Not bad, til you need to refer to instructions – We have this machine at work. I'm new in admin, but old in hospitality, and the finished product when making coffees with the Primadonna S Deluxe is quite good.

Using it is easy. Cleaning it is easy. Changing the type and strength of your coffee is easy. And the coffee(dependant on your bean knowledge) is yummo. Good colour in the result, if a little too much crema, but it's as though the whole coffee-making process and keeping your machine clean process has been super simplified for people who just don't have time to mess about in the morning.

BUT,

If you get an error message on the screen and need to refer to the instruction DVD, things become less easy.

The machine we have is 1 month old, and if it weren't for the ever-present 'Insert Infuser Assembly' message, it'd still be tops. Unfortunately the instruction DVD doesn't explain away these messages in a way that actually fixes it. Yes, my coffee machine is clean, yes I have used the little brush to get rid of any rogue grounds.

I called the outlet that sold us the machine. They couldn't replace it without a reference number from DeLonghi. So I called DeLonghi, who wouldn't replace it(under warranty) until it's been looked at by their registered service company. So I called the service company, who can only give me a 7 working day estimate to get it looked at. And if it's that the machine is temperamental (which it is) then we're going to foot the bill.

This is the first time I've had a problem which is only 'sometimes' present and with a product which is still under warranty, so I don't know if this is a standard operating procedure for this sort of thing.

All I know is my office workers are too dependant on coffee-on tap to go without a machine while it's being fixed for a week, so I'll keep scouring the net for useful (no, turning the hex screws doesn't do anything) tips on what I can do to rid myself off the IIA message. Good range of weak to strong flavours, impressed with the two-tone colouring on lattes. Expensive considering the apathetic customer/ warranty service that comes along with it.