It's been said the measure of a man is decided not in times of peace, but in times of conflict. I think the same can been said when it applies to business. The true measure of a business is not decided when all is going well, but when something goes wrong.
I'm sure when everything is straightforward and happy with these guys they deserve a top rating. But when something goes wrong, as it did with us, that's a different story.
I'm going to try and keep this brief and just let the photo speak for itself.
In mid December 2016 we called Express Fix Coffee and asked them if they could fix our espresso machine. The owner David said they don't normally work on the machine I have because they cannot get the parts. I told him I have two machines and he could use one for parts if need be. He said OK bring them down.
On December 22, 2016 I brought the two espresso makers in and I left a deposit of $40. I left them with the owner.
I picked up both machines on January 18, 2017. When I picked them up I was told that both machines worked fine. He told me that one of the portafilters (the hand held device you pack the coffee into) leaked a little bit but still worked, and the other worked perfectly fine. He said it all worked out good because it turned out they could get the parts and now felt confident about working on these particular models. When I attempted to use them at my house neither one worked. I tried portafilter one with machine one and machine two, and then I tried portafilter two with machine two and machine one and none of them worked.
I went online and purchased a new portafilter for 30.00 and it worked.
I called and spoke to David and told him neither of the machines worked and I had to purchase a new filter. I told him I would like a refund minus the 40.00 deposit which he could keep for parts expenses. He told me they would look at them again. I told him for me to bring them down, drop them off, then pick them up again is 4 hours of driving and I did not want to do that, plus, there was no point because I fixed the problem myself by replacing the filter. He then offered to refund 95.00 but I said that is not sufficient due to the fact the goal of getting a functional machine was not met, I spent 4 hours of driving with drop off and pick up and I didn't not want to pay for something I did not receive (a functioning machine). He said, "Well, we cleaned and did a number of things to both machines." I reminded him the reason I brought both machines down was because of the initial concern he could not get parts (which he found was incorrect - he could get parts). I did not want both machines cleaned and serviced, I wanted one of them to work and the end result was I received two machines back, neither of which worked, and I had to purchase a filter to get one of the machines operational. Both of the pumping mechanisms on the machines worked before I brought them down , they just did not push the water through the filter. As the service professional, he should have known the issue was not with the machines but the filters and replaced the filters to get them operational which he did not do. The end result is, I paid for him to to get one machine operational and that did not happen.
Since he would not give me a full refund on the labor I contacted my credit card company and disputed the charge. I have gone back and forth with this for seven months and finally, after I provided the evidence shown in the photo which is first - the initial repair tag which shows the filters leak, and then second, written in his rebuttal the admission they still leaked, the dispute was settled in my favor.
Normally I would not take the time to write a negative review on something like this but the fact he fought me on a refund warranted the time I am taking. Since the initial goal was not met which was simply a functioning machine, the proper thing to do would have been to just refund the money for labor and keep the deposit for the parts. Instead he fought with my credit card company for months.
I will grant him the fact he was never rude in the conversations. He was just wrong and made a poor decision on how to handle a conflict like this.
Sometimes the proper thing to do in business when something goes awry is to just cut your losses and move on. They did not do that. Instead, they doubled down and dug in their heels. If he would have simply refunded the money I would not have written this review.
So if you do business with them, just hope all goes well. If something goes wrong, be prepared. read more