First off let me say that I know ChefSteps sells this unit and while I strongly encourage anybody looking to buy equipment to do so through their store and support this fantastic site/community...just think twice about buying PolyScience from anywhere. Secondly, I apologize in advance for the long post but I wanted to be thorough and explain myself so that others could learn from my experience with PolyScience.
I've owned a Creative Series since October of 2012 (paid $400 for it) and it's certainly been good to me. I am a home chef and have probably used it 4-5 times a month on average (doesn't seem like heavy usage to me) with great results...until this weekend that is
Less than an hour into a cook I hear crackling and popping, look over at the water bath and see smoke, then sparks coming out of the back of the circulator, YIKES! After a quick check everything appears to still be working fine until I notice the water temp dropping...the heater isn't working
After digging around on the website I see that the warranty is only 12 months so I figure I'll be paying for the repair...which I assume can't be too excessive since the only thing broken is the heater. Given the warranty has expired anyway I decided to open the unit up and survey the visible extent of the damage. What I found is documented in the attached picture and looks to me like it might well be the result of a manufacturing fault. One of the power connectors to the heating unit is exposed and fried, no prize for guessing where the "crack-pop-smoke" came from! It appears (to me at least) that this connector is a lot closer to the stirrer motor than the other side is. My guess is that the insulation over the connector was touching the edge of the motor all along and over time got hot to the point of melting the insulation all the way through and "pow!", that's the end of that.
First thing Monday morning I give them a call to figure out a plan of action and to cut already long story a little bit shorter, the conclusion of the customer support representative is that I can send it in to be looked at, but most of the time when they receive these back the end result is that I get a discount off the price of a brand new one. No, I can't be given a price on the heater and fix it myself as they don't sell replacement the parts for that unit. Conclusion...it's essentially disposable from their perspective, no real service options, if it breaks throw it away and buy a new one. I explain that this isn't 2012 anymore and I can buy a very comparable unit (Anova for example) for $199, he understands but can't offer any help.
I guess I should have asked exactly what type of discount I would be looking at but I figured that unless it's 50% (seems unlikely to me) then I'm better off just getting a different brand and hoping their serviceability is a lot better, but if it isn't I'm still $200 better off!
Before placing my order for a different device (I've recommended the Anova to several people all who have loved it) I figured I'd give PolyScience one last chance by posting to their Facebook page. I post a calm, reasonably thought-out post to their page, explaining my disappointment and highlighting that I am pretty shocked a $400 appliance is considered disposable...24 hours later...it's deleted without so much as a "Sorry, I wish we could help but our hands are tied"!
So, not only will I never give them another cent of my money but I feel compelled to share this experience with others who may be considering purchasing one of their devices. I realize that maybe the Chef Series and other higher end devices may have better serviceability, and maybe they care more about their commercial customers who are paying 2x (or more) the price, but it's apparent to me they really don't give a hoot about home/small scale cooks.
As I said above, this isn't 2012 anymore, there are lots of options for very good immersion circulators, many with specs that rival or exceed this unit, all of which are $100-200 cheaper, shop around, while PolyScience may appear to be the "high end" because of their commercial kitchen placement, they really don't care about the "lower end".
Cheers!
HappyWino
