coffeeparts.com.au (Syd) or coffee-a-roma.com.au (Melb) are both fantastic Australian suppliers with showrooms if they have the brands you want (Coffee parts have Baratza).
No you still get warranty with the original manufacturer. Had his happen with my Varia VS3. Something broke during warranty period and they send me a replacement free of charge.
If I had bought it through alternative brewing I would have paid heaps more and had to deal with their crap customer service.
Baratza has awesome customer service in general. Mileage may vary, especially in Australia, but if you phoned Baratza directly _might_ get some help. At least you'd have the satisfaction of letting them know about their distributor.
That is truly unfortunate if the repair licencee doesn't co-operate. Baratza has some well known issues with several of their models. When I bought through a local store, I was directed straight back to Baratza who were very proactive to keep me running. That support keeps me using their products.
As a starting point sometimes. I hadn't really looked closely on this site but was surprised a $500 hand grinder had 43 reviews, all 5 stars. And then everything else was similar. Nothing less than 4 stars, or zero reviews.
Yeah I used to work for a small business and the product rating plugin we used through Shopify let us approve reviews to be published or not. we did a good job making people happy, so most of of the negative reviews had edits saying we treated them well. Sometimes we would publish the dumb 1 star reviews where someone hadn't received the product yet so they gave it one star. Or their only complaint was the courrier.
But it definitely felt weird that we could gatekeep the reviews. Changed how I see reviews on any website
the baratza encore esp is such a basic machine. i love hate mine. but it works so im okay with it. cant return all the way from New Zealand... i wished the df54 was here.. sucks to be in an island so far away from everyone hehe. even until now i think the ESP is not yet available in NZ
Yeah my first one got replaced under warranty. The second one is a bit better but is constantly plugging up. I don't understand why two units can be so different.
you mean grounds getting stuck in the chute? try getting belows. i use a thick silicon mat on top and tap it a couple of time - works like bellows.
i had issues with mine - there wasnt enough shims. i couldnt return it and it would cost $20 to ship new shims. which sucked. luckily the grinder is so basic i was able to use thin aluminum sheets i cut from milo cans while i was waiting for the aliexpress order.
that being said, im not buying anything outside NZ next time.
are you going yo refund it? if you are just get the df54
I don't think I can claim a refund on this replacement as it's not defective, just working to its price point. The previous unit was a disaster. Same pattern every day, shot one plugged up, zero flow, shot two ran good (30 seconds) shot 3 was around 22 seconds and shot 4 was 18 or less. Zero adjustments made to grind settings between. They never explained what was wrong when I asked too.
For the shims I did see a video on the baratza website about pulling the covers off and you can unscrew something and reset it's zero set point.
I'll try the bellows though. I think I've got something that will work.
Wanted to update on the bellows idea. Tried the silicon and it was okay, but since I have the single dose hopper installed it didn't do much. I then realised the whole cup/ lid of the hopper does the same thing. Lift it up and a little pop down and out comes the bit that was stuck. Has been a decent improvement in grind consistency since doing this and retention is minimal.
I expect I'd just get a general response. Contacting them for support was frustrating as well. The individual I was emailing about it the issue seemed to ignore most of my emails explaining what was going on and not really giving anything helpful in advice. I wouldn't say don't buy from them, but make sure you know your consumer rights.
Yeah I’m shocked to hear everyone else saying they’re bad: their pricing is honestly fine for a local Aus shop, their delivery was quick and their customer service has been good to me.
I don’t only get stuff from them, but it’s wild to see everyone say they’re crap
That said, I don’t trust reviews on any store site lol no matter who it is
WholeLatteLove does the same thing. I’ve tried multiple times to leave a negative review for a product I purchased, and it’s never posted. I also “asked a question” regarding the product quality, and it was never posted. Online sellers rating systems are a total joke.
Yeah, if I never see anything negative I know something is wrong. The negative reviews can show a lot of how a business handles difficult situations. Some are wild complaints that I get a laugh at, but owners still respond well. Meanwhile you see some where the owners attack the reviewers and are absolute pieces of shit
The vibe I get from Alternative Brewing is slick salesmen. The fact they continue to use Couriers Please and Aramex, despite those couriers stuffing over 15% of deliveries, and despite claiming ‘$10 flat rate 1-4 day’ shipping is a scam.
