Welcome To thomthetech.com

The Commercial Page

This is the Commercial Page.  Click HERE for my Residential Page.

You've Come To The Right Place!

So who the heck am I?

Hi.

My Name is Thom Kirby, and I live in Tracy, California.

Please click on your point of interest:

TRAINING

GETTING & KEEPING YOUR REDEMPTION GAMES LEGAL

ARCADE FACTS I KNOW YOU KNOW

THE BENEFITS OF A COMMERCIAL ACCOUNT

My Experience:

I started repairing Amusement devices around 1985.  I was employed as a Field Service Technician in New Jersey (City Amusements) for over 2 years.  Although based out of Jersey, my "territory" was New York; mainly around Queens, Yonkers, Staten Island, and occasionally in Jersey, along the Hudson River.

I was also the District Technician for over three years at Namco Cybertainment. (Remember Pac-Man? :) I was based out of Wonderpark, which was located at the Great Mall in Milpitas, California.    (Wonderpark used to be where the Sears Appliance Center (by the Food Court) currently resides.)  I was also responsible for 6 arcades, totaling over 400 games.   The arcades were located at Pier 39 in San Francisco (2), also Concord, Newark, Monterey, Milpitas, and Sunnyvale.  When Wonderpark closed in February of 2000, I stayed on for a few more months, then not having an office anymore, as well a place I could call "Home", I decided it was time to move on.

Lastly, I was the Senior Game Technician (Full Time Game Tech)  for 3 1/2 years at Dave & Busters #24 located at the Great Mall in Milpitas, California.

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How's It Going?

I Offer Expert Repairs On:

    Electronic, or Electromechanical (EM))

    (any age or condition)

 

        Upright, Cocktail, or Cockpit

(Sorry, but I don't work on home Video Consoles because I've never been able to find a reliable source for parts.)

You've Come To The Right Place!

If you can put money in it, I can repair it. :)

Reasonably Priced - Estimates Available - No Job Too Big Or Too Small

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Honest Repairs With A Fair Price!

TRAINING AVAILABLE

Take your Techs to the next level... With Training!

I'll never admit to knowing everything. But I have a lot of experience I can share with your employees.

Some Examples Include:
 

Simple Electronic Troubleshooting

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Email Me With Your Questions!

ARE YOUR REDEMPTION GAMES LEGAL?

(No, I'm NOT Kidding!)

I know it may sound weird, but a lot of games I see in Arcades in California (mainly pusher games) are setup incorrectly and are considered illegal.  If you're caught operating one you can be fined.   No, really.  I'm not kidding!

Want some examples?  Ok.  Here's some free ones...

"Out Of Bounds Areas" - Many Pusher Games are equipped with Out Of Bounds Area.  In California, these areas must be BLOCKED OFF or you are in violation. Don't know what this is?  What you don't know CAN hurt you.

"Skill Games That Have a Stop Button" (IE ICE's Cyclone) - This game (and others like it) This games program from the manufacturer can make the game easier to or harder to win based on how many times people have won it in the past.  In the state of California this practice is Illegal.   The level of difficulty has to be non-changeable, and always stay the same regardless of how many times people hit the "Jackpot".  This is only accomplished by purchasing "California Eproms" from the game manufacturer.   These Eproms disable this adjustment and make it unchangeable by the games operator.  If you never bought these Eproms (in this example from ICE) there's a good chance your game is illegal.

 

Ok, one more free one:

A Merci Ticket (It's not "Mercy" because you weren't good enough to win anything on your own), but rather "Merci" (French for thank you.)

In California, It's REQUIRED every redemption game dispense at least ONE Merci Ticket for every game credit played.

What's a Tennessee EPROM?  What about a NEW JERSEY EPROM?  I'm going to save those.

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Email Me With Your Questions!

