Advice from a recent espresso equipment buyer

[Myron Wessinger]

Just purchased a quality grinder, will soon have the espresso machine. Im new at this...however i can already offer one important bit of advice. Whenever you are about to make a large purchase ($)...call the company by phone, take note of the response, did a human being answer the phone, answering machine, voice mail...did they call back, were they knowledgeable of the product. I believe in service after the sale...im not here to bash companies..in fact i hope some ceo will read this. After you unpack that large $ purchase you will have a better understanding of what to expect if you should have a question or problem. Im sure that the vast majority of dealers in coffee/espresso products are pro customer service...looking forward to great espresso.

[Trace]

Hi Myron! Hope you are enjoying the new machine! Sorry to hear you and the family moved to Iowa... we'll visit, soon!

love, trace

[another_jim]

... Whenever you are about to make a large purchase ($)...call the company by phone, take note of the response, did a human being answer the phone, answering machine, voice mail...did they call back, were they knowledgeable of the product ....

I'm fairly certain I disagree with this part of your post. The whole point of internet sales is to reduce transaction costs by eliminating all human interaction in the sale. You put in your details, it goes to the shipping department, and out goes the box. The customer and the business owner pocket the savings. Moreover, good vendors have more information on their sites or linked to it than even the best salespeople could provide; so that the buyer can get informed.

Most importantly, I'm not buying the sales department, which has zero added value to me, but the service department, which has huge added value. So the real test of a net vendor is how quickly and knowledgeably they answer the phone **after** the sale and **after** something goes wrong.

When I'm buying a product over the web, I fervently hope it costs them as close to nothing as possible to make the sale, so they can put the freed up resources into after-sales service, where it does me some good.

[miKe mcKoffee]

I'm fairly certain I disagree with this part of your post. The whole point of internet sales is to reduce transaction costs by eliminating all human interaction in the sale. You put in your details, it goes to the shipping department, and out goes the box. The customer and the business owner pocket the savings. Moreover, good vendors have more information on their sites or linked to it than even the best salespeople could provide; so that the buyer can get informed.

Most importantly, I'm not buying the sales department, which has zero added value to me, but the service department, which has huge added value. So the real test of a net vendor is how quickly and knowledgeably they answer the phone **after** the sale and **after** something goes wrong.

When I'm buying a product over the web, I fervently hope it costs them as close to nothing as possible to make the sale, so they can put the freed up resources into after-sales service, where it does me some good.

Reminds me of the joke: What's the difference between a used car salesman and a computer salesman, the used car salesman "knows" when he's lying to you! Could be said for high end espresso equipment to a great extent too I suspect.

I agree a knowledgeable sales person "may" not be important, assuming a well educated buyer. On the other hand, had it not been for my talking directly with Chris about the then proposed and delayed now defunct dual boiler PID temp controlled rotary (IIRC) Quickmill manifestation, I never would have even known about the rotary Bric' he had laying around willing to sell at a super price.

Also, even if knowing exactly what machine you plan to buy, and if not already familiar with a business's service department reputation, very viable to call and talk to service before purchase IMO.

[another_jim]

Also, even if knowing exactly what machine you plan to buy, and if not already familiar with a business's service department reputation, very viable to call and talk to service before purchase IMO.

Amen to that.

One of the "global village" aspects of the internet is that one can talk to other customers of a net vendor. On second thought, it's not quite the global village, since one never knows whether one's talking to the village idiot or not.