Kitchen & Housewares Jura-Capresso 13936 Impressa S9 Fully Automatic Coffee and Espresso Center
- I question Capresso's quality commitmentBelow is the message I Sent to Capresso. I think it explains it all.They did not reply until i sent them a follow up letter
Dear Madam or Sir:
I was very excited about purchasing one of your Capresso Super Automatic Impressa S series machines. The design concepts and convenience appealed to me. Usually (not always!) the higher priced items tend to be of better quality and your machines definitely fall into the higher priced category. Therefore I assumed they would be of the utmost quality. Boy was I wrong. Rather giddy I took the 45 minute drive down to ******** ******* in Wrentham, MA to purchase an Impressa S7 only to find they had none in stock, but they did have factory refurbished C3000 machines. So in having good luck with other manufactures refurbished products, and assuming your company was thorough in its refurbishing process I was comfortable purchasing one at its $1200.00 price tag. Upon arriving home and opening the package I was rather disappointed. The machine was filthy there was still grounds in it, and the surfaces and catch trays all had dried up coffee and sediment on them. So I read the manual and cleaned the machine the best I could. When I went to set it up and attach the frothXpress I found that the Steam nozzle was missing. Figuring I could call and get one shipped to me Monday I continued on. Plugging in the machine and going through the initial rinse phase I got a message to fill the system and press steam. The system was full of water and beans and the steam half of the machine worked. When trying to make a cup of coffee it would grind the beans and then just dump them into the waste tray. After looking through the manual again and checking your website I decided that the machine was defective and boxed it back up. The next morning I loaded it back in the car and made the 45 Minute ride back to the store to exchange it. After making the 45 Minute ride home with the new unit I was happy to find that this one had the steam nozzle. This one was also filthy. During cleaning of the second unit I found that the used coffee container and aroma protection lid where missing from this one. When I powered up the second unit neither the steam nor the brew system functioned with the system full of water and beans. With this I packed it back up and spent an hour and a half to return it to the store, and did not get another for obvious reasons. Mind you that both boxes appeared to be unopened and factory sealed. With all that I found wrong with both units it makes me wonder if your refurbishing process consists boxing them back up and shipping them out or if the fixed units got mixed with the damaged units. I can not see how a company could ship a filthy machine like that with the health concerns involved.
I decided to give your company a second chance today Monday, March 07, 2005 by calling your customer support line. I wanted to find a stocking local retailer where I could buy a new Impressa S7 and express my dismay about the problems I had this weekend. I wanted to buy it locally so if I had more problems I could return it to the store instead of shipping it somewhere. The service representative got me locations down in Providence, RI about an hour and fifteen minutes away from me but seemed irritated that she had to do it for me. I had already tried the net but it returned no results. When I started to mention my problems she showed no interest at all and just worked to get me off the phone without addressing any of my concerns for the product. This left me with a bad taste in my mouth and no real desire to spend $1800.00 on a machine made by your company. The People at ******* ******* where professional, courteous, and sympathetic to my problem though there was nothing they could do for me. It is a shame your company is not the same. All this from a company that makes the claim "People and Attitudes Make a Difference!
Once you own a Capresso product we want to make sure that you feel completely comfortable about your decision" on your website. I am pretty sure my comments will not make it under that section of your site but I can make sure that this letter gets posted with every product review location that I find your products in.
Disappointed,
Danny Wilcox
Rating:
- highly disappointedMy husband got this for me as a Chritsmas present. When I learned of the price tag I about fainted. However when I made the coffee oh how I was in heaven. Yummm One year later it broke down, we sent it in as it was under warranty. We have gone through 4 machines and now have to send the fourth one back. The grinder malfunctions and the brewer gives out, leaving you with watered down coffee. They say this is the first time they have encountered this problem with the S9 to which I reply "then why does it continue to happen?" I follow all the intructions and do all the trouble shooting. Needless to say I really dont think its worth the money. Not to mention i dont use half of all the bells and whistles it has. I am highly disappointed in customer service at this point. You would think after going through 4 machines in a matter of months they would refund my money somewhat or give me another model. They say they cant and i find that a bunch of bull. I can no longer in good faith recommend this machine to anyone.
Rating:
- Great Coffee MakerThis is a great coffee maker. It's simple to use, easy to program, and makes great coffee. I recommend expimenting with different types of coffee (my favorite is Kona extra fancy, medium roast). The grind, the amount of coffee powder, the amount of water for each cup, the amount of steamed/frothed milk, and even the water temperature are programable. If you're a coffee lover you will love this coffee maker.
Rating:
- I liked it so much I bought two!The Capresso S9 is a dream machine. I bought my husband one for our home and he like it so much we bought another for his office. It's easy to follow instructions give lots of choice for settings of heat, grind, quantity and richness. It can even be used to produce both caffinated and optional de-caf setting with little effort. The best part is it only requires occassional cleaning with tablets and replacements claris filters. Get extra of these so you aren't caught short when it tells you to clean.
Rating:
- 2500 cups and still frothing strongWe're among three people we know who own these now, plus our local cooking supply store; their praise for this machine is universal. The quality of coffee it makes far exceeds any other method or machine I've ever used. Why?
Inspecting the grounds that I have to empty about twice a week gave me an extraordinary insight; the grounds have virtually no smell at all! The machine apparently extracts every bit of flavor and aroma from the bean and leaves grounds that might as well be vaguely damp, black sawdust. If it's in the beans, in other words, it ends up in your cup, and you get the complete experience promised by your favorite bean and roast.
Every cup (and we make mostly "standard" cups of coffee) is graced with a crema that makes the first two or three sips a true guilty pleasure. Every cup is perfectly fresh, and since you make each cup one at a time there's never leftover coffee thickening at the bottom of the drip coffeemaker. Every coffee bean that passes through the S9 shows its individual character in ways that drip and percolators could never let you experience. The steam wand uses a venturi effect to draw up cold milk and mix it with raw steam to make good, hot foam and steamed milk - it's a strong feature that works very well.
Sure, if you don't use the included water filters the machine will nag you after every 200 cups to run an automatic cleaning cycle. But the machine cleans itself, for crying out loud, taking all of about 15 minutes every month or two. And every 2000 cups, as I recall, it asks for a deeper cleaning to remove any lime or calcium buildup down deep inside - also essentially automatic.
The downsides are few but must be noted in fairness. It's very loud and the sounds are somewhat harsh; surprising at first. It's big. It costs a lot of money. Worst of all, once you start drinking this stuff it's impossible to completely enjoy coffee at a restaurant or local coffee bar. The restaurant probably makes drip, and the coffee bar using a big espresso machine rarely uses the high quality of beans that you'd use at home. Buyer beware: you'll get spoiled.
And I'm ready to buy a second one for my office.