Ethics question - If you know what is wrong with a game, do you tell them?

[Droler]

I used to until I got burned for being nice. I shared this over at BYOAC...

If it's not fixed by the time you get there, it's because they don't know how to service their machines. You might clean up a specific issue, but it's an indicator that other problems might be overlooked. Drop your offer and walk away if they stick to the same asking price. Besides, if you fix it, you just increased the value of the machine, and that's a perk that should be meant for you after you've become the owner.

I went to go buy a Ms. Pac-Man when I was fairly new to collecting. A guy wanted $400 for it, but he said it had issues. I went out there with a few fuses, some solder, and my soldering gun. I was unsure of buying a non-working game, but he said he'd let me work on it for an hour or so before taking it home. Well, fast-forward an hour later and I had it working 100% after fixing a few cold joints and replacing the fuses. I pulled the cash to pay him and he said, "Well now that it works all they way I can't let it go for under $800. They go for that on eBay all day."

I stared at him in disbelief and with a dirty shirt and hands. I just spent an hour fixing his machine and he went and jacked up the price. I told him it would be $50 for the fix, and he refused to pay it and said that we didn't have a deal. What an a-hole.

The repair would have been $400, and you would then have to had pull a "Ghostbusters" and say "Oh, well, then let me put it back the way it was for you since it didn't work when I got here."

One thing I have learned in this hobby over the years is that the rule is the guy you're dealing with is probably going to screw you over given the chance and the EXCEPTION is you might get a fair deal.

Always expect the worst and you're never disappointed.

 

[DPtwiz]

I used to until I got burned for being nice. I shared this over at BYOAC...

If it's not fixed by the time you get there, it's because they don't know how to service their machines. You might clean up a specific issue, but it's an indicator that other problems might be overlooked. Drop your offer and walk away if they stick to the same asking price. Besides, if you fix it, you just increased the value of the machine, and that's a perk that should be meant for you after you've become the owner.

I went to go buy a Ms. Pac-Man when I was fairly new to collecting. A guy wanted $400 for it, but he said it had issues. I went out there with a few fuses, some solder, and my soldering gun. I was unsure of buying a non-working game, but he said he'd let me work on it for an hour or so before taking it home. Well, fast-forward an hour later and I had it working 100% after fixing a few cold joints and replacing the fuses. I pulled the cash to pay him and he said, "Well now that it works all they way I can't let it go for under $800. They go for that on eBay all day."

I stared at him in disbelief and with a dirty shirt and hands. I just spent an hour fixing his machine and he went and jacked up the price. I told him it would be $50 for the fix, and he refused to pay it and said that we didn't have a deal. What an a-hole.

I would have stomped the fucking pcb and kicked the monitor neck off before my foot hit the ground, then run like hell.

 

[EVB]

I used to until I got burned for being nice. I shared this over at BYOAC...

If it's not fixed by the time you get there, it's because they don't know how to service their machines. You might clean up a specific issue, but it's an indicator that other problems might be overlooked. Drop your offer and walk away if they stick to the same asking price. Besides, if you fix it, you just increased the value of the machine, and that's a perk that should be meant for you after you've become the owner.

I went to go buy a Ms. Pac-Man when I was fairly new to collecting. A guy wanted $400 for it, but he said it had issues. I went out there with a few fuses, some solder, and my soldering gun. I was unsure of buying a non-working game, but he said he'd let me work on it for an hour or so before taking it home. Well, fast-forward an hour later and I had it working 100% after fixing a few cold joints and replacing the fuses. I pulled the cash to pay him and he said, "Well now that it works all they way I can't let it go for under $800. They go for that on eBay all day."

I stared at him in disbelief and with a dirty shirt and hands. I just spent an hour fixing his machine and he went and jacked up the price. I told him it would be $50 for the fix, and he refused to pay it and said that we didn't have a deal. What an a-hole.

I would have asked him for $400 in labor. Actually, I would have broke the f-ing machine right then and there and proceed to give him the two legger posi peal out get away.

 

[Droler]

I picked up a group of machines with another collector from a basement with a horrible staircase; the deal was to include a pinball machine but the seller already sold that before we got there.

She had a coke machine and asked if I wanted that when I mentioned the pinball being gone but the total for all the games being the same, I said "yes".

We hauled that heavy bastard up the basement steps and as we were rolling it down the sidewalk she said, "the coke machine is extra". WTF?

Ha ha! Hope you didn't pay it and left it sitting right there on the sidewalk for her.

Yet another missed opportunity to charge for labor ($200 to put it back in the house).

 

[EVB]

Ha ha! Hope you didn't pay it and left it sitting right there on the sidewalk for her.

Yet another missed opportunity to charge for labor ($200 to put it back in the house).

