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The Pinball Show Ep 180 BONUS: The Tales Of A Pinball Distributor: Another Customer Horror Story

Pinball Show Patreon Feed·podcast_episode·21m 24s·analyzed·Aug 27, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.019

TL;DR

Distributor describes shipping error and subsequent customer dispute over retaining wrong Premium James Bond machine.

Summary

A Pinball Show distributor recounts a detailed customer service nightmare involving a shipping error (wrong machine tier shipped), escalating negotiations, and a customer who ultimately invoked state law to retain a $9,000+ Premium pinball machine they didn't order. The distributor attempted multiple resolution paths but the customer leveraged legal uncertainty and persistence to force a costly settlement. The incident highlights operational risks and customer conflict in the pinball distribution business.

Key Claims

  • Customer received Premium James Bond when Pro was ordered, and distributor offered upgraded premium at $1,500 discount after initial $2,100 price difference

    high confidence · Dennis (distributor) narrating detailed correspondence with customer

  • Customer claimed Pennsylvania state law entitled them to keep unreturned merchandise without obligation

    medium confidence · Customer alleged legal advice; hosts later discuss AI-generated Pennsylvania law analysis suggesting customer's interpretation was incorrect

  • Distributor ultimately accepted payment of $1,500 from customer approximately one week after standoff

    high confidence · Dennis stating 'Like a week later, he ended up paying it'

  • Distributor has blacklisted customer and avoids future business despite customer attempting to reorder

    high confidence · Dennis discussing permanent ban and evasive tactics to prevent future sales

  • Shipping pickup cost from basement would have been approximately $800-900 via STI shipper

    high confidence · Dennis quoting '$800' and reference to basement pickup special pricing

Notable Quotes

  • “I'll just pay the extra $1,500 that the difference was on the Pro and the Premium used price... Going cost to you, ship it back. I'll just pay the extra $1,500 that the difference was on the Pro and the Premium used price.”

    Customer (via message) @ mid-story — Customer initially proposed reasonable settlement but immediately renegotiated lower after acceptance

  • “I just called my attorney. He told me under [insert state] state law I'm not obligated to return this.”

    Customer (via message) @ escalation point — Turning point where customer invoked legal claim to justify keeping merchandise

  • “This is theft. You working hard has nothing to do with stealing from another person.”

    Dennis (distributor) @ late story — Direct accusation of theft in response to customer's entitlement claim

  • “That's pinball distribution in 2025.”

    Dennis @ reflection point — Meta-commentary on operational challenges facing the industry

  • “We'll send the guy a PayPal for the money. If he pays it, good. If not, then we'll get a hold of an attorney or get a hold of police. You can't just keep a $9,000 chain.”

    Nicole (business partner) @ resolution strategy — Practical escalation path that ultimately succeeded

Entities

DennispersonZach SharpepersonNicolepersonGregpersonJames Bond ProgameJames Bond PremiumgameStern PinballcompanySTIcompanyThe Pinball ShoworganizationPinball Show Cluborganization

Signals

  • ?

    operational_signal: Shipping error resulted in wrong pinball machine tier (Premium instead of Pro) with complex resolution path involving multiple renegotiations and legal ambiguity

    high · Detailed narrative of Pro/Premium shipment mix-up and subsequent customer dispute over $1,500-$2,100 difference

  • ?

    product_concern: Customer received wrong merchandise but engaged in serial renegotiation, leveraged legal uncertainty, and ultimately retained product via threat of legal action before paying settlement

    high · Customer progressively lowered demands from $1,500 to $1,300 to $1,225, then threatened legal action, then agreed to pay after one week

  • ?

    business_signal: Distributor implemented permanent customer blacklist and avoids future orders from problematic customer to prevent escalation

    high · Dennis stating customer has tried to reorder and he actively evades business with them to prevent further conflict

  • ?

    operational_signal: Basement pickup for pinball machine quoted at $800-900 by shipper STI due to location complexity

    high · Dennis stating 'STI is going to charge me $800' and reference to 'basement pickup special' being 'probably fucking $900'

