Your espresso machine quits in the middle of a rush. The grinder makes a sound it did not make last week. The brewer shows an error nobody on staff recognizes. You need a real diagnosis, but you should not have to haul the machine across the Bay Area yourself.
We pick the machine up, diagnose it on the bench, and return it. The deposit covers those three steps. It is not credited toward the repair.
Deposit tiers
The deposit is $150 for standard brands, including any Breville, DeLonghi, Gaggia, Rancilio, Lelit, Rocket, ECM, and Profitec. Jura and Miele super-automatics and home La Marzocco Linea Mini and GS3 machines have a $175 deposit. Commercial La Marzocco deposits are $250–550.
If diagnosis requires extra bench time, the rate is $150 per hour for standard brands and $175 per hour for Jura, Miele, and La Marzocco. We explain the need before adding work.
What happens on the bench
A diagnosis is more than a glance. Depending on the machine and complaint, the technician may:
- Read stored errors and reproduce the reported symptom
- Check heating, pressure, flow, pumps, valves, and seals
- Inspect grinder burrs, motors, and dosing where grind is part of the complaint
- Trace leaks and scale instead of replacing the first wet or blocked part
- Run the machine under a realistic load after testing
The goal is a root cause, not a guess. A pump may fail because another restriction made it work too hard. A heating fault may begin with scale. Finding the cause before quoting protects the machine and the repair budget.
The written estimate comes next
After diagnosis, you receive a written repair estimate. It explains the finding, proposed work, and price. No repair starts until you approve it.
The deposit remains separate because it already paid for pickup, bench diagnosis, and return. If you decline the repair, we still return the machine.
Honest timing is part of the decision
Diagnostics can take up to a week; most repairs run 3–4 weeks. That is exactly why we recommend preventive maintenance: a maintained machine does not sit in a repair queue for a month.
For a cafe, office, restaurant, or hotel, planned maintenance is easier to schedule than an unplanned month without a machine. Homeowners get the same benefit, plus pickup and return with no lugging a machine across the bridge.
Equipment we accept
We service commercial coffee and espresso equipment, grinders, brewers, and Nespresso Professional machines. For home espresso, we accept every Breville model, DeLonghi, Gaggia, Rancilio, Lelit, Rocket, ECM, Profitec, Jura, Miele, La Marzocco, and similar repairable equipment.
We do not accept household capsule or drip machines such as Keurig, Cuisinart, or consumer Nespresso. Nespresso Professional equipment is accepted.
Pickup covers our 56-city Bay Area service area plus San Francisco for coffee equipment. Call (925) 999-4095 or use the contact page to send the brand, model, location, and symptom.