i’ve been a customer of sweet Maria’s for sometime I just bought my bullet in the spring. The quality of products, coffee and service and advice. You guys offer is valuable to the coffee community and the industry and most of all the home Roaster. i’ve started my own small business venture with coffee but also my family has owned small businesses. I think there is not much you can do. I think posting this video was absolutely the most appropriate thing to highlight. The way the world is these days you said it best at the end of the video deception. The world we live in thrives on it, and what the folks that tried to deceive you have essentially done as others have mentioned, is drive up a small businesses costs from everything from troubleshooting time and energy. and if by some crazy loophole as a company would have to stand behind the product and this person pulls a fast one you eat the cost and it gets fixed on the warranty. Life goes on for them but for small businesses, it’s a shot to the heart to the point where sometimes businesses fail or they have to decrease the quality of products they offer because of folks like this, so sorry Tom. I am enjoying my bullet from you guys. It is a dream machine to use. I still have my behmor 2000 which is going strong, but the bullet is a dream to use. I hope to have it for years to come. I watched all of your maintenance videos meticulously I probably clean mine more often than I need to, but better be safe than sorry again so sorry you’ve had to deal with this. Merry Christmas and God bless you guys.
Tom, I've done business with you for over 20yrs and would never consider trying to cheat you in the way this person did with that Bullet. I'm sure that you know that the majority of your customers feel that Sweet Marias is a "class act" for any company to follow. There are also many of us that would never consider mistreating a product that way. It really chaps my hide to see something like this kind of attempted thievery and neglect. As anyone that has been servicing customers for decades knows, "the customer is not always right" and this is one of those cases without a doubt. This is when the company needs to "call it like it is" and say with great confidence "this Mr. customer is your responsibility". Love 'yall and appreciate everything that you have done (decades worth) for the "roasting community".
There's absolutely no obligation by Sweet Maria's to repair or replace this roaster under warranty imo. They can pay to fix it or pay to have it sent it back in the same condition, box, and packing material they shipped it in.
Give 'em a repair quote and see if they want to move forward with the repairs. I recommend not to take it personally. I have learned over some years to be personally invested, until the point where the other person is abusive. Then I change modes and become simply transactional. This approach always works; however, I confess that I'm not always able to implement it lol. Love and happy moments to you and your crew! You are making a big positive difference for me in my life. Coffee roasting is a beautiful hobby
I'm impressed by your response. I trust most of your customers are far more honest and aware. I've had similar customers, fortunately not many. In my humble opinion the customer has neglected the machine far beyond the point where you have any responsibility. (It seems fairly obvious that this customer isn't going to be happy no matter what you do at this point.)
So sorry to see this. I had an early issue with my Bullet R1 and you guys were so awesome in getting it fixed and back to me super fast. I was really amazed at your commitment to service. The Bullet is up and running and learning more each roasting session. Four years of roasting on a Behmoor and this Bullet is just so much fun. The Bullet in the video is obviously abused, and totally trashed, so I don't see any obligation on your part to repair without getting paid to do so. Just politely say no to this client. Hang in there.
How did this play out?! It is unfortunate that someone would try to take advantage of the situation or you, for that matter. I make claims on warranties only when absolutely necessary and within the guidelines. With that in mind, this seems like abuse and neglect, aka destruction, which IMHO, where a claim should not be made. Personally, I'm glad you put this video out because it shows me that even in the most dire circumstances you'll be there. That is why I'll be sure to buy a Bullet the next go round.
I think you are absolutely right and when you work with the public things like this will happen sometimes. Have policies about standards of care to qualify for assistance and warranty and stick to them while being polite in your communications. Don't let a few bad apples discourage you. I've bought green coffee from you exclusively for over 20 years and love your coffee and service quality. Don't change a thing!
I’ve been dealing with Sweetmarias for years and you guys always serve the public with integrity and you have to have boundaries when you come up against something like this situation No some times can have integrity.
Make your policy the same as with the Quest and have prospective purchasers provide the following: From the Shrub's website: "We require previous roasting experience and signed Terms of Use. Processing of orders may take additional business days until this verification is complete." Anything you do for the abusers of the Bullet is strictly a gift.
This was really sad to see. Still giving strong consideration to buying the Bullet. You folks have always treated me well. And I’ll keep coming back and encouraging others to do the same. It’s almost hard to believe someone would spend that much money on a great roaster and treat it so shabbily.
WOW!!! WOW!!! and WOW!!! Total neglect. I would honestly tell the person they are SOL. Return it and try to get your money back on something you obviously neglected. I mean really, common sense. I came by today and picked up my order from you fine folks. I saw the one in your lobby and it is a very well made roaster. I am patiently waiting for your next shipment. You guys rock!