Here's some Arcade Facts That I'm Confident You Know:

- Clean games that work are more fun to play, and make more money.
- If you have Pinball Machines, they need constant maintenance.
- If you have Video Games they need it too.
- Redemption Games? Them too!
- A Customer will play a broken game only once. (Unless it dispenses an incorrect amount of tickets! :) (Either way you lose!)
- A Customer will play a clean, working game a lot more than once.
- A Customer that sees a lot of dirty, broken games won't be a Customer for long.
- Unlike San Francisco, the Tracy area is not a Tourist Area and Arcades in non- tourist areas DEPEND on repeat business.
- Would you go back to an Arcade that had dirty and broken games?

- Nothing feels worse to a Customer that buys a bunch of Tokens only to see they wasted their money.

   (This happens only once too)

- In this business, In order to MAKE money, you have to be willing to SPEND money.

Let me look at the stuff others have given up on. - Put me to the test.

Make a list of all your problem games, send me an email and I'll come out and have a look.
If it's not worth repairing, I'll tell you.
If it's worth repairing, I'll let you know what it needs, and how much it will cost to repair.
You have nothing to lose, and profit to gain (from a working machine).

Please leave me email with the games name and the problem(s) you're experiencing with it.  Maybe we can do business.

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Commercial Service And Repair Information

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Please Read Everything

The Best Surprise Is NO Surprise :)

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All Service and Repair Work will be done at your location.

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Commercial Service Rate:

Distance Is Calculated From Tracy, California (Junction Of Route 205 & 11th Street)

        Plus

    (Remember, I do NOT charge for drive time.   Your hour starts when I start working on your item, not when I get in my vehicle.)

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The Benefits Of A Commercial Account

With a commercial account, there are many benefits.

Monthly Billing

Walk In Charges no longer apply, which in the long run saves you money.

Repairs are performed on a case by case basis.

NO monthly fees ever.  I only get paid when I make repairs.

I'll always be an email or phone call away.

If I can't repair it, you pay nothing.

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Parking:

Any expenditures required for me to park will be added to my walk in.  The only reason I've included this is once I had to pay $30 to park!   (SF is expensive! :)

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Estimates:

    Estimates are a one hour Service Call minimum at regular rates. I will do my best to evaluate the unit you want an estimate on.   From this evaluation, I will tell you what I feel your item needs to be up to par, and I will provide you with a quote for repairs after I have looked up the prices of the parts I'll need to make the repair.  If you want me to do the work, when I return, I will only charge my normal hourly rate.  Estimates are limited to 30 travel miles.  Additional mileage extra.

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Shop Jobs:

A Shop Job is like an overhaul for your Pinball Machine.  A Shop Job consists of the following:

(Please note that a Shop Job may or may not repair a problem you're having with your machine - It depends on what problems you're having.)

        (Unforeseen issues can be addressed, and what will be required to correct them.  (IE something that's broken that wasn't noticeable prior to disassembly.))

        - Plunger, Coil, Stop and Sleeve

        - EOS Switch

        - Cams Cranks & Links

        - Bracket, and hardware) for future problems.

PLEASE NOTE:

Shop Jobs are billed at a FLAT RATE and NOT by the hour.

Shop Jobs range from $350 to $600.   The price is dependant on the game, and how many games are involved.

Parts are NOT included.  I will advise you what parts I'll require and where to purchase them.  You order the parts and have them shipped to your location, and when they arrive, let me know and I'll schedule a time with you to come over and do the job.  Normally, the Rubber kit is usually no more than $30. (again, it varies on the game), and the new Pinball Balls are like $2 each.  Normally, Shop Jobs take a few hours (depending on the game), but may require another visit if additional parts need to be ordered to complete the job, or if additional issues take longer than expected.  Regardless, the labor charge will not change.

For a quote on a Shop Job, just let me know the name and manufacturer of the game, and I can give you a no obligation estimate.

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PLEASE NOTE:

    Some  repair calls may, or may not require more than one trip to repair.  Parts may need to be ordered, Etc.  To save you even more money, I only charge the walk in fee on my first visit.  Any visit after that is billed by the normal hourly rate.  The only condition to doing this is I only work on the game I came back for.  If I work on anything else, my full walk in  charge applies.

