Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Joseph Robertson on January 25, 2010 at 4:57pm

When I had a machine on warranty installed the service tech said there is nothing I do to maintain these machines that you can't take care of yourself if your even a little mechanically inclined. Of course use us till the warranty is up. You can bet I picked his mind on this.
Joe
--
Ambassador for Specialty Coffee and palate reform.

Permalink Reply by Joseph Plaugher on January 25, 2010 at 6:36pm

Thanks! That confirms my suspicions

Joseph Robertson said:

When I had a machine on warranty installed the service tech said there is nothing I do to maintain these machines that you can't take care of yourself if your even a little mechanically inclined. Of course use us till the warranty is up. You can bet I picked his mind on this.
Joe
--
Ambassador for Specialty Coffee and palate reform.

Permalink Reply by Shadow on January 26, 2010 at 1:42am

Yeah I agree.... maybe use the warranty work for what it's worth, watch what is being done, learn as much as you can...... Buy a service manual for your particular machine and have at it. Be sure to do basic preventive maintenance day-to-day so issues down the road are minimized.... Later!

Permalink Reply by Joseph Robertson on January 26, 2010 at 7:33am

Ahh, yes Shadow, the service manual. Thanks for the reminder. I need to order one.

Shadow said:

Yeah I agree.... maybe use the warranty work for what it's worth, watch what is being done, learn as much as you can...... Buy a service manual for your particular machine and have at it. Be sure to do basic preventive maintenance day-to-day so issues down the road are minimized.... Later!

Permalink Reply by Brady on January 26, 2010 at 10:12am

There are a couple of ways to look at this.

I sell an annual PM plan that includes 3-4 gasket, screen, and screw changes, overall inspection, and a couple of annual service items. I've priced it to be a bit of a discount over what you'd pay me to do this normally.

It is all stuff you can do yourself, IF you are mechanically inclined, have a good place to get the right parts, and can remember to do it when you are supposed to.

The benefit of having the tech do the PM is that they'll hopefully spot little things before they become problems. Can't tell you how many times I've stopped in for routine stuff and found a problem that's been happening for a couple of weeks... "oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask you about that". Not that you can't do the same thing yourself, but it is easy to put things like that off until they cause a problem.

All that said, $230 sounds like a lot for a "routine checkup", unless you had several filter cartridges or burr sets in that visit. Did you get an itemized invoice? Did everything look OK on it?

Permalink Reply by Joseph Plaugher on January 26, 2010 at 10:57am

We'll to my knowledge, there isn't a service company in our area. So we pay a company who comes from 1.5 hrs away, and we pay their gas ($70). Does $160 sound hi still? This does not include filters or burrs. I'm not real happy with the company anyway, so I'll likely do it myself at least until I find a better co.

Brady said:

There are a couple of ways to look at this.

I sell an annual PM plan that includes 3-4 gasket, screen, and screw changes, overall inspection, and a couple of annual service items. I've priced it to be a bit of a discount over what you'd pay me to do this normally.

It is all stuff you can do yourself, IF you are mechanically inclined, have a good place to get the right parts, and can remember to do it when you are supposed to.

The benefit of having the tech do the PM is that they'll hopefully spot little things before they become problems. Can't tell you how many times I've stopped in for routine stuff and found a problem that's been happening for a couple of weeks... "oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask you about that". Not that you can't do the same thing yourself, but it is easy to put things like that off until they cause a problem.

All that said, $230 sounds like a lot for a "routine checkup", unless you had several filter cartridges or burr sets in that visit. Did you get an itemized invoice? Did everything look OK on it?

Permalink Reply by Brady on January 27, 2010 at 6:25am

Joseph Plaugher said:

We'll to my knowledge, there isn't a service company in our area. So we pay a company who comes from 1.5 hrs away, and we pay their gas ($70). Does $160 sound hi still? This does not include filters or burrs. I'm not real happy with the company anyway, so I'll likely do it myself at least until I find a better co.

Brady said:

There are a couple of ways to look at this.

I sell an annual PM plan that includes 3-4 gasket, screen, and screw changes, overall inspection, and a couple of annual service items. I've priced it to be a bit of a discount over what you'd pay me to do this normally.

It is all stuff you can do yourself, IF you are mechanically inclined, have a good place to get the right parts, and can remember to do it when you are supposed to.

The benefit of having the tech do the PM is that they'll hopefully spot little things before they become problems. Can't tell you how many times I've stopped in for routine stuff and found a problem that's been happening for a couple of weeks... "oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask you about that". Not that you can't do the same thing yourself, but it is easy to put things like that off until they cause a problem.

All that said, $230 sounds like a lot for a "routine checkup", unless you had several filter cartridges or burr sets in that visit. Did you get an itemized invoice? Did everything look OK on it?

Ahh... OK.

If you were 1.5 hours from me, your bill would be about that much... my travel charge is $50/hour.

I'd DIY... then open a little service company in your town a year from now!

Permalink Reply by Joseph Plaugher on January 27, 2010 at 9:44am

I have been thinking about that. There are a handful of coffee shops that probably need a local service co. here. Great idea. Thanks for the input!

Brady said:

Joseph Plaugher said:

We'll to my knowledge, there isn't a service company in our area. So we pay a company who comes from 1.5 hrs away, and we pay their gas ($70). Does $160 sound hi still? This does not include filters or burrs. I'm not real happy with the company anyway, so I'll likely do it myself at least until I find a better co.

Brady said:

There are a couple of ways to look at this.

I sell an annual PM plan that includes 3-4 gasket, screen, and screw changes, overall inspection, and a couple of annual service items. I've priced it to be a bit of a discount over what you'd pay me to do this normally.

It is all stuff you can do yourself, IF you are mechanically inclined, have a good place to get the right parts, and can remember to do it when you are supposed to.

The benefit of having the tech do the PM is that they'll hopefully spot little things before they become problems. Can't tell you how many times I've stopped in for routine stuff and found a problem that's been happening for a couple of weeks... "oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask you about that". Not that you can't do the same thing yourself, but it is easy to put things like that off until they cause a problem.

All that said, $230 sounds like a lot for a "routine checkup", unless you had several filter cartridges or burr sets in that visit. Did you get an itemized invoice? Did everything look OK on it?

Ahh... OK.

If you were 1.5 hours from me, your bill would be about that much... my travel charge is $50/hour.

I'd DIY... then open a little service company in your town a year from now!