# HELP! Gaggia not answering phone



## anecia

This is a long shot, but I've exhausted every other avenue...

I sent my Gaggia Syncrony Compact Digital away for repairs & service in early June. I received it back last week and the machine is still broken - with a whole difference set of problems.


When I turn the machine on, the digital display lights up, but there is no text

When I first turned the machine on, once it had heated up it immediately poured a shot of coffee (without me telling it to do so)

Now, when I press any of the buttons on the panel, nothing happens.


I have been trying to contact Gaggia UK on the phone (01422330295) since 9am on Thursday 30th July. Each time I call, I hear a pre-recorded message informing me that you are experiencing a high volume of calls, before my call is terminated by the phone system. There is no option for me to simply wait in queue until my call can be answered!

I have also sent -


A fax at approx 12:15pm on Thursday 30th July

An email at approx 10:30am on Friday 31st July

A fax this morning at approx 11am

An email this morning at approx 11am


.

I have not received any response and am becoming increasingly frustrated and annoyed.

Neither House of Fraser or the independent repair centre at Maidstone have any other contact phone numbers (aside from 01422330295). In fact, when I spoke to the guy at Maidstone he indicated that he had received calls from other Gaggia customers reporting the same problems contacting the company.

Does anyone have any info that could help me - any other contact numbers for Gaggia or service centres that might be able to repair the problem (Maidstone can only do mechanical repairs).

Thanks,

Anecia


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## MikeFairhurst

Unfortunately I can't offer you any help, however I just wanted to add my voice to say that I am having exactly the same problem.

I am trying to contact them as we ordered 3 boxes of coffee capsules back in May. We had 2 of them delivered reasonably quickly and at that point they took payment for all of them.

We're still waiting on the third box. I rang them 2.5 weeks ago and managed to get through and they said they would send me the last part of my delivery out within 5 days. We're still waiting.

May I ask what email address you are using? I have the following, which is from the original order confirmation email I received from them:

[email protected]

In my last email (sent yesterday) I informed them that if this matter is not resolved by the end of tomorrow (Weds 5th Aug) I will be getting in touch with my credit card company to get a refund that way. We'll see what happens...


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## anecia

Hi Mike,

Sorry to hear you're having the same problems. From what the guy at the Maidstone repair centre said, we're not the only ones.

The email address I'm using is: [email protected]

Fax number: 01422330414

And a colleague also found a number for their press office: 01422398960

But I've had no luck with any of those.

I my last email and fax I also said that I would be contacting my credit card company if I didn't receive a satisfactory response, but I've still not heard anything.


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## fino-first

Hi

I am having exactly the same problems. My machine went in first on the 2 June, it was delivered back not working, returned to Gaggia on the 14 July. They sent it back last Friday and it has been severely damaged I assume in the post. I cant get through on the Phone. They don't answer emails?. I wonder if the Company is in trouble? How would we find out?


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## MikeFairhurst

Mixed results...

- They were supposed to file their accounts by 31/01/2009 and they haven't done so yet.

- They have filed their return for 2008 stating director name and address, secretary name and address and shares information

- Their auditors resigned in 2007, although their letter of resignation states their reasons for resignation are not such that they need to be declared

I have copies of their last return and auditors resignation if anyone would like to have a copy...


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## anecia

That does not sound promising.

Is the listed director Raj Beadle? I have been including him on my emails, but not sure if he is still with the company.


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## MikeFairhurst

Yes,

Earl Rajakumar Beadle is their only director, and lives in Huddersfield.

Robert Speight is the company secretary, and lives in Bradford.

A quick bit of digging around on the internet has revealed that Saeco (the company that owns the Gaggia brand) is in a lot of debt and is about to be taken over by Phillips. *ALL* of the money paid to Saeco for the takeover will be used to pay off Saeco's creditors who are mainly banks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8066854.stm

So, I'm about to ring my credit card company and get the wheels in motion for my refund. Suggest you do the same.

I have faxed them yesterday - thanks for the number - and provided my mobile number and email address. No response.

4 emails going back over a week, all not replied to.

Countless attempts to call them, all getting the same "We are experiencing a high volume of calls" automated response and the line cut off.

Enough is enough!


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## anecia

I had also found out about the Philips buyout - and shot off emails to the Gaggia info address, the managing director of Gaggia UK, Saeco info address, and the employees from Philips who were listed on the takeover announcement (the takeover was confirmed on 27th July - click here to see the announcement).

