August1997
STAR* TECH JOURNAL
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PINBALL REPAIR
& MAINTENANCE •
.. . continued from previous page.
your meter. I always ask them
nice if they wouldn't mind drop-
ping off the rest of it.
The catalogs list a number of
styles of repair tickets. I use com-
mercial printed tickets in my
shop for all consumer repairs.
You don't need to be quite so
fancy, at least not at first.
&
You do need something that does
two things.
PINBALL REPAIR
V.2
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Together they cover nearly
every pinball made in the
coin-op games industry from
1986 to 1996. Modifications,
enhancements, troubleshoot-
ing, parts sources, replace-
ments and a ton of fixes by
easy-to-find symptom/solu-
tion format. Both manuals
designed to lay flat on the
bench for ease of viewing.
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Order Form
: Name: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
: Company: _ _ _ _ _ _ _
.
: Address: - - - - - - -
. : City: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
: State/Zip: _ _ _ _ _ _
: 0 Pinball Repair/Maint $49
: 0 Pinball Repair V.2 $49
: 0 $89@ Set.
: Please add $4.50 for S&H. ($11 via Air).
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: Thankyou!
: Prepaid or COD: 609/654-5544.
: S*TJ, Box 35, Medford, NJ 08055. '
: Fax: 609/654-1441.
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• First, you need to 'collect
the customer's name, ad-
dress and phone numbers,
write down their complaint,
record the model and serial
number of the repair unit.
Keep this with the unit
* ALWAYS note on the re-
pair ticket any accessories
they brought, and for that
matter what they didn't
bring. This eliminates con-
fusion at pick up time. "One
NES unit with 2 controls
and no power adapter.» You
can do this on a plain piece
of paper. Got notepads with
your company name on
them? Use that .
• Second, the customer will
want a claim check or re-
ceipt of some sort. Use your
imagination, maybe your
promotional handout can
be the claim check. Re-
member, the whole reason
we are doing this is to pro-
mote your gameroom.
Do you have some sort of club
card or frequent customer pro-
motion, the sort where you get a
punch each time you visit, and
after so many punches, some re-
ward is given? Any coupon or
other card the patron is supposed
to keep can be the claim check.
Sign them up for your promo
membership as part of taking in
the repair.
Remember, this is retail, so un-
less you want to do this under the
counter, you need to be within
the local laws and regulations.
You are selling parts and labor,
which means in many states you
will have to charge sales tax.
In Michigan we tax only the
parts, but in other states even the
labor is taxed. My resale tax li-
cense costs me one dollar every
year. If your state has sales tax,
check it out. Your state treasury
will send you information and an
application for license. Many of
you already have to have a tax
license to cover vending, arcade
counter sales, etc. You might be
able to avoid charging tax by
going to a flat rate system, with
parts included in the price of the
repair. Since the laws vary from
place to place, ask your accoun-
tant.
This is an angle, and like any-
thing else it works or it doesn't.
Like any promotion, it may need
to be adjusted for best effect.
Unlike repair of arcade games
sold to homes, these repairs they
bring to you.
Good luck.