Wheel Problems...Advice?

[bmcleod]

Good evening! My name is Brenda, and this is my first post. I discovered the Pachitalk forum last month after deciding to purchase a Pachislo machine for my wild-west themed fun room.

After several days of perusing all your posts, I decided to order the very simple, standard, "Big and Small," machine from RJ at PachisloUSA.com. The price was good, it was exactly what I wanted, and I liked the fact that PachisloUSA had good reviews here on the board.

So anyway, my machine arrived yesterday afternoon, and it was packed very well. After thirty minutes of digging through the cardboard and foam, we finally found the machine. We pulled it out of the box and my husband said, "Hey look--the middle wheel looks crooked." We found the key, opened the case, and discovered that the middle reel was off-line because the center must have cracked during transit.

I emailed PachisloUSA twice but haven't gotten any response, and I can't seem to find a phone number on the website anywhere. In the meantime, my poor machine is sitting, unusable, in the center of the room.

Here is a link to a photo of the cracked reel http://home.clearviewcatv.net/bmcleod/brokenwheel.jpg. I was wondering if anyone has some advice, or can at least tell me what I can expect as far as repairs or replacement. Are these reels/wheels easy to replace? I can't imagine having the send the entire machine back, especially since the box was destroyed during the unpacking process. And what about the sticker with the graphics? This one is now bent and creased because it hit the side when the reel shifted.

I enjoy reading all your posts and truly value your opinions...this was my first machine and I'm already off to a bad start.

Thanks in advance!

Brenda M

[slotter]

Big WELCOME, bmcleod! Sure sorry to hear that your first machine came in with a problem, but the good thing is you will get lots of help here!

Here is what the wheel looks like on Brenda's machine:
http://home.clearviewcatv.net/bmcleod/brokenwheel.jpg

Pachislousa is an excellent vendor and as soon as he receives your email (or sees the posting here) am sure he'll come up with some ideas what to do to make you happy customer.

[Firewire]

I've had to replace reels before, and it depends on the manufacture. I am not familiar with the Big and Small specifically, but it shouldn't be too bad to replace. The question is getting a replacement. Hopefully he can get one to you quickly. I am sure he can get one, it's just how fast.

[arbycoffee]

here is Robert's email:

PachisloUSA Japanese Slot Machines;
www.pachislousa.com
Pachislo (pachislo@pachislousa.com)
Robert

[bmcleod]

You guys are awesome...thanks for the great replies! RJ just emailed me, but said that he had just arrived at the shop, so I'm eagerly awaiting a response. I really, really hope it can be repaired. If I could figure out how to get that little silver disk off, I can probably brace or splint the broken reel...looks aren't the problem, because it would be hidden behind the spinner paper.

Thanks again!

By the way, someone on the forum suggested the oak ice-chest style cabinet from JustCabinets.com as a stand, and I've had the stand for the past two weeks, just waiting for the machine! It's great--thanks!

Brenda

[bmcleod]

Just an update--Robert is great, and gave us some suggestions to try to remove the wheel--if it doesn't work, he's offered a refund. Tomorrow we're going to do our best to make the repair, so I'm sure I'll be asking for help!

Brenda

[Tulsa]

Rob is great. We have total faith that he'll take care of anyone who purchases from him. If you need help, we're here.

[bmcleod]

Hello again! I'm sorry to be a pain, but do you see that silver disk in the center of the broken wheel? What I need to do is snap those spokes under and back to the base of the silver disk, but the plastic is hard and it won't budge. HOWEVER, if I could take that silver disk off, I could push the spokes into place and reattach the disk. Any ideas of how to remove the disk?

Thanks!

Brenda

[bmcleod]

Well, strike that last post. After fiddling with it for awhile, the reel finally came off, though some of the cracked spokes snapped off in the process. Even so, I was able to pop it back on and since it was spinning freely, I screwed everything back into place and plugged it in.

The lights and sound worked fine, so I inserted my first Pachislo token EVER, and was able to play about ten spins before the middle reel started rubbing and then froze completely. My guess is that it fell off-track.

So where do I go from here? What would you guys do? It's silly to consider sending it back to Robert, since shipping is $70.00 and I only paid $125.00 for the machine in the first place. How much would repairs be locally?

What a frustrating mess.

Brenda

[Tulsa]

I really doubt Rob is going to charge you to send back a unit that arrived not functioning properely.