Festival of Quilts 2009

[Ferret]

I've just come back from the Festival of Quilts and I wanted to share

that experience here.

The Festival of Quilts is the largest quilt show in Europe. It had over

30,000 visitors this year from many countries. I can't find figures for

how this compares with the American shows, but for Europe this is huge.

I was very lucky to be invited to have the biggest gallery in the show,

10mx6m (approximately 32'x 20') and given a fantastic central location.

I decided that as part of my space I would take a machine along and show

people how frame quilting is done. In Europe there are not that many

longarm quilters and you find a lot of people have no idea what is

involved. It went down very, very well:

My stand was packed the whole show. Apparently there were people queuing

to try and get into my gallery, which is unheard of. Galleries are

generally quite quiet places. I was also filmed and photographed by many

publications (including national press and local TV stations) because it

was something new and unusual. The only other longarm at the show was a

Gammill and was (I am told) just demonstrating computerised quilting.

Sounds great doesn't it, so why am I so down about it? Well in short,

APQS. I took my APQS machine out of a sense of loyalty to the brand. I

turned down several other companies who would not only have shipped in

and set up equipment for me but in some cases would have paid for the

opportunity to have their machine in such a high profile position. I

have lost count of the number of APQS owners who came in to complain

about their machines. I thought I was the only one who had a scuffed and

dented machine delivered as new. Apparently not. I thought I was the

only one with hook assembly problems on these 'new' machines, again, not

so. There are several people who have spent a lot of money on what has

turned out to be expensive door stops. I was lucky, it only took 8

months to get mine working. Some poor ladies have been trying for years.

I had been disappointed that APQS hadn't shown any interest that their

machine would be on display, even after it became clear there wouldn't

be an APQS booth at the show, but then who am I to try and help promote

these machines? I did try in advance to borrow a show frame, but APQS

weren't interested, so as it was, the only APQS machine at the show was

a discontinued model on a third party frame. Perhaps I am not qualified

to hand out literature and tell people the prices of different

machines. After hearing all these comments, I feel I shouldn't have

taken the machine there. With the service the UK customers can expect,

I should have gone with a different machine. I felt so ashamed of my

machine despite how impressed people were with what it was doing.

In contrast, Husqvarna had offered me their latest biggest frame machine

for the stand. They don't even sell them in Europe, but could see the

potential and would have shipped it in from the US on a weeks notice if

I had asked. They were also very understanding when I turned them down.

On the Saturday of the show I was teaching and suddenly needed sewing

machines. I went to their stand and they started to take their sales

area apart to help me out. They didn't have to, and it may have lost

them sales, but they did it anyway.

I tried very hard to gloss over the problems I was hearing about with

the APQS machines. Linzi the new rep is a good friend and I don't want

to ruin her chance of making APQS a success in the UK, but APQS are not

helping. If there is a real desire to sell these machines outside the

USA, there needs to be some plan in place to support the dealers, and

support the customers. Buying a new machine means paying a premium for

an assurance the machine will work. From what I have heard (and indeed

had happen to me) this is wasted money. The cost of sending a machine

back to the factory is huge, far more than paying a local engineer. So

if there is a significant chance of getting a non working and damaged

machine, what's the incentive to buy new and not second hand? Perhaps

APQS need to send over a regular trouble shooting team to clear up

problems, maybe twice a year? Living with a useless machine for 6 months

is an improvement over living with it for years. Maybe the new rep could

be trained up to do all the repairs herself, but would she want to? Could

an engineer be employed in the UK by APQS to resolve issues that should

be covered by the warranty?

Why have I posted here? Because this dirty laundry needs attention and

talking directly to APQS doesn't work. I am just a nobody from nowhere,

but I hope they may care about someone else on this list and act because

of what the rest of you think.

Ferret

[Daisy2018]

Thank you for your personal honesty in telling the European point of view. I had no idea that this was the case for your area. Last year in Houston, before buying my Milli, I accidentely ran into a really nice guy who with his wife is a dealer for APQS in Spain. He was mechanically inclined and told me how impressed he was with the engineering of the Milli. I had asked how reliable the Milli was, he said he saw very few that needed work. Most people I have talked to, in the US, have very few issues...that said, many would not complain publicly, so perhaps the whole story isn't out there. I took the maintainence class in Carroll, Iowa, given by Amy. She taught a great class, and helped me understand why something might not work and how to approach it.

