Recently purchased a Linea Mini to upgrade/replace my seven year old Alex Duetto 2, which is increasingly showing signs of wear and tear after seven years of daily use.

Two or three days into ownership, I began noticing that the brew paddle wouldn't always work. At first, I thought perhaps the machine needed to reach a specific temperature, but after research, learned that the paddle should work any time the machine is powered on. As the days have progressed, the problem has grown worse, and I now often can't get the machine to work (power off, try again later).

I've had this machine three weeks. It was only reliable the first couple days of ownership. Last week was lost with emails, telephone calls, and videos passing back and forth between the retailer, myself, and La Marzocco, with me taking troubleshooting steps for both parties, before everyone involved finally agreed the machine might have a faulty microswitch. Chris at LaMarzocco called this morning and has initiated the process of scheduling a tech for a visit to replace the microswitch.

A couple take aways so far... 1. I don't know why the retailer even bothered trying to troubleshoot, wasting two days, before passing it off as a warranty issue. 2. I'm glad I live in a major metropolitan area where there is a tech located a reasonable distance away, even so, LaMarzocco has yet to confirm the tech has the part or has experience with Linea Minis. 3. If you have a problem with a new LaMarzocco consumer machine, it feels like its up to the owner to perform frontline troubleshooting and prove to the retailer and LaMarzocco that there is a problem with the machine. 4. If you have a problem with a LaMarzocco machine, it is likely going to take more than a week to have it addressed. 5. I purchased this machine from a retailer that I have past experience with, but one that is located across the country. If I had it to do over, I would purchase from a local retailer where I could physically return the machine.

nater wrote: 5. I purchased this machine from a retailer that I have past experience with, but one that is located across the country. If I had it to do over, I would purchase from a local retailer where I could physically return the machine.

^ this. When I'm asked I always recommend purchasing from a retailer close by. I learned this the hard way when I had to ship a Silvia from NJ to WA (SCG) for a repair and paid close to $80. If I would have purchased it from WLL it would have cost me $25 or so to ship.

thecoffeefield wrote:I learned this the hard way when I had to ship a Silvia from NJ to WA (SCG) for a repair and paid close to $80. If I would have purchased it from WLL it would have cost me $25 or so to ship.

I suspect in the case of the Linea Mini, shipping with insurance would be north of $200.

After owning many different espresso machines over the years (Rachillio, Isomac, LaMarzocco, Salvatore, Londinium) I have come to expect that it is best that I try to troubleshoot/fix the machines myself with guidance from the retailer/manufacturer. I got rid of my GS3 when I started developing problems that I did not feel comfortable tackling.
Rob

Some retailers, manufacturers, and/or manufacturers-retailers do not like their machines touched by owners or coffee-machine techs. They would rather you ship the machine back to them so they can see the problem with their own eyes. Then they have minimum charge to fix your machine whether it realistically only costs them a dime or a thousand dollars plus shipping both ways. Personally, I like that La Marzocco has in house technicians that provide help to owners in diagnosing a problem and share valuable insights to the LM machine that one may have. I've only had my LMLM a few weeks, but my interaction with LM technicians have been superb thus far.

I totally agree on buying an espresso machine from your local retailer/manufacturer. Some might already know my story on how I upgraded to LMLM. I had to ship my one year old Rocket Appartamento in for a warranty work, which I had to pay ~$100(including insurance). During transit, there was a shipping damage and the frame of the machine broke in half. It took about 1.5 months for me to get a payout from the insurance company. After this fiasco, I told myself that I was never going to buy an espresso machine from a retailer/manufacturer that requires me to ship the machine for warranty work. In my opinion, it is far better to troubleshoot the machine yourself with a guide from the retailer/manufacturer and learn the inner workings of the machine, in case you need to service the machine after the warranty period is over and also if you don't want to deal with shipping the machine and run the risk of damaging the machine during transit.

I think it's reasonable to say that when it comes to machines of this size, weight, and value that you either need to be prepared to tackle basic fixes or live somewhere that has LM certified technicians a car ride away.

The only safe way to ship these is on a pallet and fully insure it...I have no idea how much that would cost to travel a couple states away but I'm guessing $300 or more each way with insurance for $5,000.

Seems like you had some bad luck with a faulty switch right out of the gate which is very unfortunate but it should be smooth sailing after this.

sluflyer06 wrote:I think it's reasonable to say that when it comes to machines of this size, weight, and value that you either need to be prepared to tackle basic fixes or live somewhere that has LM certified technicians a car ride away.

This is exactly why I chose the machine that I did. During my research this model always stood out as easy to access and easy to work on if the need arose. Even the double boilers have special access plates to remove so you can drain them without tearing everything apart.

I too had an issue with my LM Linea Mini, but had purchased direct from LM (no retailers in my area - Atlanta). Thankfully not nearly as bad as yours, mine was simply one of the barista lights worked intermittently. I shot off an email to LM home, and they promptly sent out a tech to my house for the repair. Before he had arrived, LM had already sent him the required parts.

The issue occurred approx 4 months into ownership, so LM also asked the tech to do a total review of the unit, and go ahead and replace screens, gaskets, etc.....all at no charge to me.

Honestly, I couldn't have been happier with the response (or 3rd party tech) from LaMarzocco.

isabelo wrote:I've only had my LMLM a few weeks, but my interaction with LM technicians have been superb thus far.

What was behind you having to engage LM techs after a few weeks of ownership? Same issue as OP or something else?