Category: | Appliance Store |
Address: | 6911 216th St SW a, Lynnwood, WA 98036, USA |
Phone: | +1 425-673-2706 |
Site: | seattlecoffeegear.com |
Rating: | 4.6 |
Working: | 10AM–6PM 10AM–6PM 10AM–6PM 10AM–6PM 10AM–6PM 10AM–6PM 10AM–6PM |
JA
James Greenberg
The Moccamaster (MM) arrived about 8-10 days after I placed the order. In the shipping box were the MM, a bag of Veltons ground coffee, a cleaning kit, a box of cone filters, and a lot of Styrofoam packing peanuts (a bit of a shock from environmentally-concerned Seattle folks). A gift card for $20 was sent by e-mail before this. I was surprised and a bit worried when I opened the bag of coffee and discovered it was ground to espresso grade. I had watched non-SCG videos on the MM, and drip-, or coarser than drip grind was used, so I called SCG and they said that that was what they used in the shop. I also talked to Velton Ross (the coffee roaster) who concurred. After a variety of trials and errors with different grinds, I do prefer using the MM with drip (medium) grind. In fact, in the MM owners manual it states that, "Technivorm Moccamaster filtered drip grind should be on the coarser side..." In the video, Kats close-up of the paper filter containing the un-brewed coffee is so brief that you dont get a good look at the grind size. However, to my eyes it doesnt look like espresso. The video omits mention of the grind size they recommend. It also omits mention of the Brew-thru-Lid, which I have abandoned in favor of the screw cap as this seems to keep the coffee warmer longer. Also puzzling in the video is setting up the MM to make 6 cups and adjusting the drainage valve on the filter cone to 2-5 cups (mid-position). Back to the MM. I have found that any stirring of the grinds during brewing over-extracts the caffeine but not the flavor resulting in too much buzz. By the way, I used the $20 gift certificate toward a grinder to use in my evolving coffee lab! The Baratza Virtuoso grinder arrived, also about a week later. There was a cleaning brush and kit included in the box. I opened the box and was very surprised to have received a grinder that was different from the one in the video for this product. In the video, a grinder that bears the words Virtuoso Preciso is demonstrated, and among the features that I thought I had ordered were both macro and micro settings and a new conical burr set. When I unpacked my (first ever burr) grinder, there did not appear to be a fine (micro) setting. This was in contradistinction to the grinder on the video. So what was up here? Again, I phoned SCG to discuss my concerns regarding a product demonstrated in one of their videos which had raised questions in my mind. I told them that the video attached to the Baratza Virtuoso V2 grinder page was not of that grinder but rather of the Virtuoso Preciso, an upgraded Virtuoso that cost about $80-90 more. After a couple of days of using the grinder, I am pleased that it is not as noisy as I thought it might be, based on the videos on line. Both appliances are working well.
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Mike Smith
Like with everything and everyone, obviously there are the people that have received excellent service, I will not deem them fake, thats lame and cowardly coming from behind a computer screen, but I will say that here we are the ones with not just bad but terrible experiences and is not just me, we are quite a few and that only denotes the possibility that you might potentially get the brown end of the stick badly. Is it worth it? For me is definitely not. Where to start with this? Is it how fake they are? Is it how crappy their product is? Is it how shady their business practices are? Or their terrible customer service? First off, their “refurbished” machines should be called “RE-RUBISHED”. I always wondered what these places do with the machines people decide not to fix and lave behind….well, they “clean them” and sell them to you at 20% off the brand new sticker price, quite possibly knowing that they are faulty so you come back 30 days later to pay them for service because thats how long their warranty on their used machines is, THIRTY DAYS! Other places have 6 months to a year. For them to back up their product so poorly speaks loudly about their practices, is like they don’t trust their own work and rather not back it up, or purposely do a poor job to slap you with a bill when you come back. Their service department couldn’t be any slower and the quality is deplorable, you just don’t know the tug of war you’ll be getting into to get proper service and you will be charged for each word out of your mouth, free shipping tho, but your soul and first born for the rest. At the end you’ll find yourself with less money and a royal waste of time and not justifiably. They will treat you like you are the Queen of England at first, once they got your money, you are just a beggar. And to top it all off, their customer service agents seem to have been trained by a frustrated mule. They need to pay their CSR’s more or hire different ones, they are obviously unhappy there, I wonder why? See am ok waiting, I don’t care about how they talk to me or the price tag, I don’t care about none of that, I care about results, value and quality; I care that what they put me thru is justified by a great end result but they missed the mark royally with the unjustified waste of time, extra money, frustration, anger and disappointment. I can deal with bad customer service, pay extra and all but only if there were results on the horizon, but ended up having to walk away and find a different business after all the unjustified . Save yourself some time money and trouble. These people are a facade crumbling behind the wraps.
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A Private User
If you are only buying items in stock (online), then you shouldnt have any problems. Ive been trying to place an order for over 3 weeks!!! Several cafelat items were out of stock, but one of the girls in customer service said she would e-mail me when they came in. After 2 weeks I called to see what was going on and found out the shipment came in several days ago...no e-mail from customer service. To make it even worse they already sold out of the tamper I wanted! The problem comes with their poor manegment of stock and bad customer service. You cant place an order for items not in stock, but when it finally does come back into stock another one of the items you want is out of stock!!! Then I decided to find a different tamper....they dont have the top I want in stock; youve got to be kidding me. I said well I would like to pay for my entire order (I would still qualify for free shipping if I waited for the tamper top to come in stock) and was told they cant do that. So let me get this straight...you cant take my money and ship everything when it comes in? That is asinine. Victor Gehlen you need to get employees that care and empower them to make things happen. I try to shop local, but the 2 people Ive talked with speak to you like the customer should be happy youre letting us shop at your store. I am sorry my Rocket Giotto came from you. I have to thank you in one aspect though :) If your staff hadnt provided such poor service I never would have found a smaller, but up-and-coming store in Portland, Oregon....Clive Coffee! There is a stark difference in the reviews of your store vs Clive Coffee.