Pachinko Palace ebay feedback

[websherpa]

Does anyone have any feedback on Pachinko Palace (other than their hyped ebay adverts)? I was wondering about reliablitiy, machine quality etc. I see they have low starting bids on a pachislo machine or two I am interested in and wondering about them as a potential source.

Thanks,

[luckydog]

I bought my Magic Pulsar from them when they were offering 500 extra tokens to Pachitalk members.
It arrived in great condition and no problems since then.

[Tulsa]

As long as your an informed buyer, and not buying the hype they are a very reputable dealer and will stand behind their product.

[Tony Junior]

My first eBay buy for pachislo was from them, the King Camel. Had a minor problem with a reel "hanging" and the replacement part was shipped instantly. Bought a couple more machines from Eric and happy with them all.

[trezz3]

I recieved a Dagon Dice two weeks ago from them.Machine arrived in two days in excellent cond.I called with a couple of questions and found their tech support very responsive.Would buy from them again.Hope this helps.

[pfurman]

As others have said, disregard all the overhyped descriptions (i.e. EVERY MACHINE IS RARE!!! Not!!), pick and choose carefully (a lot of their machines start off very low, then most seem to skyrocket way beyond Milt's prices before the auction ends), and you can end up with a very nice machine for a very nice price. The first machine we won was an Arra King, and it probably broke some kind of record for being a great price ($71). The next one - Giga Fever - had a bunch of problems, but they are in the process of getting everything straightened out. We did find, however, that it depended upon whom we spoke with as far as tech support/customer service. Eric, the sales manager, is absolutely the best of the best. He's the one who, when instead of shipping out Fire Drift, they shipped Beat The Dragon by mistake, called and said: "Keep BTD since we screwed up your shipment so royally". How ya gonna top that for service?

Also, they are the only sellers who offer a laminated cabinet option. We now have two machines (Giga Fever & BTD) with laminated cabinets, and their look is far superior (as Tulsa has noted elsewhere) to even cabinets b/f & I have painted ourselves. When it comes to getting duplicates of our favorite machines, we always check Pachinko Palace first to see if they've got a machine we want that has a laminated cabinet. I would definitely place Pachinko Palace right up there with Milt & Gaku. All three are a pleasure to deal with, and each one has his own special strengths.

Generally, the best machines/deals/bang for the buck come from Gaku & Milt. But when they don't have a particular machine we want, we check out Pachinko Palace for sure.

[Tulsa]

Eric's a great guy there's not doubt. He's also the owner.

[pfurman]

Eric's a great guy there's not doubt. He's also the owner.

B/F asked when he called there who Eric was, and he was told that Eric was the sales manager. He was a little surprised, because it seemed to him that Eric spoke with a certain authority that went beyond that of a sales manager. It's no surprise that he's also the owner. He seemed to be the most willing to talk with customers about problems; ask for input, etc. (That's what was at the core with the problems regarding Giga Fever. The reels came loose during shipping, and it seems that it's more common for that machine and Don Don King, because of the way the reel assembly is attached - and comes loose - during shipping. They seem to have the highest rate of reels coming loose of any pair of machines. Eric & b/f discussed different options, and Eric asked b/f what he thought about the idea of shipping the reels and machine separately, then instructing customers how to put everything together once both packages arrived. B/F thought that was a great idea, and liked the fact that Eric was willing to go outside the box, rather than just maintaining the status quo despite the fact that the status quo wasn't working.) We just wish they'd chill a bit on the hype, is all.

[luckydog]

I think a piece of soft foam between the reel assembly and door would help in shipping.

[Chrisdice]

I purcahsed a Thunder VII from them. It was shipped fast and packaged well. The game was clean but not great, not as clean as the games I got from Stealth. Also the Coin Mech was only taking about 50%of the tokens but a little windex and adjustment it was perfect. I called there tech support to ask them a question about setting options and there answer was "we have over 500 games at any giving time and we don't know all the settings for each one. But they did mention Pachitalk.com as a source of information. So overall not a bad experience, Id say if you can get a ebay item for a good price then go for it.

Chris

[pfurman]

I purcahsed a Thunder VII from them. It was shipped fast and packaged well. The game was clean but not great, not as clean as the games I got from Stealth. Also the Coin Mech was only taking about 50%of the tokens but a little windex and adjustment it was perfect. I called there tech support to ask them a question about setting options and there answer was "we have over 500 games at any giving time and we don't know all the settings for each one. But they did mention Pachitalk.com as a source of information. So overall not a bad experience, Id say if you can get a ebay item for a good price then go for it.

Chris

We found that there was one person there who fielded tech/support issues that left a lot to be desired. But Eric and one other person were extremely helpful. So 2 out of 3 ain't bad, I guess. Now, whenever b/f calls, he justs asks for Eric or Joseph, and has found both of them to be both knowledgable and pleasant. Both of them were able to take real problem situations and resolve the problem 100%. The other person took a relatively minor problem (missing reel assembly securing screws on the Arra King) and turned it into a real hassle.

[slotter]

I agree. Eric and Joseph are basically the only ones to talk to over there. Both will bend over backwards to help and fix any issues you might have with a machine you purchased from them.

[pfurman]

I think a piece of soft foam between the reel assembly and door would help in shipping.

