BUYER BEWARE OF BARRY WHITE/STAR GAMES

Please give the pictures time to load.  It's estimated to take about 5.5 minutes to load them all on a 56k connection.  But, if you're reading, I'm sure they will be loaded by the time to you get to them.

If you just want to see his fraudulent auctions you can click HERE to open them in a new page or wait to scroll to the bottom of the page once it's fully loaded.

I bought a Flintstones pinball machine from Barry White (barrywnj@cs.com is his ebay ID) on Ebay on April 7, 2002.  His description and pictures made it sound and look like a very nice used pinball.  The machine we received was not the same machine he had pictured in the auction and far from nice, as he described it.  He explains most of the problems we had with the machine with "it was damaged while cleaning," or "it has nothing to do with the outward appearance."  He says the machine we got was the same as in the pictures and that it was a very nice used machine and you can't get much better than what we got.  Well, you be the judge.

Here is the item number so you can go see the auction for yourself:  Item # 1089240057 - A special note as of 6/10/02: **Barry has decided to take down the pictures in the auction page but you can still see them at the link where I saved that entire auction page**.  After so much time, you will not be able to see it on Ebay any longer.  So, I have saved the entire auction web page which you can look at by clicking HERE.  I also wanted to provide all of the e-mails I sent to him and he sent back to me about this problem so you can see how he would offer this in one e-mail and then something different in another.  You can also see how he hardly addresses some issues at all.  I will also be using quotes from these e-mails later.  1) FIRST E-MAIL TO BARRY      HIS RESPONSE TO FIRST   2)  SECOND E-MAIL TO BARRY   HIS RESPONSE TO SECOND   3)  THIRD E-MAIL TO BARRY    HIS RESPONSE TO THIRD

 

MOST OF OUR ISSUES WITH THE MACHINERed = His responses to issues.

1)  The machine that Barry sent us has a bad ground on the line cord so when we plugged it in of course it didn't come on.  He said, "As I see it, I do owe you... A line cord if the ground was broken off."  

2)  It was also missing the plate over the line cord.  3)  The score cards were missing.  4)  Legs he sent were Spray painted Gold but machine pictured had silver legs.  About these 3 issues he said, "Some issues like no plate over the cord and score cards werent replaced after cleaning I dont dispute, but the cards can be printed on the internet for no cost, and the plate cant cost over a dollar or 2, and I have them in stock and can send with the legs if you send the others back."  It doesn't matter to us that score cards can be printed or that a line cord plate is cheap.  We paid for a machine that had those when we paid for it.  If I wanted to go through the hassle of printing off score cards and replace cord plates, we'd a told him to keep them.

5)  Bondo used on the right rear bottom side of the cabinet in 2 places and on the right rear bottom of the head (That's right I said Bondo).  This is a very uncommon practice, though Barry said, "We sell about 10 machines a week and maybe 5 or 6 have some bondo."  YIKES!  He also said this about the bondo on our machine, "Yes, there was some bondo used in cabinet touch up, but it was neatly and professionally done, and many customers in my shop who saw the machine commented on how nice it looked."  I let him know that we didn't care that other people didn't mind it and that if we would have known about that alone we would have never bid at all.  I also asked him, "Do you think that using Bondo on a cabinet of a pinball machine is something not worth telling prospective buyers?"  He said, "we are selling used machines, some have a bit of touch up. We have never recieved any complaints that bondo was used before."  He seems to think this is a common practice and no one will ever care that bondo was used.  CLICK ON THE THUMBS TO SEE THE OTHER PICTURE(S).

[Photogallery/Flintstones Bondo/real.htm]

CLICK ON THE THUMBS TO SEE THE OTHER PICTURE(S).

6)  The CAPS that go on the driver board were mounted to the head.  He said this about the CAPS, "Makes it more reliable, nothing to complain about."  Well as you all probably know, that is completely untrue.  I could mount the caps to my neighbors basement wall and run the wires to the Driver Board, but that doesn't make it any more reliable.  It was a lazy way out of putting them back on the Driver Board where they belong.

 

7) The machine had 3 transformers in it.  I have asked him repeatedly about this and why it had 3.  He only had this to say, "Does no harm to machine."  It does not harm the machine, but it is an eye sore to prospective buyers.  I'd still love to know why there were 3 and Barry couldn't remove the 2 that were not needed. 

 

8)  It had a bunch of loose wires lying free inside of the cabinet with exposed ends.  This is all he had to say about this, "Machine worked 100% when shipped."  That isn't true either as the batteries on the CPU were dead when we got it, the ground lug on the cord was broken, and the coin door had been replaced and wasn't even wired correctly.  You can see the loose wires lying on the left in the picture above. 

