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BEWARE - CAUTION WHEN BUYING FROM "PINBALL PARADISE"

Paul

Staff member
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
11,557
Location
South Wales
Alias
Toibs
I have copied and pasted this from the ukpinball group. We need to all make a concerted effort to AVOID this bunch of jokers as much as possible...

I didn't want to have to send this mail, but due to the total zero response from Steve at PP regarding a recent eBay purchase, in which a Spanish friend lost over £800 due to false information, I now have to follow up with a warning to all...

Here is the eBay auction in question:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pinball-M...e-/221226830501?ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123

My Spanish friend (Juan) saw this ad and asked me to contact the seller to ask more about the machines. I did and spoke to Steve... I asked what the condition of the backglass for Master Stroke was because it wasn't photographed, he said it had a small chip out of one corner that can't even be seen when it's in the game, and that the paint was perfect.

I won the auction and Steve packed the games for shipping to Spain (for an additional £90).

The cost of shipping these 'restorable beauties' as the description calls them was over £500.

Around a week later, Juan sent me photo's of what turned up on his doorstep... see attached.

I was horrified...

Not only that, but the head for the Williams Soccer simply wasn't there... and the head for the Master Stroke was from another game!! I think the light board is from Master Stroke and has been thrown inside another head. The glass doesn't fit and was therefore shipped out of the head!

I have tried to contact Steve via numerous ways... email, text, phone (all of which were successful prior to the cash being sent) over the last week with no reply... He did pick the phone up once, but when he head my voice he said he couldn't hear me, and hung up...

Juan has paid over £850 for this stuff which, as I'm sure you will agree, would struggle to hold a value of about £150 for the three playfields and Baby Doll glass...

I've asked Steve for a refund of the amount that Juan lost (£715), but no reply...

Needless to say I'm disgusted by this treatment... he has lied on eBay and to me on the phone, and as a result my friend has lost so much money... the main loss was the shipping! It would have been a LOT fairer if Steve had have simply stolen the cash, but the loss now is way greater than the price of the machines!

There have apparently been some changes at PP... so now you can see how they operate after the changes!

I paid by bank transfer since he didn't accept PayPal (clearly I know why now!)... I'm pretty sure that payment is not reversable, although I haven't contacted my bank yet...




This is what arrived :

BabyDollheadrearweb.jpg

MasterStrokeglassweb.jpg

MSheadrearweb.jpg

The original Ebay auction....

I am selling a job lot of three pinball machines for spares or restoration. The sale due to recent ill health as I am unable to continue with many of my projects. The first machine is a Williams Soccer although I have not located the back glass. I have another Williams Soccer machine complete and fully working to be sold separately but not in this auction. The others are a very rare Sagassa Baby Doll and a pool based rare Recel Masterstroke great play fields and back glass. I may split and any one who has the time to restore these beauties will have three extremely rare and collectable pinballs. Some work has been completed with play field clean and re-rubber etc.

PLEASE NOTE:- Cash on collection only. PayPal is NOT accepted. These tables are 2nd hand/used & is sold "as is"
  • If you're overseas, then I require payment via Bank Transfer. As & when the table payment has cleared you can then instruct a courier to collect the table. I will wrap the table for protection.
  • If you require this table to be delivered/set-up by myself & you are with in England, Scotland & Wales then an extra delivery/set-up will be need to be paid upfront. Please call 07774608519 BEFORE sending me an offer.
  • You are more then welcome to instruct a 3rd party courier, please note the table payment is to be paid upfront (bank transfer). I will wrap & pack the machine. I hold no responsibility once this pinball machine is placed into the couriers vehicle.

Auction images :

image1.JPG
image2.JPG
image3.JPG
image4.JPG

image5.JPG

Caveat Emptor - Buyer beware.....
 
These Guys hail from the Blackpool area...

Names of Steve and Andy...

Current known Ebay user ID's are:


cath1988

waynereed1

stevie964


More will be added if/when known...
 
Sad to hear. :-(

And a great reason why it's well worth joining a forum such as this one.
 
Shine a light. Sorry for your freinds loss. I very nearly bought a table from them a while back but the bidding went too high. Perhaps just as well.
 
Shine a light. Sorry for your freinds loss. I very nearly bought a table from them a while back but the bidding went too high. Perhaps just as well.

A Pinball Paradise listing that went too high?

I wonder who you were bidding against....... :rolleyes:
 
Leave the civilians there....last time we went to Blackpool 2yrs back took the wife out,it was our wedding anniversary and my birthday,my mrs had her bag snatched on the golden mile after we exited from our meal. Police had the culprits on video,they know who they were....they took no action.Blow the craphole up..no mercy
 
:eek:

