Question:
It was always a dream to move up in the espresso world. Theopportunity was a birthday and an ECM Giotto. Actually, I had ordereda Wega machine from a local dealer, but when months went by, I found aGiotto online (in Vancouver, I live in Alberta). Enough has been saidabout the beauty of the machine. It reminds me of the molten metal inthe Terminator. I was overawed by its power and the fine coffee.Getting the foam right has been a struggle.

Then it flooded and died. The idea of a one-year warranty from theseller was that I take it apart and that he send me parts to replace.So much for buying online. I took it in to the local dealer, with crowall over my face (I TRIED to buy a machine from him). He inspected itand as a Wega salesman thoroughly thrashed the machine. Inferiorparts, boiler like a dishwasher, poor workmanship. Head invented byWega. I was depressed. Especially after a $350 invoice that I now haveto recoup from a reluctant vendor.

Then the intake valve malfunctioned again and shut the machine down.The repair man had to clean "gunk" out of the pipes. More crow.

I phoned Wholelattelove.com and asked to speak to a technician. Iprentended that I wanted to choose between a Giotto and a Wega. HE inturn trashed the Wega machines. Can't get parts. Problems such asvacuum locks that cannot be fixed. Buy the Giotto he said.

Now more problems. I hooked up a reverse osmosis machine. The Giottolocked up. Now I have the plumber coming to put me back on the mainwater line. I am told that pure water does not transmit electricityand cannot be used in these machines. Others say that tap water willscale the machine. Whom to believe? Machine back in the shop to drainout the pure water. More crow. Is there a Wega in my future?

Answer: Do not listen to sour grapes from advocates of either machine - they areboth fine machines. If you have hard water, then you need an in-linesoftener (not RO) to remove hardness. Poor water quality will affect anymachine and besides, stuff happens. If you are not handy enough to replaceparts yourself and you don't want to pay to ship a machine back and forth,then you should have purchased locally, but otherwise there was nothingwrong with your choice of machine. Get the Giotto straightened out and enjoyit. Plenty of others do and there's no reason why you can't. The WEGA couldprove to be just as much trouble, especially if you aren't willing toacquire some handyman skills. I'd go nuts if I had to depend on a repairmanevery time something went wrong at my house.

There is nothing wrong with either machine. The Giotto is a fine pieceof equipment with a long history of satisfied users and excellenttrack record. The Wega salesperson was probably pissed at you to startwith and since he doesn't sell the Giotto went after it instead ofassaulting you..

With that said, any machine can have its problems. It is made up oflots of parts, many of them coming from contracted manufacturers. Anone of them can fail. It happens.

The RO water won't work as the Giotto has a water level sonsor thatdepends on the conductivity of the water which comes from mineralcontent. If you want to keep the RO unit, there are devices that addtrace minerals to the water after treatment. Otherwise you need to usesoftened water or just tap water and flush the boiler with an approveddescaler on a regular basis- how regular depending on the hardness ofthe water.

The gunk in the pipes miught have been from not flushing the Ro filtersufficiently before using the water it supplied. Just guessing...