Jim Duke Service Company

The one star is generous.
For many years these guys were my repair techs. Each time they offered little to no help except they always tried to up sell me as they charged outrageous prices for repairs. The repair tech would take his sweet time and explain that we needed a new machine and that he had the perfect one for me at the shop. Not friendly not helpful.

Jim Duke was absolutely amazing. As a new business owner he walked me through everything and made sure everything was done perfect. He is a very busy man, but always made time to help with anything needed. Worth every penny spent with his services !

I bought my La Pavoni Professional in 1997 and have used it 1 – 2 times a day… that’s a lot of pulls. Owning a La Pavoni Professional is like owning an old Ferrari. They are pretty simple in their design, have beautiful lines, will last a lifetime, and if you use them every day for years, you had better have a great mechanic that you can trust… or be the mechanic yourself. I have rebuilt my Pavoni myself at least two times but sometimes I don’t have time to fix little things and like to have someone do little repairs now and then. I have hadf other Pavoni repair shops work on mine over the years, including Jim Duke Service. Jim Duke Service Company has done good work on mine twice and I’ve found their repairs to be accurate, fair prices, and the work done on time. I give them a 4 out of 5 stars — and not 5 out of 5, only because they don’t carry a selection of La Pavoni on display. However, that’s probably not their fault because La Pavoni only lets a certain number of dealers carry them.

This is a tough review but it must be done.
I giving the lowest possible rating due to dishonesty of service.
Current Issue:
Over the past year I noted decreased volume /​force of water to group from boiler on the upstroke. I’d used the machine about 3x a week for the year, and figured it was due for servicing regardless (the stem on the steam valve was also leaking slightly).
I took the machine in on MLK day 2012. I was told it’d be done by the end of the week, and that I’d get a call when it was done. I got busy that week, and never got a call, so I called the following Monday. The receptionist said the technician was «out» but would call me back with status report. No call back, and I got busy with other issues. I remembered about it that Friday and called at 4pm (they close at 5). Same bit, the receptionist didn’t know the status, and said that the tech was out but would call me back before COB. Guess what… no call back, and they are closed for the weekend.
Again I got busy with work so didn’t get around to calling until the next Friday, around 1100. Same story… tech out, call back. I called back after about 30 min and got a different receptionist, who then said in an incredulous manner she (or her counterpart), «it’s been done for days». So, I was slightly annoyed in that I never got a call back and that it had been 3 weeks vs. 5 days. Still, we’re just talking about an espresso machine…
I went to get the machine at about 430 pm. It wasn’t as clean and shiny as it had been before, and there was residual coffee residue inside the group around the dispersion screen. The tech told me he’d descaled the machine (for which I was appreciative) and said he’d replaced all the gaskets.
Charge was for 1 hr labor (50 $) and parts, total about 67 $. As I walked out the door, it took me a bit to come to the conclusion that the machine was in fact mine. The bottom looked different, and the base place screw was definitely different. However, on the machine itself there were some marks that I knew to be original to my machine, and felt OK about it overall. I was suspicious (but not for sure) that the bottom of the base (black plastic) was replaced with one from a different machine, and I was surprised that the group was still dirty but let it slide.
Regardless, I had big plans for Saturday espresso, and roasted up some El Salvador Bourbon, Brazil and Robusta to do some testing on an espresso blend. Sure the coffee wouldn’t have the requisite 48 – 72 hr rest but it’d been 3 weeks!!!
On Saturday, I noted it was tough to get the portafiller in the machine. I originally chalked it up to the change, and heated up the machine. I noticed it was much more quiet after a thorough descaling (as promised). Once it came to temp, I attempted to flush the group. Water barely came out, worse than it’d ever been previously. As I was working the machine a bit, the dispersion screen popped out!
IT WAS FILTHY. Clearly it hadn’t been cleaned, though the gasket itself looked new. The stem for the steam valve was also fixed (no longer leaked). But, the dispersion screen was so dirty (without finger prints, etc internally) that I was suspicious regarding the remainder of the group, and in particular the group piston.
Thus, Sunday morning I took the group piston out, and low and behold, the gaskets hadn’t been changed. They were old and brittle, with one of them clearly damaged from being improperly installed. There was no lubrication as one would expect had the gaskets replaced and the piston removed.
Also, the reason for the problem: This model had a plastic piston, which has a tendency to unscrew from the piston stem. It was indeed quite loose. This added length to the piston which explained the decreased water pressure, as well as why the dispersion screen popped out on the downstroke.
So, though some work had been done, much of the stated work hadn’t, and in a manner that wasn’t obvious (i.e. hidden).
This is your greatest fear really with any repair shop. Things you can’t see don’t get addressed… just the outward stuff. That, my friends is the definition of FRAUD.
BOTTOM LINE:
If you use Jim Duke Svc:
–Don’t expect to be notified when the «work» is done.
–Don’t expect things you can’t easily independently verify as fixed to be really fixed.
–DO expect to be lied to. The tech told me face to face, eye to eye these things were fixed. The fact he was able convincingly do this tells me he’s 1) an experienced liar, and /​or 2) he has someone working for him who engages in fraudulent work.
If the cost of integrity at Jim Duke Svc is less than 67 $ (heck a couple of 2.50 $ gaskets!) then just imagine what they are doing to the commercial guys out there, who have much more expensive equipment, etc.
I’ll be notifying La Pavoni of the same, as Jim Duke Svc. is supposedly an authorized repair shop.
DO NOT USE JIM DUKE SVC UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE!!!

We have as aging Isomac espresso machine that we paid an arm and a leg for 11 years ago and Jim Duke has serviced it twice in it’s lifetime. We have had the heating element and pressure relief valve replaced and some re-​wiring. Each time, we have gotten A+ service with very modest service prices. He mostly works on commercial machines but makes time to do home machines. The turn around for parts replacement is within 3 days and when you get it back, it is working like new. Thank goodness because I cannot function without coffee.

I have a vintage La Pavoni espresso machine that needed some rehab. I know these guys mostly service commercial machines and that they don’t make their money on small-​potatoes home espresso machines like mine, but they were happy to take a look at it. Turns out my machine didn’t need major parts replacement, just some checking over and elbow grease, so they got it back to me within 48 hours.
The best part? Did not charge me a penny because the job was simple, so the least I could do is spread the love on Unilocal.If you need your commercial or home espresso machine looked at, no job seems too big or too small for them.

Bad service the problem only gets fixed temp. so you have to keep calling the back. that means you have to keep paying them…