I love my Krups, but probably would buy a fully manual semi-commercial machine next time to retain the full orchestration of making good coffee.
Positive Product Points
Very easy to use. Office use proof. Detailed instructions via Display. Coffee grinder can be adjusted. After a bit of fine-tuning produces excellent froth (not too foamy but nice and creamy) Has a built-in Serial port for those computer-coffee geeks amongst us.
Negative Product Points
Customer Support through the service network in Australia is a total joke. We bought two of those machines, one for the office then other one for home. The one in the office had 3000 coffees done in about 16months. It needed a service and we brought it to the "Adelaide Service Centre' and waited for 2 months.
Detailed Commentary
We enjoyed many dinner parties with this machine. I can line 10-15 cups up and then use the jug to froth milk. With the automatic frother it will fill the jug up with creamy froth and stops by itself when the jug is full. This is very convenient when you have people to entertain and don't want to stand in front of a coffee maker for an hour to get everyone their coffees.
We bought two machines, one for the office and one for home. The one in the office produced about 3000 cups of coffee in 16-18 months. We have have 16 people in the office using the machine on a daily basis. Everyone cleans up after themselves (thank god for that) and we have two milk containers. One for skinny and one for full cream milk. The machine is so easy to use that everyone can produce their favourite cup of coffee. The amount of coffee output can be adjusted while it's producing coffee.
My machine at home recently would not turn on. Given the bad experience we had with the service here in Adelaide, I decided to give the diagnosis and repair a go myself. After removing all screws and exposing the inside I started to isolate the faulty part, which was the transformer. I did think that the machine was put together reasonably well and all parts were easily accessible for replacement. I contacted Group SEB, who sent me several explosion diagrams and a part list. The part was AUS$150 to replace. I also contacted the manufacturer of the transformer in Germany who declined to send me a replacement as the transformer was a custom part commissioned by Jura. It pays to be able to speak another language.... The guy in Germany explained that most likely what happened was that the thermo fuse inside the transformer tripped and that there wasn't actually anything wrong with the transformer windings itself. The Guy was very helpful and gave me some good hints how I could bypass the internal thermo fuse by soldering on an external fuse that does exactly the same thing and I could re-instate the transformer, which I did. After spending AUS$3.10 for the thermo fuse, I got the transformer fully functioning again at a fraction of the cost for a replacement. I put the machine back together after giving the inside a quick vacuum and clean and the Orchestro Dialog and I lived happily ever after:)
I do not recommend you entertain this idea of fixing your own coffee machine unless you know what you are doing and are very clever with your hands. This could cause some serious damage to your coffee machine and it is dangerous to play with electrical items. Only use a KRUPS authorised service centre.
Great little beast this Jura (Krups) Orchestro Dialog. I yet have to figure out how to use the serial port. Would love to use java to make coffee ;-)
Buying Experience
Was relatively painless as I bought from an Auction House (www.graysonline.com.au) Both machines arrived in perfect order. There were no parts missing and everything worked beautifully right out of the box.