Overnight I got an email response from the managing director -



> Since the take over by Philips of Saeco Group and Gaggia spa, we are waiting for instructions as to who will do the repairs and services in the UK. Please bear with us until we resolve this issue. I am sending your email also to Saeco's customer services department so that they are aware of this.


It seems that perhaps all is not completely lost, though only time will tell.

Just in case, I have already contacted my bank with regards to next steps in case I have go down the path for reimbursement.

I will post with any further updates.


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## fino-first

Hi Mike & Anecia

Thank you very much for the effort you have put in. I will probably wait and see what happens but it looks like I am going to be lucky to get my machine repaired now.

Thanks again


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## Glenn

** Update **

I have spoken to Gaggia this afternoon and confirmed that Philips has indeed purchased Gaggia UK's parent company.

They are in the process of handover and as yet the Customer Service teams do not have full access to Gaggia UK's databases to provide an effective level of support.

As the teams have not yet been trained on the products there may be a delay in responding to queries and processing any returns.

I have given the customer service team from Philips the Coffee Forums UK website address in the hope that one of the team will be able to update this thread with further information as it comes to hand.

Please Note:

We are not agents for Gaggia UK.

Thankyou to those members who have contacted us directly to provide support

Your enquiries have been passed on to Philips


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## luv_azorie

Hi,

I too have a faulty Gaggia Platinum Swing machine,still under guarantee, which I returned to the Gaggia store in Castleford, West Yorks June 29th 2009. I was told that it would take approx 3-4 weeks to repair. During the following weeks I have enquired as to how things were progressing. Upon 'phoning last week I was told that it would posted back to me duly repaired, by Friday. As it hadn't arrived by Monday I made furthur enquiries. My machine is in transit to Phillips in London!

The staff in Castleford have been inundated with irate customers. One guy drove up to the factory in Halifax to find that it has been boarded up! no wonder nobody answers the 'phone. The shop manager eventually managed to contact Phillips and I quote " they have promised to honour all repairs that they have received"

I was given a 'phone number on which to contact Phillips, London

0800 331 6015

I will be 'phoning on Monday morning to see if it has arrived with them, but will not be holding my breath, dont hold out too much hope.

Hopefully the number may be of help to some of you.


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## meatman

According to todays Times, Gaggia Uk are going into administration/liquidation


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## Glenn

The phone number does work and was the one I used yesterday to gather further information about the state of play.

Like with any takeover, if there is not a suitable handover there will be teething problems.

Could be a good time to buy a Gaggia at knocked down prices though...


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## meatman

Does anyone have a contact email for Gaggia Italy this closing down business is bad XL air on caffiene


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## luv_azorie

I have found an email address on an old instruction manual ,for Gaggia, Italy. Presumably it hasn't changed.

[email protected]


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## rachel

HI there - I know all about Gaggia UK - and the sad fact is that the company have had to go into liquidation - unfortunately - Some time ago Saeco by all accounts told Gaggia UK that they would give the company all the help that they needed as it was due to the UK company that the Gaggia brand has the reputation it has - due to the dedication of the staff working there who have pushed the Gaggia brand forward - now that Saeco have been bought out by Phillips the MD was was told thanks but your services are no longer required - this leaves all the staff who work there redundant - some of the staff have been there over twenty years too - this has come as a bolt out of the blue especially as the staff who work there thought that once the takeover had gone through then Gaggia uK would get the backing that was needed to continue trading - I know that the Phillips number has been posted on the Gaggia website and that there is a recorded message on the phone system giving the number to customers who need to enquire about their machines - this information took time to come through as I don't think that systems are in place yet re servicing / repairing the machines - this was taken out of Gaggia UK's hands and they were told that the service centre etc was relocating to London - while I know there are lots of customers who are affected by this please be aware that this was not the intention of Gaggia UK and they have had little or no choice in what has happened and have now had to go into administration. Hopefully Phillips will sort out the problems but please give a thought to all the staff who have been made redundant.


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## Glenn

Welcome Rachel and thanks for your informative post.


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## meatman

As a former employee i can totoally agree with Rachel, say hi to hubby rachel, We were all teated badly by the directors and are still suffering, please do not blame the helpline or service for the problems, it is down to management, and i will apologise for thier incompetence,


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## beandoctor

Dear All, Gaggia Uk has gone into liquidation, the domestic side will be taken on by Phillips, as for the commercial side ther are some interested parties. We are taking in lots of Gaggia domestic machines for repair, at the moment we have no trouble getting spares for the domestic range. Commercial stuff isn't a problem either. If you require any help with Gaggia domestic until Phillips are up and running dont hesitate to contact us at http://www.beandoctor.co.uk, unfortunately we cant honour any warrenty on your Gaggia.


