Great coffee, but design flaw

Author's Rating:

Pros: Quality of coffee - excellent.

Cons: Design flaw with the steam wand / hot water knob.

The Bottom Line: 
Don't get this thing if you don't mind getting your hands dirty by taking it apart, etc. Other than that it makes undeniably amazing coffee.

Author's Review
I got this machine about a year ago. First off, this thing makes excellent coffee - amazing even. However after about a week the steamer just stopped working (along with the hot water which is activated by the same knob). You turn the knob and nothing happens. This would have been fine (im more interested in espresso anyway), but you can't descale the machine without the hot water working. I knew that it was only a matter of time before I got the "descale machine" message and I'd be out of luck. Once that happened I tracked down the only Saeco repair guy in NYC - way out in Brooklyn and spent $30 to get there and another $180 or so to fix the machine (which took over a month). I take it home and its fine for another week, then poof same f*n problem again! arhghg. I could have brought it back out to the repair guy but I figure he didn't fix it properly the first time so why bother (guy was a jerk too). I limp along with the machine working this way for a few months until this past week I decide I've had enough. I took the entire machine apart and was determined to figure out the problem. What I found was that it was a simple design flaw - when you turn the knob it wasnt making contact with the switch that activated the hot water & steam. When I pushed the switch with a small screwdriver it activated the steam and hotwater correctly. I figured that the vibration of the machine settled the components just out of reach of one another. So i got some simple wire and tied the knob and the switch in a closer position, so that when it is turned it pushed the switch correctly. Closed the hood and it works perfectly ever since. I'm sure this was the problem originally as well, though the repair guy insisted on replacing all kinds of components. Thanks buddy for ripping me off!