parts and service

[Jimmy101]

What is the name of your state? Nevaduh.

I have a super automatic espresso machine from Capresso/Jura. I paid $2400
for it a couple of years ago.

Capresso won't sell parts, they are forcing me to send the machine in
for repair, at a cost of $250, for a simple to install $1 part.

I contacted the manufacturer of the machine Jura in Switzerland, and they refused to sell me the part because Capresso has exclusive rights in the USA, and they can't help it if they refused to sell parts, and that its UL listed and would violate safety laws in the USA....

Axmerica carries Jura's commercial espresso machines, and has the part I need, but they too refused to sell parts.

Aren't there any antitrust laws for things like this?
I can just imagine if you buy a car, and Chevy refuses to sell parts and force you to go to the dealer to have your car repaired.

 

[divgradcurl]

Aren't there any antitrust laws for things like this?

Not for things like this, no.

Contrary to what many believe, it is NOT illegal to have a monopoly, like there is in this situation. IT is illegal to use monopoly power to limit competition, it's illegal to use "market power" to create a monopoly, but if you just have a monopoly -- like in this case, where there is only one supplier of parts -- that's not illegal.

I can just imagine if you buy a car, and Chevy refuses to sell parts and force you to go to the dealer to have your car repaired.

They could try and do that -- but then there are so many other people making parts for their cars, you could always go and buy aftermarket parts. Chevy could, if they wanted, make it so that you could only buy Genuine GM parts at the dealer, or they could refuse to sell parts to individuals and make you go to the dealer -- they have that power.

But they don't do it, because any part that isn't patented can be made by an aftermarket producer, and you could always go buy the parts from them. And they do have SOME power to force you to go to at least a licensed mechanic if you want to avoid voiding your warranty.

In your particular case, however, there apparently is either a) not enough demand for parts to create an "aftermarket" for parts, or b) the parts are patented, and so no aftermarket CAN exist. This happens with specialty products in all sorts of areas -- I'm having a hell of time getting a wine refrigerator repaired, because the company limits the sales of parts, there aren't any "authorized service centers" nearby, and none of the regular refrigerator repair guys will fix it. So I know what you are going through -- it sucks, but there isn't anything you can really do about it.

Is there a service center someplace that can install the part for you cheaper than sending the unit back to wherever you need to send it? Maybe that's an option.