9)  He had coils on the machine that he had cut off of another machine, which we knew because he didn't bother to de-solder the cut wires from the coils but just soldered around them.  First time in our 20+ years we had ever gotten a machine with used coils cut from another machine.  Some of these coils did not even work.  I said this about it in E-mail #2, "Even the coils you have on it were cut from other machines and the old wires were left hanging free and untapped with electrical tape. You couldn't even take the time to desolder them."  He responded with this, "Very possible, but didnt affect appearance or description of game."  Well that certainly affects the inner appearance of the machine when customers are looking at it.  Also, it is unsafe to have the exposed wire ends still on those coils.  Some of these coils were bad as well.  Tough to see in picture, but they are there.

 

 

10)  There was a broken pop bumper base.  He said this about it, "As I see it, I do owe you...a bumper base."  We have not pushed that issue, but he only offered that in the first e-mail and never since.

11)  He replaced the original Red Ball Launch button with a square White button that does not go on the machine.  He said this about it, "red button was damaged, I replaced with a working white one, I will swap this also when I get another Flintstones in."  We aren't holding our breath for this and he has not offered this part in our discussion on Square Trade.  CLICK ON THE THUMBS TO SEE THE OTHER PICTURE(S).

[Photogallery/Flintstones Ball Button/real.htm]

 

12)  There were no American Coin Mechs or Rejects on the coin door.  He put an American coin door on the machine but sent it to us with coin mechs and rejects for Yen.  Again the coin door was not wired correctly and what he had on it did not work.  He said this about it, "will send with legs 2 american coin mechs. We dont supply mechs with machines as a rule, as just about all go to home use on free play. But if mechs you want, we will provide."

13)  The Microswitch form on the right ramp was missing.  He said this about it, "As I see it, I do owe you...A microswitch form if one was missing."  That has not been offered since the first e-mail response.

14)  The "yellow bird" plastic next to the left ramp had been replaced with some kind of white plastic.  He had this to say about it, "As I see it, I do owe you for the bird which broke off when my shop men were cleaning the machine.  I will also send you $75 for the other issues, and send you a replacement bird off the next flintstones I have in my shop or $100 total without the bird if you prefer."  Again, we aren't holding our breath for this plastic.  CLICK ON THE THUMBS TO SEE THE OTHER PICTURE(S).

 

[Photogallery/Flintstones Bird/real.htm]

 

15)  The clear plastic is missing on the Spinner Assembly.  He had this to say about it, "Dont know about this."

16)  The locking assembly in the head was missing bolts and it actually came to us with the inner head door hanging half on.  I have a picture to show how it came.  He said this about it, "Will ship with the legs when you send the gold ones back, will reimburse you postage."  Has not offered since.

 

17)  The pinball had Black Data East head bolts holding the legs on.  He has offered to send these to us on Square Trade but not much else.

We then began to notice things that point to him sending us a different machine.

18)  We noticed the flippers on the machine in the pictures he used were angled wrong.  They were too high.  The right flipper covered the "s" in Flintstones on the playfield and the left flipper covered part of the "F" in Flintstones. The machine's flippers we got did not have this problem and were at the correct angle.  He had this to say about it, "The flippers were checked after the pics were taken also."  I had this to say about that but never got a response, "It is hard to believe that you would take the time to fix the angle of the 2 flippers, but put used coils that were cut from other machines on those flippers. The effort wasn't put in to make the wires look right, covering the ends with electrical tape, to desolder the wires off the coils you did use, replace the caps in there proper place, or to put new, good coils on where needed, which is the right thing to do."  You be the judge.  Based on all the stuff he didn't fix or take the time to do right, why fix a hardly noticeable flipper angle problem?  CLICK ON THE THUMBS TO SEE THE OTHER PICTURE(S).

[Photogallery/Flintstones Flippers/real.htm]

 

19)  We also noticed some wear on the score card area that is not in the pictures he used.  He never made any comment about this.  The wear is on the right side of the score card holder where it rounds.  You can also see from these pictures that the Score Card area is different in color on our machine than the one he had pictured.    CLICK ON THE THUMBS TO SEE THE OTHER PICTURE(S).

[Photogallery/Flintstones Score Card Wear/real.htm]

 

20)  The Rock houses on the left of the playfield have very bright and vivid colors in the pictures he used.  The machine we got had faded rock houses.  The blue one is even missing paint in some places.  He had this to say about it, "The machine was cleaned further after the pics were taken. We use scrubbing bubbles on most playfield parts some blue could have faded, or it can be the lighting, I cant tell by the pics."  Well, it's certainly not the lighting and as I said earlier, he explains away almost everything major with, damaged while cleaning.  Should that damage be worth any compensation?  Not according to him.    CLICK ON THE THUMBS TO SEE THE OTHER PICTURE(S).