I live in an area, Georgia, where there are no dealers, closest is probably 5 hour drive. I was hoping that my good experiences with Bernina and Viking (40 years) machines would help me deal with any problems that might come up. My machine came in great shape except for a "bowed" take up bar, which they replaced quite quickly (the week after Christmas!)

The most distressing thing from your letter is that APQS is again kind of ignoring or failing to follow up on taking care of the APQS quilters. Earlier this year, they missed a chance to have the APQS machines profiled in a national publication, because they failed to return email....They failed to see your position as one which if they had nurtured could have paid real dividends for both the company and the APQS owners over there. APQS gets many buyers because of the reputation of the company as being responsive to the owners of the machines, I have personally met many people (Myrna, Amy, Mark, Dawn, just the ones I can think of off hand) and am always amazed at the terrific people on the forums. The company should perhaps try harder to match the responsiveness of these people with the corporate responsibility of following every single problem until it is solved. Really , there shouldn't be people out there who are unhappy.

You are a person whose chats I love reading, good ideas, great creativity, a zest to try and do new things, encouraging and all that I think new and old quilters can get a lot from. Hope you can find some positives and do remember how much "newbie to machine quilting" but old hand at quilting people like me look to you for so many points of view.

Personally , I'd love it if a "traveling" fix-it" person occasionally came to my area, just for a check-up for those of us without nearby dealers, would certainly be wonderful overseas for you.

Thank you for your viewpoint, hope others come up with ideas of how to make this situation better for you and all APQS owners. Keep quilting, Pat:cool:

[ffq-lar]

Well, there have been a hundred views, but only one reply to this important posting.

I think we are all stunned.

This is an important issue and needs addressing--I suspect it will all be done behind the scenes and I hope there will be an APQS trained troubleshooter in Europe soon if the company hopes to sell more machines there.

I applaud you Ferret for bravely saying what had to be said. You got their attention now and most of us are waiting in anticipation for the outcome. Hang in there.

[quiltmonkey]

I had a crazy busy Monday at work and now tonight I am home and just now catching up on the chat reading the posts. I am sad to learn what's happening, Ferret, and your experiences. I am glad you are speaking your mind and sharing your frustration. I don't know anything, except what you have written here.

You might design the best machine on the planet but if you don't have the service to follow up on the sale, it's futile. The two golden words to a successful business are "Customer Service" and the way to spread those two golden words is through happy customers. A good reputation or a bad reputation is spread through word of mouth, and these go hand in hand. It can make you ...or, it can break you. People tend to go along a person's point of view rather than buy a machine because it's in a magazine or book. I bought my APQS machine because a friend of mine said she liked hers. I trusted her point of view. These types of sales happen all the time. Perhaps APQS is working to improve their customer service in Europe and you haven't been informed about it yet. I hope that these other people you speak of are able to get their machines repaired and serviced in a timely manner, and that it doesn't cost a fortune.

{{{sending you a hug, Ferret}}}

Hang in there... Love ya girl,,,

Shana

[Kerstin]

Hi Ferret,

sorry to hear about your bad feelings and your disappointment. I can understand that very well.

When my Millie was delivered in July with wrong labeled boxes and some of my parts were gone to Great Britain instead of my address, I felt very disapponted too. I had the feeling of being on my own, no reply to my E-Mail for days and it was me, who organized together with the shipping contractor the search for the missing parcels. They told me that they naturally had investigated the case, but when I don't hear anything it's hard to believe.

In the end everything is ok now and our rep in Germany is really good (Claudia Pfeil!!). If I understand Claudia correctly there is an APQS mechanic every January in Krefeld to talk about problems and to check the machine heads. That's a good idea but it depends on the activities of the rep and his/her effort I think. By the way, is your new rep the Linzi from Scotland of this forum?

I also hope, when talented quilters like you and some others in Europe make longarmquilting more public in Europe maybe APQS notice that there is a lot of potencial here and will improve their service in Europe. Maybe it is possible to install a person in Europe as a contact, (one contact per state is improbable for a long time I'm afraid) in cooperation with the reps. I was glad when I heard that Claudias son gets a training by APQS and is perhaps before long a competent contact.

To be fair I have the impression the service and answers here at the forum by APQS seems to be very well and the instruction manual which comes with the my machine is also very good.

I hope you're not feeling down so much anomore Thank you for your posting because I'm always thinking we can change things only if we talk about and become active to solve problems.

