Hopson Enterprises - AKA Valley Gaming

[ken524]

Wow... I wish I had read this thread before I bought my Pink Panther from Valley Gaming (I read a lot of pachinko info, but missed the VG thread.)

I bought the machine on Oct 3rd... Received a FedEx Ground notification *and* email from Timothie on the 4th (he said he pulled the machine and was prepping it for shipment).

The machine is now enroute and is supposed to arrive on the 10th. I'll let you guys know what happens!!

-Ken

[vgc]

So far my experience has been good and i am hopeful all will be fine. Shipped 2 days after payment and have been good on the phone during payment and getting Tracking #. my Bunny is due on the 11th. Will let you know how it looks. Mike : )

[azlew]

It will be very interesting to hear from you recent buyers as to how well they (Valley) did. Let us know when you get a chance.

[Tulsa]

Those extortionists *******s can rot in hell for all I care.

If you find you have no support from them, don't come whining on this forum about them. I refuse to support those cretins.

Just my two tokens worth.

[vgc]

Those extortionists *******s can rot in hell for all I care.

If you find you have no support from them, don't come whining on this forum about them. I refuse to support those cretins.

Just my two tokens worth.

Dude that kind of hatred isnt good for you, Relax! I will not whine here if my product is not up to snuff, but I will post my outcome here. (now this following part is a joke so please take it as such ). It takes 3 tokens for a spin so your 2 tokens aint worth jac : )

Mike : )

[Tulsa]

Got the joke. Thanks Mike.

You would have just have to have lived my history with them to understand my attitude towards them.

[arbycoffee]

they have take advange of many to the point that there are any good feelings for them.

Enough said of them so as not to ruin my supper

[logicprobe]

Yeah... you kind of had to see it to believe it.
Imagine a vendor openly attacking and attempting to disgrace a customer on an open forum, just because the customer asked for something that should have been handled without question.
Unbelievably LOW, right?
Well... there ya go!
What goes around...

[MrGneiss]

Wow, now I'm glad my $5 bid for this didn't win.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...3340&rd=1&rd=1

[Firewire]

I am still waiting on a set of reels for my Giga Fever. I email them about once a month to remind them. I bought some from pachislo.com, figuring I would never get anything from Valley. Valley said they would send me replacements after mine were damaged beyond repair upon receiving the machine!

No more business from me. Sorry, but once shame on them twice shame on me.

[Tulsa]

I am still waiting on a set of reels for my Giga Fever. I email them about once a month to remind them. I bought some from pachislo.com, figuring I would never get anything from Valley. Valley said they would send me replacements after mine were damaged beyond repair upon receiving the machine!

No more business from me. Sorry, but once shame on them twice shame on me.

I'm not going to say I told you so..

Nope..

Not gonna do it.

[ken524]

Hey gang,

I just received my Pink Panther from Valley Gaming. The machine arrived safe and sound in what I think is adequate packing.

http://www.dc8.org/pachislo/pinkpanther/valley.htm

After seeing the posts illustrating what Arbycoffee does, there is no comparasin. Although I've never seen one in person, I suspect Arby's machines qualify as "professionally detailed and restored".

My Pink Panther is a bit dusty on the outside (I can fix that), has a few minor scuffs that I think can be buffed with that plastic polish kit I have read about (is it Novus or something like that?). It seems to work just fine.

I documented the unpacking process at the above link so you all can see the packaging. As I said, it does not compare to Arby's... BUT, as a frequent shipper and box-hauler for BigBrown, I think it was packed in a reasonable manner. I'll have fun cleaning, polishing it and making it my own baby.

I also called Valley Gaming this evening to say hi and let them know the machine arrived. I asked them where the heck to find the volume switch . The receptionist and tech were both very cordial and pointed me in the right direction.

Will I buy from Valley again? I'll probably ask Arby first to see if he has what I'm looking for. But from my personal experience, I would not be uncomfortable buying from Valley.

I know this isn't going to smooth any feathers but I felt I should try to give an objective view.

Oh, and one more thing... This machine ROCKS. My 14 and 8 year old were arguing over who goes next and for how long!

Ken

[slotter]

Thanks for those pics, ken524. It looks to be a definite gamble with Vally Gaming. Am glad in your case all worked out OK!