You are too kind and these kinda shady customers taking you for a ride.... Very sorry to hear since I also have a similar mindset as you guys by always trying to help out my customers... Sad story!
I absolutely love the customer service at Sweet Maria's and would not even entertain the thought of pulling a stunt like this. The original owners of the Bullet should be held responsible.
Why not do a video series of the repair. Charge the owner a fair price to repair. By doing a video series you advertise that you support the product fully. Who knows, maybe a well kept machine owned by an honest customer accidentally has a mini 3rd crack fire. Everybody already knows that you stand behind your products - but a cool repair video series would be fun.
I think that you were more than accommodating with this. Thats not an easy hit to accept, even a big business would not want to loose money that way. You were very calm and did not go into any kind of personal criticism toward the customer, even though they totally tried to scam you and lied about it. I sell coffee equipment and i sometimes get some returns, the customer usually tries to say that the product is not working in some way. But i know my products inside out and i know BS also. I usually just go with waht is acceptable under the manufacturer's warranty and leave it at that. I actually got a feeling of sadness looking at how they murdered that roaster.
Toyota has in the past. In 1993 they did a engine for a guy with a cressida who never changed his oil till it ceased. He said they never explained it to him so toyota covered it.
Wow! You spend that kind of money on a roaster and neglects the machine til it catch fire? And they have the nerve to send it back to the seller... Sometimes its hard to comprehend the stupidity of some people, I really hope you sat an example on behalf of SweetMarias! Keep up the good work! :-)
I'm having almost the same reaction I would have to child abuse. The Bullet is a finely crafted roaster that must be handled as such. I didn't quite realize what i was getting into when I bought it vis a vis the mechanical dexterity needed to do the maintenance, but it is not impossible and I learned it. I obviously don't enjoy the mechanical things required for maintenance, but I do them because I want to take care of my investment and continue to be able to roast fantastic coffee for many more years. I totally support the others when they say you have no responsibility for a machine abused like this. I also cringe at the thought of tasting the burned refuse they passed off as coffee. I have nothing but good things to say about my experience with Sweet Maria's and your help when I've had Bullet questions. Keep up the great work and don't give that charlatan another thought.
I already know everyone at Sweet Maria's is exceptionally reasonable, helpful and honest. You have no issue with that. You also have no obligation to fix or replace this particular machine. It's just criminal to have treated an expensive roaster this way. The buyer should be ashamed.
If it were me, I would box it up and send it back to the owner unless they wanted to pay for repairs (the unit looks like it's not even worth the effort). I'm in e-commerce and fill about 1,000 orders a month. Stuff happens in online sales; shipments getting damaged in transit, lost shipments, mix-ups, and just general mistakes that are made by both the seller and they buyer. You take care of situations like like in favor of the customer. What you have there is the maybe 1-2% of orders that is completely the fault of the owner(s). They have already lied to you and tried to deceive you. It's more than obvious they have abused the roaster waaayyy beyond what it was made to do. Their fault. Let them deal with the consequences. IMHO, you have no obligation to make that right. Maybe they will learn a valuable lesson. Probably not.
I have my second and third seasoning roasts to do today and I'm really hoping it goes well. I never take coffee that dark, so once I'm through these roasts I'll breath a lot easier. Just waiting for my solar generator to come in today before doing the last two--our Texas power grid is not to be trusted. It is sad that too many people are not upfront, both customers and businesses. I've generally found that smaller niche businesses are better. These are usually the one's where you can talk to the founder/owner/designer or someone well-positioned in the company, such as Decent Espresso, Aillio, Mill City, Chris Coffee, Lie-Nielsen tools, Glen-Drake Tools, etc. And while I've never talked with you, 20 years of being a satisfied SM/Coffee Shrub customer tells me that you are in the same league.
Absolutely they should pay for the repair, if it can be repaired. Regardless of whether the original owner/buyer sold it or not. That almost seems irrelevant - if they are taking responsibility for the original condition, then they are responsible. I agree with one of the other comments, a small percentage of your customers will deceive you/steal from you.
Wow, I wanted a Bullet and to see someone neglect this is borderline criminal. They should have stuck with a air popper. That is insane, it also looks like someone caught it on fire and put it out with water several times.
As with any high end product, warranty service requires a reasonable amount of user maintenance and care. It's very obvious in this case that such care and maintenance wasn't performed. (Gross understatement!) Any complaints from the customer would be completely without merit in my opinion. I am retired now, but handled several such product abuse cases during my 35 year career and never once felt guilty of any form of customer neglect. There is no way that you are going to make this customer happy while still maintaining reasonable standards of performance at SM. BTW, we are thrilled with our March 2019 purchased Bullet and, with 51 roasts on the odometer, it still looks fresh from the packing box.
