You Make The Call...
Remember when they used to run those NFL commercials that would show a particular play involving a penalty, then stop it right before the referee announced the penalty, saying: "YOU make the call"? Well, here are some unretouched photos of 3 out of 5 machines we received from Stealth Home Amusement after having won them on ebay. No machines were listed as "scratch & dent" models. One machine, however - the Aztec Legend with Gold Chrome - matched the description of a previous scratch & dent offering from Stealth - something I remembered because of one of the reasons given for it being a S&D - the fact that the plastic covering over the reels was missing. Not only was the one we received missing the reel cover, it also had cheap, tacky looking gold colored metallic tape running down the entire right side of the door, placed there in such as way as to "blend in", NOT as any sort of protective tape. When I asked Milt if he remembered having put an Aztec Legend in the S&D section, he said he did not remember.
Likewise, there was cheap, tacky looking silver metallic tape running down the side - and across the top - of the Savana Park machine. When I asked Milt why both machines had been shipped out with cheap tape covering the entire length of the sides of the front door, he said that sometimes the machines come in that way, and he doesn't remove the tape since he's pretty sure there are too many scratches underneath. He also said that Yamasas are notorious for putting metallic tape on their machines. (Note: None of the machines we got from him were Yamasas, and I've never found any cheap, tacky looking tape on any of our Yamasas.)
When it comes to the Tomcat, that's in a category all its own. There were at least three 9-12" gouges approximately 1.5mm wide carved into the top/center of the glass. These gouges could be seen from across the room. It is simply impossible not to have seen them. Period. Anyone working on that machine to get it ready or boxing it up had to have seen them. And after having spoken with Milt, I was informed that the gouges had in fact been seen by one of his workers, but the machine got shipped anyway. Make no mistake about it - this machine was a scratch & dent poster child if ever there were one.
And if it were only the matter of the Tomcat, that would be one thing. But when you factor in the other two machines - especially the Aztec Legend, which I remember being offered in his S&D section not all that long ago - the question that screams out is: "Is this seller dumping his S&D machines on ebay without any indication of such"?
Ultimately, the only one who really knows that for sure is Milt himself. However, just like in those commercials...take a good hard look at the photos of these machines, then you make the call.
NOTES: He did offer to take back the machines and refund the total cost, including shipping both ways. But that really doesn't begin to address this issue, as far as I'm concerned. Additionally, we reached an agreement as far as what to do, and he did follow through on what we had discussed. Finally, prior to this order, we had purchased 7 machines from Stealth, and did not experience anything like this. I would like to think that this is the exception, albeit a rather gross one; but by the same token, I feel it's important to post this so that other members can make as informed a choice as possible when it comes to any future purchases. Look at the photos...then you make the call.
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(Note: The above photo doesn't even show the entire gouge. see photo below as well.)
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(NOTE: In the photo below, I pulled back the tape; it did not arrive that way. When it arrived, the tape was smooth, as if to simply "blend in". But I would neither own nor sell a machine with cheap, tacky tape running down the entire side of the door.)
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(NOTE: On the Savana Park below, I had already removed the cheap, tacky looking silver colored tape and thrown it away. I figured it had to be some kind of crazy mistake. Then I discovered the tape on the Aztec Legend, and retrieved the silver colored tape from the trash and photographed it on top of the SP.)
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