Lots of greetings from Germany

[ClaudiaPfeil]

Ferret......... I never met you personally ( but I hope to change it;) one day) and I really admire your quilts and your amazing talent!

I ´m not able to comment your points of view but I want to add something:

When I started being The german Rep for APQS 5 years ago.....I have had a lot of support of APQS - sending many artists like Myrna Ficken, Karen Mc Tavish,Sherry Rogers,Sue Patten and Dawn Cavanaugh across the ocean to help me in the beginning and to teach here. Mark Caraher came to check the machines and teach maintenance.

Mark ist still coming once in a year ( mostly january) and he is giving me the perfect feeling not being alone here - especially as I´m not a technical genius;):cool:

The customers are bringing their machine heads to be checked ( without charging) and are taking the maintenance classes( without charging). This is a part of customer service APQS is willing to give to their european customers! I really appreciate this!

I always feel like a troubelshooter for my customers;) but that´s a part of my job. If I have no idea or clue......I will forward it to APQS.

I agree completely with you, that lack of communication might be an issue !:cool:

I believe that Linzi will do a great job as a UK Rep in the future - and this missed chance of not having a APQS booth at FOQ

hopefully won´t happen again.

It´s soooooo important for APQS being at the huge shows to demonstrate their machines and introduce their reps!

Europe is far far away from the US.....but you know, if we Europeans are working together and helping each other....we might change something;):cool:

And sometimes it is important to open your/our mouth....thank you for doing so....Ferret:D

Hey.........and we have a looooooooot of european Longarmers already;):cool:

Claudia

[Susanne.Hughes]

Dear Ferret,

I do feel for you. The only way my husband got me to travel with him to the States this year, was with the proviso that there was a lot of quilting involved, especially a course with Dawn and the two day maintenance course with Amy.

I feel that everyone outside of the US has problems with servicing issues. I had reached a point where I was going to get rid of my machine because I just couldn't cope with all the issues I had with it. I was sooooo close to telling my husband that I had made the greatest mistake in my life, in buying my machine. Yes, I too had an extremely expensive Doorstop. In the two years I have had this machine, I have had nothing but practice material on the machine because any quilt would have been ruined!! Lucky for our trip to the US and to Amy!!

I too feel that servicing is an issue that APQS has just not thought through. At the moment, the business plan seems to be, that the APQS dealers follow through on the servicing of the machines. That is all very well, if they live close enough. Sue Morris is a little over 1,800KM away from me, so no easy task. I just feel for the girls over in Perth, who live a little over 3,500KM from Sue.

There are also problems with the dealership set ups. I gathered that as a rep, you can pay to set up at a show, do all the legwork but then have your customer buy from someone else. However, if they then need some sort of service on that machine, it behooves you, as rep, to follow through and fix any problems that are fixable without any recompense. Considering that to set up at a show is over $6,000 dollars, you can very quickly spend lot of money and see absolutely no return. The lack of any safe guard for time and effort and costs involved was the main reason I didn't follow through with becoming a rep.

I too believe that there needs to be a system of Maintenance providers, who have the ability to earn money for their time and effort in servicing machines. (My son is a Mechanic yet he still gets paid his wage by his company even though the service on the car might be covered by warranty and not cost the customer anything.) If asked to perform a service, then there needs to be the ability for that service provider to recoup costs and time spent away from your own business. Having Sue Morris fly around our country to do maintenance on machines is surely not something she wants to spend her time on and would be cost prohibitive to those who require this service (- think of it as Amy having to fly all over the continental US!!) I would have thought that in today's economic climate (or at any tiame for that matter), APQS would try to work smarter to keep what has until now, been excellent customer service.

That APQS fixes problems we know. We always hear of their reactions to problems on this forum, but to say that they are just a call away is not good enough when you are in the UK, Europe, or somewhere like Australia. Ferret, why they did not support you more, I have no idea why? The person who made this decision made a very bad one!! I suspect however, that the lack of support will be very costly for them. Considering that it is seven times as expensive to regain the trust of an exsisting customer, than it is to create a new one, APQS have done well on new customers but seem to forget how much power is in Word of Mouth and the cost in negative feedback from dissatisfied owners. If reps like Linzi or users like Ferret are not supported with back-up, especially with all the free media coverage and advertising, then how does APQS envision on expanding their sales or maintaining repeat business?

I too will be interested to see if there will be a reply to Ferret (and this forum) on these issues, from APQS management.

