Cuisinart 7 quart stand mixer

Hello all,  I just started baking my own bread about a month ago.  I decided to avoud the whole bread machine route and get a good stand mixer to avoud all that time spent kneading.  So far I have had some great success with my bread, I've been making a whole wheat, oatmeal bread and only about 2 loaves at a time.  I did a bit of reading on the internet and decided to avoid the whole Kitchen Aid thing as it appears that the quality has dropped somewhat in recent years.  After reading reviews I decided that this 1000 W monster that Cuisinart was pushing was the way to go.  I even managed to get a great deal on it, $399 CDN from sears (Normally sells up here for $599 CDN). 

Well, I was less than happy.  On my first batch of dough, the mixer would pause for a few seconds and start up again on the lowest setting.  This was dough for two loaves.  I emailed Cuisinart Canada and described the situation to them.  A few days later they sent me a response asking me what the serial number was.  I responded and have yet to hear back from them.  I decided after a few days to call the 1-800 number and they told me to pack it up and take it to the Woodbridge repair centre, (only an hour away from where I am).  After I pointed out that the 9:30 to 5:00 hours were less than convenient they suggested I take it back to Sears.  I did and the new mixer was even more disappointing.  After a morning of use it was leaking grease out of the gear casing.

Anyway, I guess I'm going to take the thing back and have a look on this site to see if there are any better options out there (for less than $1000).  I'd sure appreciate any suggestions.  Until then, Happy kneading.

-Sean