How about just "free" to put it on the roof.

 

[Droler]

How about just "free" to put it on the roof.

Coke MACHINE.

Not just a COKE.

 

[EVB]

Coke MACHINE.

Not just a COKE.

Yeah, well the lesson here is cash first tinkering and/or moving later. Nobody wants to get burned.

I purchased a Firepower pinball machine from a guy a few years ago and it was a nice machine that had the prototype drop targets. Pretty cool but it would not start a game. I knew what was wrong with it from that description alone. So I talked the guy down to $450 for the machine. He told me to let him know what was wrong with it. lol! So I get it home and it actually had a couple bad transistors as well for a couple lights but no big deal. So the problem was a bad contact in the ball troth of course. I told him over the phone what was wrong and I could tell he was having sellers remorse. TOO LATE!!! Already paid and hauled it away.

 

[Mike Doyle]

Ha ha! Hope you didn't pay it and left it sitting right there on the sidewalk for her.

Yet another missed opportunity to charge for labor ($200 to put it back in the house).

There's more to the story- the house was trashed and mostly empty; she said her husband had died inside and she'd hated to go back and move stuff out. We could tell there were other issues and she probably wasn't being herself, so we gave her our sympathy and passed on being jerks.

Oh and for every one "just an interlock" or "fuse" problem, I've had two that worked during the preview or seller's house and would develop problems later after being on a while.

 

[teckkev]

Not going to read all thru the thread.

Myself, Buying a game.. I want it cheap so I will nit pick and not correct the person if he misdiagnosed the game.

Repair, you ALWAYS are honest. You may not always be right, but you have to have to be upront.

A fellow KLOVer here i Ohio GAVE me a MsPac Bootleg that didn't work. I got it and it worked fine. He did not use the right harness for it. I told him the pcb was fine and offered it back to him.

It's all about 'Karma'. I actually did fix a game I was going to buy cheap for the seller. He got screwed by the notorious local ops that I decided to help him get his crap from trades working. We are great friends today due to that.

I would say bartle away and keep what you know to yourself.. but at same token, be observant on the situation and surroundings. You may find yourself passing a good deal to make a friend and have someone appreciate your act of kindness.

Kevin

 

[mc300baud]

One thing I have learned in this hobby over the years is that the rule is the guy you're dealing with is probably going to screw you over given the chance and the EXCEPTION is you might get a fair deal.

i've been lucky so far then and had many an exception...

the best was last winter when i answered an ad for a Time Pilot for $200 on CL (he had a list of at least a half-dozen games for sale.) made an appointment, but forgot to verify the price, something i usually do so there's no surprises.

drove about a hour away and checked out the game. nice shape other than some pretty severe burn on the monitor. decided that i'd take it and asked, "so $200, right?" he responded that he thought he had priced it at $300 but he'd check the CL ad. his ad read $200, so he honored the price without complaining and i ended up buying some other parts from him at below-market value as well.

my CL game buying rules:

- get a firm price, whether it's working or not, and a few details about anything big that's wrong. i never go into a deal if i'm not willing to pay the price we've agreed upon ahead of time.
- get a phone number and give them yours in case something happens (like they sell it out from under you when you're on the way.)
- set a specific time and always be there on time if not a few minutes early.
- bring cash and a hand truck and be ready to move a cabinet pretty much immediately (cash & dash, i suppose.)
- don't try to fix anything until the game is home unless it's something that could be damaged during moving (i.e., loose trim, unbolted monitors, unlatched control panels, etc.)
- don't haggle on the spot unless there's something really wrong that they didn't cover in the initial communication, or if there are suddenly more games available for a multi- or bulk game buy (this has happened several times.)
- don't do much chatting until after the game is paid for.
- count out cash as if giving change at a retail store.

these rules have served me well over the last couple of years, and i've picked up some 20+ cabs in that time.

 

[shardian]

I went to go buy a Ms. Pac-Man when I was fairly new to collecting. A guy wanted $400 for it, but he said it had issues. I went out there with a few fuses, some solder, and my soldering gun. I was unsure of buying a non-working game, but he said he'd let me work on it for an hour or so before taking it home. Well, fast-forward an hour later and I had it working 100% after fixing a few cold joints and replacing the fuses. I pulled the cash to pay him and he said, "Well now that it works all they way I can't let it go for under $800. They go for that on eBay all day."

I stared at him in disbelief and with a dirty shirt and hands. I just spent an hour fixing his machine and he went and jacked up the price. I told him it would be $50 for the fix, and he refused to pay it and said that we didn't have a deal. What an a-hole.

"Well I'm sorry you feel that way. I'll just check the machine to see if I left anything in there. Ouch, my head! What's that hissing sound? Oh well, see you later!"

hehehehe