Rosemary wrote:False start......... 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.
I am sorry that you are having to go through the disappointment of these problems after enjoying the excitement of its arrival. Purchasing the most expensive and most advanced home espresso machine ever one would have to expect receiving the best in all areas.
I think that the mass of responses here are overwhelmingly in support of you and bewildered as to how one of the very most respected name in espresso machines could send out a machine that would seem to be in Beta testing stage as a finished product. Your comment, " ....Ettore told me last Thursday night that they are still trying to work out where to put the lugs," and the problem you reported with the software and the hot water tap, I wonder if they are as far along as they should be in developing this machine before offering it to the public?
As consumers we wield a lot of power- more than we might think. I remember talking to the Rancilio rep at the Seattle show (iirc) about the folks who had been adjusting the OPV on the Silvias. He kind of giggled and said that they test them and that they were all within a small percentage of ideal. Less than a year later all Silvias came equipped with an adjustable OPV. No, I am not at all taking credit for that. A few years ago those of us adding PIDs to espresso machines were thought of as geeky lunatics but now we see more and more machines coming equipped with them- mostly on the commercial side, but it is happening. Jim of 1st-line has taken a lot of feedback from customers and his own requirements and has had the Domobar line improved in a number of areas to be able to offer a better product to his customers.
In this particular case of the LM GS-3 problems, if consumers accept sub-standard workmanship then we can expect to receive machines that exhibit this low-level of craftsmanship. That hole would have had a grommet or even a washer welded over it during production- not only to reinforce the hole but to make it look like the folks who produced the machine possess some pride in their workmanship and the product they produce. I guarantee that the area around that hole WILL rust. Rust is oxidized steel, and that means that as time goes along there will be even less metal in that area, so at the very least you need to sand and paint that area now (save the photos for documentation purposes).
I hope this all works out for you in the end, but it certainly is a lot to have to deal with, and I am sorry for your hassles. We can all ask ourselves, If I would have after seen this machine in a showroom and a salesperson said, "Oh- that hole? They all come that way. Don't worry about it. We have disconnected the hot water tap and expect a software fix for it any day now." Would you have still bought the machine for $4500 USD?
sorry... 
