Thanks everyone!! I wish I was able to purchase locally, everywhere I went I hit walls with trying to buy one from somewhere close (close for me is 1-2.5 hrs away) I never imagined it would be so difficult to buy a longarm; I guess it must be nice to be so profitable that you don't have to call potential customers, this happened at 3 different shops. In the end I ordered online and a month later I finally have all my parts, ordering online was no better. I can get bad service anywhere, thus my reluctance to "pay to take a class" from any of the places I went, and I am skeptical as to the "service I will receive" if I encounter any issues with my machine. I am trying hard to not be a negative nelly, but darn it what happened to customer service!! Sorry for the rant, thanks for letting me vent.