This week I have been exposed to another example of premium branded service.
We have a bit of a think for Nespresso coffee. I know it’s Nestlé and thus
A BAD THING™, and that it’s not the cheapest way to drink coffee. But the convenience of the system works for us, especially as Sarah and I like very different roasts when it comes to coffee. And it’s not at all a bad cup of coffee. We’ve had One machine or another for over 10 years, so you could say we’re well and truly hooked.
About 2 years ago I decided to subscribe to a monthly minimum purchase and commit to it for 1 year, and in return they sold me a high end machine for £1. The machine worked fine until this year. I got confused about wireless connections and professed to be unable to connect to the machine. After a session on the phone with a surprisingly competent individual they shipped out a loan machine and took mine in to test. A couple of weeks later it came back with no fault found and I managed to work out that it’s wifi is a bit finicky if it’s been paired with more than one device.
Fast forward a few months and the machine started to deliver inconsistent volumes of coffee. It took a couple of calls this time because on the first call we seemed to fix the issue. However it went back to them and came back seeming to work ok.
About 6 weeks later it started to do the same again, but this time we discovered it was also filling the internal drip tray with coffee. A call and a return later it’s back with us having had its inards replaced. Cool a virtually new machine.
However, we discovered it was leaking water this time, from somewhere under the machine. A couple of calls later a return is arranged. I’m getting a bit fed up.with this now.
The day after the return is arranged I get an email from Nespresso. ‘We’re sorry for all the trouble you’ve had with your coffee machine, so we’ve decided to send you a replacement instead of trying to fix it again. Please call us to confirm your delivery address’ or words to that effect. That was Tuesday afternoon. I’ve just received a brand new high end coffee machine which will hopefully last for a couple of years.
So, yes, I might be paying a premium price for the excellent coffee we drink, but I do feel that the £1 I have paid for the machine was an excellent investment.