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## beandoctor

Rachel

sorry to hear about you and your colleagues at Gaggia, i've rang a few personally and was pleasantly surprised to learn that some at least had found other jobs quite quickly, I hope this happens for you as well. I know most of you spent most of the time swimming against the tide up there and did your best, kind regards


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## luv_azorie

Furthur to my initial post I'm very pleased to report that I have today received my Gaggia Platinum Swing machine from Philips.

It has been repaired & is working brilliantly! Rather a long wait but never mind, just very happy that it has arrived back in one piece.


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## Glenn

Thanks for keeping us posted.

Service has certainly improved in the past 10 days as a number of people who contacted me when they first had problems have seen those resolved now too.


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## Michael

I have had my machine back from Phillips for some time now and can only say that they worked hard to sort everything out as fast as possible. They even rang round to update me on progress.

As someone who has been involved in company mergers, I can understand why Gaggia UK was not included in the take-over. If it had been trading at a loss, Philips would have had to take over its debts and there was clearly little value to them if they had done so.

Once they decided not to take over Gaggia UK, that company was effectively bankrupt and its Director(s) would have been liable to go to jail if they carried on trading from that point. So there was no option but to close the company - and unfortunately the employees all lost their jobs.

The key issue is whether the "goodwill" in the Gaggia brand in the UK has been damaged. For me the answer is no - Philips did sort this out, I got my machine repaired under guarantee, and indeed the worst bit was the period from May onwards when Gaggia UK (pre-closure) had my machine and did not appear to be doing anything about it. In all I was without proper coffee for 3 whole months.

So I do hope others all gettheir machines back OK too.

M


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## ianb

The new spares site is: http://www.watermark.uk.com


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## david from watermark

Hi there, My Company, Watermark have been appointed lead distributor for Gaggia Commercial Machines by Gaggia SpA for the UK market since the demise of Gaggia UK Limited. Since then, I have spoken to many people in the industry (technicians, distributors and customers) and it is a sad story for many. I think that the problems that have persisted are easily fixed with a new approach and new vigour as fundamentally the equipment is very solid and reliable. It is our intention to develop the Gaggia brand and restore confidence within the community. We have alot of experience with Gaggia commercial equipment (over 12 years) in both technical and brand development. One of the single biggest issues I have come across is the scarcity of spare parts and machines, To this end we are developing a web interface with images for all parts (excluding panels) and this should be available shortly (2-3 weeks). With regard to machines, we keep a buffer stock of the full commercial range, so hopefully long lead times and panic buying are a thing of the past. In the meantime, if you are looking for spare parts, call us on our freephone number 0800 9179879 or if you just need any technical assistance. Otherwise, just check out our website http://www.watermark.uk.com. Please be reminded that we have only been appointed for the commercial range and not the domestic range; as mentioned in previous threads, this is being managed by Philips.


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## Golebnik

I just wanted to add a recommendation of the new customer service division of Gaggia/Philips/Saeco, or whatever they're called now.

My five-year-old Coffee Deluxe has just come back to me via ParcelForce, nicely repaired and working, just eleven days after it was collected from me. The cost of the repair was £70, including the courier at both ends. I assume they had to replace one of the temperature sensors, as the green 'up-to-temperature' light came on as soon as the machine was switched on and it dispensed cold coffee.

Things still seem somewhat chaotic with the customer service: I had to phone up in the first instance, then fill in details on a web page, then somebody phoned me and took a £50 deposit, then somebody else phoned me who wasn't aware that the deposit had been paid, and now that the machine has arrived back, there was no invoice for the remaining £20, because of problems with their invoicing system. I suppose these teething troubles will be ironed out in due course. But overall I am very happy with the service.

I recently discovered this forum, when my machine stopped working, so I wanted to say thank you for all the information on here and add my contribution in return.


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## Glenn

Thanks for the feedback and hopefully most others have received their machines back now too.


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## gaggiaespresso

I've found one company in Shipley, West Yorkshire which they repair Gaggia and Saeco machines. I've repair my Gaggia Syncrony Compact machine last week and I was waiting only 2 days and now is working fantastic. The company is called Casa Espresso, www.casaespresso.co.uk


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