I should say that the GS3 really does make superb coffee. I do want to have a long relationship with this machine and not have the relationship prematurely ended by some friction and metal fatigue as the drip tray goes in and out to fill the tank.
I am back to drinking virtually all shorts. I usually drink yirgacheffe and it now seems a sin to put any milk with it when the shot is so good. I had the first latte this morning as I picked up some "Ruby" coffee yesterday from Morgan's Coffee and it was fantastic. So please don't get me wrong. It makes fantastic coffee. I just want to be able to keep doing this.

Rosemary

Hi Rosemary:

So I missed the part where you talked to the LM guys and they completely blew you off. Did you give them a chance to sort things out before you posted this?

FWIW the hole that you show is typical of a drilled hole in which the point of the drill breaks through the part before the main body of the drill enters the hole. When this happens the drill can chatter in the hole. The triangular shape is typical of this. I agree it isn't pretty. Since Teme's hole appears to be a milled slot, rather than a circular hole, and since your drain tray lugs don't fit into the hole, I'm wondering if someone may have forgotten to mill the slot after drilling the pilot hole. It happens. Sorry it happened to you.

I forwarded the link to this discussion to my friend, Bill Crossland at LM here in the US (Bill's the guy who designed the GS3). He immediately forwarded it to Italy. If they weren't aware of any problem they are now.

Personally I don't like the tone of much of this thread. I know firsthand how easy it is to make a mistake like that. Yeah, they should have caught it, but that's one reason why there is customer support. You say that there is a tech guy coming over to look at it but he hasn't come yet, and you posted this before he could look at it? And now a bunch of folks are now chiming in on the feeding frenzy. Give LM a chance to respond for crying out loud. They have a reputation for really good customer service here in the US anyway. Presumably they rock everywhere.

Oh, by the way a Scace will give you good information and reinforce the confidence in your machine choice that your taste buds are giving you.

-Greg

I don't wish this to turn into a slanging match. I had emailed La Marzocco a week ago with regard to contents of the box and whether I needed to register with them for the new tank. I have not received any reply to this as yet. I emailed Tuesday detailing my concerns about the machine and on Wednesday I forwarded the photographs. I have received no communication. I was mindful that several people may be leaving this weekend to go to the Tokyo show and was hopeful someone could have a look for me.

The person who drilled these holes will surely have known how little metal was left. It is not consistent with a high end product. It illustrates the importance of internal quality assurance.

Rosemary

Rosemary wrote:I don't wish this to turn into a slanging match. I had emailed La Marzocco a week ago with regard to contents of the box and whether I needed to register with them for the new tank. I have not received any reply to this as yet. I emailed Tuesday detailing my concerns about the machine and on Wednesday I forwarded the photographs. I have received no communication. I was mindful that several people may be leaving this weekend to go to the Tokyo show and was hopeful someone could have a look for me.

The person who drilled these holes will surely have known how little metal was left. It is not consistent with a high end product. It illustrates the importance of internal quality assurance.

Rosemary

I also don't wish to add to any rancor in the thread. I know the GS3 rocks, and I hope you get things sorted out.

-Greg

I have just had a call from Greg at Allpress and am very relieved to say that Greg was concerned about the machine and he believed it was an isolated incident. They will get back to me in a few days but want to put it right and expected it to be a replacement machine. So that is all incredibly positive. I will keep you updated.

Rosemary

Just stumbled by this thread; it seems that I'm a bit late, but I'd like to say that I'm sure you will be looked after.

RE: Scace device; Peter Cairis from ECA in Sydney has one and all of the necessary datalogging device. Although he works on e61 machines, he loves LMs. I'm sure that if you got in touch with him he would love the opportunity to datalog a GS3 and play around with some interesting coffees. Might save you shelling out another grand or so on measuring equipment.

RE: Dean's Ruby Fire blend; I had some here in Melbourne a few months ago on the cupping Synesso at St Ali. It struck me as quite acidic, but really opened up nicely when I bumped the temperature up to about 206.5F (!). So you might want to have a bit of a play around with some different temperatures with it. For all that I know, it might not need to be bumped up that high any more.

... so; are you teaming your machine up with a Robur? Or was that a Versalab that I spied in the background?

Very jealous,

Luca

Versalab is what I saw in the background.

Pick your machine wisely, but pick your vendor even wiser. Service is what differentiates where I purchase a machine. service after the sale can make or break a distributor and manufacturer.

Yes it is a Versalab. Absolutely fantastic. Definitely domestic only. I love the fact that it is straight through and infinitely adjustable

I had been using a higher temperature on "Ruby Fire" but I hadn't gone that high. Thanks for suggesstion. I'll try even a little higher.

Rosemary

Cool; let me know how it turns out. Around that sort of temperature you might well start to burn the coffee, but if you go just a bit below the temperature where it burns I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Cheers,

Luca

False start.

I was told this morning by Greg at Allpress that the most likely outcome was replacement of the machine, and he quite reasonably pointed out that it would be some time (September) before it arrived in Australia. I was totally happy with that approach.

However I have now received an email from Ettore requesting my telephone number and stating that La Marzocco has a one year warranty and on a case by case basis they will consider a repair outside the warranty period. He says it won't break for a very long time. This is despite the fact that it has only two pieces of 1mm metal holding the front bar in place at either end. It does not appear that they are interested in providing a replacement machine. I am still waiting to receive a call from him but it is late here.

It would appear that they believe "handmade" covers the shabby workmanship that I have received. Amazingly, Ettore told me last Thursday night that they are still trying to work out where to put the lugs.

I have identified an additional problem. The technician who visited Friday to follow up on the drip tray problems determined that there was no option but to disconnect the tea tap as there appears to be a problem with the software. When the pump comes on to fill the steam tank the tea tap also opens and will not stop until the water tank is empty.

I am increasingly concerned what other faults may not have been resolved as yet. I am incredibly disillusioned with La Marzocco's response that there is nothing wrong with the product, and at the end of the day I feel ripped off.

Rosemary