I think the manufacturer should be willing to estimate the repair costs and repair their product if the cost is paid, no matter the history -- the buyer may have been unaware of what happened prior to the purchase -- unless the product is really unrepairable.

A Versalab M4 went flying off the For Sale page here yesterday. Someone is going to be very happy. I know the original owner (from H-B), and he is meticulous about the care of his equipment. And I believe, the folks at Versalab care about their customers.

And yet when I go to Kafatek's web site, I see "12 months non-commercial use warranty." in the description of each grinder for those buying new: https://www.kafatek.com/index.php/monolith-flat-max/
Meanwhile at Weber Workshops, it is described here: https://weberworkshops.com/pages/terms-conditions
"Your Weber Workshops grinder is covered by a 1 year day limited warranty from the date of delivery."
At Versalab: "Warranty 1 year - support forever." https://versalab.com/GRINDER%20DETAILS.html
I don't see Option-O specifying warranty terms, but they say "we stand behind our products." https://www.option-o.com/warranty
These are grinders that cost thousands of dollars, and people here and elsewhere say how well they're made. Their manufacturers ought to stand behind them for periods longer than one year if they truly believe in their quality. Of these descriptions, Versalab's "support forever" would give me the most confidence. But of course all of these are just words. Actual records of service and help are more important with warranties. And I know there are board members who say warranties are just marketing hokum, but I don't think they are when you're talking about premium products. Or, at least, I don't think warranties should be hokum, and I think manufacturers should stand behind their products even when they're out of warranty for consumers willing to pay a fair price to have them repaired. I am not questioning the quality of the grinders while saying this. I know almost everyone here loves them, and am ready to be attacked for saying this.

LewBK wrote:I thought Kafatek would help on second-hand grinders, but then I saw this post here and it made me question that assumption: [SOLD] Kafatek Monolith Max - Modified

Seeing this made me decide not to recommend Kafatek. If Denis said "Ok, I will charge you because its out of warranty but I will fix it" then fine, but refusing to work on it even for a fee? Thats not right. If there is more to the situation, I am open to changing my mind.

See also: 10 months later, horrible kafatek experience. What to get now?

Plinyyounger wrote:You should taste the coffee though! Haha

I read it's about on-par with a Kafatek MC1. There is so little information about the Versalab.

flyingtoaster wrote:I can't bother with a company who hasn't updated their Geocities web page in 10 years.

I'd rather have a great grinder, superb service and support then a nice web page. I'd just contact them and see how it feels with responding as that's a far better indicator then a up-to-date web page. They've been the only one around long enough to have a solid reputation.

rmongiovi wrote:See also: 10 months later, horrible kafatek experience. What to get now?

That's a ridiculous post. The seller confirms via email the change request and then sends something different. OK, understandable. But the only reasonable response to finding out is to immediately apologize and tell the buyer that you'll either get them the grinder they ordered or offer some other way to make it up to them.

They are immediately and permanently off my list of grinder mfgs.

Edit: it's also insane that some people think this response from the seller is OK.

This thread is flirting with the Public complaints about customer service sequence described in the Guidelines for productive online discussion. Rather than wait for it to reach a full boil of "top this" service horror stories, I'm putting the thread on cooldown. Thanks.

Thanks for this summarized info regarding warranties of the major brands I am looking to jump to since I have reached my time for a next grade of grinder - coming after the Niche.