Also, I agree with the other comments, no responsibility on your part, at all. It actually gives me rage someone can be so negligent with things and then just want to return it.
Having to keep pressing the button every time it beeps during the roast is annoying but i can see why it is there and hope it has been preventing more burn-ups
Third Crack is sort of an inside joke with coffee roasters. If there was such a thing, it would sound like the fire department pulling up to your driveway because your coffee roaster set your kitchen on fire.
Give them a quote for what it will cost to fix it. Get payment up front. OR if it is not repairable, send it back to them. Be generous with the GOOD customers of which there are many!
Ya gotta draw the line somewhere. Dont operate on the least common denominator - offer to fix it but at a fee. Ford isnt going to replace your engine if you fail to perform standard maintenance, and you shouldn't have to replace that roaster either.
Hi Tom! I'm Planning to buy a roaster and along with the Huky 500 and Kaldi Fortis, I've been thinking of the Bullet, specially since you carry it! My question is, do you have experience with any of the other 2 I mentioned? If you have, how would you compare then? thanks in advance!
This is Byron on behalf of Tom. We haven't used the Kaldi but have a little experience with the Huky. Both seem like very similar machines in relation to their capacity, mechanics and heat source. The Bullet is unlike them since it roasts more than 2x the amount, has seamless computer integration and a more efficient heat source. In the end it's up to you in regards to how you want to roast and what capacity you are looking for.
This really sucks and it makes me sad to see the abused little piglet, but I’m not sure if Aillio has strict warranty terms - unless I’m missing something? The website just says “2 years” and the manual only explains a few specific things that will void the warranty. My only concern is that you might be legally obligated to repair it (but the owner definitely doesn’t deserve it...).
Wow! I couldn't walk off from any roast cycle or pay three grand and not maintain my investment. What could possibly have happened here? It looks like it was in a building fire. The fact that there was a third party involved makes it hard to chalk it up to " the cost of doing business".
I hear Third Crack is the fourth wave of coffee roasting ;) Edit: I didn't realized how trashed the Bullet was when I wrote this. That's a huge bummer. "Incinerated to third crack" is still a great line though!
With the demand for the Bullet, it's sad to see what can happen thru ignorance, misadventure, neglect... whatever. Too many folks want these things and aren't able to readily get their hands on them, so it's disappointing to see the trashed result of a misplaced delivery. Unfortunately, marketing which depicts *any* roaster hooked to a computer creates a visual sense of automation that just isn't possible. If that's the buyers mindset, maintenance is perhaps not high on that person's list of priorities. It does seem odd the various built-in tests done during a roast session would not have forced a shut-down of the induction heating... ?? Here's a thought- you created a maintenance video which (to my ear) cautions against too much 'loving care', especially with regard to removing the chaff filter. I took it as a cautionary tale for enthusiastic new owners damaging things thru too much TLC. Perhaps you might revisit that video to assure yourself it sends the message you intend in light of this isolated event. I think the message is clear, but maybe it could serve as a hammer to hit you with.
Oh wow. Looks like someone was trying to dry tobacco, while their house was on fire. In all seriousness though and after reading the lengths Aillio went from concept to production, it’s a shame that anyone would let this machine get like that.
I would say for something like this where a customer neglected the use and care of the Roaster should disqualify anyone from any kind of Return or Repair! This is just a Customer gaming a Seller to try and get a replacement or a Refund! I say NO!
Welcome to the real world everybody wants something for nothing and take no responsibility. you are in a no win situation best to tell them where to go and move on.
Tom - not sure if you intended to make a preservation of the evidence video but this is exactly right. It's "clients" like this that raise the cost of doing business. These guys are crooks. Of course, these S.O.B.'s will threaten to sue you, likely in small claims, but my guess is in the end they will blow away like so much dust in the wind. You could respond nicely with: We appreciate your request for a refund/credit, but given the obvious misuse/abuse of the roaster, we respectfully decline to honor the warranty. While we stand behind all of our products, and make every effort to keep our customers happy, it's clear to us that this roaster was unreasonably treated the result of which caused one or more fires. We regret the need to take such a position and hope you understand our reasoning." Or in the alternative, don't respond. If they try to defame you a social media - please let us know? You may not be inclined to call them on their s$%t but your customers sure can....be sure to save the roaster, document with photos, save any texts, emails or voice mails (record the calls with their permission), find and retain a copy of the service manual for that particular unit. It might not hurt to implement David Kelly's suggestion during the purchase process, include a "click box" to the effect that roasting requires care and attention, the purchaser understands that they need to follow the manufacturer's instructions as to repairs and maintenance, failure to do so may void all or part of the warranty. (This could be made a lot stronger i.e. reservation of all rights, you the customer agree to bring any and all claims in courts of general jurisdiction in Oakland, CA, you agree to arbitrate, etc.) P.S. I love Sweet Maria's coffees!