  • ?

    regulatory_signal: Customer invoked Pennsylvania state law regarding retention of mistaken merchandise; hosts subsequently clarify that Pennsylvania law likely required return availability at shipper expense, not entitled keeping

    medium · Customer claiming legal advice; AI analysis suggesting customer misinterpreted law and distributor likely had legal recourse

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.064

0:00
Warning, the following episode contains adult language and screaming goats. Listener discretion is advised. Thanks again for the ongoing support as a Pinball Show Club member. Enjoy this exclusive TPS content and make sure to visit the Pinball Show Club Discord to chat about the bonus material. Oh, Dennis, these special people that support our show, they want to hear about the trials and tribulations. They feed off of pain, your pain Last time you talked about the tits and the bits And they got a whole lot of them They did They really did We want to say thank you for following us And for supporting us at the Pinball Show And being an official club member So much so that I'm going to take Something that hurts me Heroin Well, black tar I have a fucking thing up.
0:57
I do. You almost have to watch the video now. You probably violated like five Patreon rules. I baited you into it, too. I like how you immediately went to black tar. What's the big competitor? White China, I think. If you're going to do it, do it big, baby. You're going to do it. All right. I don't know where I was at with that. Where was I going? Well, you were explaining how you were going to harm yourself. Trauma. Yes. See, I've already put it way back. Yeah, I worry about your PTSD bringing these things back up. We're going to do it. We're going to do it for the people.
1:35
There are some things that have been very traumatic in the past, things that almost make me want to rip my damn hair out, what little I have left. But I do it for you. That's what we're going to do. We've talked about some horrible situations I've found myself as a business owner and is a pinball retailer in the past. We're going to do it again. And this time, we're going to take it to a place in the dankest of dark basements. To the limit one more time.
2:04
  • ?

    community_signal: Pinball Show soliciting transparency about industry operational challenges via Patreon; framing distributor pain as entertainment content for club members

    high · Intro and outro explicitly requesting audience questions about 'industry and hobby behind the scenes' and positioning horror stories as value-add for paid membership