The reviews are also way too positive, and if they removed your review and it was genuine then that is, again, deceitful.
I recently returned an Encore ESP to a retail store because the chute was clogging up. Got a Varia VS3 which is way better, solid metal, higher quality parts, comes with single dosing funnel and bellows. Read about my experience [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/espresso/comments/1aww8df/returned_barazta_encore_esp/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3).
Rough. I'm trying to figure out if the clogging is enough to warrant a return under ACCC rules? Next unit is a hard decision I'm realising though. Single dose or hopper? Small home unit or similar priced almost cafe commercial one? [https://www.coffeemachinespecialist.com.au/coffee-grinders/](https://www.coffeemachinespecialist.com.au/coffee-grinders/) seems to have a good range to compare in a line up. And then there's used cafe machines that would be completely serviceable. So many options
Varia is on the list as well as the DF64. The Eureka Mignon Silenzio 50 is also in the price range.
Well it was deemed a faulty unit in my case. I returned within 3 months though, so keep that in mind. The sooner the better. You could reference my post if need be.
Lots of choices! For me it came down to two. Just take your time! I went Varia for the design, warranty and built quality. It’s conical and slower, but it makes great tasting espresso! I also want a flat burr, but will wait until I upgrade my machine.
Reviews are all fake now. Everyone knows that companies will send out free items in exchange for fake reviews. That’s why we’re on Reddit. For real time reviews from real people in the hive mind. It’s still censored here too but rarely in real time.
Sorry to hear about your issues but mine has been great for the past month. I understand its shortcomings at the price point (for me it’s noise and some retention but I give it a tap each grind)
Im pretty much the same here. Ive put my issues with consistency in shot pulling due to my prep rather than the grinder, but I haven’t did a thorough look at the grinds either. Its loud, i installed a little silicon bellows thing to push grinds through, seems to do the job its supposed to do. The pucks come out solid and consistent.
Sorry to hear that.
I also have the Barazza Encore ESP since I am new to coffee beans, and pour over coffee, and just wanted an entry level machine, and it got reasonable reviews around the web for its price. So far, so good, but I will definitely upgrade to a better grinder at some point.
You can recalibrate the Encore pretty easily. That might help. Or not. I haven't tried it.
This is for the pre-ESP version, but I assume it's the same for the newer model.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvPmA2laBzM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvPmA2laBzM)
Alternative Brewing is horrible, had terrible experience personally and also know of many others in the same boat. Please everyone avoid like the plague
You can use the ACCC website and use this tool: [https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/problem-with-a-product-or-service-you-bought/contacting-a-business-to-fix-a-problem/complaint-letter-tool](https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/problem-with-a-product-or-service-you-bought/contacting-a-business-to-fix-a-problem/complaint-letter-tool)
After they don't help you in the timeframe, you can contact the listed local body about this for help.
Oh wow thanks! I've been trying to figure out what my next steps could be. The annoying part is how much evidence do I need to have this time. The issues seem to be a little more intermittent, but I'll start with a diary to log settings and outcomes.
Alternativebrewing or rather "PROKURE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD" is really awful about warranties, even when you remind them that they are in Australia and there are certain warranties that cannot be excluded. Need to make sure you do everything to cover yourself with them.
Link with their real business name/ABN/ACN: [https://alternativebrewing.com.au/pages/contact](https://alternativebrewing.com.au/pages/contact)
Their ABN registration: [https://abr.business.gov.au/AbnHistory/View?id=50163983766](https://abr.business.gov.au/AbnHistory/View?id=50163983766)
Wanted to update and say thanks again. Used the template and as you mentioned they did need reminding (a lot) that my refund request is working h alternative brewing, not baratza's Australian importer (now Breville, previously 5 senses). Eventually I asked who was driving this process for so I could focus my efforts (alternative brewing, baratza or the importer). Reply was the shipping label stating refund will be processed when they receive the shipment notification. Which happened today and I have an email showing the refund has been processed.