The answer depends on the terms of the warranty. If it's a breach of warranty, then don't worry about negative consumer comments because this post states your position. Good job.
Hey we haven’t taken care of the machine, we’re having trouble. And we’d work with them. This should (IS) not be a returnable purchase in the circumstances they have put you in.
Obviously it was not reasonable and the equipment was abused. Repair it if you can and bill them for it. What the hell are they expecting you to do, warranty it?
Its easy to understand for me: strong signs of neglection - no cleaning, no maintenance and a using far "out of normal range". It seems to be burned and almost destroyed. Very sad! By showing this video to public your customer will understand that he has reached a "red line". There will be no serious demands concerning warranty and payments. Please dont get frustrated dealing with such customers - there are always some black sheeps on our way - we cant help it. Take care and have a nice day. Greets from Germany, Fx
People can be callous and STUPID !!! I support not giving them a dime back, repairing it when you have the time and set it on the shelf until the new owner steps up to the plate and asks for it back. Charge them fully for the repairs you performed which might be more than a new roaster. The new owner may be just as dumb as the original owner. They come in clusters.
I'm sorry, I did not get full details before comment. I purchased a Gene Cafe from you at least six years ago. It is a wonderful machine that does not give you all the control but when you learn what to look for, work out a temp profile and roast each bean type separately you can achieve some incredible roasts. Because of shipping issues your supply of green beans has suffered. I understand and know this will work itself out with some time. I now buy roast coffee from 2 families here in the Salt Lake valley who are best friends. I will wait until you have stock on my favorite selections before I resume roasting. Thanks for your care and hard work.
So my opinion is that you should have a caveat in your support documentation that indicates that reasonable maintenance is required to maintain the warranty. My truck/car has that caveat and I'm happy with them. I have had some concerns when i first bought my Bullet that you and others on the team worked me through. Some of them were related to becoming a more mature coffee roaster, and not about anything to do with the quality or functionality of the machine. Through all of this Sweet Marias has been polite and not condescending. However, as a small business owner you shouldn't, and fiscally can't, accept blatant misuse of a liberal warranty/service policy. PS: I still have a single issue related to the Bullets ability to pull off a 1kg roast, however its a very corner case and not one that anyone else will really run into, so I'm not losing sleep over it, and you guys shouldn't either :)
Well if you go ahead and fix that machine and send it to me along with the previous owners address .I would be more than happy to go and educate the shit out of them as payment!
This is literally scary because I am pretty sure if I dropped 3k on a roaster it probably wouldn't be more than a hundred roasts before my own roaster looked perhaps just a little better than this. I can't have nice things and don't expect vendors to pick up my slack. It's not your problem it's mine. I had to stop watching.
10 years??? Damn, my PoS hot top motor only lasted a year, and i take car of it and only do 2 pounds a month. Also i asked sweet marias what i could do for my hot top and basically said that it was out of warranty and i should contact the manufacturer so sorry i love you guys but u didn’t work with me what so ever. Its cool i still buy ur coffee just wanted to to keep it real.
@@DR19X no just the K but same motor really, it $100, it went out the first year and the second motor has held up better, i mean for the price its really the better machine you can get, unless u have the funds and get the R1
i’ve been a customer of sweet Maria’s for sometime I just bought my bullet in the spring. The quality of products, coffee and service and advice. You guys offer is valuable to the coffee community and the industry and most of all the home Roaster. i’ve started my own small business venture with coffee but also my family has owned small businesses. I think there is not much you can do. I think posting this video was absolutely the most appropriate thing to highlight. The way the world is these days you said it best at the end of the video deception. The world we live in thrives on it, and what the folks that tried to deceive you have essentially done as others have mentioned, is drive up a small businesses costs from everything from troubleshooting time and energy. and if by some crazy loophole as a company would have to stand behind the product and this person pulls a fast one you eat the cost and it gets fixed on the warranty. Life goes on for them but for small businesses, it’s a shot to the heart to the point where sometimes businesses fail or they have to decrease the quality of products they offer because of folks like this, so sorry Tom. I am enjoying my bullet from you guys. It is a dream machine to use. I still have my behmor 2000 which is going strong, but the bullet is a dream to use. I hope to have it for years to come. I watched all of your maintenance videos meticulously I probably clean mine more often than I need to, but better be safe than sorry again so sorry you’ve had to deal with this. Merry Christmas and God bless you guys.