I too send you many ((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))) and commiserations!!

[Susanne.Hughes]

Hi, Cranky Pants here again!

Since drafting my reply Claudia has sent hers. I wont let my husband read the bit about Free maintenance or having the heads checked gratis as well!!!!!!!!! We paid a lot of money to travel to the the states to learn about the machine!!! I dread having to send my head back and hope it is not for a long, long time.

And yes, Linzi will be a great rep!!

[birgitquilts]

Ferret and all,

I'd like to add my two cents in this discussion, too.

I've owned my Millennium for a little over 4 years now - and I've experienced my fair share of issues as well. Luckily, my husband is great with everything technically and not afraid to investigate problems.

For me this fact was a huge factor on the pro side when I debated with myself about purchasing a longarm machine from an US-based manufacturer (as if there where any others...). We were quite aware of the fact that long-distance customer service could be tricky.

Anyways, ever since I met Mark Caraher when taking my beginner's classes at Claudia's in May 2005, he is the one person I contact immediately when I have technical problems - even these days as he no longer is a member of the tech support crew. There have been long email conversations describing machine symptoms and discussing potential solutions - both between me and him and between my husband and him. At one point when all this didn't result in any improvement, APQS suggested to send me a replacement machine head which they did. There proved to have been some electronic issue on the motherboard or in the wiring of my original head...

Reading about the experience of others makes me feel that the problems I've had were rather minor and that I've been lucky, though...

What I think is really important is to show persistence and readiness to contact even the big boss - at least for me this has worked so far!

I absolutely am with you in requesting an APQS technician located in Europe. As Susanne pointed out, our Australian friends have similar complaints. It sure would help to be able to call for assistance within our time zone and have on-site help available fairly close by. Not to forget that for some there even may be a language issue. There are non-native speakers of English who are NOT at all comfortable at discussing technical stuff in a foreign language... A company like APQS that wants to play a leading role internationally needs to focus a great deal more in keeping their customers happy - everywhere around the globe.

Building a good reputation takes some effort, loosing it goes fast, but regaining credit is a hard, time-consuming and very expensive process. This may be worthwhile giving a thought or two...

On a related note, what has me thinking lately is the fact that some well-known quilters who used to be reps of and featured by APQS have or are switching machine brands. This may be just a natural thing of developing but still...

What I really think we European longarm quilters need (and that is independent from the machine brands we "drive") is some sort of platform to meet, exchange experience, share needs and perspectives and help each other, some central event once or twice a year - not with the goal to separate us from the rest of the world but to help us form some sort of European LA identity giving us a stronger voice in the quilting community in Europe and beyond.

It's a good thing, Ferret, that you have gotten this discussion going. I hope that more people add their opinion.

Thanks a lot,

Birgit

[sewlinzi]

As a very new rep I feel unqualified to respond fully to some pertinent points made here. I will make a few comments...

It is a pity that with the reps changing over so close to FOQ, there was a lost opportunity to stage an official APQS booth or sponsor Ferret in lieu of that.

I was attending the show to see exhibits, including some of my own, meet people, and make some contacts.

Ferret had an independent gallery for 4 days at the show. She is the best known longarmer in the UK so every longarmer from here as well as from Europe will have visited her at the show.

Every time I went via Ferret's gallery it was buzzing with people, press and cameras. She was an excellent ambassador for the machine, demonstrating its capabilities.

I met some longarmers at the show; some were interested in buying the machine; some had complaints but I wanted to reassure them that I would make every effort to help them to resolve any issues.

I am very keen to undertake technical training and advanced quilting instruction. I am hoping that Claudia will have an Open House in January with a technical expert on hand.

European and Australian longarmers are in a different position to those in the USA. Although most problems should get fixed by phone, a site visit may be necessary in the end. There are still very few of us, spread over several countries and transport costs here are far higher.

Birgit - I think you have had a great idea. Perhaps OEQC or FOQ should provide the longarmers' platform in Europe, although a show may be too busy for a conference...

I trust that I will provide the most helpful advice that I can as a new rep with the support of APQS in USA and other reps from around the world.

[Ferret]

Wow, thank you all. I really expected to get shot down for daring to mention these problems, but I am the sort of person who had to try anyway. You're support means a huge amount.

