Saeco V'spresso Automatic Espresso Machine - 10008  Product Reviews

"This is my fourth (and worst) fully automatic Saeco machine. I was curious to see how others faired with the V-spresso and read the reviews. It appears that 50% have had problems and needed customer service. In my case the machine has been schizophrenic from the start and has needed to be serviced twice. As someone else wrote, the thing makes great coffee when it works, but its a crap shoot if you're getting a reliable machine. The worst part is the service from Saeco. They are very polite, but very inefficient. They don't get the fact that this is a luxury toy and their average customer is someone who expects service commensurate with the high price. I'm afraid that with a 50/50 shot at getting a good machine and a corporation with little regard for their clients, my next purchase will not be Saeco."

"There is a customer review that provides a fair assessment of this machine, but I wanted to add some comments. First, take the time to read the manual and work with the settings. Second, you might have to work with the grinder the first time you load it, but be patient. Third, the dreg drawer indicator is far too sensitive, but emptying it is a breeze. Just dump the "hockey pucks" into the trash and get back to brewing. Fourth, the cup warmer is probably not going to make your espresso cups hot enough, but use the RINSE feature to clean and heat the brew group along with your cups. Who wants yesterday's residue? Fifth, this machine is quieter that my old Capresso and a heck of a lot faster. Sixth, priming is easy; the manual primer is only if the normal process doesn't work. No different that the other two machines I've used. Seventh, enjoy a nice cup of espresso or cappucino. Frothing was easy with the wand and should work unless you want the microfoam and/or foam art. For most consumers, you'll be very satisfied with this machine."

"Have had this machine for almost a year and done 1000+ cups on it. No problem at all. Just a few important tips: - clean the machine once a week or when the coffee waste drawer is full. You will get a message in the display. Follow the manual for cleanning procedure. Very easy to do. - Do not leave the machine ON all the time if you are not using it. - Never use flavored coffee (like chocolate or vanilla coated beans). - Use good quality whole beans coffee and you will get great coffee EVERY SINGLE TIME. - Use filtered water only. Change the machine filter regularly (see manual). - In the first few times of use, play of the grinding and dosage settings until you find the settings that will give you the coffee taste you like. It is very easy to use it. Highly recommended. "

"I purchased the V'spresso machine, unpacked it and followed all instructions to get it setup - only to receive an error message that indicates that it needs to be serviced - the machine was dead out of the box. I don't know how much I can trust a machine that failed to produce its first cup of coffee so I returned it for a refund."