by bounceback on Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:18 pm
maybe talk with them about your issues and come up with a minimum set of terms for your agreement: all games cleaned X number of times per month, any mechanical issues dealt with promptly (within a week of you notifying them perhaps,) and whatever your financial deal is with them. if you're happy with the money side of things i'd just make an agreement about the other stuff they can stick to-- say 'this is what we want,' and give them a chance to say what will work for them, or not, and why. like they shouldn't worry you're going to drop them if something big like a motor on a game is broken and they have to order a new one-- on the other hand, you shouldn't be left hanging with games in bad shape on tournament night, when everyone has known about the tournament for a month.
it doesn't take long to clean a game, and on my game that gets played every day, a decent cleaning with novus once a month really helps things stay fast and decent. on games on location, it wouldn't be hard to clean each game that often, better yet every 3 weeks. i don't think an operator should ever come and take money and do nothing to the games-- if they come to get money every week, do a rotation, and clean two games a week. that prevents the bigger issues from happening. if they won't make a reasonable deal with you, with clear terms of their responsibilities and yours, and stick to it, that's when i would change to someone else. they should be straightforward with you, and vice versa.