Dr. Willy Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 Okay so here is my long story. I went to CAX and while I was there, their was this guy selling pinball related stuff. I walked up to his table and saw he had a basket of custom shooter rods. I looked through them and he had some cool ones, but I didn't see any Captain America. I asked him if he had one and he said no, I don't make these, but here take this card, this guy is the maker of them. So when I got home from CAX I sent the guy an email. This was July 15th "Hi there, I was seeing if you have a custom shooter rod with either captian Americas head or his shield? Thanks" He replies "Sure I can do a Captain America custom Shooter Rod. Just paypal 50.00 to:(his email address . I will ship it out asap. Thanks" I reply "Hi, Thanks for the fast reply. I am sending money now, I would like to do his shield instead of his head, I think it will fit the theme of my cab better. Im not sure if all plungers rod sizes are the same but the rod should be the size of a williams/ballys rod. I was hoping to have the shield be the size of a normal plunger top or perhaps just a hair larger." I sent the cash as soon as I hit send on that email. He replied back within about 30 min saying that he couldn't do the shield because he had already ordered the head from my first inquiry and that he would have it done and shipped within a few days. I thought this was a bit weird as that would mean I hadn't even sent him money and he ordered the parts for it. I just say okay, maybe that's how he does business or something and brush it off. A couple of days go by and then he emails me saying "Hey Sorry for the minor delay. The distributor of the Capt America Head just emailed me and said he is on vacation until monday, and will ship that day. He usually takes 2 days, so I will be shipping your shooter rod out sometime next week. Thanks for your patience. Hopefully, you will think it was worth the wait." Now over the couple of days that had past I found a great looking Captain America shield plunger at pinball side mirrors. So I email him back "Thanks for the update. Question, if I sent another 50 could you also do a shield version? This shooter is for a custom built visual pinball machine, and that shield was really going to tie everything together, with the custom art that is being done. I surfed around the net and was able to find a shield shooter rod from another maker if you can’t make one I could go that direction. At this point im not sure the head will even get used, I might just have it as a display piece, or resale it. Not sure yet. Again thanks for the communication" His reply "Sure, that would work. If you send another 50.00 I'll order the shield, and should be able to ship them both out next week." the right after sending more cash I get "I just ordered the shield, and it should be here in a few days." July 25th hits and I get "Hey there, I have the shield finished. I'm still waiting for the Captain Head to show up so I can ship them together. Contacted the shipper and it already shipped so hopefully tomorrow they will be ready to go. I'll send you a tracking number as soon as they ship out. Thanks" Then got an email on the 29th saying he got the head in and then another one on the 30th saying that he got them both shipped out. I received them today. Here is what they look like. Head I kinda dig the head. Its got that cool 80's Captain America thing going on. Its a little sloppy on the sides, there is glue residue kinda all over it (guessing he used epoxy) Not sure what to do with this guy yet. Now onto the shield.......... Or what he is calling a shield.... This thing is not good looking. It is a childs toy with a hole drilled in it and a rod stuck in it. I even found the same exact thing on amazon See Here http://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Avengers-Captain-America-Mission/dp/B007CLSWF0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375761727&sr=8-1&keywords=captain+america+communicator Not to mention it doesn't look his shield at all. Its 2 3/4" on the front and 3" in diameter on the back, how the heck are you supposed to grab onto this thing while playing pinball? So long story wrapped up, what would you guys do? Should I rattle his cage and demand my money back? He did make me a custom plunger after all. Should I just eat the cash and chalk it up to a life lesson? Thoughts? Opinions? Oh and I am now going to try and make my own shield plunger using a small shield I found on ebay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russdx Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 Wow i'm getting into the custom plunger business lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shakenbake Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 That's horrible. I'd ask for my $$$ back. $50 for a plunger should get you something much nicer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeGor Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 The head looks kind of cool, but the shield is pretty weak. I also don't imagine either one could take much abuse. I wonder if you could get a normal handle laser etched with the shield symbol, or even get the handle 3D printed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Willy Posted August 7, 2013 Author Share Posted August 7, 2013 This morning I emailed the guy to see about a refund. Here are our exchanges. Me "I received the plungers yesterday afternoon. I am writing you because I am truly unhappy with both of these plungers. I don’t want to sit here belittle your product, as I know you have put time into these. I would just like to know your thoughts on a return of these items? Thank you His reply "it's a big world. You can't please everyone. I would say 99% love them and 1% don't. I can't do a full refund but I would be willing to refund half your payment and you could keep them and maybe they will grow on you." Me " How about I box them back up and send them back to you for a full refund minus what it cost to ship them to me (should be about $13 bucks via usps?)? That way you can resell them to someone else who will appreciate them more then I do and I will only be out the cost of shipping." His reply "I'm not trying to be difficult (obviously, by offering a partial refund), but not only money goes into these items but time as well. I don't make these to get rich. If you send them back, when I receive them I'll refund 75.00. That is the best I am willing to do which is way more then I should do." I took the day to think about which offer I was going to take. I am boxing up these items now and sending them back tomorrow. I will just take the loss on cash as a lesson and be done with this whole situation. Very frustrating but sometimes that's just how things go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daithi1101 Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 You are right to be pissed off!! They are nothing more than kids toys attached to the plunger. My dad always said "education is never cheap" Id take the $75 and run. Sorry to hear of your troubles. Sent from my GT-I9305T using Tapatalk 4 Beta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shakenbake Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 I think you made out better that I would have expected. $25 is much easier to swallow than $100. Good to see that he was willing to work with you a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickeltitanium Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 Would you be kind enough to share the information of this "custom plunger vendor"? I would love to keep his contact information. Just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Willy Posted August 7, 2013 Author Share Posted August 7, 2013 I don't want publicly say his name and info, sed me a pm and ill give it to you or anyone else that wants it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mameman Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 Shield could have made a decent launch button. But I know you we're going for a plunger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Willy Posted August 7, 2013 Author Share Posted August 7, 2013 mameman your right the so called shield he sent me could be turned into a launch button. I may have to think about that, thanks for pointing that out. As of right now, I am just going to take his first deal of a refund of 50. If I send the items back shipping is 13 bucks back to him, that leaves me with 75-13= $62. I need a couple of blank rods which pinball life charges 4 bucks a piece for so there is 8 and shipping is another 7 to me. If I just take the 50 and keep the items I can salvage the rods and use those. I also maybe able to use his head, I was thinking about drimeling out the A on his forehead and putting a led inside of it and putting it on the back box as a flasher. Here is a pic of the shield I bought on ebay that I will be turning into a plunger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mameman Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 As someone else pointed out elsewhere that looks a lot like a pez head. Neat idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Willy Posted August 8, 2013 Author Share Posted August 8, 2013 I don't think its a pez dispenser. The slot for a pez dispenser would need to be vertical at the bottom where the tray meets, the slot in this head is horizontal. That's what the large pez looks like lol. I do think a head off of one of those could work though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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