I just responded to someone asking about new machines and brought up this issue of service. Sadly we did not ask around before taking the machine we bought for our daughter to the only Pfaff shop in town. We ended up in a huge battle of it not only being serviced but further problems. The shop owner did everything she could to come off smelling like a rose. Even the officer who was called when she pulled a desperate stunt ordered me to leave and refused to address the issue was taken back by her 911 call of being in physical danger by a threatening customer. His first statement was file complaints with the BBB, tell everyone you know who sews and do what you need to. In other words (as we stood outside her shop) he was saying indirectly- you're not the first. Turns out there are a lot of others and none of them have felt they could combat this. Don't be a whimp- hold them to the task and demand they either do a full service and repairs with refund or pay for you to have it serviced elsewhere. Ask around before going to a repair shop. Look for one who is willing to charge a minimal bench fee for looking at the machine but not a full service fee for doing nothing. Talk directy to the people servicing your machine- not the owner with some ghost repair person who only is available when no one is around. We refurbish vintage machines for our own use, donation and resale so we have gotten to know who around is someone we refer to or not for someone just wanting their personal machine serviced- we have no interest in cutting in on their business and gladly refer to those who are honorable. They even will refer to each other when they feel the other can help better.