Tom, I've done business with you for over 20yrs and would never consider trying to cheat you in the way this person did with that Bullet. I'm sure that you know that the majority of your customers feel that Sweet Marias is a "class act" for any company to follow. There are also many of us that would never consider mistreating a product that way. It really chaps my hide to see something like this kind of attempted thievery and neglect. As anyone that has been servicing customers for decades knows, "the customer is not always right" and this is one of those cases without a doubt. This is when the company needs to "call it like it is" and say with great confidence "this Mr. customer is your responsibility".
Love 'yall and appreciate everything that you have done (decades worth) for the "roasting community".
Haha. Loved when he said incinerated coffee to 3rd crack
There's absolutely no obligation by Sweet Maria's to repair or replace this roaster under warranty imo. They can pay to fix it or pay to have it sent it back in the same condition, box, and packing material they shipped it in.
As a roaster and coffee lover and a human... this hurts the soul to see
That's actually incredibly sad. I can't even imagine the amount of neglect that would lead to such disaster.
I would quote a repair estimate: Parts: $2800, Labor: $1000, plus shipping.
Give 'em a repair quote and see if they want to move forward with the repairs. I recommend not to take it personally. I have learned over some years to be personally invested, until the point where the other person is abusive. Then I change modes and become simply transactional. This approach always works; however, I confess that I'm not always able to implement it lol. Love and happy moments to you and your crew! You are making a big positive difference for me in my life. Coffee roasting is a beautiful hobby
I'm impressed by your response. I trust most of your customers are far more honest and aware. I've had similar customers, fortunately not many. In my humble opinion the customer has neglected the machine far beyond the point where you have any responsibility. (It seems fairly obvious that this customer isn't going to be happy no matter what you do at this point.)
So sorry to see this. I had an early issue with my Bullet R1 and you guys were so awesome in getting it fixed and back to me super fast. I was really amazed at your commitment to service. The Bullet is up and running and learning more each roasting session. Four years of roasting on a Behmoor and this Bullet is just so much fun. The Bullet in the video is obviously abused, and totally trashed, so I don't see any obligation on your part to repair without getting paid to do so. Just politely say no to this client. Hang in there.
How did this play out?! It is unfortunate that someone would try to take advantage of the situation or you, for that matter. I make claims on warranties only when absolutely necessary and within the guidelines. With that in mind, this seems like abuse and neglect, aka destruction, which IMHO, where a claim should not be made.
Personally, I'm glad you put this video out because it shows me that even in the most dire circumstances you'll be there. That is why I'll be sure to buy a Bullet the next go round.
I think you are absolutely right and when you work with the public things like this will happen sometimes. Have policies about standards of care to qualify for assistance and warranty and stick to them while being polite in your communications. Don't let a few bad apples discourage you. I've bought green coffee from you exclusively for over 20 years and love your coffee and service quality. Don't change a thing!
I’ve been dealing with Sweetmarias for years and you guys always serve the public with integrity and you have to have boundaries when you come up against something like this situation No some times can have integrity.
This is why some people can't have nice things! So sad to see such a nice machine destroyed like this.
Make your policy the same as with the Quest and have prospective purchasers provide the following:
From the Shrub's website:
"We require previous roasting experience and signed Terms of Use. Processing of orders may take additional business days until this verification is complete."
Anything you do for the abusers of the Bullet is strictly a gift.
David Kelly Damn! I like it..
This was really sad to see. Still giving strong consideration to buying the Bullet. You folks have always treated me well. And I’ll keep coming back and encouraging others to do the same. It’s almost hard to believe someone would spend that much money on a great roaster and treat it so shabbily.
I don't see that you have any responsibility in this case!
WOW!!! WOW!!! and WOW!!! Total neglect. I would honestly tell the person they are SOL. Return it and try to get your money back on something you obviously neglected. I mean really, common sense. I came by today and picked up my order from you fine folks. I saw the one in your lobby and it is a very well made roaster. I am patiently waiting for your next shipment. You guys rock!
You are too kind and these kinda shady customers taking you for a ride.... Very sorry to hear since I also have a similar mindset as you guys by always trying to help out my customers... Sad story!
I think you're spot on. It was seedy of them to destroy the machine and then expect service on it. Misuse is a user problem, not a retailer problem!
My SR540 and I over here were not mentally prepared for any part of this video lol
3rd crack, LOL. I I think that they were trying to make diamonds in that thing. That sucks!
I absolutely love the customer service at Sweet Maria's and would not even entertain the thought of pulling a stunt like this. The original owners of the Bullet should be held responsible.