[Photogallery/Flintstones Houses/real.htm]

 

21)  Now for the most damning evidence of all that he sent us a different machine, as if we didn't already have enough.  As you may or may not know, there is a little white sticker that Williams put on this and other machines near the coin door area.  It is the factory serial number of the machine.  There is no set one place for these stickers so you might have them in different areas on other Flintstones, but they are always on the front and below the coin door.  The machine he has pictured in the auction has that little white sticker on the right of the "Flintstones" logo which is under the coin door.  That sticker is missing on the pinball he sent to us but, the film of that missing sticker is still there.  The film is above the "S" in the "Flintstones" logo on the machine he sent to us and not to the right of it like it should be. 

He has only had this to say about it, "There are many stickers on the machine when we get them in, some operators place on, we usually remove residue with naptha, sorry if we missed one, but it was the same machine, the only Flintstones I had in stock."  Again, that is a Williams, factory placed sticker with the serial number on it.  Why he would ever want to remove that sticker is beyond comprehension.  I then asked him this but got no response, "There were no other Stickers on the machine you had pictured, only that little white sticker to the right of the 'Flintstones' logo. That is the Factory placed serial number of that machine. Why you would ever want to remove it is beyond my comprehension. If you are saying it was there and you removed it, why did you decide to remove it after the pictures were taken if no other stickers were around it? According to what you are saying, you would have removed the sticker, whose film was left behind, at the same time you took off the white sticker in the pictures. But I don't see any other stickers in the picture you used. No operator put on that sticker in the pictures. It is the Factory sticker for the serial number and there would have been no reason to remove it.  That film shows where the white sticker on the machine you sent was, which is different from the machine in the pictures, plain and simple. If you remove all stickers, why wasn't the rear Williams sticker removed? You took the time to cut out the voltage number, but left the sticker behind. Why do that too?"    CLICK ON THE THUMBS TO SEE THE OTHER PICTURE(S).

[Photogallery/Flintstones Sticker/real.htm]

 

I thought we'd add this picture just because it shocked us when we took off the headglass.  Take a look at how dirty the translight is on the back. 

Here are some of the Gold Touch ups he did to the Gold colored crackles throughout the cabinet.  It'd be nice if the colors were even close to matching.

 

 

I am currently using mediation through Square Trade to try and get the missing parts and $400 in refund for this machine.  It is not worth the $1279 we paid for it and $400 is not much to ask considering we'll never see most any of the major parts we deserve like the ball launch button and yellow bird plastic and the rock houses cannot be fixed without major touch ups.  The items missing should be given to us no questions asked, as most of them were on the machine in the pictures.  The only parts he is now offering are the following: "will send bird and different legs and leg bolts and line cord on return of other legs. Will send new door on return of door customer didnt like."  Don't want a new door just American Coin mechs and rejects. 

This is what he told Square Trade in response to all of these issues I have listed: 

Barry White's response:
  • I offered buyer to exchange the legs he didnt like with the machine, buyer complained about some bondo used on cabinet. It is a used machine and was nicely repaired, and fairly described. I have been selling pinballs for almost 30 years and have never had someone complain so much about so little.
  • I believe the buyer is mistaken in their description of the problem.
  • Machine was machine pictured. One small part, a plastic bird broke off when cleaning, I offered to get replacement or pay for replacement

Does this sound like a little bit I am complaining about?  I have more listed here than some legs and bondo.  More than just the Bird was broken or damaged or left off while cleaning.

Barry had this to say about this machine, "The issues you describe are nothing that anyone wouldnt expect on a used machine, we sell 500 per year and this machine is typical for a very nice used machine.  You have to ask questions before you bid. Sometimes people ask if there was any touch up, or does it have american style door, or if it ever left the country for any time. Fair questions, but most people dont find them relevant as long as they get a machine as described, which I feel you got."

We don't expect nearly any of the problems this machine has when we buy a used machine.  You can see the used machine we have for sale on our website and not a one of them is in this sad a condition.  This machine was not as good as described.  In his description he says this about the machine, "PINBALL MACHINE IS IN SUPER CONDITION, GREAT SHAPE, EXTERIOR IS ABSOLUTELY GREAT, THE GAME PLAYS FANTASTIC, YOU WONT BE SORRY WITH THIS ONE, ALL IN ALL BEAUTIFUL AND A GREAT MACHINE."  The machine didn't work when it got to us, had a bad line cord, dead batteries on CPU, used coils with cut wires hanging off and some didn't work at all, a coin door wired wrong so it didn't work either, a lot of missing or damaged parts for whatever reason, Yen coinage that didn't even work, numerous little problems - wire form, bumper base, bad coils, etc, loose wires with exposed ends, bondo on more than one place on the cabinet, sorry touch ups done on the gold, etc, etc, etc.  All in all a sad machine.

