in stock from CPR, was it your experience that their shipping speed was slow? Or their communication was spotty?

I only ask as according to my brother my playfield has not yet showed up at work where I receive my packages. It has been a little short of 3 weeks. Also it seems that I am not really getting any replies from CPR via email now (first reply I got was rapid as hell and they even stated they will be re-running the glass I asked about on PP payment, now 2 emails and no replies).

Then again I understand this is likely a sideline only for all involved, and - believe me - I know how real life can get in the way of shipping packages. It is also possible that my dumbass brother has not checked under the table in the receiving area (where the dumbass inventory hands have been leaving my packages lately).

May be getting a little trigger happy... but then again I was going to drop a nice amount on materials to attempt the 3M buffing process they describe so I want to be sure I have reason to actually buy all that shit...
 
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Communication can be spotty from them. They do tend to reply to your paypal address a lot...that caused some problems for me until I was emailing Kevin directly. Got better after that, and I was able to get his emails, but I was extremely patient with them. It took the better part of three months to get my first shuttle playfield, get the replacement, then ship them back the original.

Did they send the ship conf. to your paypal email address, and if so, what's it showing when you pull up the tracking? Mine was pretty much spot on once I FOUND out which email box it was hiding in! If the tracking number says it left them 3 weeks ago then I would go looking for it myself at the recieving location. If it's not there, then I think I might be sick to my stomach, frankly.

Just stay on em if it hasn't actually left their hands. Sometimes they have extenuating circumstances, but they won't tell you that up front. Case in point, when they were going to replace my Shuttle PF, they were waiting on the last ones to come back, but they all had issues when they did. They didn't tell me they were working on ANOTHER solution and after I couple of weeks I pestered them only to find out they were pulling one of the ones they reserved for their employee reward program and shooting clear on it. :p
 
Oh, and which one are you going to buff out? Personally, after seeing both PF's I have no beef with their clear. I think it looks great, but there may be some MINOR areas where it could be improved, but let's face it...it's not like a painted + lacquered playfield was ever truly flat to begin with!
 
The problem is I haven't received any shipping update at all. Checking my PayPal right now to see if the associated payment was updated with shipping details...

nope, no tracking number. :/ I do see a customer service number, but I'd have to use Skype later tonight to contact them on account of being halfway across the world. Might try that.

All correspondence attempts have been through the same email as PayPal.

Sending them another email now. I'll give them a few more days, but if I don't hear anything I guess I'm going to do a dispute. They seem to reply well enough to emails from PayPal so that may be the best route to take in this case anyways.

Kind of disappointing, at least so far. I just hope the product does not disappoint.
 
Dunno what to say other than make sure you examine what you do eventually recieve very carefully. That first PF they sent me was a disgrace, IMO. If I learned anything from my experience, it's that these guys are NOT professionals, they're just a couple of dudes trying to help out the community.

I've really got to wonder how much money they actually make in the end. You would think if it was very much, they'd hire a few more people, make sure these stupid errors don't happen. Their excuse for letting grey bleed through the holes onto the front of the playfield was that the guy doing it must've been tired and not noticed.

Really? Most of these projects have been on the shelves for years. If you don't have the people to ensure the quality, then take the time to do it right. Get some sleep, do it right.
 
I wonder if having what some products would consider adequate QC would massively increase the time it takes to get these done.

I read a thread recently on RGP about frequent issues with inserts 'popping'..but these same folks say it happens with all the other repros (IPB, Mirco). What they're referring to isn't the insert popping up much, but just a hair so that the clear around that insert has a hairline break and a barely noticeable rise. I noticed this on the Playboy field I bought. I wonder if at this point they're not going to move anymore? I'm thinking I need to lightly sand it to scuff it and have another coat or 2 of automotive clear shot on it when I have some other playfields cleared.
 
I wonder if having what some products would consider adequate QC would massively increase the time it takes to get these done.

I read a thread recently on RGP about frequent issues with inserts 'popping'..but these same folks say it happens with all the other repros (IPB, Mirco). What they're referring to isn't the insert popping up much, but just a hair so that the clear around that insert has a hairline break and a barely noticeable rise. I noticed this on the Playboy field I bought. I wonder if at this point they're not going to move anymore? I'm thinking I need to lightly sand it to scuff it and have another coat or 2 of automotive clear shot on it when I have some other playfields cleared.

Ugh...

See, this might be a minor annoyance with regular inserts, but when it comes to games that have oversized ones? Pinbot? Not good.
 
Still no response yet. Pretty disappointing really.

Going to give it maybe 1-2 more days then open a PayPal dispute to see if that will trigger a response.