I don't know, Luckydog. The problem with both of those machines seems to be that they are sucsceptible to vertical jolts, and/or being turned upside down. The securing mechanisms on those machines are very proprietary; they don't screw into the cabinet; they are secured by two latches on top, and two latches underneath, while the entire assembly hangs on the back along a long horizontal bracket. It seems as if any time the machine is jolted up and down, it can cause the reel assembly to rise up out of that long bracket because the 4 latches don't appear to be able to keep it properly in place. Maybe the soft foam would help, maybe not. I think the weight of the entire reel assembly jolting up and down might be too much for the foam to do anything about. If it were a forward, back/forth motion, maybe; but it's the vertical up/down motion that seems to be the main culprit. I'll say this: I don't think it would hurt; I just don't know if it would help completely in this situation. I also don't like the idea of anything pressing against the reels, even soft foam, since they have a tendency to get dimpled if pressed the wrong way. The foam probably wouldn't damage them, but I'd like to see some other solution, like shipping the two parts separately. That way the reel assembly can be totally secured without any compromises whatsoever.

Also, their tech told b/f that those machines have the highest rate "left reel rubbing" of any machine, as a result of the entire reel assembly having shifted during transport. The problem there is that nothing looks out of line, until the reels start spinning; then, the left reel tends to jam/lock up, and sometimes gets damaged. If the two units were shipped separately, and the customer was guided as far as installing the reel assembly properly from the outset, that problem might be avoided as well. Personally, those machines are so special, I just hate to see them damaged unnecessarily.

[pfurman]

I agree. Eric and Joseph are basically the only ones to talk to over there. Both will bend over backwards to help and fix any issues you might have with a machine you purchased from them.

Exactly. As compared to the first guy b/f ended up speaking with. After having explained exactly which screws were missing from the Arra King reel assembly, the guy asked b/f to take a photo of it and email him, which he did, but wasn't happy about it. The guy then sent back an email saying: "Well, sometimes that's how the machines come in. If you have a couple of spare metal screws lying around you could just use them". B/F was NOT happy with that response, and it just went downhill from there. The next time, he spoke with Eric and it was like night and day. He also had very positive experiences with Joseph, who was knowledgable and very helpful. So from there on, he just asked for Eric or Joseph. That helped turn the situation around 180 degrees.

[Tulsa]

Well I think that most people aren't really ready for "some assemby required" when it comes to this type of purchase. Eric would more than likely have to reduce the price to off-set the hassle for most folks. I really don't see this happening, not even close.
Now I was thinking some double sided tape along where the reel cage connect to the frame, this would reduce the vibration and noise. All depends on how tight the tolerances are between the reels and the front glass area. For a NET machine this could just make it worse.

[pfurman]

Well I think that most people aren't really ready for "some assemby required" when it comes to this type of purchase. Eric would more than likely have to reduce the price to off-set the hassle for most folks. I really don't see this happening, not even close.
Now I was thinking some double sided tape along where the reel cage connect to the frame, this would reduce the vibration and noise. All depends on how tight the tolerances are between the reels and the front glass area. For a NET machine this could just make it worse.

I agree to a certain extent, especially since b/f does almost all of the machine maintenance, and most of that - except the soldering of the volume controls - seems a bit intimidating to me. But having watched b/f work on anything that can be user-serviced, I could see that installing the reel assembly wasn't AS intimidating as I thought at first. (Although that's still easier for me to say since I'm not doing it.) Still, the thing that's most distressing to me is having a machine arrive non-operational. It is SUCH a hassle even getting it back in the box, even if it just arrived. Since we don't have staple guns like the ones they use to ship in the first place, we have to rely on taping the boxes back up, not to mention positioning the machines properly back inside, which isn't impossible, but is still kind of awkward sometimes. It's definitely a trade-off, but personally, I think the pros of shipping the units separately outweigh the cons of having a machine arrive that's inoperable. But I don't disagree that some people might be turned off by that prospect, at least at first.

[Tulsa]

Certainly for most of us here, no problem. Average joe buyer who now has to have a phillips screwdriver and make connections to cables on top of the reel assembly is going to scream bloody murder and PP's tech support like is going to be burning with the number of calls.

Eric is a very forward thinking individual. He and I have had some very long and interesting conversations about his ideas. This particular idea is born out of frustration for the machine arriving intact. It will never see the light of day.

As conscience buyers of these toys we should note this however and upon arrival, remove and reseat the reels as a matter of course for ourselves.

[pfurman]

As conscience buyers of these toys we should note this however and upon arrival, remove and reseat the reels as a matter of course for ourselves.

Except, in our instance, the damage was so severe that it went beyond just repositioning the reel assembly; the only recourse was to have a whole new replacement reel assembly sent out (and Eric was very generous; he included a pre-paid return sticker for us to return the damaged reel assembly in the box that he sent the replacement unit). I think at some point he began to factor in the cost of all that replacement and inconvenience (although some of the cost must get written off as UPS shipping damage). And remember, it was only these 2 machines, not any others. So while it might not end up being implemented, I hope something - for the sake of the seller and the buyer - gets figured out. And as you show on your homepage, it's just a shame to see these fine machines, after having served their masters so well, and having had to endure so much abuse in their prime, suffer this final indignity while trying to enter their retirement with some degree of health, not to mention pride.

[slotter]

These machines are the lucky ones -- now in good homes with loving owners.

(Think of all those abused "children" out there that are just junked or kicked around.)

[pfurman]

These machines are the lucky ones -- now in good homes with loving owners.

(Think of all those abused "children" out there that are just junked or kicked around.)

I know. It breaks our hearts.