I am happy for the reps to do the servicing, but it would mean APQS would need to pay them to do it. Travel in the UK is very expensive, and from what I know of other countries the US is exceptionally cheap to get around. For example, if Linzi were trained up to fix the machines and had been my rep when I bought mine. she would have had to come to me. I live in London and she is in Scotland. To get the machine to her would cost about the same as getting it back to the US, so there would be no saving if we did that. Her flight to me would be around $80 (I think) She would also have to pay to park at her end, around $30 (converted to US dollars for ease of comparison). At this end I would be happy to collect her but if not the cheapest way yo get to me would cost her another $18. This also assumes she flew to the nearest airport, which can be tricky. The chances are she wouldn't be able to fix my machine and get home the same day. I can offer her the floor under my machine to sleep on but I suspect she would rather have a bed. The cheapest place to stay is a B+B and is about $70 per night. So this one trip would cost her $200 in actual cash plus the best part of 2 days of her time. I don't know what you can earn in a day but I know I regularly invoice at least 120 pounds so lets say she has lost another $300 in time. That's a $500 servicing trip. I don't know what reps make but I suspect it wouldn't take many of those to wipe out any profits.

Of course once a rep finds they loose out by helping their customers customer service will decline. No matter how great the rep they have to make their living and if supporting a machine stops them doing that they will cut off the support. I have been called in to look at several machines (I've had more than my share of faults) as it is cheaper to pay me than to ship the machine to either the dealer or America. That's a solution that has potential, but really it would be good for people like me to be trained up properly rather than having to find out by trial an error.

I just hope this discussion will improve the service provided to customers outside of the US, it sounds like the UK isn't the only area with problems. As I said I tried to gloss over the problems at the show, I do believe the APQS machine is the best on the market. When asked directly I told people to either buy one second hand (lets face it , if a machine doesn't work the owner will want the space back sooner or later) or wait and see if Linzi can sort things out. Sorry Linzi, you're great but I am not sure even you can fix this one.

Thanks again guys, and don't forget to vote on my blog for which bit of the gallery you want to see next.

Ferret

[sewlinzi]

I think more technicians would be great. Currently I can do a bit of cleaning, read the manual and stuff but I'm not a mechanic.

I am also a quilter in my own right, a parent, and a small-holder (chooks and pigs)= busy, busy , busy!!!

I also think that Ferret is underquoting costs here... especially flights and TRANSFERS like trains, hire car etc.

I would be unusually lucky to get a flight as cheaply as that from Aberdeen. When I went to B'ham I had to drive 2.5 hrs to Edinburgh then fly 1 hr 15mins. That cost around £100 sterling booked months in advance. Add to that long check in times - no way can it be done in a day. If I had driven to Birmingham I think it would take 8+ hours and a tank of diesel @ £70 sterling - you get my drift... locally approved technicians are what we need to build up to give an even better service outside of the USA.

[veg-girl]

Well, it sounds as if we need to book Mark in for a mechanical/ maintenance session in the UK. I have done the basic maintenance class with Mark at Claudias which gave me the confidence to do the routine stuff ( and yes retiming I now consider to be routine) I have even retimed my Bernina as a result.

Could APQS let us know the geographical location of all the machines in the UK? Perhaps they would forward a letter to all UK owners so we could discuss the issues amongst ourselves and work out where to meet.

I would be willing to host some sort of event here in the south, we could probably hire a church hall for a couple of days and maybe some owners could bring their machine heads for Mark to look at. When I saw him last year at Claudias he was quite open to the idea, it could be added to his Germany trip. I believe that last year he visited Norway and Spain to look at /service machines whilst he was over at Caudias.

I am mechanically minded so would be happy to have more in depth training, I have managed to replace the gears on an old sewing machine by following the" take it apart and put it together in the same order again" principal. So I feel I could help others with basic mechanical problems with a bit more instruction.

[Brenni]

I am reading this with my morning coffee. I am a bit taken back. Not that there is not service after the sale - I agree they could use more and in the US too. My buying experience was not a smooth one in the States but I worked it out and in the process accidently got the best teacher in the world to give me my first lesson.

What I keep getting stuck on in the above dialog is your demonstrating a product for a company that you don't formally represent? That would be too scary for me. In the US you could be setting yourself up for legal issues doing things like that. My husband would shoot me if I ever took it upon myself to demo something like that without written approval to do so.

[Ferret]

Over here you can demo anything you like on any equipment you own. I wasn't demonstrating the machine with a view to selling it, I was showing how machine quilting is done. Completely safe and legal. And frankly any machine company taking exception to a teacher or speaker using equipment they have bought in that way would very quickly have a very poor reputation.