    • Take it to the limit. I want the Kenny Loggins song. I don't know the words. No. Okay. okay we do need that game this is a horror story from a customer and remember if you want to hear about the stuff behind the scenes distribution wise or sales wise or industry wise ask us just add it to the message on patreon and just comment yeah comment and say is it true that x or how does y really work and maybe we'll answer those for you but you gotta if you don't question we don't know how to answer so let's go back uh earlier this year i had a customer that was wanting to purchase a james bond pro a used one from us okay uh and needless to say history i should have known history he ordered a james bond pro when it came out or it was like a year before something like at. And then he never paid for it after a week or so, and then he just bailed on it. And that was your only experience with him as a customer? He's bought games before.
    3:26
    So I didn't have any reason to believe. A little slight mark whenever you order something late a week and then you don't buy it. Okay, so he had some flakiness history, but he also had a buying history. Yes. So not enough for me to think of anything. So he bought one of our used Pros that we had, and we shipped it to him. So I'm going to go. You'll see me looking down. I'm going through my phone, the correspondence we had here.
    3:53
    So he receives this game, and he said, hey, I just wanted to let you know, you shipped me a premium James Bond, not the Pro. Just letting you know. Generous of you. Yeah, hopefully you didn't ship the Pro to the wrong person. We can talk about it. I already unpacked the game. Okay, so shit happens. So our fault. We messed up and had two pros, or we had a pro and a premium on the show floor. We wrapped up the wrong game, shipped it. Stuff happens. In this situation, as the buyer, what would you expect? I would expect that you would arrange for someone to come and get it shipped back, and I would have no obligation to re-box it for you. Okay, fair enough. Fair enough.
    4:40
    I would be totally fine with that. Sorry to hear that. I also would have stopped taking it out, though, the moment I noticed it was a premium, by the way. Thank you. And let you know. It might have been detached from the pallet like the straps were probably cut because I probably didn't read the box. But the moment I saw the wrong art, there would have been a call or an email. Thank you. I said, yeah, I'll look into it. We'll find a solution for you. Don't worry. So no big deal there. He said, I already unpacked it. I opened it. I didn't know until I took off all the wrapping. Very fair. That's fine. really couldn't afford the premium, but maybe we can work out a deal or something. Oh, okay. A viable solution here. Now the problem in this scenario is I had already sold the used premium too Oh okay yeah So I couldn really Now when that happened I contacted the person that was supposed to get the premium seeing if he got the pro He didn't get the pro. And when I told him what was happening, what was occurring, I, because I'm such a nice guy, was like, you know what? Or whatever in the process. I said, I'm going to ship you a brand new one for the same price. I apologize. You should have had it. I shipped it to somebody else. I don't want to bank on it getting back to me, not tore up, and then go to – like I'm just going to ship you out a brand-new premium. And he was very thankful, and he was like, fuck yeah. Hell yeah. I just got a brand-new premium for the price of a used one. So you solved the other buyer's situation. Solved the other – so this situation still could be okay. I still – maybe this guy – so – and I said, did it say bond premium on it? It was, are the legs and head, are they still wrapped though, off legs and all of that? And he said, I said, we'll arrange for it to be picked up as soon as we can. Let us know if it's on the legs or not, because it's a different shipper based on how that. He said, well, I thought it was the right game until I unpacked it in the basement. The game is completely unpacked already.
    6:34
    Okay. I said, are you able to get it to the ground level? Because it's in the basement. And it gets tougher when things are in the basement fully unwrapped. He said, it's doubtful I can even get it out of the basement. I don't have a stair climber anyway. Let's just make a deal on it. He said, going cost to you, ship it back. I'll just pay the extra $1,500 that the difference was on the pro and the premium used price.
    7:01
    And I said, send me a pic of the game just to make sure I'm seeing it right and everything. He sends me the game on the legs, fully set up, no wrapping, game plugged in, et cetera.
    7:14
    And I said, I think it was, so the price wasn't $1,500 extra. It was $2,100 difference. And I said, I believe it was $2,100 difference, but because we made the mistake, $1,500 is fine. If you'd like it, just keep it for the $1,500. Now again, I think that's over generous Because it's a $600 difference Or I could pick it up Still, I thought that was pretty generous He said I'll send back the art blades And the shaker on it Can we do $1,300? $1,300 He's like, does he have art blades? He's going to strip mine for every dollar Oh Oh, this is fun.
    8:03
    What are we doing? I made a mistake. I'm sorry. What about 1225? He said 1500, which is the wrong number, and I even agreed to it. Now it's got to be lower. It's got to be lower. Reminds me of the people who tire kick, and they try and get you to go really low, and you actually do it, and then there's still a no.
    8:28