This has gone on long enough .......Sgt GrizZ is currently awaiting clearance for a massive artillery strike on the Blackpool area. All civilians are advised to clear the area.
please can you call in the strike after august as me and my mates are going up for a few days:oops:, seriously though i went up to pp a few years ago to have my BSD serviced , ( pre forum and knowing about andy n )and have a weeks holiday in blackpool, at that time i thought PP had relocated to blackpool from london as my BSD was bought from bob around 2000 ,( i didn`t know about bobs passing and his business had ceased) i was hoping to buy one of their pins aswell ,either a mousin around at £600 or a scared stiff,at £1800 (at the time you could get an SS for around £1500) however the week before i went up they put their prices up by £400 on every machine for sale,with the scared stiff up to £2300 due to board and dmd repairs ,and the spider was still not working !!!,this didn`t give me any incentive to pay £20 an hour to play their machines,,there was a young lad there who serviced it over the week and did a good job but christ they were expensive best part of £400 !!! in the end i couldn`t wait to get my pin in the van and come home,the owners seemed to be only interested in EM machines, the place is a large converted stable block, like fort knox, hard people to get hold of even though i had made appointments on delivery and pick up times, well over £100 k sitting on the driveway, they certainly don`t need the money so why do they rip people off ??? i guess that`s how they get it
 
Tossers.
Last I heard of them falling out was that Andy took revenge on his dad by spray painting the playfields on a few machines.
Thats a serious nut job, Not right in the head to do that. Must have been dropped on the head as a child.
They remind me of the family in the film Texas Chainsaw Massaca. Strange and people should stay well away.
 
I once met the Dad and first impression was OK but have been told very differently since and this latest incident confirms it. I know someone who used to work there occasionally and you wouldn't believe the tricks they used to get up to, praying on people fresh to the scene. Also been told Andy has been a first class c*ck since childhood, so you're probably right Daz.
 
yeah and watch out they bid against their own machines on ebay as well as I found out - stay well clear!!!
 
Paul, thank you very much for taking the time to write this up for all to see. I hope Juan comes good on this in end.

I too came very close to being stung by this very auction. I'd just been bitten by the pinball bug but luckily a good friend alerted me to the dangers of this lot from Blackpool (please don't nuke Blackpool - I've got family and happy childhood memories!)

Juan's sad tale explains why my agreement to buy the Recel Master Stroke for £150 from this very auction fell through (notice the original ad says willing to split). After repeated phone call discussions about condition and agreeing a collection date and time, I couldn't get hold of Steve the day before I was due to pick it up (just a quick final confirmation as it would have been a 260 mile, 4+ hour drive for me from Surrey).

I don't understand how these guys are still managing to stay in business via eBay?

This link searches eBay for all items for sale under UserIDs stevie964, waynereed1 and cach1988:

eBay items for sale from stevie964, waynereed1 and cath1988

Current suspect items are a defunct sold-as-spares Rocky & Bullwinkle for a Buy-It-Now price of £550! And a Teacher's Pet sold in working condition, current bid £99! Unsurprisingly both machines have been re-listed due to "time wasters". Hopefully it was because the previous buyers were fortunate enough to see the goods before parting with their hard earned cash.
 
machines have been re-listed due to "time wasters". Hopefully it was because the previous buyers were fortunate enough to see the goods before parting with their hard earned cash.
more likely is that he bought it himself from another of his accounts after he found a way to avoid paying ebay or paypal any money at all for the 'sale'. not sure how, either he cries wolf as buyer or seller, but he clearly has it down to a fine art. then he just relists it again, sometimes using the same pictures, for usually a little higher price; and if anyone contacts him to ask why the high price (as i and no doubt many other have over the years) he can even quote the recent 'sale' as evidence that they fetch these prices.

gotta admire his methods and cheek really, sometimes he even posts new pics of the same machine a month or so later, but accidentally leaves something in the photo that can be cross-referenced, like a piece of furniture or an item of clothing or a vehicle.
 
Re Big Brave

Question
Dear cath1988,

You seem to have sold the same game twice before, is this a scam?

Answer
No the two both customers upgraded to fully refurbished machines when they saw the finest collection of vintage EMs in the world!. Please do not bid if you are so concerned!
- cath1988
 
Dear All,

I found this site by accident by searching for Pinball Paradise. My good friend got ripped off by these cowboys, but I have some information that I would like to share!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These cowboys are not that clever after all! The company they were trading under, was not registered as a Limited Company. This is significant and good news for anyone who has been ripped off, because this means that you can pursue them for your money back from their personal assets. You may ask, but how do I do that? Well................here is how. Firstly you need to go to the small claims court and file a claim. One problem you might ask, how do I know where these guys are? Well..............I have more good news!! Below is where Mr Stephen Reed lives in his big house. File a small claims court case, and if they do not pay you back your money, the bailiffs shall do the rest for you. This information was already online, it was just a matter of knowing where to look. I have no time for people like this who play on the trusting and the vulnerable. Citizens advice also offer free legal advice and I suggest you first made an appointment with them. THESE GUYS CANNOT RUN FOREVER!!!! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!! Happy Claiming!!!

Pinball Paradise was/is owned by Stephen Reed. His son Andy was also very much involved in the business. Mr Stephen Reed's address is:

REMOVED DUE TO THREATS OF LEGAL ACTION - IF YOU WANT THE ADDRESS IT CAN BE FOUND ON GOOGLE (Sorry!!)...

Good luck guys!!!! There is light at the end of the tunnel. Just a shame you all had to go through this C***!!!!
 
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