If you get a good machine, you have a great machine. If you get a lemon - be prepared for expensive repairs and shipping costs, outside the service area
- Lots of repairs even with regular maintenance - Lack of local (DC) repair person/shop - Many faulty parts in my specific machine
Detailed Commentary
I bought the Quickmill Andreja after much research and the great reviews it received on various coffee forums. I have had my machine for 4 years (purchase 2007) and it has been returned twice and is currently not operational. It is hooked-up to a direct water connection with a dedicated filter and softener.
I follow all of the maintenance recommendations to the letter. It gets light use; only 2-3 cups of espresso per day. When working, the machine makes a great cup of espresso. Unfortunately, my experience has been less than great since my machine started to flood from somewhere inside the machine which required a trip back to the vendor for repair. In total it has been back to Chris Coffee three times. Each time it comes back it seems to work for several months and then another problem pops up. Repairs outside of warranty service were costly (several hundred dollars). Now, the control board seems to have gone bad; so the heating element just turns on and off and sometimes beeps - indicating a low water level (even though directly connected) Maybe my particular machine is lemon.
As a final point, unless you live very close to Chris’ Coffee Service, note that shipping and insurance for something that weighs nearly 70 lb is not inexpensive – from Washington DC, it is about $60 UPS. If you buy this machine, save the shipping container as you may need it. I hope that you have better luck than I have had, because when it is working it is wonderful! I also checked locally and no one would service this machine.
Unfortunately, the repair team's first suggestion is usually to take the machine apart and tinker with it. Unfortunately, we do not have a lot of time for this and usually is a messy, long affair that does not fix the problem. I have been able to replace pressure stats and hoses, but larger repairs take a lot of time and the right tools.
Buying Experience
Great on the purchase, when the machine was in for service, sometimes it took several calls, emails to get a response on status.