    That's another pet peeve of mine. When somebody says, they message me with a low ball and they're like, would you take 6,000 instead of 6,500? I'm like, congrats, accepted, I will. And they're like, well, let me think about it. And I'm like, you just offered me, wait. It's like some people have a thing in their personality where they just have to prove to themselves that they can negotiate. But they don't actually want or have the means to do what they said. They just want to know that they were able to get what they argued for. I don't know. Oh, that one bugs the shit out of me, too. All right. So when he said, can we do $1,300, and I'll send back some of the mods. And then he said, invoice it to PayPal. And I'm like, there's another 3.5% loss.
    9:13
    So I said, respectfully, I said, maybe it's best for us just to have it picked up, and we'll send you the one that you did order. Because we still had the used pro. Right. so we'll send you the one you ordered. I think I see where this is going and I want to nip this right now. We'll get it picked up. And he said, or maybe I'll just get a full refund and say, uh, that I wasn't supposed to have it. My first, though I had, yes, I'm, I don't know what he was saying after that, but basically saying, how about I just get a full refund on this game instead of the game I want it.
    9:50
    And I said, I'm not sure I understand what you wrote there. He said, just come pick it up. I don't have a stair climber. I just want to cancel on the pro too. I want to cancel it all. I work a lot of nights and I don't have time for this. I don't need this extra stress right now.
    10:07
    What extra stress did we add in the last two comments here? Because I wouldn't go down to 1,300 now, but I just, you already ordered the game. I'll get you the game you wanted. What is the issue? i said so you want to cancel it you want to receive a refund but you also want us to have somebody come pull it out of your basement and break it down for you so here's where sometimes i'm not the best at business and i'll be frank with that really what because i like dude like i because i feel like if i doing everything i can and still it not good enough And I like can you snap me a picture of the total place
    10:50
    I want to see, you know, they play this thing, knowing it's wrong, pulling into the basement, setting it up. He played this thing.
    11:03
    He played it. There's even Facebook videos of him playing it. It was the wrong one and all of this stuff.
    11:13
    So I just, to me, it's just not right. If you got the wrong product, you're asking, we'll give you the right product. We'll give you this upgraded product at a significant amount, which you accepted, but then you want lower. We'll have this thing picked up after, like all of these things, and you still are going to like set it up and play it, man? Come on, man. All right.
    11:35
    And so I said, so you got it all set up in the basement. You also plated it, it looks like. I said, it's just kind of tough. You said $1,500, but now you're at anything. We'll just have it picked up. He said, okay, but will I get my money back on the accessories I ordered?
    11:55
    Because I talked to a few distributors, and one said it happened to them, and they ate the cost. Laugh emoji. just invoice me so i'm like what the hell why why are you messaging other i made a fucking shipping mistake and i've done everything to make it right right we're all in accordance there he said just invoice me the 1500 if you refund me the 200 for the accessories and you refund me the 200 i'm not going to lose my mind over 200 bucks i'm just looking out for you guys because it's you yeah oh what a fun person i said uh well what dealer told you that they were going to eat thousands of dollars loss he said i believe in carmen doing the right thing i'm not going to say what dealer said that i said not a worry not a worry i'm sorry uh that we boxed up the wrong game. I was just trying to make it right. We can have it picked up from your basement. Not a problem. We can refund your payment in full for the pro that you ordered as well. Our apologies. Again, the shippers will contact you. I felt good about that. I felt bad about messing up, but mistakes are made. He said, I said, I do the $1,500 and move on. I said, you wanted a refund. We'll be happy to provide that to you. Again, we are very sorry for this mistake. So we believe in doing the right thing as well. We just want to prove it to you. He said, just invoice me the $1,500 to pay the credit, ship back the accessories. The one art blade isn't any good. I'm not worried about the refund on them. I don't know. I said, we don't want to add to your stress. We'd like to do what's right. Please accept a full refund as requested. Please.
    13:49
    So that's bad. Bad situation. but I think there was a solution right so it's a good but that's the kind of stuff that I have to deal with but wait there are more no it's done it's not done and they all lived happily ever after Zach no no no then I get a text trying to coordinate somebody to come pick up this thing and get coordinated and all this stuff he's playing it of course Don't give it up. Planner is going to get a full refund on everything. I get a message in the evening. It says the following. I cannot make this up, guys. Quote, I just called my attorney. He told me under insert state, state law, I'm not obligated to return this.
    14:40
    There you go. I'm not obligated to return this. sometimes his job sucks. What the fuck did I do wrong? Dennis, I was trying to do everything I could. Now this guy's going to just keep this premium pinball machine that he's been playing.
    15:04
    And yeah, because of the state, he's not obligated. And I just simply responded, please don't do this.
    15:10
