In one of these topics, I saw a mention of sending your Olympia Cremina to Thomas Cara for repairs on the West Coast. I spoke with Christopher today, and he prefers not to work on these machines (long story, not worth others bugging him for it). He gave me the names of two other shops, one of which I will use in a couple of weeks. I'll report my experience here.
For those of us who don't have time to do our own, or who are mechanically challenged, finding a good repair shop for Creminas has been challenging. In the San Francisco Bay Area I've used one shop that charged me for a gasket replacement they didn't do, and another that held my machine for three years (I **** you not), until I finally guilt-tripped him into finishing it. The other day it suddenly shut down while I was pulling the morning shot for my wife, and pushing the reset button resulted in the button sticking in the up position. I took the base plate off and discovered that the button was pushing against... nothing. It appears that the bottom of the boiler was bolted on one bolt clockwise from its correct position, so the reset button doesn't hit the reset tab. Some other things look wrong, too, including spade lugs on the wiring that look overheated. Fortunately the machina began working again (che sa?), but it's time for a shop visit.
Has anyone had better repair experiences?
