Complaint Review: Whole Latte Love.com - Rochester Internet

This Gaggia Academia Espresso machine I purchased from Whole
Latte Love is defective. When I spoke to customer service as per their website,
I have to pay a 15% restock fee and send it back within 5 days after getting an
RMA number OR talk to tech support who after finding this machine defective can
waive the restock and shipping back fee. We came home from work 3 hours early
Monday the 27th of March to go through troubleshooting and was told that tech
support was closed. This was at 5:15 pm EST and they are supposed to be open
until 8 pm per their website. Sales steered me to this machine knowing I wanted
a machine that automatically frothed the milk into a cup and gave latte with
hot milk. Later in this complaint, you will see that customer service admits
that you do not get hot milk out of the frothing container as stated from
sales. The website states that tech support is open M-Thursday until 8 pm. We
were told to call back another day with zero regard for our problem with the
machine and our work schedule. He said to call back tomorrow. Well, we can't be
home when they going to be there tomorrow and came home early today to speak to
someone about the issues after being told someone would be there to speak to
us. Then after speaking to a supervisor, they said we have to warm the milk up
before we can use the milk container on the unit. The book from Gaggia and the
sales rep I spoke to knew I wanted a machine that I could just plug in the milk
container and make a ppucchino or Latte with just pulling the milk out of the
refrigerator as per the Gaggia manual. Now I am being told by this supervisor
that to get a latte or a cappuccino from this machine, I have to microwave the
milk and then try to froth the milk or make a latte. Not what the Gaggia manual
says for a machine that costs $2500. This machine is supposed to froth for a
cappuccino or make a latte from cold milk from the milk container. This is
supposed to be a super automatic espresso machine. The machine left the
espresso cup luke warm because of the temperature of the milk that came out of
the milk frothing unit was barely warm. It ruined the cup of espresso that came
hot out of the espresso unit because of the temperature of the milk. After warming
up the milk as the supervisor told my husband to, it is just WARM. It is
supposed to be hot milk. The unit is still defective. Rep stated he needed to
speak to a a different supervisor to do anything and will let us know the
status of the refund. Date ordered was March 19, 2012 and date delivered was
March 22, 2012. Problems with machine started the day we got it and I called on
Friday March 23 to get a RMA number after telling the cust serv rep it was
defective. Andrew called my husband back and is arranging for a return label.
They plan to test the machine and if they find it defective testing it, they
will refund the cost of the machine. We asked if they are going to test it as
the Gaggia manual suggests using cold milk to froth and they would not agree to
that. If they heat the milk and it froths, they may say the machine is not
defective while Gaggia specifically says in their manual that the milk should
be cold to be frothed. I verified this information with Gaggia. 4/13/12- We
were told by Brian from customer service that we would get a full refund for
the unit, no restock fee and we asked for an email confirmation which he said
he would do. The unit is deemed defective as far as they are concerned.
4/18/12- I called Whole Latte Love again spoke to Brian, about an email
validating the refund and got a totally different story. Now they say the unit
isnt defective and most people dont like this machine because it
doesnt warm up the milk enough. The customer service representative admits this
is one of the problems of this machine is that people dont like. milk that
does not heat up from the frothing container. The machine did not froth after
several attempts at following the manual from Gaggia and the directions from
Gaggia say to use cold milk for frothing. Brian states that the only way they
to avoid a restock fee now is to go through all this aggravation again with
this company. Now I am being told the unit is not defective and they are not
refunding $359.88 of the purchase price for their restock fee on a unit that
never worked. They have lied to us from the beginning with incorrect
information on using the machine and telling us we had a full refund coming and
then retracting that information. This is outright fraud after being told this
unit is defective and a full refund was coming. Why would I exchange for a
different unit with them and avoid the restock fee when every one I and my
husband has spoken to has given us a different story and outright lied to us
about the outcome.

 

To make matters even worse, they had matched an advertised
price on the machine from amazon.com and the machine was originally $2539.15
and they sold the machine to me for 2399.20. 
Even at that price the restock fee should have been $359.88 and they
took $382.31 off the refund.  This
company lied  about everything to me and
admitted this machine did not do what I wanted it to do as far as heating the
milk. The said they would wave the restock only if I purchased another machine
from them.  Why would I do that twice?  This is Fraud any way you slice it.