    Please, man, I can't afford to lose this much money. I didn't do anything wrong. I said, okay, if that's what you're doing, then I need to at least cancel the shipping request that I've already made because STI is going to charge me $800 because I already have them coming out to pick up this damn game that you're stealing.
    15:31
    For the basement pickup, the special is probably fucking $900. I said, he said, wait, you're making me to be the bad guy when I've bought games from you. I love the game. I've been working my ass off. It's staying. Fuck. he's earned it he earned that game i earned that premium i've earned it i said his name i said this is theft you working hard has nothing to do stealing from another person uh i thought you said you doing the right thing He said cancel the pickup He ain't giving it. He's not going to give this thing back.
    16:12
    So there you go, ladies and gentlemen. That's what happens sometimes. Now, thankfully, I was ripping my freaking hair out. Nicole was like, damn, people suck. But she was like, we'll send the guy a PayPal for the money. If he pays it good. If not, then we'll get a hold of an attorney or get a hold of police. You can't just keep a $9,000 chain. It's crazy. And like a week later, he ended up paying it. So, fuck. Okay. What state?
    16:44
    I guess Pennsylvania is what the state was. Yeah, I'm curious. but man, like put me in such a bad spot.
    16:58
    I don't know. The robots of AI say in Pennsylvania, if you mistakenly ship the wrong product, you have the right to request its return. Unlike with unsolicited merchandise, the customer is not legally entitled to keep an item they did not order. If they have a contractual agreement for a different product. See, it's legit, right? Now that's the robots. So it sounded like you would probably have had a legal Avenue if you wanted. But, again, you've got to cut your loss. Like, what, are you going to pay attorney fees and stuff? I don't think I have the time for all that.
    17:31
    That's pinball distribution in 2025. Right, and I think there are other instances, like, federally from what, you know, again, some discussion stuff that I've pulled up. I remember being curious about this before, but if someone gets something accidentally, like you buy something and they send you two of it or whatever, you're not obligated to send it back, but you have to make it available for pickup at the shipper's expense to get. Sure. So you're not supposed to be out anything if someone makes a mistake. However, that does not mean you get to keep things that were not supposed to go to you. Yeah, like even if I had to drive up there and pick it up, I would have. This argument would be like saying, hey, the bank actually gave me $100,000 in my checking account. They can't take it back out. Yeah. They take it back out all the time. And I thought, I'm not going to argue with this guy because that's just – I probably would have at these dollar amounts. But, I mean, you did have the pro money already, so it wasn't like the worst case in the world. It wasn't like you were out everything, but still. True. Very true. That sucks, though. It does. That happens. until the next horribly bad situation. Now, I assume they don't get to buy from you ever again. That's a good question, right? That's a good question. I mean, if I were you, the answer would be absolutely not. Absolutely not. So that's fair? That's not me being an asshole? I don't see how it could. I think people who even would agree that you should have just let him keep the game, I don't know if anyone's going to think that, but I think anyone who would would still say never do business with him again. Okay, that's what I decided I would like to not do business and just forfeit any of the business. Yeah, Zach, it's the perk of being your own businessman is fire the customers you hate. Here's the problem, though.
    19:24
    The person acted like this wasn't a big deal and has since tried to buy things I've been able to kind of get out of without. I don't want to make them angry and then do something stupid. So I've always have this story. They will be humiliated publicly if they were to ever try and trash your business. I think some people don't care, though. But what I mean, there'll be some that will make hay out of it. But it's you will win publicly on this one. You will win. They found a loophole. They ordered off our website. So that's from the can't really. And I'm like, what do I got a blacklist email address? Yeah, I know. I don't know how, but.
    20:02
    These are Greg things have Greg figure. There you go, ladies and gentlemen. That's another horror story. And there will be more to come. There are some that we could still discuss. So we have some in the can. But, yeah, that's sometimes. That's not fun, is it, Dennis? Not a fun thing. It would be pretty stressful. Yeah. That's fun. Thanks for following. And remember, if you want to know something about the industry and the hobby, behind the scenes, ask us and we will be as transparent as possible. And don't be that guy. just don't be that and if that guy's listening no ill will i i kept your kept you anonymous here just you know difference of opinion there if you had worked with me we would never work together again that would be if you're listening um i just that is embarrassing don't come and kill my pet please don't kill my pet that behavior you should email zach an apology even after making it right you should say, you know what? I done fucked up and I'm sorry I was having a bad week. I'll contact. And then and then if that were me, I would have forgiven. But then I would require the apology.
    21:13
    Dennis, you're a hard ass. I love it. That's the pinball show. I think that was a good one. I like that. Fun one.