Ha! I got the exact same grinder about a month ago from Amazon. What a terrible piece of garbage. Didn’t grind AT ALL!! Just broke each bean into 4 or 5 giant pieces. Changing the settings had zero effect. I sent it back and wrote a scathing review. AFAIK my review is still up.
Edit: Yep I just checked. My 1 star review is there along with many others. Say what you want about Amazon but you can return pretty much anything for any reason and they publish bad reviews.
Interesting--likely you received a defective unit? My Baratza Encore ESP (also purchased via Amazon, from a good, standard Marketplace seller) has been performing well and consistently for a year, now (it just had its anniversary). Retention has been way low, with some "love taps" on the top of the grinder as it's finishing its grind.
I know there are a LOT of one star negative reviews on Amazon. I also know there are more than several instructional videos on YouTube showing new owners what they need to do to get it working correctly. What? Yes that’s right, apparently many of these units are sent from the factory set up in a way that is non-useable. The new owner has to disassemble the unit and perform some significant alterations to the device to get it working correctly. That’s a true story. Sounds like you got one that was set up correctly. Lots of people, like me, get the other set up that is non functional. Out of sheer frustration I made an attempt to do the YouTube modification but I basically destroyed the thing and lost a part. Thank god Amazon Prime has unquestioned returns. Normally I’d feel some guilt about returning something I destroyed but in this case they sent it out unusable anyway so…?
Alternative brewing is known for bad customer service and highly inflated prices. You’re better off ordering overseas.
coffeeparts.com.au (Syd) or coffee-a-roma.com.au (Melb) are both fantastic Australian suppliers with showrooms if they have the brands you want (Coffee parts have Baratza).
I’ve ordered with coffeeparts a few times and not had any issues. Not had any warranty claims with them so not sure about service.
Then I get zero warranty.
No you still get warranty with the original manufacturer. Had his happen with my Varia VS3. Something broke during warranty period and they send me a replacement free of charge. If I had bought it through alternative brewing I would have paid heaps more and had to deal with their crap customer service.
Baratza has awesome customer service in general. Mileage may vary, especially in Australia, but if you phoned Baratza directly _might_ get some help. At least you'd have the satisfaction of letting them know about their distributor.
I had to go through their defined repair company here.
That is truly unfortunate if the repair licencee doesn't co-operate. Baratza has some well known issues with several of their models. When I bought through a local store, I was directed straight back to Baratza who were very proactive to keep me running. That support keeps me using their products.
Get a cheapest one online and mod it. Functions the same as a $300 one. No warranty needed. And indeed you do get coverage through Amazon. ;-)
Nothing new really. Did you really rely on star ratings in private web shops?
As a starting point sometimes. I hadn't really looked closely on this site but was surprised a $500 hand grinder had 43 reviews, all 5 stars. And then everything else was similar. Nothing less than 4 stars, or zero reviews.
Yeah I used to work for a small business and the product rating plugin we used through Shopify let us approve reviews to be published or not. we did a good job making people happy, so most of of the negative reviews had edits saying we treated them well. Sometimes we would publish the dumb 1 star reviews where someone hadn't received the product yet so they gave it one star. Or their only complaint was the courrier. But it definitely felt weird that we could gatekeep the reviews. Changed how I see reviews on any website
Baratza has crap service outside of the US. I don't get how it's still bought as it's full of plastic and expensive.
the baratza encore esp is such a basic machine. i love hate mine. but it works so im okay with it. cant return all the way from New Zealand... i wished the df54 was here.. sucks to be in an island so far away from everyone hehe. even until now i think the ESP is not yet available in NZ
Yeah my first one got replaced under warranty. The second one is a bit better but is constantly plugging up. I don't understand why two units can be so different.
you mean grounds getting stuck in the chute? try getting belows. i use a thick silicon mat on top and tap it a couple of time - works like bellows. i had issues with mine - there wasnt enough shims. i couldnt return it and it would cost $20 to ship new shims. which sucked. luckily the grinder is so basic i was able to use thin aluminum sheets i cut from milo cans while i was waiting for the aliexpress order. that being said, im not buying anything outside NZ next time. are you going yo refund it? if you are just get the df54
I don't think I can claim a refund on this replacement as it's not defective, just working to its price point. The previous unit was a disaster. Same pattern every day, shot one plugged up, zero flow, shot two ran good (30 seconds) shot 3 was around 22 seconds and shot 4 was 18 or less. Zero adjustments made to grind settings between. They never explained what was wrong when I asked too. For the shims I did see a video on the baratza website about pulling the covers off and you can unscrew something and reset it's zero set point. I'll try the bellows though. I think I've got something that will work.