I'll leave by saying what I had this to say at the end of my last e-mail to him and I have yet to get an answer, "When you get right down to it, there are just too many coincidences that point to the machine being switched before it was sent. You try and explain everything away with this broke while cleaning and that was taken off and not replaced while cleaning. There sure was a lot of misplaced items and damage done to that machine while cleaning - Ball launcher damaged, score cards forgotten, plastic broken, cord plate forgotten, blue house was faded (it's not the light). After looking at the pictures even more, all of the house are more faded than the ones in the pictures you used (and that's not the lighting either). We also just noticed that there is wear on the covering that holds the score cards that is not on the machine you had pictured. It is chipped and scuffed on the rounded area. Let me guess though.......Damaged while cleaning right?  Wouldn't all that be something that you would e-mail and let us know?"

Apparently all that damage supposedly done while cleaning was not worth mentioning, nor was bondo on the cabinet.  He'll show you a nice used machine and send you trash.  The best thing that came out of this deal is some poor home owner didn't end up getting this machine and have to have a guy go straight to work on it just to get it working.

UPDATE as of 6/10/02:

I finally had to file a Fraud case to get anywhere at all with Barry, who continued to still not tell the whole truth about the situation.  Here is part of our conversation in Ebay's Fraud area up to now 6/10/02 about noon:

06/06/2002 02:11 PM - FROM: big70@aol.com
--------------------------------------
We bought a pinball machine from Barry. It was not the same machine as pictured, not as good as described, and it came to us with damage/missing parts. Http://Oldiesbutgoodiespinball.com/Fraud.htm for Proof.
 
06/06/2002 02:07 PM - FROM: big70@aol.com
--------------------------------------
We bought a Flintstones pinball machine from Barry. It was not the same machine he had pictured, not as good as described, and it came to us with damage (some was admittedly caused by Barry).
 
06/06/2002 02:29 PM - FROM: barrywnj@cs.com
--------------------------------------
I offered to exchange the legs and coin door with the buyer, in addition to leg bolts and grounded wire. I told him to send them to me and I would give him brand new ones and pay for postage. The machine worked perfectly when shipped and was the machine pictured. I cant see any difference in the pictures he emailed me with shades of blue, wear on the score card holder, etc. He asked no questions before bidding, he could have asked if there were any repairs ever made, could have asked if bondo was used, etc. I will refund his money if he returns game, even though I dont see any reason for it, but I wont refund shipping. We usually get $1499 for a Flintstones in this shape, he is a dealer so I guess he is used to paying less.
 

I had to keep my description short at first (was only allowed like 200 characters including spaces).  You can see from his response that he was not telling the whole truth.  Again, his words will be in red.  "I offered to exchange the legs and coin door with the buyer, in addition to leg bolts and grounded wire. I told him to send them to me and I would give him brand new ones and pay for postage."  Again, we never asked for a coin door and he seems to have left out a number of parts that we not only asked for, but he said in different e-mails he would send.  "The machine worked perfectly when shipped and was the machine pictured. I cant see any difference in the pictures he emailed me with shades of blue, wear on the score card holder, etc."  Well, we have proof up top that the machine was not the one pictured and you'll see what I had to say about it working in just a moment.  But he says he can't see the difference in the blue rock house on the left of the playfield and the wear on the score card holder.  I've got 7 indifferent people on my end that can see the difference.  Finally, "I will refund his money if he returns game, even though I dont see any reason for it, but I wont refund shipping."  That's right, you see it.  9 days short of 1 month since I first asked him to take the machine back for a refund, he now offered to do so after I filed a Fraud complaint with Ebay.  Of course, it is too late for that to happen now, as we have put 3 full days of work into this machine to get every function to work perfectly and to clean up the messes left behind (loose wires, cut coils, had to rewire the entire coin door, etc.).

HERE IS THE NEXT PART OF OUR CONVERSATION AND MY REPLY UP TO 6/602 (I had to reply numerous times due to a character limit of 1024 with spaces):

06/06/2002 07:13 PM - FROM: big70@aol.com
--------------------------------------
We never asked for a coin door, I don’t know where that has come from. These are the parts we want: Red Ball Launch Button, Yellow Bird Plastic, American coins mechs and rejects (not a new coin door), 8 new Williams silver leg bolts, 4 silver Williams legs (we will send back the Spray painted gold ones), a new line cord, line cord plate, and the score cards. You have not offered us all of these parts at any one time, even though you can see most all of them on the machine you had pictured and some of them that you claim to have damaged. Each e-mail and offer you have sent has had less and less parts. The above parts are what we want. The machine may have worked perfectly when it left your shop on free play. When it got to us the batteries on the CPU were dead which erased the free play setting. The coin door was wired wrong and nothing on it worked. We had to correctly rewire the coin door to get the switches to work. The line cord was also missing the ground lug.
 