I got to wonder, the payment shows complete on my end, but perhaps PayPal is pulling that 45-day hold on funds bullshit on CPR's end? Seems like some big scam to allow PayPal to maintain a large positive balance that they can somehow earn interest on. I hope they f'n get exposed and sued soon. :/

EDIT: Maaan fuck it, I posted the dispute. They've had plenty of time to pop off one lousy email reply. I just hope they don't gimp out on me cause this F2K has nothing going for it aside from a solid cabinet and had I thought for a second I couldn't get the playfield and plastics I would NOT have bought it.

REALLY hoping this is just an oversight and/or my emails are going to spam on their end or something.
 
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If you want I will pester them too. Shoot me your email addy and I'll fire off a message. :)
 
Sent you my email via PM. You got their customer service number? I can give it to you from the PP payment if you like...?
 
Update received

They replied to the PayPal dispute today. Apparently they only get one F2K pf clear coated per month since the typical demand is that amount or less. Mine just got back from their CC guy and will be mailed out once the clear hardens up a little more. On the bright side he also mentioned a $50 off coupon towards the repro glass when they re-run them soon which they only give to those who buy the combo. Didn't even realize they ran any sort of promotion like that, definitely a nice bonus.

It does still worry me however that they seemed to be oblivious to the fact that I already tried to contact via email 3x now. In the future I may just stick to calling them on the phone, but they said this experience is not typical so hopefully the need to call won't even come up again.
 
CPR - Communication: They get busy during production runs so it may take a few days to answer emails. They are good guys and not out to scam anyone. Since they are in Canada and lots of customers are from the USA, shipping issues/increase delivery times can happen.
 
Oh, shit, they're in Canada?

No diss to Canada intended, but I have never bought anything out of Canada and had it arrive in less than a month. And the packages are always beaten to death.

Hope this turns out to be an exception, I still need to order the backglass when they run...
 
Yeah. I filled out customs forms to send the playfield back to them, lol. :)

Man, they didn't give me any kind of discount but they did pay for the return shipping, and very quickly once I sent them the info. I can't complain. I got what I paid for in the end.

I wasn't even aware they still HAD Flight 2000 playfields. Kind of surprised they're going to re-run the glass if there's that little demand for the playfield. Wonder why they don't just shoot the clears and be done with it? They had to shoot the last layer of clear on my replacement PF as well, which, similarly, was about a 2 week delay.
 
Man, they didn't give me any kind of discount but they did pay for the return shipping, and very quickly once I sent them the info. I can't complain. I got what I paid for in the end.

Well in my case the discount is only because I bought the combo AND they are going to re-run the glass for the same game. If they made PinBot glass I bet they'd do the same (if not offer a 3-in-1 combo).

I wasn't even aware they still HAD Flight 2000 playfields.

According to internet legend the production took so long a lot of their pre-orders dropped out by the time they were produced.

Kind of surprised they're going to re-run the glass if there's that little demand for the playfield.

I dunno, I'm guessing so they can offer a 3-in-1 package to try to clear their stock out at a cut rate. But whatever the case I'm glad because with the glass on mine you can literally draw pictures with your finger and/or blow the paint off. Totally shot.

Wonder why they don't just shoot the clears and be done with it? They had to shoot the last layer of clear on my replacement PF as well, which, similarly, was about a 2 week delay.

This I wonder about as well and am crossing my fingers that it isn't because insert crackling is a given and they want me to get it before that happens. I don't think they'd do something like that though.
 
Slight update. They shipped out today it looks like.

I won't get to actually inspect the product until I get back home (which could be a while yet), but if they actually shipped something that is progress.

Here's to hoping it looks as nice as I'd anticipate, and can't wait for the backglass. :D
 
If they had already shot the first clear layer, they'd know about the spidering over inserts, I would think.
 
Hmm... just got back from overseas and still no sign of the package as yet. :(

But with the weekend, postal holidays, and fact that I probably got my ship notification a day or two before it actually shipped I'd imagine it will be here soon.
 
Oh, shit, they're in Canada?

No diss to Canada intended, but I have never bought anything out of Canada and had it arrive in less than a month. And the packages are always beaten to death.

Hope this turns out to be an exception, I still need to order the backglass when they run...

I've ordered from CPR plastics and PFs on several occasions and none of my packages were beat up. Everything arrived in excellent condition.

Bill
 
Well I'm happy for you and all, but in general (not with CPR mind you, this is my first order with them) that has never been my experience. Admittedly though I have only had a few items shipped from Canada in the past (primarily because every time I think, "oh maybe they won't hold my shit for 30 days in customs and beat it like a red haired step child," they inevitably do just that... their postal service seriously makes me think real hard before I buy anything from vendors over there, which is a shame).

And damnit all I totally forgot they were in Canada. So I'm sure this is on the way, but will probably be another week or so I'd imagine.
 
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