Have U ever been given or bought something that received HORRIBLE reviews online, but you LOVE IT?

[mark_wpduet]

I was given two brand new Kitchenaid Coffee makers. I went immediately to Amazon to read the reviews of the model that I was given. They are HORRIBLE. Water leaking, takes forever to brew a pot of coffee, spills when you try to pour a cup of coffee.

NONE of these are the CASE!!!! Had I been looking for a coffee maker and read the reviews for this machine, I totally would NOT have purchased this one.

 

[danemodsandy]

Two Things:

One, you make it sound like yours were a gift. If you'd paid full list for yours, you might sing a different tune if they give trouble.

And why were yours a gift? I can see someone giving one coffeemaker, but not usually two. Could someone have passed them on to you because of trouble?

Not challenging your judgment, just food for thought....

 

[golittlesport]

There are several reasons why someone may be reporting a bad experience when you have not:

1. They got a lemon, you didn't
2. They did not follow directions/use it properly
3. They have unrealistic expectations

Dis-satisfied folks are more likely to go online and complain, more so than happy campers. You really have to take a grain of salt with online reviews. Sometimes you wonder if they even have the product they are reviewing. Maybe they had a bad experience with a KitchenAid dishwasher and are on a rampage to dish everything of that brand.

Just be glad it works well for you.

 

[iheartmaytag]

Yes, Yes, Yes

Kirby vacuum.  Rants online are 10 to 1. I love the machine.  Grew up with Kirby, love it.  I didn't, however, suffer the pushy won't go away sales man.  Which I think is the reason most people are dissatisfied.  They feel they overpaid or were pressured into an otherwise great machine.  

 

Bissell Big-Green Clean Machine.  I bought it from an infomercial 20 years ago.  No regrets. 

 

Maytag/Whirlpool FL washer.  Many, even some here dis the machine. I have been very happy the last three years.  I did have a repair today, a pressure switch was telling the machine it was flooding when it was empty.  Fixed under extended warranty. 

 

 

[revvinkevin]

 

 

I read as well as write reviews for businesses (mostly restaurants) on Yelp.com.    I agree many people are more apt to go online and complain or rant about some business or their product and give a less than glowing review / low rating because of it.   While many reviews appear to be legit, many also appear to be over some trivial issue they blow way out of proportion.   For example: One person gave a true 5 star restaurant a 1 star rating because they waited 20 minutes to be seated when the hostess told them it would be 10 minutes.  Truly absurd in my book.

 

Congrats on your new coffee makers Mark, hopefully they will continue to work w/o any problems!   At least you have a backup of one starts giving you trouble!

 

Kevin

 

[mark_wpduet]

Oh this is too cool -

My thermal carafe from my old coffee maker fits this one perfectly, so I don't have to use the glass carafe that came with it.

I like to use the thermal cafe, but also like the heating element, because it keeps the coffee from getting too strong, but also keeps it from burning and becoming nasty, even though it's on the heating element.

I love COFFEE!!

Anyway - I usually do take into consideration the amount of people likely to go online and rant as opposed to people who are satisfied not saying a word. It's just hard when you're reading one comment after another saying the exact same things. I was SURE that this thing would be leaking all over the place and take 30 minutes to brew a pot of coffee. Perhaps all those rants were lemons among the hundreds of thousands sold. It makes sense. It's still hard for me not to read the reviews though - just to see what people have to say. I have literally NOT purchased items because of the reviews in the past.

 

[rp2813]

I agree with most of what has been stated above.  I bought a Whirlpool Duet pair in 2007 even though I had read plenty of bad reviews.  They were great machines and it became clear to me that the bad reviews were a result of clueless user error.

 

Regarding the ability to interchange glass and thermal carafes, keep in mind that machines that are sold with glass carafes have an actual hot plate to keep the brew at drinking temperature (some may even maintain a higher temp during the brewing process), while those sold with thermal carafes have no heating element under the plate.  It might not be recommended to use a thermal carafe on a hot plate.

 

I have a Cuisinart with glass carafe.  I prefer their glass carafe over their thermal because the thermal has no glass liner, and I am not a fan of metal vessels.  Their thermal carafe is also difficult to clean due to the small opening, and pouring from it requires the counter-intuitive practice of tilting the carafe as if it were nearly empty even when it's full, and even then the coffee dribbles out slowly. 

 

I would use a thermal carafe if Cuisinart's had a different design.  If your KA thermal carafe is easy to use and clean, I can understand your preference, but you may want to make sure the hot plate won't be an issue.

 

[mark_wpduet]

Yes - I'm aware that it seems all coffee pots that are sold with a thermal carafe have no heating element. I've been using this thermal carafe on a coffee maker with a heating element for a year or so and it's perfectly fine. For me the coffee wasn't hot enough without the heating element.....Just something I tried (even though probably not supposed to) and it worked fine...........What I like about it is the fact that it keeps the coffee hot, but also keeps it from cooking and getting overly strong. Yes, they are hard to clean. I have to use bleach to clean it with a glass brush.

 

[norgeway]

YES!

Just about everyone rated the older model Chrysler power steering as having :"No road feel", or "Much too easy", I used to drive older model Dodges and Plymouths exclusively, and I think that the power steering is PERFECT!, if money was no object, I would be driving something with fins and pushbuttons today...I drove a 62 Plymouth Fury for years, I drove it to the vacuum convention in 1996 in St Louis,never had aNY problems, but gas was not 3.25 a gallon either, anyhow, when you get used to the steering and brakes, anything made today feels like driving a tractor!!

 

[washlogic]

BOL Frigidaire Dishwasher

Embarrassed to state it, but we bought a near BOL Frigidaire dishwasher one year ago. Because the wife is not nearly the appliance fanatic as I am, I pitched a fit with her whe she demanded that it was good enough in front of the Salesman at Best Buy as she handed him the credit card. At $239, I told her that she would be sorry. I have read what others in this forum stated about how underpowered it was due to the "fish tank" like pump as well as the negative reviews on the Best Buy website regarding it being NOISY

Well, that was a year ago. To this day, I am suprised that it is still plugging away and doing a damn good job everytime we have used it. Every dish and glass always comes out spotless.

This dishwasher replaced a 6 year old MOL General Electric DW which cost double but did not do nearly a good a job and was very noisy

Im still shocked.