Rewind There are a few issues.
- Often when descaling, bit of scale get dislodged causing problems
- Delongi don’t really have great online tech support for those machines, the reason is in 3 below
- Machines like this are bespoke and complex inside and not easily user repairable, so the only option is to send it in for repair to them £190…which as you see isn’t cheap.
- They often don’t sell certain parts required for repairs. This can be for a number of reasons, mainly that Delonghi probably don’t make the machine themselves but have an arrangement with a Chinese manufacturer for one of the core chinesium BTC machines, with so extra bits/finish on them
- £190 probably covers the entire cost of a new machine, so don’t be surprised if they send you a replacement or refurb. I suspect you may not get the same machine back.
If they, or more likely John Lewis (you should contact them), offer you a refund grab it with both hands. These types of machines usually have a shortish life, perhaps 5 or 6 years, and at that point when faults arise, usually they are not worth repairing. This is because they look old, are likely to get more frequent problems and parts of the finish may be problematic. Finally at around 6 years or so, they end up in Landfill or on ebay for spares/repair. The grinder may fail, the burrs will wear out etc.. etc..
£735 is a hell of a lot of money to pay, and if you are willing to learn slightly more (and it’s not much more), you can get a decent grinder and either a used or new machine that will be with you for the next 20+ years. Sure it costs a LOT more, but the coffee and milk steaming is a LOT better.
e.g. a used as new Solo T64 with SSP burrs, might be down to £450 (the burrs alone are worth £180), a good used machine might be £800…then your set, potentially for a lifetime, as the choice to upgrade will be yours. Machines in the prosumer category are home user reparable and all parts are available.
P.S. Might be worth trying to descale a second time.