Why not do a video series of the repair. Charge the owner a fair price to repair. By doing a video series you advertise that you support the product fully. Who knows, maybe a well kept machine owned by an honest customer accidentally has a mini 3rd crack fire. Everybody already knows that you stand behind your products - but a cool repair video series would be fun.
I think that you were more than accommodating with this. Thats not an easy hit to accept, even a big business would not want to loose money that way.
You were very calm and did not go into any kind of personal criticism toward the customer, even though they totally tried to scam you and lied about it.
I sell coffee equipment and i sometimes get some returns, the customer usually tries to say that the product is not working in some way. But i know my products inside out and i know BS also. I usually just go with waht is acceptable under the manufacturer's warranty and leave it at that.
I actually got a feeling of sadness looking at how they murdered that roaster.
If someone runs a car dry of oil over 40k miles without service and kills the engine, no one would consider that a warranty issue.
Toyota has in the past. In 1993 they did a engine for a guy with a cressida who never changed his oil till it ceased.
He said they never explained it to him so toyota covered it.
Wow! You spend that kind of money on a roaster and neglects the machine til it catch fire? And they have the nerve to send it back to the seller... Sometimes its hard to comprehend the stupidity of some people, I really hope you sat an example on behalf of SweetMarias! Keep up the good work! :-)
I'm having almost the same reaction I would have to child abuse. The Bullet is a finely crafted roaster that must be handled as such. I didn't quite realize what i was getting into when I bought it vis a vis the mechanical dexterity needed to do the maintenance, but it is not impossible and I learned it. I obviously don't enjoy the mechanical things required for maintenance, but I do them because I want to take care of my investment and continue to be able to roast fantastic coffee for many more years. I totally support the others when they say you have no responsibility for a machine abused like this. I also cringe at the thought of tasting the burned refuse they passed off as coffee. I have nothing but good things to say about my experience with Sweet Maria's and your help when I've had Bullet questions. Keep up the great work and don't give that charlatan another thought.
I already know everyone at Sweet Maria's is exceptionally reasonable, helpful and honest. You have no issue with that. You also have no obligation to fix or replace this particular machine. It's just criminal to have treated an expensive roaster this way. The buyer should be ashamed.
If it were me, I would box it up and send it back to the owner unless they wanted to pay for repairs (the unit looks like it's not even worth the effort). I'm in e-commerce and fill about 1,000 orders a month. Stuff happens in online sales; shipments getting damaged in transit, lost shipments, mix-ups, and just general mistakes that are made by both the seller and they buyer. You take care of situations like like in favor of the customer. What you have there is the maybe 1-2% of orders that is completely the fault of the owner(s). They have already lied to you and tried to deceive you. It's more than obvious they have abused the roaster waaayyy beyond what it was made to do. Their fault. Let them deal with the consequences. IMHO, you have no obligation to make that right. Maybe they will learn a valuable lesson. Probably not.
I have my second and third seasoning roasts to do today and I'm really hoping it goes well. I never take coffee that dark, so once I'm through these roasts I'll breath a lot easier. Just waiting for my solar generator to come in today before doing the last two--our Texas power grid is not to be trusted. It is sad that too many people are not upfront, both customers and businesses. I've generally found that smaller niche businesses are better. These are usually the one's where you can talk to the founder/owner/designer or someone well-positioned in the company, such as Decent Espresso, Aillio, Mill City, Chris Coffee, Lie-Nielsen tools, Glen-Drake Tools, etc. And while I've never talked with you, 20 years of being a satisfied SM/Coffee Shrub customer tells me that you are in the same league.
Absolutely they should pay for the repair, if it can be repaired. Regardless of whether the original owner/buyer sold it or not. That almost seems irrelevant - if they are taking responsibility for the original condition, then they are responsible. I agree with one of the other comments, a small percentage of your customers will deceive you/steal from you.
Wow, I wanted a Bullet and to see someone neglect this is borderline criminal. They should have stuck with a air popper. That is insane, it also looks like someone caught it on fire and put it out with water several times.
I hate scammers. All they do is run up the prices. SMDH.
As with any high end product, warranty service requires a reasonable amount of user maintenance and care. It's very obvious in this case that such care and maintenance wasn't performed. (Gross understatement!) Any complaints from the customer would be completely without merit in my opinion. I am retired now, but handled several such product abuse cases during my 35 year career and never once felt guilty of any form of customer neglect. There is no way that you are going to make this customer happy while still maintaining reasonable standards of performance at SM. BTW, we are thrilled with our March 2019 purchased Bullet and, with 51 roasts on the odometer, it still looks fresh from the packing box.
It should last 10 years? I plan on keeping my piggy running as long as they keep providing 120 volt A. C.!
Also, I agree with the other comments, no responsibility on your part, at all. It actually gives me rage someone can be so negligent with things and then just want to return it.
