My Experience With Captain Pinball/GT Complete Upgrade

Boatdrinks

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Donor 2011, 2013
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My Experience With Captain Pinball/GT Complete Upgrade

There were many mixed reviews on sending a Golden Tee board off to Captain Pinball for the Complete upgrade, so I thought I'd share my experience here.

The facts:

Prior to mailing off my my board and HD, I sent several emails which were answered quickly and in a professional manner. The deal was to mail the board and HD to him, wait until completion, pay $275, and he would ship completed board/HD back.

GT Fore 2004 and hard drive mailed to Captain Pinball via USPS Priority on Monday, June 21. Tracking info shows delivery on Wednesday, June 23. I hadn't heard anything by July 1, so I sent an email to see if everything arrived OK. No Reply to this email. Emailed again on July 13 to ask for an update. Received reply on July 16 stating board almost ready to ship (waiting for a part). Received email on July 17 stating board ready to ship. PayPal Payment sent July 17. Board shipped back to me on July 19. Board received today, July 26. Working perfectly, all records, best scores, shots, accounting, and location registration had been set back to factory defaults. This is definitely the same board I originally sent. Came with a new marquee (a real one, not an ink-jet copy.)

My opinion:

Quality... A+ Got exactly what I expected. The fact that all audits,records, etc were reset was a plus... saved me from doing it myself.

Turn-around Time... 33 days seems a bit long, but I get the impression that he is sending the board off to a 3rd party to do the upgrade, then back to him, then back to customer. I've certainly had repairs, etc. at local shops and through mail the mail take more time to complete.

Communication... Lacking a bit. Was quick before I sent the board in, then nothing until it was ready.

Price... $275 was a good deal compared to what it seems to cost to buy a board and HD outright.

I would definitely recommend that friends do business with him on a GT Complete upgrade, just don't expect an immediate turn-around, and don't expect much in the way of emails.

-BD
 
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Thanks for posting your experience. Not to jump in and give Capt kudos again (I have on another negative post for him), but I have bought at least 4 games from him, and other parts, and have always had good experiences. He has also given me free parts from time to time and has offered up free parts to other people over on CoinOpSpace.com who have received them as well. I have not come across many people offering up free parts to random people to help them complete projects.

When you sell as much as that guy has over the last 13 or so years, you are going to have happy and pissed people. The nature of the technology, shipping, handling, etc is always a wild card when buying used/old parts, but in my experience, he is a stand up guy that I would not hesitate to buy another machine from.
 
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