06/06/2002 07:14 PM - FROM: big70@aol.com
--------------------------------------
You are correct that I did not ask any questions but the questions you say I should have asked are not common or normal questions. We knew that the Flintstones would have had repairs done to it; it’s an 8, almost 9, year old pinball. Of course in all that time it had repairs done, anyone in their right mind would expect that. But mounting the CAPS from the Driver board to the head, that is not a common practice or a proper repair. Cutting old coils off of other machines, putting them on the Flintstones you sent, and not even desoldering the old wires off of those coils, another uncommon practice and improper repair; very sloppy. The only machine we have ever gotten from anyone with coils like that. Some of those coils were bad at that.
 
06/06/2002 07:15 PM - FROM: big70@aol.com
--------------------------------------
I can’t understand how you can’t see the difference in the color of the rock houses on the left of the playfield, especially the blue rock house. They are all faded compared to the machine you had pictured. I know 7 people other than myself that can see the difference. Why can’t you? These same 7 people can also see the wear on the scorecard holder. Try taking a look at the pictures on http://oldiesbutgoodiespinball.com/Fraud.htm Now for the bondo. NO ONE should ever have to ask if bondo was used on a cabinet. That is extremely rare and should be told to all potential customers up front. I’m sorry that it may be a common practice for you, as you say that 5 or 6 of every 10 machines you sell have bondo, but for the rest of the pinball world it is very uncommon. That would be like me asking a guy at a dealership if the car he was trying to sell me had some Clay touch-ups on the body anywhere. You don’t ask that because it’s not a question you should need to ask.
 
06/06/2002 07:20 PM - FROM: big70@aol.com
--------------------------------------
We asked you to take back the machine in our first e-mail to you 9 days short of 1 month ago. That option has long since passed. You never acknowledged that I had said anything about sending it back and we have put at least 3 days of work into this machine to fix all of the problems the machine had (rewiring the coin door, replacing the bad used coils, fixing the pop bumper base, replacing the missing wire form, fixing the defective rear ball pop-up assembly, taking out the 2 extra transformers that should not be there, cleaning up the cut & loose wires left in the cabinet, replacing CPU batteries, & cleaning the battery holder to just name a few). We want $400, not only for all of this time we had to put into this machine, cleaning up the mess that was left by poor, sloppy, improper repairs, but also for the poorer than described condition of the machine, and the damage caused to the machine that cannot be repaired (like the bondo, the rock houses being faded, and the wear on the scorecard holder).
 
06/06/2002 07:21 PM - FROM: big70@aol.com
--------------------------------------
I have also told the mediator on Square Trade that I would be willing to bring down the money we want to $300 (meeting you nearly in the middle of your $150 offer to my $400 want), but I cannot move on the parts we want because they were all on the machine you had pictured or were admittedly changed or damaged prior to shipping but after the pictures were taken. So there is no confusion, this is what we are asking for: I will come down to $300 and we want the following parts: The proper Red Ball Launch Button that says “rock me” on it, Yellow Bird Plastic, American coins mechs and rejects (not a new coin door), 8 new Williams silver leg bolts, 4 silver Williams legs (we will send back the Spray painted gold ones), a new line cord, line cord plate, and the score cards. If you cannot or do not want to send all of these parts, we will take $100 in trade for them all.
 
06/06/2002 08:00 PM - FROM: barrywnj@cs.com
--------------------------------------
send back the legs and leg bolts, I will send you some used chrome legs(new legs were not mentioned in the listing), used leg bolts, score cards, cord, cord cover, coin mechs, shipping money. I will try to locate a bird and red launch button also. All coils worked fine when machine shipped. You are the only customer that ever complained about Bondo used, or extra capacitors and transformers, and $150 is way more than a fair offer for any work you did, which you are blowing way out of proportion.
 

Well he left out the coin rejects, but he get most of the parts correct.  He still wouldn't move on the money though ($150), which he first offered on Square Trade.  He also tells us, "$150 is way more than a fair offer for any work you did, which you are blowing way out of proportion."  We haven't blown a thing out of proportion.  We put a lot of work into this machine.  Anyway, just so everyone knows, I have come down on my offer and did so on Square Trade.  I am now asking for $300 (not only for all of this time we had to put into this machine, cleaning up the mess that was left by poor, sloppy, improper repairs, but also for the poorer than described condition of the machine, and the damage caused to the machine that cannot be repaired - like the bondo, the rock houses being faded, and the wear on the scorecard holder.) and all of the parts that were admittedly damaged in Barry's care or that did not come with the machine, but were on the machine pictured.

