# Help! How to get an Alex Duetto IV repaired??



## phoward (Aug 1, 2017)

Hello all and, please, HELP!!

I purchased an Alex Duetto IV in August last year, which arrived defective. The seller, Caffeitalia.co.uk, had me take it to a repair shop of my choice and said they would reimburse me for the cost. They never did, even thought I took them to the UK European Consumer Centre for breach of contract (see my earlier thread).

Now the machine has stopped working. Yesterday I could make coffee but, when pulling a shot after not using the machine for awhile, it took a long time to come up to pressure (about 26 seconds) and begin to dispense the shot. If I pulled another shot right away, it came up to pressure quickly - dispensing in about 6 seconds. The coffee was more watery than it should have been. Now, this morning, the machine gave up altogether. Strange thing is that it heats up, but the lights (on-off, boiler indicator lights) don't light up, and nothing comes out of the milk steamer or the hot water dispenser or the espresso dispenser. There appears to be some pressure building up in the 2nd boiler (milk) but nothing else happens.

My question is: what's likely to be wrong, and what can I do about it? Does anyone know how I could get this machine repaired under its EU-UK warranty without having to go through CaffeItalia?

All advise would be greatly welcomed, except that which says 'you shouldn't have bought it in the first place!'

Kind regards,

Patricia


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Well I will break up your post into bits to try and clarify what you are saying....oh and use your post to give us as much useful information as you can.

1. Where in the UK do you live (town)

2. What water do you put in your machine

3. Is it plumbed in or running from the tank

4. Have you recently done anything like descaled it



> Now the machine has stopped working. Yesterday I could make coffee but, when pulling a shot after not using the machine for awhile, it took a long time to come up to pressure (about 26 seconds) and begin to dispense the shot. If I pulled another shot right away, it came up to pressure quickly - dispensing in about 6 seconds. The coffee was more watery than it should have been. Now, this morning, the machine gave up altogether.


5. Did it make a funny noise when this happened, or was it unusually quiet and then made a vrrrbrbb sound as it started to come up to pressure. Are we talking about brew pressure, I have to make the assumption we are....*also assuming it's NOT plumbed*, then it's quite possible it's the 1 way valve not closing properly (or some other leak in the brew circuit). The boiler heats, pushes water at above 105C back, this forms some steam and you get air in the pipe. It then can take a while to prime again especially against a hot brew boiler. The other clue, is it's fine for the next coffee.



> Strange thing is that it heats up, but the lights (on-off, boiler indicator lights) don't light up, and nothing comes out of the milk steamer or the hot water dispenser or the espresso dispenser. There appears to be some pressure building up in the 2nd boiler (milk) but nothing else happens.


6. There are 2 boilers, which one heats up. If the service boiler (water and steam) heats up, then the gauge will show pressure about 1.4 bar and steam/hot water will come out. Did the lights stop working at the same time as the other faults. Have you put it on a power measuring plug to see how many watts it draws. The second boiler can heat passively from the brew boiler, but only to about 50C as some thermopsyphonic action can build up between it and the brew boiler. you need to be more precise, as it's hard to guess.



> My question is: what's likely to be wrong, and what can I do about it? Does anyone know how I could get this machine repaired under its EU-UK warranty without having to go through CaffeItalia?


I've just explained for one of the faults based on the limited information you have supplied, you can repair it yourself or send it off for repair. *There is no EU-UK warranty, sorry, they are bought out warranties. izzo don't give a shit and neither will a UK authorised reseller.* Your warranty is with cafeItalia, like it or not.



> All advise would be greatly welcomed, except that which says 'you shouldn't have bought it in the first place!'


This isn't advice for you....it's for anyone reading this thread thinking of buying from cafeItalia...*just don't, it's not worth saving £50-100, because when it all goes wrong, you will be in a world of pain. Use a UK retailer who is going to support you...it's cheaper in the long run.*

7. You need power the machine on and warm it up....remove the plug from the wall take the top off the machine, grab some photos and feel the boilers, indicate which one burns you. Check the little reset buttons in case one needs resetting and put a few photos in an album that you can link to. We can then have a look.

*If you don't have tools, don't feel competent attempting simple repairs/diagnostics (or have a friend who is) and what I have said is gibberish to you, you would be better asking Bella Barista to fix it. The likely cost might be as much as £200, perhaps more depending on what they need to do, any part required, diagnostics and you may still need to add two way shipping and insurance to that..*It's very sad that you have had this sort of experience when purchasing a machine that costs so much. I so wish you had come onto this forum before purchasing your machine because we would have had the chance to steer you in a good direction where your machine would either still be under a fully transferable warranty and had you purchased a warranty extension, still be so for perhaps another 2 or 3 years!


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

> Hello all and, please, HELP!!


I just love trying to give "urgent" help on a shout out and hearing absolutely nothing........makes me want to help people even more in future.


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

@phoward did you get sorted out??


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