Having to keep pressing the button every time it beeps during the roast is annoying but i can see why it is there and hope it has been preventing more burn-ups
Wow. There is such a thing as a third crack?!? Love my little Nesco. Bought it over three years ago. Wish it was still being made.
Third Crack is sort of an inside joke with coffee roasters. If there was such a thing, it would sound like the fire department pulling up to your driveway because your coffee roaster set your kitchen on fire.
I really love my bullet. I can't believe someone would abuse theirs like this. What a shame.
Give them a quote for what it will cost to fix it. Get payment up front. OR if it is not repairable, send it back to them. Be generous with the GOOD customers of which there are many!
Ya gotta draw the line somewhere. Dont operate on the least common denominator - offer to fix it but at a fee. Ford isnt going to replace your engine if you fail to perform standard maintenance, and you shouldn't have to replace that roaster either.
is easy enough, tell them their roaster is ready for pickup. send your label
Hi Tom! I'm Planning to buy a roaster and along with the Huky 500 and Kaldi Fortis, I've been thinking of the Bullet, specially since you carry it! My question is, do you have experience with any of the other 2 I mentioned? If you have, how would you compare then? thanks in advance!
This is Byron on behalf of Tom. We haven't used the Kaldi but have a little experience with the Huky. Both seem like very similar machines in relation to their capacity, mechanics and heat source. The Bullet is unlike them since it roasts more than 2x the amount, has seamless computer integration and a more efficient heat source. In the end it's up to you in regards to how you want to roast and what capacity you are looking for.
Wow, that is tragic. Like bringing back a car after selling it and several accidents...
That’s really the worst thing I have ever seen, I can’t believe someone would do that to a roaster!
Just get some Kenya in stock and my world will be a better place. :)
This really sucks and it makes me sad to see the abused little piglet, but I’m not sure if Aillio has strict warranty terms - unless I’m missing something? The website just says “2 years” and the manual only explains a few specific things that will void the warranty. My only concern is that you might be legally obligated to repair it (but the owner definitely doesn’t deserve it...).
Wow! I couldn't walk off from any roast cycle or pay three grand and not maintain my investment. What could possibly have happened here? It looks like it was in a building fire. The fact that there was a third party involved makes it hard to chalk it up to " the cost of doing business".
I hear Third Crack is the fourth wave of coffee roasting ;)
Edit: I didn't realized how trashed the Bullet was when I wrote this. That's a huge bummer. "Incinerated to third crack" is still a great line though!
Did they store it in their backyard? WTH
It's sad :-/ I love my Bullet
With the demand for the Bullet, it's sad to see what can happen thru ignorance, misadventure, neglect... whatever. Too many folks want these things and aren't able to readily get their hands on them, so it's disappointing to see the trashed result of a misplaced delivery. Unfortunately, marketing which depicts *any* roaster hooked to a computer creates a visual sense of automation that just isn't possible. If that's the buyers mindset, maintenance is perhaps not high on that person's list of priorities.
It does seem odd the various built-in tests done during a roast session would not have forced a shut-down of the induction heating... ??
Here's a thought- you created a maintenance video which (to my ear) cautions against too much 'loving care', especially with regard to removing the chaff filter. I took it as a cautionary tale for enthusiastic new owners damaging things thru too much TLC. Perhaps you might revisit that video to assure yourself it sends the message you intend in light of this isolated event. I think the message is clear, but maybe it could serve as a hammer to hit you with.
I hope you refused a refund...this is criminal on so many levels.
Oh wow. Looks like someone was trying to dry tobacco, while their house was on fire. In all seriousness though and after reading the lengths Aillio went from concept to production, it’s a shame that anyone would let this machine get like that.
I would say for something like this where a customer neglected the use and care of the Roaster should disqualify anyone from any kind of Return or Repair! This is just a Customer gaming a Seller to try and get a replacement or a Refund! I say NO!
I think he might have been melting aluminum cans
Welcome to the real world everybody wants something for nothing and take no responsibility. you are in a no win situation best to tell them where to go and move on.
It's a shame to see this kind of neglect on a machine when I can't even get my hands on one :-(
We are looking to have more in stock towards the end of Aug. Thanks for your patience.