Again, he is now offering most of the parts but Ebay will give us $175, which is a over and above his offer and the 2 parts we are most concerned about (the yellow bird and ball launch button because they will be very hard to find) will probably never been sent to us.  My $300 offer is $25 above of meeting him in the middle of his $150.  ($400 our want - $150 his offer = $250.  $250/2 = $125.  Take his offer of $150 and add that $125 and you get $275, which would be directly in the middle.).

HERE IS THE REST OF OUR CONVERSATION (REALLY JUST MY REPLY) UP TO 6/10/02: (Again I had to reply numerous times due to a character limit of 1024 with spaces.  He has not responded yet, but has now taken down the pictures on the auction so I guess we'll have to wait and see what that means.)

06/07/2002 09:47 PM - FROM: big70@aol.com
--------------------------------------
I doubt that we are the only customers to ever complain about Bondo being used, but if you had said in your description of the machine that it was touched up in some areas with Bondo we wouldn’t have ever placed a bid, which is probably why it was not in the description. You knew it would turn off buyers. It really doesn’t matter if we are the only ones with that complaint, we were not told about the bondo, it is not a common practice, and you can see from the photos I have on the website that the body is deformed where the bondo is used. You can also see the green bondo on the back of the head. We own over 200 pieces of equipment and that machine is the only one we have, have had, or have ever purchased with bondo on it. That’s enough going back and forth about the Bondo. The fact is this. We are unhappy with the bondo and want some compensation because it is an eyesore, we cannot do anything about it, and it detracts from the value of the machine.
 
06/07/2002 09:48 PM - FROM: big70@aol.com
--------------------------------------
The extra transformers and loose wires, etc. are also eyesores and it’s sloppy to leave them there. If they don’t need to be there, remove them. You said to me in e-mail that most of your customers are homeowners. I doubt that many and certainly not all of them know how many transformers a pinball needs. I doubt many of them know much at all about pinball machines. We are not blowing any of the work we have done out of proportion. We put 3 full days of work into getting every function of that machine to work perfectly. For example, do you think we just knew the coin door was wired wrong when it got to us? We had to problem solve and test things to find the cause. We also have proof that the machine you had pictured is not the machine we got. The pictures are the proof and the missing Williams serial sticker is the nail in the coffin.
 
06/07/2002 09:50 PM - FROM: big70@aol.com
--------------------------------------
Barry, we have already come down $100 from what we wanted and you have not moved at all. Ebay will refund us $175, which is over and above your $150. Let’s forget the legs and leg bolts. Now all you need is a small box for all of the items we ask for, which will save you $ shipping to us and the $ you were going to send us to ship the old legs and bolts back. We want $300 for the poorer than described condition of the machine, the work we have put into it, and the fact that the machine we got was not the machine pictured, which the pictures clearly show. These are the parts we want: The yellow bird plastic, correct red ball launch button with “rock me” on it, the score cards, American coin mechs and rejects, a line cord, and a line cord plate. We know that it is unlikely that you will find the 2 parts we are most concerned about, the yellow bird and ball launch button, since it will likely take a parts Flintstones to find them. We will accept $75 for both of those items. That is our final offer.
 

As of 12:35 pm on 6/10/02 there has been no response and he has taken the pictures in the auction down, which were still on there this past weekend.  I will keep this updated to it's conclusion as I get more information to provide.

UPDATE 6/24/02 Here is the conclusion to the online Fraud Complaint Form.  Barry did respond on 6/10/02 after 7 pm that evening.  Here was his response.

06/10/2002 07:19 PM - FROM: barrywnj@cs.com
--------------------------------------
I will offer $175. paid right away via paypal.com, line cord, line cord plate, and 2 coin mechs as settlement. I will send the 2 other parts when I get a flintstones in.
 

As you can see, he finally went up just $25 from his highest offer and put it together with the less amount of parts we told him we would accept.  Just not good enough.  Here is our response.

06/10/2002 08:57 PM - FROM: big70@aol.com
--------------------------------------
We have already come down $100 from our original offer and you moving up $25 is not going to cut it. If you come up $100 from your original offer to $250 and the Score Cards, line cord, line cord plate, 2 American Coin Mechs, and the correct Ball Launch Button and the Yellow Bird Plastic either when you get in another Flintstones or pay for each of those parts if we find someone who has them for sale, we will then have a deal. If you want to Paypal the $250, you'll have to add the 2.9% plus .30 we will be charged. That would mean you'd need to send $257.55. Of course, you can send a check or money order for the cost of a stamp. This is our final offer and the last amount that we are moving. We will have moved $150 if you accept this amount and you will have only moved $100. This is the absolute final offer.
 

