Posted Sun Aug 5, 2012, 12:14pm Subject: Props to Joe Kittay and Good Coffee Company of Seattle
I recently bought the painstakingly restored NS Ellimatic JDHarding so thoroughly documented in his thread here, and while the machine works absolutely great, the UPS store that packed it for him ignored instructions about care, adequate padding, and fragility, doing an extraordinarily half-assed job, resulting in all three plastic panels being thoroughly thrashed. Since filing a claim would have eventually resulted in UPS owning the machine, where they would most likely junk it or auction it, I was not so inclined.
Enter Good Coffee Company and Joe Kittay. I had seen mention of them here as a place that had restored Ellis and Ellimatics. Apparently, these are a favorite machine of Joe Kittay, the founder of the company (mostly a roaster). I figured it was worth a call. Good Coffee Company is a very old-school place, with no web presence and no email, just a storefront in what looks to be a mostly industrial area of Seattle. Got Joe on the phone and asked if he had spare panels for an Ellimatic. Heard him checking shelves. Yes, but no black (which is what the machine had been). He did have a full set of brown panels at a very reasonable price. "Just send me your check," Joe said. No Paypal, no credit card, he takes checks. From strangers. Who live over a thousand miles away. He concluded with "You want some coffee with that?" I figured, sure and added on a pound of their espresso blend, at a very reasonable $10.35. He said to remind him in a note with the check that I was getting coffee, too.
As I'm writing the cover letter, I realized that I hadn't asked if he had colors other than brown, specifically the red, which I think looks pretty sharp on the Elli. So I stated that I'd prefer red over brown, if he had them at the same price, and mailed the check out Thursday morning. Monday, I get a call. Yes, he's got red, but there's a little ding in one of the panels. He has tape of the same shade of red that will cover it up. Do I want him to do that? I can, as he says, remove the tape if I don't like it. "Go for it," say I.
He must have shipped that day, since the package arrived in SoCal on Thursday. As advertised, and the tape is a perfect match. So I now have a red Ellimatic, thanks to Joe and Good Coffee Company.
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