Gaggia Titanium - Service or Replace...?

[Roop]

I bought a Gaggia Titanium automatic bean-to-cup coffee machine for SWMBO about 6 years ago. It's been very good but of late it's had a few issues.

- Backlit LCD display is broken / unreadable making it hard to use.
- Plexiglas front panel is cracked.
- SWMBO lost the milk frother attachment, needs replacing.
- Printed panel behind the Plexiglas is water stained.
- Grinder is getting noisy.
- Pump failed to prime this morning.

Servicing here in CH is silly money, so forget it, but we are travelling to the UK by car in a couple of weeks and can take it to an official Gaggia service centre for service and repair. The service cost is £135 including regular service consumables plus whatever it might need (display etc).

The unit was around £600 when new and as I said is about six years old. Do I...

A) Get it serviced, display fixed etc. (This has got to be north of £200).
B) Forget the fact it's going wrong and run it into the ground. (When you can see the display to use it).
C) Junk it and get a new machine, if so, what...? It needs similar performance to the Titanium but I'd like an automatic cappuccinotore if possible (Titanium does this, but you have to connect on a load of gubbins and it never worked that well).

[calibrax]

There ya go.

Never understood anyone paying that sort of money for a kettle on steroids. If a kettle costs three figures to service, there's something seriously skewed in the world...

[Roop]

calibrax said:

There ya go.

Never understood anyone paying that sort of money for a kettle on steroids. If a kettle costs three figures to service, there's something seriously skewed in the world...

It's a pain to grind the beans, clean the cafetiere etc this way. Once the automatic machines are set up they are great. As for freeze dried instant coffee, don't even go there. I'm the antithesis of the coffee snob (I don't even drink the stuff any more), but instant really is not the real deal...

[eastsider]

A new gaggia titanium can be had for £349 so that might alter your view?

I'm using a De'Longhi bean to cup, the cheapest one (EASM4200 I think) I paid about £250 from amazon 6 months ago. Its been great so far. No automatic milk frother though.

[Roop]

eastsider said:

A new gaggia titanium can be had for £349 so that might alter your view?

I'm using a De'Longhi bean to cup, the cheapest one (EASM4200 I think) I paid about £250 from amazon 6 months ago. Its been great so far. No automatic milk frother though.

I thought the Titanium had been discontinued. I'd rather replace it for 350 than service it for what will be 200+

Where can I find one at that price...?

[Zod]

I had one, kept it for a couple of years and then threw it out as the piece of expensive junk it was. It kept going wrong, leaking, breaking and other faults, despite the price and the name and the fact that I followed the cleaning instructions religiously. The coffee was merely OK.

I replaced it with the real thing:





and I have never looked back. For no more cleaning effort (less in fact, because it doesn't not have to have fiddly plastic bits removed and cleaned) and only a little more effort (using a skill that is satisfying to acquire), the coffee is in a different league.

[cqueen]

That's a very nice setup must have set you back a fair whack!

[Zod]

About £1200. Twice the price of the Gaggia, but it will last forever unlike the Gaggia and is fixable by normal professional coffee machine repairers with standard fittings.

[eastsider]

Roop said:

I thought the Titanium had been discontinued. I'd rather replace it for 350 than service it for what will be 200+

Where can I find one at that price...?

Amazon I think:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00023IX18/ref=...