I don't understand the concept of using a machine for 25 days, pulling dozens of shots on it and then returning it because you changed your mind.
I understand a return policy where if a product doesn't work as advertised or if it is unused and you have changed your mind about the purchase, but is the policy really a use it hard for a month and then send it back one?
What is the seller supposed to do with such a machine with a high shot count record?
Personally I think you should have sent it back as soon as you had concerns with the work flow.

First off, this is the company's policy, not something they are doing specially for me. I am not in the habit of returning things. The vendor is the one that brought this up, not me. Second off, I did not use it "hard". I basically make two double shots per day with the exception of making a few more on a few other days. Where in the world did you get a 'high shot count record'. Most people drink more than 2 double shots per day. I was talking with the vendor ALL ALONG with issues. This is their policy, not mine. Plus if you want to get into the nitty gritty of it, there is the issue of not being informed that if I didn't give it some recovery time after pulling some shots---it would not let me steam very long at all before going back to brew mode. That happened 4 times. So I on my own, give it a few minutes to sit in brew before putting it into steam mode. I always knew it wouldn't steam a ton of milk--but that was not the issue as I only typically steam about 5oz. of milk per day, the one time I make a drink per day. The issue was it going back to brew mode if not giving it a few minutes recovery time that I wasn't aware of. Again, this is the company's policy that THEY brought up to me enthusiastically.

I think I would return the machine as defective. You should not have to wait a few minutes after brewing to turn on the steam mode in order to get it to function properly, that's silly. Secondly, if the machine is exiting steam mode after only a short time of steaming then that is a flaw. Since it is doing so intermittently I am led to believe that it is not happening by design and there is a malfunction somewhere.

How does the machine behave when you steam first thing prior to brewing?

I have watched a video with the Victoria in action, the user was quite able to get his steaming done with no issues of the machine returning to brew mode prematurely. Nor did he wait after brewing to push the steam button.

You already know that you can make a good espresso with this machine and there really is no reason that you should be struggling to steam small quantities of milk, I do it every day with a single boiler, and the boiler on my Anna is pretty small, smaller than the Vic.

I would talk to the vendor more, if they insist that the behavior you are experiencing is normal I would ask for a refund or go to a different machine, if they think it is a defect, maybe try a replacement. If they think it is user error then they need to work with you (although I can't really see what that could be) It should be at their expense IMO.

I haven't tried steaming first because by the time I finished brewing my 2 doubles, the milk would start to lose it's fullness. That's why I always made my espresso first, as I didn't ever feel that took a 'hit' sitting til I made my steamed milk. The vendor claims this is 100% normal for this to happen. I may upgrade to the Elizabeth. It has been 'behaving' now, but I do give it those few minutes to 'recover' before going to steam mode.

I was not suggesting that you steam first then brew as a habit, just curious to find out if the steam mode behaves normally if it is done first. I like brewing first as well.

This is not the best video in the world but it clearly shows the steam functioning as expected, no waiting after brewing to start the steam mode (of course you still need to wait for steam temp to be reached) and no turning back to brew mode until the barista hits the steam switch again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAABBASaVXE He makes lattes starting at about 10 minutes in.

Yup, that is one of the videos I watched of his. In fairness to the Victoria, it did this going back to brew mode in the middle of my steaming 4 times out of the 25 times I have used it (received it on May 28th. It was strange to me even though the vendor said this is normal, thus I got in the habit (whether really needed or not) to give it a few minutes before going to steam mode. Maybe it would never do that again, but intermittent issues are the absolute worse to troubleshoot.

When your machine prematurely goes into brew mode in the middle of steaming your 5 oz, why not just press the steam button again and keep steaming? No need to wait for the temperature to climb back up, just keep going. It should be able to produce enough steam to finish the job for your one drink.

If I were you, I would keep the Victoria and keep your $800. Remember your rationale for getting the SB in the first place. You stated, in a different thread, that a SB was sufficient because it was just you making 1-2 drinks in the morning, and you didn't mind the extra effort. That is all still true. And as another poster suggested, the extra boiler on the Elizabeth won't make your espresso taste better.

Reason being, is that I did press the steam button one time when it was going back into brew mode, it takes a bit for the bar under the steam temp. (275°) to crawl back up to the steam temp. I noticed my milk took a big hit (not in a good way) when that happened. The milk ended up being flat (not microfoam) and luke warm. If I would've been able to keep steaming & it would've stayed hot at the very least, this maybe wouldn't be as much of a concern to me as it is.

You don't need to wait for the temp to get back up to 275 to keep steaming. These small single boiler machines will naturally drop in temperature while steaming but will continue to produce steam. Pressing the steam button will just get the heater to turn back on so the temperature doesn't drop as fast.

I'm probably at this point going to get the Elizabeth.