From: ung@felix.filenet.com (Bill Ung)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Pinball machine repair in San Francisco area
Date: 20 Aug 92 18:14:53 GMT
Reply-To: ung@fritz.filenet.com (Bill Ung)
Organization: FileNet Corp., Costa Mesa, CA

In article <25990009@hpcc01.corp.hp.com> joanne@hpcc01.corp.hp.com (Joanne Petersen) writes:
|Those who do not live in the San Francisco bay area can skip this posting
|-- sorry, my posting program doesn't allow me to limit the distribution.
|_________________________________________________________________________
|
|   Saw an ad in the Sunday Chronicle/Examiner...
|
|Pinball Machines, 100% warranty, Free delivery, 510/653-9100
|
|I called and spoke to Tom Johnson. He is the new owner of Gametown USA.
|They're located at 5245 College Ave at Broadway in Oakland. They are part
|of TILT Electronics which does pinball service. (That's in Martinez at
|510/933-TILT, (Chris)) Anyway, the deal is they have some games for sale,
|but they deliver to the home and will come out and repair any problem for
|free for 6 months. The games are completely reconditioned, in some cases,
|they even do board touch-up, so that's why they are a bit pricy.  For
|example he has Millionaire and F-14 Tomcat available for $850 apiece.
|He can get a 8-Ball Delux for the same price and a COMET for $950.
|
|You might want to call them up for a service call someday, so hang
|on to that 933-TILT number....

I just called these guys and I have a mini-report for you all.  First of
all, since I'm in Southern California and they are in Northern California,
they were curious as to where I'd gotten their number.  When I mentioned
the Internet, they told me that I was the second call that came from the
Internet.  They weren't very internet-aware, but I guess they don't mind
reaping the benefits.

Now, on the bad side are prices, yeah, they're quite pricey indeed.
For instance, I priced a set of plastics/lightshields for my Williams
HIGH SPEED (1986).  Here are the prices I found:

CA Robinson (L.A.)	$ 99.95		(213) 735-3001
CA Robinson (S.F.)	$ 83.00		(415) 871-4280
TILT Electronics	$140.00 !!!	(510) 933-TILT (8458)

That's quite a significant jump there.  Be careful when ordering from
them!!!

The good news, well, the guy, Chris, whom I spoke to, was very, very
nice, and very helpful as well.  He knew I had a HIGH SPEED and was
very knowledgable about the game (ie: layout, appearance, common
problems).  Now maybe he likes HIGH SPEED as well, or maybe he's
knowledgeable about pins in general, I don't know ... it was just
nice that he knew what I was talking about.  Anyway, I told him that
I was looking for a new bumper cap.  He said he'd try and order one
(CA Robinson says that's impossible, but we'll see) and he'd get back
to me.  He said maybe he could find a matching set of caps that weren't
necessarily HIGH SPEED caps.  I said maybe not, and that I'd just hold
out till I found what I wanted.  Now, he said the caps would run about
$10.00 apiece, which is rather high (CA Robinson wants $1.50 - $1.95
for 'em), but I really only need one and I'd be willing to part with
$10.00 to complete my set.  He's gonna check up on it and give me a
call back if he finds anything.  Maybe if I'm lucky, it'll be $10.00
for a set of 3.

Anyway, that's my report for Tilt Electronics.  If they come through
on the bumper cap, I'll let you guys know.  They're very nice and I
suspect their service is good, but you'll be paying extra for this
good service ... decide if you want it or not.

Off the subject, slightly.  I'll be headed up to the S.F. area during
the weekend of September 12th.  Someone mentioned CA Robinson S.F.
having a back room filled with all sorts of miscellaneous CHEAP
pinball parts.  They mentioned having picked up some new freeway signs
for their HIGH SPEED for only a few bucks.  I'm very interested in
visiting this back room when I'm up there.  I'd be interested to know
where exactly CA Robinson is, how to get to that back room, what the
hours are, etc, etc, etc.  Please Email me any info on this.  Thanks!

Also, if you've got a wish list, feel free to mail it to me.  I don't
think I'll have much time, and I'm only really knowledgeable about
HIGH SPEED parts, but if there's something you're looking for ...
drop me a line, if I have extra time, I'll take a peek for you.

Bill Ung
  ung@filenet.com