Ovidiu thanks for clarifying but that implies that you can buy straight from ACS? Any tips? I can’t even find a website of their own or where do they sell their products from?
http://www.elcor.it/home-en/
However, their website is crap and I have told them this. The difficulty for them is in markets where they have a Retailer. They sell through retailers where possible, in markets where they don’t, they sell direct. So a “shop type” website doesn’t really work for them.
IMO with a direct sale model their pricing needs to reflect the “parts only 2 year fully transferrable warranty”. Retailers buy out the complete warranty and handle repairs, so their prices will be higher, but the cost of machines to them should be lower. If they put out prices for direct sales on a website, customers will become easily and wilfully confused and start to resent retailer pricing without understanding it and the implications of it. They could decide to only sell direct, but I think that’s very hard for many markets.
So it’s not easy to strike that balance, and they resort to shifting machines direct via forums in non retailer markets. Which benefits all of you in the UK. When Black cat was a retailer, they didn’t sell the Minima direct into the UK, but they will now, until/if another retailer appears.
I don’t know what the answer is long term for them, and that’s a business decision for them to make.
Best thing is to write directly for now…..
P.S. Spares where they are not generic, is an issue (requiring higher postage) of course…So if buying spares, try and include other bits and bobs you know you will need under the same postage. e.g. 3 or 4 E61 seals etc..