As you can see here, we made a final offer of $250 and the lesser amount of parts, of which the bird plastic and ball launch button we knew we would never realistically see.  This message was left on 6/10/02 just before 9 pm.  I e-mailed Barry to let him know we had left a response.  It is now 6/24/02 and he has not chosen to leave a response. 

The finally tally is this.  We came down $150 from $400 to $250 and dropped a lot of the parts we were asking for, parts that were all on the machine he had pictured or were admittedly left off or damaged while in his care.  He only moved up $25 from his highest offer of $150 to $175, only because we had told him that ebay will at least give us that.

The Fraud process is now going to go to completion and will be mailed in the next few days once I get everything together and filled out.  Negative Feedback will now be left. 

 

UPDATE:6/25/02

Here is an appraisal of the machine by an independent party, which was required to mail in a Fraud claim to Ebay:

"My name is Jerry Stroud. I have been in the Amusement industry for over twenty five years. I have looked at the Flintstones pinball machine that Mr. Brandon Haney purchased from Mr. Barry White on Ebay, Item #1089240057. I have also looked at the auction page with the description and pictures used to sell the Flintstones pinball. It is obvious to me that the machine pictured in the auction and the machine received by Mr. Haney are two different Flintstones pinball machines. The difference in color of the score card area, the fading of the rock houses on the left, and the missing factory serial sticker are the most convincing signs that the machine Mr. Haney received and the machine that Mr. White pictured are not the same. In my opinion, the description that Mr. White used was also misleading as to the true condition of the machine. Mr. Haney paid $1279.00 for the Flintstones pinball. After looking over the machine and noting the numerous functional problems, eyesores, incorrect and cut wiring, and missing parts that it had, I determine the worth of the pinball that Mr. Haney received to be $750.00.

Jerry Stroud
Master Sales"
(also signed by Jerry, which I will show here with a picture of it).

 

UPDATE 11/10/02 - his auctions that are fraudulent are the following:  There are 46 in total.  That is counting auctions which you can no longer see (from May-09-02 10:58:35 PDT  - 1098403671) due to time and him making some private, what you are still able to see (though he has removed the pictures from most of his past auctions), some of the auctions that he has not gotten feedback for yet (although with private auctions you cannot go see the machine they bought vs. the feedback), and the 11 currently running (110 total).  That's 41.81% (46/110) of his last 88 auctions that have been fraudulent, 42.34% if you count my deal with him (47/111), which I had my feedback removed for and was not allowed to leave feedback after the first removal.  I keep finding more and more, so I'll update this as they are found. Funny, I just noticed that,  for the above percentage, I am counting auctions that he didn't bother to put pictures in.  So, what's really scary is that percentage of reused pictures is a whole lot higher if you count only the auctions he did use pictures for.  Just a thought.

The first # links are to eBay's page for the sale.  The 2nd name links are for when any of them are no longer available on eBay due to the time limit of 90 days after the sale that they are kept in the system.  They are also there in case Barry decides to take the pictures down, like he did with my auction.  He has now taken the pictures down on most of these.  I have saved all these pages, which you can always view with the 2nd name links.

Getaway 1 - 2102416477             Getaway 1      Getaway 2
Getaway 2 - 2106388017 - uses all the same pics

Dr. Who 1 - 2110563517              Dr. Who 1      Dr. Who 2
Dr. Who 2 - 2122530237 - uses same headshot

Stargate 1 - 2100384177                Stargate 1       Stargate 2
Stargate 2 - 2124346730 - Same pics.

Lethal Weapon 3 1 - 2101734575         Lethal 1       Lethal 2
Lethal Weapon 3 2 - 2111698666 - same pics

Tales from the Crypt 1 - 1095753730        Tales 1      Tales 2
Tales from the Crypt 2 - 1097653349 - same pics

Hook 1 - 1098318291        Hook 1      Hook 2      Hook 3
Hook 2 - 2114184302
Hook 3 - 2119344934 - Hook 1 and Hook 2 have same exact pics. All 3 have the same playfield shot (last pic).

Judge Dredd 1 - 1089001622        Judge 1     Judge 2     Judge 3
Judge Dredd 2 - 1092576130
Judge Dredd 3 - 2125504908 - Pics of Dredd 3 are the exact pics of Dredd 1.  Same headshot used in all 3 auctions.