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Service Warranty:

    Most service and repairs I perform, and new parts that I install, are warranted for 30 days from date of completion of repair. Any warranty work done on your game must be performed by me.

Work done on your game by anyone other than me will void the warranty.

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Important Notes On Monitor Repairs:

  Most of the Monitors in some video games can be in excess of 30 years old.  With that, certain parts in the Monitors do "wear out" with age.  One such component are Capacitors.  Over time, Capacitors dry out internally, causing their physical properties to change.  These changes can and will make the monitors picture do strange things that will not be able to be corrected with adjustments of any knobs.  Any Monitor that's up there in years I will recommend (Ok, insist on) having what's called a "Cap Kit" installed.  A Cap Kit is a collection of all new Capacitors (and other parts) that when installed into a working Monitor will usually correct a lot of problems with the picture quality.

    There will also be times where the Monitor does not come on when plugged in.  At this time, the Monitor will have to be inspected to determine what parts the Monitor will need (usually in addition to a Cap Kit) to get it working again.

    If you have a Monitor issue and would like me to look at it, please get me the Make and Model Number of it so I can make sure I have all the proper documentation required to service it efficiently.  Otherwise, I'll have to spend time getting the Monitors documentation online while I'm there. 

  A Special Note On X-Y Monitors:

X-Y Monitors are very different than RGB Raster Scan Monitors.  Some X-Y Monitors all fail similarly.  Some specific brands have the same issues.  Some brands have modifications I can perform on their Deflection Boards to make them more robust and last longer.  Again, we can discuss this as needed.

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Important Notes On Pinball Repairs:

    After repairing your used pinball machine, I cannot guarantee that it will never break down again. All pinball machines have hundreds of moving parts and delicate electronic components that will naturally require maintenance and repair on a periodic basis. And the older, or more used a pinball machine is, the more often it will require repair work to keep it running. After repairing your game, it may work for a day, a month, or a year, without breaking down again; it's impossible to say.

    While the repair work that I perform on your game will bring it back to working condition, (unless otherwise noted) I cannot guarantee that other problems do not already exist, or that another problem will not come up later in the day, the next day, or in a week, etc., that will render the game inoperable again. It is impossible for me to guarantee the operability of any used pinball machine; I can only guarantee the work that I  myself have performed in order to repair it today.

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Future Repair Work - Warranty / Non-Warranty:

    If I repair your game and it breaks down again within the warranty period, I will repair your game again at no charge if the cause of the problem is due to a failure of my workmanship, or failure of any new part(s) that I installed.

    On occasion, I may attempt to repair something that ultimately may need to be replaced in the future.  If this situation arises, I will be sure to inform you.  Purchasing the new part(s) if/when the "repair" fails will be the Customers responsibility.

    If your game breaks down again due to something else in the game that I did not initially repair (i.e. the game has developed a "new problem"), or if the warranty period has expired on something I already repaired (within reason), then a new charge will apply to again repair the game.

    For example, Say your game is not working and I repair the power supply to get it working again. Then the next day, the game stops working.

    If the power supply that I repaired has stopped working due to a failure of my workmanship or failure of a new part that I installed on the unit, then I will repair the game for you at no additional charge.

    However, if I find that the power supply is still working properly after my repair, but that something else in the game has failed (such as a different part on the power supply, the motherboard, game wiring, or anything else), then I will have to charge you to repair the "new problem".  We can work something out.

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In a Nutshell:

    My warranty only covers the repair work I initially performed, and any parts I installed during the course of that repair work.

    This scenario is similar to having your car repaired. Say your car won't start and a new battery is installed to get it working again. Then, the next day, your car won't start again. If it's because the new battery is dead, the mechanic will replace it for free.

    If the car won't start because the fuel pump has failed, then you wouldn't expect the mechanic (who replaced the battery) to replace the fuel pump for free. A new charge will apply to repair the fuel pump.

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To leave me mail, click HERE.

 

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