Major Info about Stealth

[Lddrizzt]

I have to share a phone call that I had today.

First a little back story.
Myself and a friend of mine had purchased some pachis from Stealth for resale.
We sold these locally in my friend's Comic Book/Gaming store. We had made several trips to Stealth for more machines.

Most of you probably remember an open support ticket I have for a Mephisto machine. Here is the thread:
http://www.pachitalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17796

This machine belonged to one of our customers, and we offered a warranty.
With the help of you guys and Milt we were able to narrow the problem to one of two boards.
On Jan 10th, I sent Milt payment for shipping on one of the boards, we were to try this one, and if it wasn't that one then I would receive the second one.

I received the board on Jan 13th. Put it in and no change. I sent Milt an email on the 14th letting him know that it was indeed the main board instead.
I received no response. I emailed him again a couple weeks later from work.

Well as some of you know all this happened in the middle of me moving into a new house. So things were crazy and I couldn't get to this right away.

In the mean time the customer has received a refund, and I am stuck with a broken machine.

I am now settled in the new house, and have the machine here.
I called today to talk to Milt to find out why he hasn't answered my emails.
I talked to Marie, and she told me that Milt sold the company in Feb. and is no longer there.
So I ask her what we need to do, as she was familiar with what was going on as I had talked to here back at the beginning, and did the shipping.
She said the new owner, whose name is John I believe, doesn't come in until after 3PM, and she would call me back when she talks to him.

She calls me back and says that the new owner does not support any warranties on machines bought before he bought the company. And they don't have the part anyway.

Stealth as we know it does not exist anymore. Milt's company is out of business. The new company owns the Stealth name and facilities.

So bottom line, I am still in need of a Mephisto main board (hint hint).
And most importantly if you purchased a machine before Feb. you no longer have a warranty.

[dattia]

Wow....that is major info for sure. Thank you!

[H20Dreams]

It would of been nice if Milt let us know what was going on.

[johnnyabc]

all of those lifetime warranties are no good? i thought he was a member here. that just is not right.

[Lazarus]

And this is why warranty's are not worth the paper they are written on! I never use a warranty as a deciding factor. If I go with something that has on and it is honored, great! If not then I did not count on it to begin with. If I bought a machine from milt then I took into account Milt himself. Not any warranty that may have been advertised. If milt is going into another business then good. Whatever that would be then will be top notch!

[Tulsa]

Personally I think this sucks. Once again, the little guy (us) gets screwed. We purchased machines with lifetime warranties, there was no disclaimer that stated, "until the company is sold".

React however you feel best but if you're disgruntled about a previous purchase that no longer has the protection you initially purchased, say it with your wallet.

[johnnyabc]

The auctions have been changed to only a 1 year warranty

[Lddrizzt]

Prices have increased on both the auctions and the website also.

[slotter]

I've never put great stock in the warranties by ANY of the vendors. That is why CF Industries was just as good as many of the other companies in my mind. Any vendor could go out of business at any time.

The machines we buy are made for hard use in a commercial environment and generally, especially with the help of Pachitalk, can be fixed with minimal expense. In our homes it is unlikely that anything very major will happen to them once we get them up and running. Shipping damage is much more likely than breaking after you put them in your game room.

I have machines purchased from Stealth and I don't really care that they are no longer there to honor warranties -- it was expected (at least to me) that they wouldn't be there forever. Also, it is highly unlikely that anything that happens to our machines can't be inexpensively and fairly easily fixed in most cases.

[coronetgtx]

I guess that is the reason I have not heard back from stealth. I sent an email 3 weeks ago about a power supply box for a Banker 9 machine. It took 5 days to receive a reply stating that they would check to see if they had it. Well I'm still waiting. The email was sent by Marie. Just hope this is not the way customer service will be in the future with them.

[dishpan]

First it was Syscom and now it's Stealth. Who's next? What will the marketplace look like if CF/Panchinko/Samuraislot's boat doesn't stay afloat? In this post Easter world, I don't like having all my eggs in one basket.

Milt was a good businessman and we'll miss him! I hope that he made out well and life is good to him. There may have been a non-compete clause and other conditions placed upon him with the sale so we shouldn't be too hard to judge his actions.

[luckydog]

I'm happy with all my machines that I got from him, nothing last forever

I wish him luck in any future ventures

I'm sure most of us have got they money's worth out of any machines we bought from him

[Delgrieve]

Oh well so much for that. It does bother me somewhat that I specifically bought a Stealth machine (SBJ) with the warranty as a consideration.

Sounds like taking your chances on a "good deal" with Samuari/Panchinko just got a little better...

[Eddie]

Will Stealth still be listed under the Pachitalk friendly vendors list as Milt was Stealth and not this new owner John?

New Owner equates to New vendor a far as Im concerned and should not be listed in our forums as the Stealth that we knew that took years of dealing with to be recognized as a good and trustworthy vendor.

I say list it as STEALTH LITE untill this new Vendor earns the reputation that Milt built up over the years.

[slotter]

I'm disappointed that Milt (Stealth) did not make this announcement publicly here. He was a well trusted vendor who posted regularly and for him not to say that he was leaving reflects poorly on him.

[dattia]

I would tend to agree with that since his last postings on this forum were trying to resolve a member's issues in a more private fashion. If he sold in February, those postings were made well after the fact in March. Something could have been mentioned then IMHO.

[Delgrieve]

I agree. The name does not automatically carry a rep until it is established.

[slotter]

Not only that, but he might have sold his eBay user name and feedback???? I just looked at demos777 (Stealth's old name) and it has auctions running -- the ones with only a year warranty. I don't know if that is what happened, but if he did that doesn't seem right. The new guy could be worthless and now the new guy has 7010 of 100% positive feedback.

[01PyTypeR#1140]

Oh No! My Betty Boop & Sindbad Adventure had a lifetime warranty through stealth! All is well but with time who knows...

[Delgrieve]

The machine I got was in (is in) great condition and I don't expect problems but part of the reason for the purchase was the warranty... This whole thing just doesn't feel right. But I guess that is life/business...