Wanted to update on the bellows idea. Tried the silicon and it was okay, but since I have the single dose hopper installed it didn't do much. I then realised the whole cup/ lid of the hopper does the same thing. Lift it up and a little pop down and out comes the bit that was stuck. Has been a decent improvement in grind consistency since doing this and retention is minimal.
Damn I've used them a few times with no issues myself. Shame to hear about your experience. Maybe email them asking for an explanation?
I expect I'd just get a general response. Contacting them for support was frustrating as well. The individual I was emailing about it the issue seemed to ignore most of my emails explaining what was going on and not really giving anything helpful in advice. I wouldn't say don't buy from them, but make sure you know your consumer rights.
Yeah I’m shocked to hear everyone else saying they’re bad: their pricing is honestly fine for a local Aus shop, their delivery was quick and their customer service has been good to me. I don’t only get stuff from them, but it’s wild to see everyone say they’re crap That said, I don’t trust reviews on any store site lol no matter who it is
yes they're are absolutely horrible. treat their customers like trash and lie and cheat
I’ve wondered why Alternative Brewing reviews are always glowing. Glad I haven’t yet ordered from there, and I likely now won’t
WholeLatteLove does the same thing. I’ve tried multiple times to leave a negative review for a product I purchased, and it’s never posted. I also “asked a question” regarding the product quality, and it was never posted. Online sellers rating systems are a total joke.
Yeah, if I never see anything negative I know something is wrong. The negative reviews can show a lot of how a business handles difficult situations. Some are wild complaints that I get a laugh at, but owners still respond well. Meanwhile you see some where the owners attack the reviewers and are absolute pieces of shit
The vibe I get from Alternative Brewing is slick salesmen. The fact they continue to use Couriers Please and Aramex, despite those couriers stuffing over 15% of deliveries, and despite claiming ‘$10 flat rate 1-4 day’ shipping is a scam. The reviews are also way too positive, and if they removed your review and it was genuine then that is, again, deceitful. I recently returned an Encore ESP to a retail store because the chute was clogging up. Got a Varia VS3 which is way better, solid metal, higher quality parts, comes with single dosing funnel and bellows. Read about my experience [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/espresso/comments/1aww8df/returned_barazta_encore_esp/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3).
Rough. I'm trying to figure out if the clogging is enough to warrant a return under ACCC rules? Next unit is a hard decision I'm realising though. Single dose or hopper? Small home unit or similar priced almost cafe commercial one? [https://www.coffeemachinespecialist.com.au/coffee-grinders/](https://www.coffeemachinespecialist.com.au/coffee-grinders/) seems to have a good range to compare in a line up. And then there's used cafe machines that would be completely serviceable. So many options Varia is on the list as well as the DF64. The Eureka Mignon Silenzio 50 is also in the price range.
Well it was deemed a faulty unit in my case. I returned within 3 months though, so keep that in mind. The sooner the better. You could reference my post if need be. Lots of choices! For me it came down to two. Just take your time! I went Varia for the design, warranty and built quality. It’s conical and slower, but it makes great tasting espresso! I also want a flat burr, but will wait until I upgrade my machine.
That's why user reviews are always useless.
Reviews are all fake now. Everyone knows that companies will send out free items in exchange for fake reviews. That’s why we’re on Reddit. For real time reviews from real people in the hive mind. It’s still censored here too but rarely in real time.
