Ridiculous offer on your machine! Funny, that they changed their minds....someone in the shop probably wanted your machine, but $500 for a $7500 machine! Really? They have up to a $1000 wiggle room on their Berninas, so you would have been giving them the machine for nothing. The needle threader is easy to fix whether you do it yourself, or have the dealer do it. If it is brand new, it is under warranty and they will fix it while you wait if you call ahead of time to see if they have that part in the store. Otherwise, I have used a small tweezers and magnifier to bend the little metal piece back to where it was. A larger eye needle will handle almost all threads...make sure it is a Topstitch either 80/12 or 90/14,depending on your thread. I use Organ titanium topstitch 80/12 and 90/14's. Glad you decided to keep your Janome. I have the 6600,3160 for class, 8900,350E and 11000SE.