Heh. Is he trying to tell you the Janome is all metal? If so, he's lying and you should take your business down the road, for sure. I have a Janome 8900 and it's a fine machine. But I like my Brother DreamCreator better. This is the fourth Brother I've owned in 10 years (still have two of the three older machines; sold the 2500D because I was stupid) and I can tell you that they are the quietest, most reliable machines I've ever encountered. My mother has sewn my entire life, and she has two brothers that she wouldn't trade for anything. So that's six Brothers between the two of us. Then my dad has had two - he used an inexpensive Walmart machine at first, then decided he wanted something with a few more stitches. He uses them to make vinyl boat seats and uses the decorative stitches on them! So ... eight machines, all with pretty heavy duty usage ... the worst problem we've had between us was when my mom's 4000D auto threader got out of alignment. A quick trip to the shop and it was fixed.
Plastic, schmastic. I'll put any of these Brothers up against any other machine any day of the week. I can guarantee that I'll outsew anyone, primarily because I know MY machines are reliable!
