Aloha Island/iMatrix Review
Well my Sansei R&D Kage pachinko arrived on Wednesday from Aloha Island/iMatrix - ebay seller tommyzx1122. I assume they are drop shipping from iMatrix because the auction and the pics have iMatrix all over them. Here is my report on the seller and the buying experience:
I won this off ebay for the starting bid, so it was $160 shipped. I think that's a very good price for a 2005 machine. The auction I won was actually for a Heiwa Lassen World. A day after I paid, I received a very apologetic message from the seller, David, explaining that when prepping my machine for shipment, they noticed it was damaged. He offered a few alternative machines or a complete refund. I wasn't really interested in any of the alternatives, except maybe another Heiwa called Little Fish. Since I already have a Heiwa frame, I offered to take just the Lassen cell for a lower price and shipping cost. David responded quickly that the LCD itself was damaged not the frame and they couldn't sell it like that.
I looked over the auctions he currently had listed for the same starting price and offered to take either of two other machines that I was interested in. He agreed to substitute the Sansei Kage pachinko, shipped it the next day and immediately sent a valid tracking number. So I give this seller good marks for being so responsive and working with me.
I received the machine about a week later. That's from Canada, through Customs and at my door. That's fast. It was in a smaller box than most vendors ship pachinkos in. Height wise, it was the just big enough to fit the pachinko...minimal padding on top and bottom. That's a little scary, but there was no damage at all. There were a couple layers of bubble wrap around the remaining sides/front/back. Again, that doesn't seem that safe, but there was no damage at all. The balls were very carefully packed in two small boxes that were securely sealed and then tucked beside the machine, near the transformer. This is the first pachinko I've ever received where no loose balls were floating around in the box. The transformer did not come flying off during shipping either, it is securely mounted to the frame. I have to say, I think my UPS guy(s) are fantastic. I've never had a single problem with them and they (and the ones along the way) treated this box very well. I think the fact that the box is smallish offsets the fact that it isn't packed as securely as others. Maybe it gets treated better because it's easier for them to handle? It worked for me.
There were no feet attached, which is good for me because mine go right in cabinets. David attaches a grounded power cord too! The machine itself was pretty clean. Still some tape crud around the ashtray. Most other areas only needed a gentle wipe. The cell surfaces were clean, but I plan on going in there with Q-Tips to get a lilttle extra shine. It had been cleaned at some point, you could tell. But I gave everything a once over. There were a few minor scuffs and dings on the face of the door, which are consistent with how they are yanked out of parlors and stacked. Having not ever gotten an "Arby pristine machine" these minor scuffs are normal to me. These were on the silver metallic plastic and I touched them up with silver metallic paint...gone. I fired it up and everything works perfectly except the shooter knob, which is a little sticky...mechanically I mean. You turn it and it sort of stays in that position. The return spring either isn't strong enough to turn it back, or it needs a good cleaning. I think it's the latter and I need to figure out how to take that apart and clean/lubricate it. This is not a big deal since you just let go and it stops shooting anyway.
So all in all I'd say Aloha Island is a. Good communication, responsive, quick shipping, so-so packing and clean working machine. He seems to be selling a few at a time on ebay. Unfortunately he raised the opening bid on most of them...
. But if he has something you want at a good price, I can recommend this vendor.
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