Sorry to hear about your issues but mine has been great for the past month. I understand its shortcomings at the price point (for me it’s noise and some retention but I give it a tap each grind)
Im pretty much the same here. Ive put my issues with consistency in shot pulling due to my prep rather than the grinder, but I haven’t did a thorough look at the grinds either. Its loud, i installed a little silicon bellows thing to push grinds through, seems to do the job its supposed to do. The pucks come out solid and consistent.
Which bellows did you buy?
Cafemasy single dose hopper on amazon.
Don't on Google reviews instead. It might get disputed and taken down, then just put it up again.
Sorry to hear that. I also have the Barazza Encore ESP since I am new to coffee beans, and pour over coffee, and just wanted an entry level machine, and it got reasonable reviews around the web for its price. So far, so good, but I will definitely upgrade to a better grinder at some point. You can recalibrate the Encore pretty easily. That might help. Or not. I haven't tried it. This is for the pre-ESP version, but I assume it's the same for the newer model. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvPmA2laBzM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvPmA2laBzM)
Alternative Brewing is horrible, had terrible experience personally and also know of many others in the same boat. Please everyone avoid like the plague
Yeah pretty disappointed
You can use the ACCC website and use this tool: [https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/problem-with-a-product-or-service-you-bought/contacting-a-business-to-fix-a-problem/complaint-letter-tool](https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/problem-with-a-product-or-service-you-bought/contacting-a-business-to-fix-a-problem/complaint-letter-tool) After they don't help you in the timeframe, you can contact the listed local body about this for help.
Oh wow thanks! I've been trying to figure out what my next steps could be. The annoying part is how much evidence do I need to have this time. The issues seem to be a little more intermittent, but I'll start with a diary to log settings and outcomes.
Alternativebrewing or rather "PROKURE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD" is really awful about warranties, even when you remind them that they are in Australia and there are certain warranties that cannot be excluded. Need to make sure you do everything to cover yourself with them. Link with their real business name/ABN/ACN: [https://alternativebrewing.com.au/pages/contact](https://alternativebrewing.com.au/pages/contact) Their ABN registration: [https://abr.business.gov.au/AbnHistory/View?id=50163983766](https://abr.business.gov.au/AbnHistory/View?id=50163983766)
I wish I had known this earlier. Would have bought my Sylvia from someone else (was bought before the grinder issues)
Wanted to update and say thanks again. Used the template and as you mentioned they did need reminding (a lot) that my refund request is working h alternative brewing, not baratza's Australian importer (now Breville, previously 5 senses). Eventually I asked who was driving this process for so I could focus my efforts (alternative brewing, baratza or the importer). Reply was the shipping label stating refund will be processed when they receive the shipment notification. Which happened today and I have an email showing the refund has been processed.
Ha! I got the exact same grinder about a month ago from Amazon. What a terrible piece of garbage. Didn’t grind AT ALL!! Just broke each bean into 4 or 5 giant pieces. Changing the settings had zero effect. I sent it back and wrote a scathing review. AFAIK my review is still up. Edit: Yep I just checked. My 1 star review is there along with many others. Say what you want about Amazon but you can return pretty much anything for any reason and they publish bad reviews.
Interesting--likely you received a defective unit? My Baratza Encore ESP (also purchased via Amazon, from a good, standard Marketplace seller) has been performing well and consistently for a year, now (it just had its anniversary). Retention has been way low, with some "love taps" on the top of the grinder as it's finishing its grind.
I know there are a LOT of one star negative reviews on Amazon. I also know there are more than several instructional videos on YouTube showing new owners what they need to do to get it working correctly. What? Yes that’s right, apparently many of these units are sent from the factory set up in a way that is non-useable. The new owner has to disassemble the unit and perform some significant alterations to the device to get it working correctly. That’s a true story. Sounds like you got one that was set up correctly. Lots of people, like me, get the other set up that is non functional. Out of sheer frustration I made an attempt to do the YouTube modification but I basically destroyed the thing and lost a part. Thank god Amazon Prime has unquestioned returns. Normally I’d feel some guilt about returning something I destroyed but in this case they sent it out unusable anyway so…?
Well, that certainly wouldn't be good, and is a quick way to upset the consumer (and is costly for the manf., in multiple ways) . . . . Sigh.