Help! Sewing Machine Repair Issue

As you know I took my machine in for a tune-up.

I should mention that, though it has been running fine, the

needle position has been off for over a year.

I just easily adjusted it every time I turned it on.

I have an Elna Excellence 720, 4 years old.  (Posted here)

What I did not expect was for the repairman to call and say he

was unable to fix it.  His suggestion?  That they mail it off

to Janome....and I might get it back in about 30 days.

Um....what?

Let me back up and provide some more info.

The original man who sold me this machine was the

co-owner (with his wife) and repairman of the store.

I would have trusted him with my machine.

Unfortunately, he passed away a little over a year ago.

It took several months but the wife eventually

hired a new repairman who spent another few weeks

undergoing training for specific machines.

A friend of mine took hers in last year and still has not

seen her machine, but because they gave her their floor

model that is exactly what she had, she chose to just give up.

This is actually why I waited another year before I took

mine in; I wanted to make sure he had experience first.

The last thing I want to do is ship my machine off 

but maybe if they give me my exact machine to use?

I do plan on getting on the phone and calling around to see

if there are any other repairmen the stores in some

of the smaller towns around here that could fix this problem.

That would involve a drive, though I don't mind if it's not too far.

There are two other places in our city but I haven't had good

luck with either in the past...though that has been a good 20

years or more.

Any thoughts on this?
Maybe my biggest question is:  Is this normal for the newer

electronic machines?  To ship them off??

I can't imagine doing this, especially now!?

At the time of year I do about 90% of my sewing!?