Espresso Machine Repair & Sales

I sent an email a little after noon on a Thursday and by 2 I had an appointment booked for the following Monday. I had just inherited the machine and just knew it was Italian, beautiful, heavy and didn't seem to work. Paul showed up on time, he was cordial and very informative. Not only did he repair it, (replaced the heating element and performed some basic maintenance) but he took the time to give me detailed instruction on how to use it. It works perfectly and I'm getting better and better at the art of coffee making. Then he sent an email a few days letter to follow up and see if I had any issues or questions, and let me know that if something came up later I shouldn't hesitate to call. These guys are going to be my go to for this machine and any others i acquire in the future! Thanks Paul!The

PLEASE READ!!! Avoid Paul and his business at all costs as they are extremely unprofessional and unreliable.

My coworker hired Paul to service our work espresso machine over a month ago. Paul reached back pretty quick and set up a tech evaluation & possible repair that same week at 2pm. Unfortunately, my coworker could not be there, so she asked me to be the point of contact as I was in the office that day. Paul's tech showed up 53 mins late to the appointment. My coworker didn't have a missed call, nor a text/email that stated he was running late. Neither did I. When he finally showed up, I met him in the lobby, walked him personally to the espresso room and sat with my work laptop in the room while he performed the initial evaluation for repairs, which took around an hour. Once the tech found a solution to our expresso machine, I called my coworker to let her know about his findings, the cost to repair and how long it would take him to repair. The tech said it would take an hour, so he would have finished by 5pm that evening. At one point, I needed to step away and attend prior scheduled meetings but told the tech to call my cell phone if he needed anything.

Our company has locked doors for security reasons and employees are not allowed to let anyone in without a proper escort. Paul's tech had to step out to his vehicle numerous times, often, back-to-back and within minutes apart (see call log picture here). He called me to escort him at 4:00, 4:06, 4:21, 5:01, 5:16, & 5:28pm. I had to step out of my work meetings 3 different times to escort him and missed a lot of what was discussed. Often, the tech did not call me to let me know when he was stepping out but did call when he was already waiting in the lobby. I can tell the tech was frustrated because it took me more than a few minutes to get to him, but I did tell him I sat on the far end of the 3rd floor, so it probably takes 3-4 mins to go from my desk to the elevator lobby, and down to the front lobby, which I am sure felt like 10 mins or more as he was already frustrated with the locked doors. The tech attempted to follow people into the building while I was in transit to get him from the lobby and was stopped by company employees who did not know who he was. Employees were simply following company security policy. He also asked me to get him a badge to facilitate his entrance into the building, but that is not an option at this company. With our security locks, I am not sure what he was expecting to happen as I needed to perform my job and attend meetings and could not stay with him and go back and forth for 4 hours! This could have been easily avoided if he had a cart with his needed tools and parts. Don't most repair techs already do this?

My workday ends at 5pm, and Paul's tech was still not done with his repair. I knew of the urgency and priority to getting the expresso machine fixed for the team and offered to stay overtime until 6pm, but I was not going to stay past 6pm as I have a long commute to the valley. I informed the tech about my hard stop and asked him to reschedule with my coworker if he knew he would not be done in time. The tech literally finished 5 mins prior to 6pm. I can tell the tech was extremely frustrated with me the whole time because of our company's security policy, and because he was stopped numerous times at the door for trying to breach into our secured door. I can tell he was also upset because he thought I was taking too long to get to pick him up from our lobby. The tech was not understanding that I still had a job to complete, that HE was almost an hour late to the set time, and that after nearly 4hrs of work, he still didn't complete the issue with our machine but told me that it was fixed and ready to be used.

I called my coworker immediately after he left, and she took care of the invoice. I also told her of the unpleasant tech behavior and said she would follow up with Paul. She did, and to our surprise, Paul was very defensive and distraught to hear about my interaction with his tech. Paul never apologized that his tech was a whole hour late but did acknowledge that his tech was frustrated with me through an email he sent my coworker. Per Paul's email, I was to be blamed for not escorting his tech numerous times in whatever they thought was "a timely manner." They said I was giving him attitude when I finally showed up to the lobby. To make matters worse, Paul's tech didn't complete the repair. Our expresso machine still has a persistent leak and the milk pressure/frothier continues to be an issue. Paul did reply to my coworker and told her it was probably a user issue. They did offer to send someone back to show us how to "properly use our own espresso machine."

It has been over a month ow, and Paul has not returned her numerous emails and/or calls, nor replied to her 1-star review here as well. Clearly, this is a representation of his lack of customer service skills, and unprofessionalism.

I have a 22 year old La Pavoni Professional, and I had been encountering problems getting it serviced properly. Fortunately, I discovered EMRS and was able to set up a convenient appointment with Paul. I was reassured by his knowledge about this machine. His technician was meticulous, and did an outstanding job of addressing my concerns, as well as providing preventative maintenance. As a result, my machine works more smoothly than it has in many years. In short, the service was outstanding.

I have paid $1,100, have a broken machine, and cannot get a response.

Their work is NOT GUARANTEED. Tech came out, was easily frustrated and rude due to the security/locks at our corporate company, and left the machine with a leak and pressure that is so strong the milk blows out of the cup.

When I asked if a different tech could come out to complete the job due to the negative experience (that was already paid for), Paul, instead of apologizing for our experience, attempted to blame everything on my coworker. When I responded with our side of what happened and asked that they come finish the job, they refused to respond to several emails/calls.

Wish I would have read the other 1-star reviews, as this appears to be there M.O.

Very immature owner and staff. Unbelievably unprofessional.