[slotter]

I decided to buy from Valley Gaming for several reasons. I wanted to find out how they really do ship their products and test their service and lastly because they most certainly have low prices. I wanted a non-cyclic only Bunny Girl to go with my pool table/bar theme in my game room and have been watching auctions on eBay to finally get one.

Either I had extraordinary good fortune or they have greatly improved their service. First off my auction was NOT a private auction, so I think they may be moving away from that type. Anyway, I purchased the machine and a short time after sending them a PayPal I received an email not to pay until I receive a letter from them with instructions. Uh oh! I emailed back that I’d already sent payment and within a short time, was told that they had my payment and the machine would likely go out the next work day. (I bought on a Friday so Monday was the likely ship date.) On Thursday of that that next week, I had business to conduct on Friday, so I called about the shipping and was told that it had shipped on Wednesday and not on Monday. Not a problem at all. Well, now another weekend passed and I really expected the machine on Monday, nope, and then on Tuesday after it seemed it wouldn’t again arrive, I emailed VG requesting a tracking number. I received a tracking number almost immediately and it showed that it SHOULD be delivered on Tuesday. It did show up and had been shipped on Wednesday as promised.

The box was in perfect condition with not a mark on it. I pulled the staples out of the top and the inner box was VERY securely held with a Styrofoam type frame. See picture below.

PICT1985 (Small).JPG

After opening up the inner box, the machine itself was held inside that with some bubble wrap (that should be improved and they are lucky this box wasn’t tossed around much). The 1000 balls that came with the machine were at the bottom of the large box and were in excellent shape and very clean. Again, if the box were tossed around at all, I have to wonder if the balls might have come loose, but this box was pristine. Even if they had come loose, though, they would not have damaged the inner box with the machine, so this shipping method is probably OK, but again, they need to pad the machine better inside the smaller inner box.

After pulling the machine out and placing on the workbench I was just SUPER pleased with the condition! Wow! It came from a non-smoking parlor and it was incredibly clean and in great shape. It has REAL glass covering the playfield (I much prefer the real glass to Plexiglas). Everything works perfectly and I have almost zero cleaning or anything else to do on it. I have pictures posted below. I haven’t touched this machine yet for cleaning in the pics. Just turned it on. This is the very best Pachinko I’ve received as far as condition goes.

PICT1989 (Small).JPG

PICT1990 (Small).JPG

It did not come with a manual and I have to think that a new person to Pachinkos would have to call to find out how to turn it on and make it work. VG should include some basic instructions for the newbies.

I’m pleased overall with Valley Gaming. I’ve now bought from 4 Pachinko vendors and this machine is the best I’ve received so far even if not packed as well as some. Their customer service when I emailed them was prompt. They should send out tracking numbers, etc. without asking, but at least they do answer emails promptly and courteously.

[trancer2000]

I ordered my Super Blackjack from them. As far as their speed of service goes I would give them a C-. I called immediately after the auction ended on a Friday afternoon and paid with my MC and was told it would go out the following week. Needless to say it sat in their warehouse for 2 + weeks until it finally did go out and of the 1000 extra tokens I ordered with it they only included 500. It took a few calls and another 2 weeks to get my remaining tokens however they did get everything to me eventually. As for packing and condition, the machine was very well packed and was very clean. I would give it an A- on condition with only a few very minor scuffs. I got a very good deal price-wise so If another similiar deal pops up from them I would probably buy from them again. While speed of service is important to me I think condition of the product is more important.

[chaz70]

While speed of service is important to me I think condition of the product is more important.

I couldn't agree more. Quality is extremely important. Paint over spray, dirty buttons and scuffs on the machines, most importantly the see thru parts is not acceptable to me. It is the chance we take when ordering something we have not laid our eyes on before purchasing.

[portercbl]

Well, I just won a Rescue Dogs Pachinko from Valley Gaming for 89.00. Let's see what I get. I bid long before I had read this thread. All of their feed back looks ok. I say Live and Learn. I just had to have another Pachinko Fix! I will let you know what I receive.
Jerry

[azlew]

Looking forward to reading your review.

[Tulsa]

I really should make this thread a sticky so no one else gets stuck!

[H20Dreams]

Best of luck. I have seen their "ready to ship" machines first hand. I bought from them ONLY because I could pick up in person. We had to go through NO LESS than a half dozen "ready to ship" machines to find one that was in working order and still I had to settle for a case that was different from the one I won.

Looking forward to your feedback on your experience.