Fish Tales 1 - 1090595476        Fish Tales 1      Fish Tales 2
Fish Tales 2 - 2107482949 - same pics

Tommy 1 - 1094509800        Tommy 1     Tommy 2
Tommy 2 - 2124248877 - Same headshots.

Guns and Roses 1 - 1098403671       Guns 1     Guns 2     Guns 3
Guns and Roses 2 - 2106404118
Guns and Roses 3 - 2112793359 - same pics.

Star Wars 1 - 2101836438      Star Wars 1     Star Wars 2
Star Wars 2 - 2117200024 - Same pics.  In fact, the first one sold May 11 and he relisted it on June 27.  You can see that he relisted it by looking at the first auction and seeing the words, "This auction has ended but the item or one similar to it has been relisted. Go to item now."

 

ONE MONTH AND 2 DAYS OF NOT REUSING PICTURES PASSED NOW THE FOLLOWING ARE STARTING AGAIN.

Star Trek 25th Anniversary 1 - 2100733351       Star Trek 1    Star Trek 2
Star Trek 25th Anniversary 2 - 2133029995 - same pics.

Scared Stiff 3 - 2129242341 - ?? Would this be a case for the same scared stiff sold 3 times in a row?  He said at the bottom of this "reserve" auction, "At the high bidders option, I will let them buy the game for the ending price, even if it doesnt hit the reserve.  I put the wrong reserve in error and can't change it now."  You would have to assume then that if someone bid on the game they would have bought it.  Interesting isn't it.
Scared Stiff 1 - 2131512139      Scared Stiff 1     Scared Stiff 2    Scared Stiff 3
Scared Stiff 2 - 2135077787 - same pics.  He sold the first one 2 days before reposting the same pics.  Relisted it just like he did with the Star Wars.

Star Trek The Next Gen 1 - 2120079004      Star Trek Next Gen 1   Star Trek Next Gen 2
Star Trek The Next Gen 2 - 2133911913 - Same pics. 

Star Wars 3 - 2120076947        Star Wars 3      Star Wars 4
Star Wars 4 - 2134889959 - shares 3 pics with Star Wars 3.

 

18 DAYS HAVE PASSED (SEPT 4 - SEPT 22 2002) SINCE BARRY HAS LAST REUSED PICTURES TO SELL MACHINES.  HERE ARE HIS NEW FRAUDULENT AUCTIONS.

Tales From the Crypt 3 - 2133907485        Tales 3       Tales 4
Tales From the Crypt 4 - 716863562 - Same exact pictures.

Jurassic Park 1 - 2136422040        Jurassic 1       Jurassic 2
Jurassic Park 2 - 719182726 - Same exact Body pictures used for both machines.

Bugs Bunny 1 - 2103829767       Bugs 1         Bugs 2
Bugs Bunny 2 - 718668103 - Same exact body shots and 1 playfield shot reused.  Also, on another funny note, you can see 2 different color pop bumper caps when you compare the 3 reused pictures (last 3) to the 3 non reused pictures (first 3).  The first pop bumper cap is blue in the first 3 and reddish/orange in the second 3.  The playfield shot in the first 3 has a little wear spot by the right slingshot and the playfield shots in the last 3 have no wear in that area.

10 DAYS HAVE PASSED (OCT 7 - OCT 17 2002) SINCE BARRY HAS LAST REUSED PICTURES TO SELL MACHINES.  HERE ARE HIS NEW FRAUDULENT AUCTIONS.

Hook 4 - 2135378656        Hook 4      Hook 5
Hook 5 - 725506933 - Same exact Pics

Rocky 1 - 716288576        Rocky 1      Rocky 2
Rocky 2 - 724046336 - Same exact PICS

24 DAYS HAVE PASSED (OCT 17 - NOV 10 2002) SINCE BARRY HAS LAST REUSED PICTURES TO SELL MACHINES.  HERE ARE HIS NEW FRAUDULENT AUCTIONS.  I will say he's getting better.  Out of his last 22 pinball auctions, these are the only ones that he reused pics to sell.  His percentage before counting these two was 50.05%.

Gilligan 1 - 728680627      Gilligan 1      Gilligan 2
Gilligan 2 - 733985766  - Same exact PICS - Auction is currently running.

Golden Tee 2003 1 - 728012130       Golden 1      Golden 2      Golden 3
Golden Tee 2003 2 - 729190123
Golden Tee 2003 3 - 730725263  - While I don't normally keep track of his video sales, I thought I'd show these 3 kit Golden Tee 2003s he was selling.  All 3 use exact same PICS.  These do not count in the overall percentage.

BUYER BEWARE OF BARRY WHITE/STAR GAMES