fem_physique Senior Member Joined: 24 May 2007 Posts: 9 Location: Melbourne Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: rancillio silvia Grinder: lux
Posted Wed May 14, 2008, 4:29pm Subject: Servicing Rancillio Silvia - dont go to Moccopan (Cerberos)
Can anyone recommend a good place/person to service my Rancillio Silvia?
I took my machine back to Moccopan on Monday this week to have it serviced (needs to have seals relaced etc) and had been told over the phone it would take about a week as they no longer have dedicated service center in Melbourne. They were supposed to ring within 48hrs to advise when the machine would be ready. I rang them late yesterday (wed) and no-one could tell me anything.
This morning they rang and advised that the machine had still not been looked at an would probably be another week before anything would be done. They have other more important customers than a simple domestic user! (yes, the lady actually told me that!) I asked if I could take it home and bring it back when someone was ready to look at it - oh no! it has to stay there because they cant give me any advance notice of when the servicing would be done.
I think this is pretty unacceptable and when I asked for the service manager.... oh he's not in until next Tuesday.... Uggghhhh
Strangely enough when I inquired two weeks back about servicing I was told that if I paid the $70 callout fee on top of the service they could give me a date that they would come out and do the service 'in-house'.
Anyone suggest where I can get my machine serviced in a timely fashion??
Luca Moderator Joined: 27 Jan 2004 Posts: 2,638 Location: Melbourne, Australia
Espresso: H: Maver W: FB-80 Grinder: H: Super Jolly W: Brasilia... Vac Pot: Hario TCA-2 Roaster: Sample Roaster at Work
Posted Wed May 14, 2008, 6:37pm Subject: Re: Servicing Rancillio Silvia - dont go to Moccopan (Cerberos)
I would try calling Chris from Talk Coffee. You could also try Alan from Coffee for Connoisseurs, but I gather that he prefers to limit his service to machines that he sold so that he can focus on the roasting business.
alanfrew Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 439 Location: Melbourne Expertise: Professional
Posted Thu May 15, 2008, 3:31am Subject: Re: Servicing Rancillio Silvia - dont go to Moccopan (Cerberos)
Luca Said:
I would try calling Chris from Talk Coffee. You could also try Alan from Coffee for Connoisseurs, but I gather that he prefers to limit his service to machines that he sold so that he can focus on the roasting business.
Sad but true, unless you have a dedicated service organisation with a lot of volume, and extremely high service prices, it costs you money rather than returns a profit. A skilled service tech charges between $60 and $100 per hour, with a 1-hour minimum. Simply stripping down a Silvia, cleaning it up and replacing all the rubber can take up to 2 hours, before any parts costs. The filthy state some machines arrive in has to be seen to be believed.
So if I organise the whole thing, supply the tech and the parts, and then present you with a bill for $250 (for a machine which originally cost around $750) you'll be happy, right? How about if I try and make a profit and mark it up 30% to $330? However, if my skilled service tech does exactly the same job on a $5000 commercial machine and only charges $330, he's a hero. This is the dilemma facing any service organisation, and Mocopan is primarily a commercial coffee and machine supplier, not that they're very good at it these days.
Since I basically regard machines as convenient devices for consuming coffee, and since people who buy machines from me generally consume lots, I'm always happy to keep my customers' machines running. At cost plus GST. After all, I make my salary on the coffee sales, so I don't need to make a profit on machine service. If I decided to go into general domestic machine servicing, it wouldn't take long until the headlines on Coffeegeek were shouting about the ripoff $80 replacement of a $5 group gasket (and yes, that's what it costs!)
My attitude is that it's far better to teach people how to do this stuff themselves, which is the reason I spend so much time on articles like http://www.coffeeco.com.au/articles/repair.html . If you have half a brain and an opposable thumb, you can do most of the simple maintenance stuff at home. And harking back to the original poster, if all you need is a new group gasket and a good clean, an hour of your time and $30.00 worth of parts (group gasket, group brush, scotchbrite scourer, blind filter, detergent) will see you right, and you'll look after your machine a lot better in the future. Just march into Mocopan and demand your machine back!
2muchcoffeeman Senior Member Joined: 6 Aug 2004 Posts: 273 Location: Melbourne Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Veneziano S1/VBM Levetta Grinder: Compak K10WBC/Macap... Vac Pot: no thanx Drip: damn that plumbing Roaster: chook and gene cafe ;-)
Posted Thu May 15, 2008, 4:38am Subject: Re: Servicing Rancillio Silvia - dont go to Moccopan (Cerberos)
Yes, I am with Alan on that one...
Sadly, I think that Mocopan, evilbay sellers- (one in particular comes to mind), Grinders (new Aussie importer) and the like have done major damage to the Silvia market. When importer becomes retailer, there is no incentive for the little guy to stock or support their product.
Just recently, one importer was retailing at barely $50 over our buy price. The dodgybay seller also does the same. Too frequently, the expectation is that someone else will do their dirty work for them.
As far as I'm concerned, they made their bed and difficulties such as service delays are heavily influenced by their greed. Frankly, I am not interested in even carrying parts for Silvia and the only way we contemplate selling them them these days is with PID.
We refer all Silvia service (except our own warranty claims) to the big fellas who not surprisingly frequently have other priorities.
Best bet is to refer to the people you purchased your machine from or beter still, follow Alan's instructions and get your hands dirty ;-)
fem_physique Senior Member Joined: 24 May 2007 Posts: 9 Location: Melbourne Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: rancillio silvia Grinder: lux
Posted Thu May 15, 2008, 1:54pm Subject: Re: Servicing Rancillio Silvia - dont go to Moccopan (Cerberos)
Thanks everyone,
I do understand the principles of business and I am just small fry to them, but I also understand customer service and to 'tell' a customer that they are not important is just bad customer service.
I did originally buy my machine from Mococpan some 4 years ago and they did have 2 very good and helpful service techs back then which is why I went back - ohhh customer loyalty - ouch! Alas they seem no longer to be there.
I guess you could say I have half a brain, I fix database corruptions and bugs for a living and I do have an opposable thumb - 10 of them I think and therein lies the problem. Hand me your computer and all will end well - hand me a screwdriver and it will end in tears! LOL
I will go back and get my silvia and perhaps subscribe to the 'if it aint broke dont fix it' attitiude :-)
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