I hear Baratza customer service is good, too.
That's an understatement. We are fortunate enough to live an hour away from their office. Pierce is the one who I normally deal with. He's a stand up guy all around, and they love coffee like we do. Here are my two experiences with customer service at Baratza...
I bought a pound of beans from a roaster and threw some in our Vario. I heard a loud crunch and whine after 5-6 seconds. I got it all apart, and it was a rock from the beans. I called Baratza first to review my options to repair the unit. They suggested I bring it in for them to look at, so we did. After a few minutes of looking at it, they concluded it shouldn't have broke even with the rock, so they gave us a new one.
Three years later, we were living in New Hampshire when the grinder started making an odd whining sound. I e-mailed customer support. Pierce suggested the issue was with the circuit board and the mechanism they use to spin the motor. He informed me they have newer components out since we bought ours, and offered to send me the new parts if I was agreeable to replacing them myself. Pierce walked me through how to replace the parts, so we agreed I could handle it. Two days later, a box with the new parts was on my porch.
For us, the grinders are amazing and the customer service is even amazinger. We won't buy another brand of grinder for daily use (I did pick up a neat old Zassenhaus hand grinder just for fun on some days). If this Vario ever stops working, we'll buy another one without even shopping around.
It's been about five years now with the Vario, and it shows no signs of breaking down.
-Mike
