I had to call Janome about a question about my machine. I was informed that while a machine is under warrenty that you must take it back to that particular dealor for servicing. Drats because we have a new dealor in our area and I wanted to take my machine to that shop since I buy fabric and shop with them. At this shop I was told that I would be charged a small fee for services offered thru their shop since I didn't buy the machine from them. (They weren't selling machines at the time I purchased my machine 6 mos. ago.) I'm keeping my fingers crossed that nothing happens until the warrenty runs out. So good luck and I hope you get a better answer than I received. The lady at Janome was really nice and worked with me so you might want to give them a call. I got their phone number from the Janome website.