Tom - not sure if you intended to make a preservation of the evidence video but this is exactly right. It's "clients" like this that raise the cost of doing business. These guys are crooks. Of course, these S.O.B.'s will threaten to sue you, likely in small claims, but my guess is in the end they will blow away like so much dust in the wind. You could respond nicely with: We appreciate your request for a refund/credit, but given the obvious misuse/abuse of the roaster, we respectfully decline to honor the warranty. While we stand behind all of our products, and make every effort to keep our customers happy, it's clear to us that this roaster was unreasonably treated the result of which caused one or more fires. We regret the need to take such a position and hope you understand our reasoning." Or in the alternative, don't respond. If they try to defame you a social media - please let us know? You may not be inclined to call them on their s$%t but your customers sure can....be sure to save the roaster, document with photos, save any texts, emails or voice mails (record the calls with their permission), find and retain a copy of the service manual for that particular unit. It might not hurt to implement David Kelly's suggestion during the purchase process, include a "click box" to the effect that roasting requires care and attention, the purchaser understands that they need to follow the manufacturer's instructions as to repairs and maintenance, failure to do so may void all or part of the warranty. (This could be made a lot stronger i.e. reservation of all rights, you the customer agree to bring any and all claims in courts of general jurisdiction in Oakland, CA, you agree to arbitrate, etc.) P.S. I love Sweet Maria's coffees!
The answer depends on the terms of the warranty. If it's a breach of warranty, then don't worry about negative consumer comments because this post states your position. Good job.
Hey we haven’t taken care of the machine, we’re having trouble.
And we’d work with them.
This should (IS) not be a returnable purchase in the circumstances they have put you in.
How did you deal with that by the way..?
Obviously it was not reasonable and the equipment was abused. Repair it if you can and bill them for it. What the hell are they expecting you to do, warranty it?
Its easy to understand for me: strong signs of neglection - no cleaning, no maintenance and a using far "out of normal range".
It seems to be burned and almost destroyed. Very sad!
By showing this video to public your customer will understand that he has reached a "red line".
There will be no serious demands concerning warranty and payments.
Please dont get frustrated dealing with such customers - there are always some black sheeps on our way - we cant help it.
Take care and have a nice day.
Greets from Germany,
Fx
It’s very simple. Fix it and charge them for the job.
People can be callous and STUPID !!! I support not giving them a dime back, repairing it when you have the time and set it on the shelf until the new owner steps up to the plate and asks for it back. Charge them fully for the repairs you performed which might be more than a new roaster. The new owner may be just as dumb as the original owner. They come in clusters.
I'm sorry, I did not get full details before comment. I purchased a Gene Cafe from you at least six years ago. It is a wonderful machine that does not give you all the control but when you learn what to look for, work out a temp profile and roast each bean type separately you can achieve some incredible roasts.
Because of shipping issues your supply of green beans has suffered. I understand and know this will work itself out with some time. I now buy roast coffee from 2 families here in the Salt Lake valley who are best friends. I will wait until you have stock on my favorite selections before I resume roasting. Thanks for your care and hard work.
its so sad, if i had that toy it would be treated better than my unborn child..... so silly they nuked it
the painnnnnnn
Wow this is painful to watch.
So my opinion is that you should have a caveat in your support documentation that indicates that reasonable maintenance is required to maintain the warranty. My truck/car has that caveat and I'm happy with them.
I have had some concerns when i first bought my Bullet that you and others on the team worked me through. Some of them were related to becoming a more mature coffee roaster, and not about anything to do with the quality or functionality of the machine. Through all of this Sweet Marias has been polite and not condescending.
However, as a small business owner you shouldn't, and fiscally can't, accept blatant misuse of a liberal warranty/service policy.
PS: I still have a single issue related to the Bullets ability to pull off a 1kg roast, however its a very corner case and not one that anyone else will really run into, so I'm not losing sleep over it, and you guys shouldn't either :)
Well if you go ahead and fix that machine and send it to me along with the previous owners address .I would be more than happy to go and educate the shit out of them as payment!
dude pathetic one look gives it away. shame on them for presenting nonsense. BTW I bought a hottop from you in 2000 its still going strong.
this is a sad video 😢
😀😁🐶🐕
Sad sad sad.
This is literally scary because I am pretty sure if I dropped 3k on a roaster it probably wouldn't be more than a hundred roasts before my own roaster looked perhaps just a little better than this.
I can't have nice things and don't expect vendors to pick up my slack. It's not your problem it's mine.
I had to stop watching.
Smells like 8 crack was reached… 🤦🏻♂️🥺
Third crack lol
painin ass
10 years??? Damn, my PoS hot top motor only lasted a year, and i take car of it and only do 2 pounds a month. Also i asked sweet marias what i could do for my hot top and basically said that it was out of warranty and i should contact the manufacturer so sorry i love you guys but u didn’t work with me what so ever. Its cool i still buy ur coffee just wanted to to keep it real.
did you have the k+ model? I am considering buying that? how much does repair cost
@@DR19X no just the K but same motor really, it $100, it went out the first year and the second motor has held up better, i mean for the price its really the better machine you can get, unless u have the funds and get the R1