I did consider taking a Gammill machine instead, but like I said I believe APQS are the best machines on the market. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Ferret

[veg-girl]

I'm not sure that Ferret was demoing the product as such but more the idea of what a longarm machine is and what she can do on it.

[Ferret]

OH I should also add that APQS did know in advance I was going to be doing this. I did try and get input from them in advance, but I don't think APQS saw any value in the event.

Ferret

[veg-girl]

I think perhaps we need a Linzi, Ferret, Veg- girl, conference!

[KathG]

Hi Ferret

I have read your post and read the reply's. I do agree that we do need to have aproved technicians to look at our machines.

That was one of my main concerns when buying my Lenni, as what would happen if there was a major problem.

I am hoping that if I do have a serious problem that with help from Linzi and APQS i will be able to solve it. I have built my own computers from scratch and changed out hard drives and other computer components over the years without problems, so even though I would be nervous I still think I would be able to tackle say changing a motherboard. I think i am more scared of having to re-time, even though everyone says it is easy.

I really hope Linzi will get the chance to have technician training, it would be great to know there is someone who we could talk to in the UK when we have problems.

[KathG]

Originally posted by Brenni

What I keep getting stuck on in the above dialog is your demonstrating a product for a company that you don't formally represent? That would be too scary for me. In the US you could be setting yourself up for legal issues doing things like that. My husband would shoot me if I ever took it upon myself to demo something like that without written approval to do so.

I also took it from Ferret's post, that she was not doing a demo, rather showing people what can be done on any longarm machine.

What I do know is that I am sad that I was not able to go to the FOQ to meet Ferret and watch her work on her longarm, as well as miss meeting Tracy Linzi and Veg-girl. Hopefully next year

I think we should also try to set up our own moxie meetings at some point, That would be great.

[Tracy G]

Ferret,

I have read and re read this thread several times. The impression on visiting your stand was that your machine was there not to demonstrate the machine on behalf of the maker with a view to selling but to show interested people on what can be achieved with a Long Arm machine. I certainly enjoyed watching you manipulate the machine to make the most wonderful patterns that I can only dream of at this moment intime of achieving.

Tracy G

[Ferret]

I'm glad that came across clearly. I would have loved to have been there promoting APQS but I was quite happy to educate people about longarm quilting. A lot of quilter have no idea how are machines can be used and loved being able to request certain designs. The film crews were really keen as well. I think it is a lot more interesting to film freehand quilting than a computerised machine.

There is some talk of trying to find me venues where I can take my machine and make a real quilt during the course of the event. I think this would be a lot of fun and we might even be able to make it a charity event. I'll let you all know what comes of it.

Ferret

[sewlinzi]

Yvette has had a fantastic ideas about how the UK longarm quilters could network from now on. I will do my best to see that we can all work together on technical and skill issues and figure out a way of how to do that...

[Tracy G]

Originally posted by sewlinzi

Yvette has had a fantastic ideas about how the UK longarm quilters could network from now on. I will do my best to see that we can all work together on technical and skill issues and figure out a way of how to do that...

Linzi,

As the baby of the group:D if there is anything I can do to help, in your own words "holler"

Tracy G

[Quilting Heidi]

Sorry to have not posted sooner. I wasn't ignoring it. I had a packed day yesterday and last night when I finally got on I just couldn't even think. Ferrett I am very sorry that you and those in Europe have had this problem. One of the major reasons I went with APQS, other than it being a fabulous machine, was because of their great customer service. I can say that everytime I've had issues I've either emailed or called and Amy has always been able to help me out. I live a long way from Iowa. I purchased my machine while at a road show in another state. I bought my machine knowing that service issues could be a real problem and sending my head back for service would still be expensive, probably a couple hundred dollars. I don't mind working on my head so I decided that this was the route for me to take. I did a lot of research on the cost of replacement parts, customer service and satisfaction ratings over the years with a machine. I've not regretted my purchase but then I've never had a door stop! I'm really sorry that you are hitting road blocks. I would guess that as with any business growth is always a problem and going international posts a whole lot more issues. Not only do you have a distance/location problem but you may also have a language barrier and additional expenses with shipping and exporting. Perhaps there will be other dealers in Europe that will take the classes and become certified technicians for these machines so that you have options. I sure would hate to see Europeans miss out on a great product! I hope that you all get to experience what I've experienced with APQS! Best wishes.