My recommendation...do not buy the Ultimate Chopper
Written: Nov 04 '04 (Updated Dec 18 '04)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Ease of Cleaning: |
|
|
| Style: |
|
|
|
Pros: Small for counter top.
Cons: Components cheaply made. More important, company has zero interest in your customer satisfaction, or safety.
The Bottom Line: Other companies make better choppers for the same or less money. But most important they have concern for their customer's satisfaction. Ultimate Chopper is a Chinese product with cheap components.
|
|
|
| aavi's Full Review: Sylmark Ultimate Chopper Food Processor |
IMPORTANT UPDATE ...DECEMBER 14
After reading my full review below, you will find why I am so lucky with my good fortune. I had initially intended to just throw away my Ultimate Chopper after all my attempts to get a replacement for my broken blade. As a last final effort, I thought I would write the company I purchased it from on the internet, and explain that I was about to lose sixty dollars because the manufacturer would not honor their guarantee.
I emailed them stating I understood that they had absolutely no obligation to me. I knew their guarantee to me had expired long ago. But I explained the disregard by the Ultimate Chopper manufacturer, as outlined in my full review below and asked if there was anything they could possibly do to help me. They return emailed me that they could not find my account in their records from the information I provided, and very politely explained that I possibly purchased it from somewhere else. However, if I was sure I had purchased it from them, gather the best information I could and email them with that information.
I was sure this is where I had purchased it from, and dug through my records to find a reference number and an order date. I sent the email. The next day I received this email from them:
Wed, 8 Dec 2004 17:28:52 -0600
To: xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Ultimate Chopper Blade
From: customerservice@buyinnovations.com
Dear xxxxxx,
After reviewing your email and the information you have provided we will be sending you a replacement blade for your machine. We apologize for the problems and the treatment that you have received from the manufacturers.
Please provide the ship to address where we can send the replacement blade.
Merrry Xmas
Customer Service www.BuyInnovations.com
My fellow consumers, a company cannot possibly get any more reputable than this. This internet seller is replacing a part for me that they had no obligation to replace. This is FIFTEEN MONTHS after their 30 day guarantee had expired. Ultimate Chopper had the unequivocal obligation to replace this broken blade. Ultimate Chopper totally ignored me. But Buy Innovations didn't. I wanted to let you know about this, because a company who does this for their customers, deserves to have many customers.
I was fortunate enough to buy my Ultimate Chopper through BUY INNOVATIONS. So it is my most heartfelt advice that if you still feel you want to purchase the Ultimate Chopper after reading my experience below, purchase it from this company, at www.buyinnovations.com. You will have the assurance of a caring company. They carry many many products advertised on TV, and all at excellent prices. I would highly recommend them for any purchase.
I think what they have just done for me speaks for itself. Today I received my replacement blade by UPS. They even paid the shipping. Thanks only to them, and not to Ultimate Chopper, my aggravation has a happy ending. I will at least be able to use my chopper once again...at least that is, until this blade breaks also.
But Here Is The Original Review
The Ultimate Chopper is the one by far, most heavily advertised on the late night thirty minute television info-mercial. It is demonstrated by Chef Tony. He's assisted by one of the female stars of the television series Three's Company.
Demonstrations are shown as to what the product can do, from chopping meat and ice, to making a strawberry sorbet.
It all looks very convincing on television, and in fact when you get it in your own home, you too will be able to do these things for a limited time ...until eventually the Chinese manufactured inferiority of the Ultimate Chopper becomes apparent.
One of the demonstrations Chef Tony does is to make regular sugar into powdered sugar. I too made powdered sugar. Only I smelled smoke from the motor as I was doing it. Had I run it any longer, the motor would have seized up. The cord was hot and that's not a good thing. I got the same result with coconut. I could actually see smoke coming from the motor in that instance.
You wouldn't think that would be the case, since one of the demonstrations also shows Chef Tony proudly grinding small pieces of cement into dust. It's easy to forget that this is a cleverly produced television commercial designed to sell this product. Cut-away shots and the many units used during the demonstrations, falsely mislead as to how well one will work in our own homes.
A claim made is that the cover is a break resilient plastic. The first time I accidentally dropped mine on a linoleum tile floor, there was a visible crack in it.
The food bowl itself holds only a small quantity of food, and very limited liquid. Otherwise liquid will overflow all over your counter. Even worse, it will run down into the units motor housing.
But most of all, a food chopper is pretty useless without a blade. And this is why I believe the company makes such an extra effort to give you solace in the TV commercial that you never have to worry about the blade. They say it is guaranteed for life never to lose its "sharpness."
If it does, all you simply have to do is contact them and get a replacement free. Ha ha ha, pardon me if I laugh.
The catch is, the blade will never last long enough for you to get to the point where you will find out if it loses its sharpness. Because it will break first.
The blade unit snaps over a spindle to hold it in place. This blade is from China. It is a two part assembly molded together in the center. One day when you go to push the little button on top that compresses the spring and releases the blade from the spindle, you will find the top part in your hand, but the blade still locked right there on the spindle. It breaks in half right where it's molded together. If you watch the television commercial when they are showing an overhead shot, you will see the little button.
Those two pieces cannot be snapped back together, glued or held together in any way. Also, the bottom half with the blades has two curved blades. One is approximately an inch above the other, making it very hazardous to try to remove it once the top half comes off. Almost without a doubt, you would cut yourself.
Worse yet, can you imagine what could happen if this blade broke while it was spinning at tremendous speed? I have actually read reviews where this has happened.
Also, oily grease that was inside this blade unit is now exposed, and leaks down into your food bowl. Your ultimate chopper is now ultimate junk. It's totally useless without this blade.
Many internet shopping sites offer the Ultimate Chopper. Do a google search and you will see dozens of them. It is usually sold with other "freebies" such as the Miracle Knife. And until your thirty day guarantee expires with the internet seller, you may indeed be able to get quick satisfaction and replacement for anything that goes defective, because THEIR reputation is important to them.
However once your internet seller guarantee lapses, there is only one place where you can get any parts. That is from the Ultimate Chopper LLC Company in Los Angeles or Sylmark the manufacturer. And this is where your problems will begin. Because this manufacturer has no interest whatsoever in your satisfaction once you purchase the product.
They would like you to believe they do. Once you find their website, you'll be greeted with all kinds of assurances and testimonials intended to reflect their customer concern. But fact is different from fiction.
If you visit other complaint sites or read other reviews on Epinions, you will see that it is the norm rather than the exception that the customer service of this company is virtually as bad as it can get. People are kept waiting for months for promised parts or placed on hold for long periods on the telephone, and then disconnected.
You will also find that complaints regarding the blade are common. That's easily understandable once you can see how cheaply it's constructed. Even in my Ultimate Chopper operations manual, there is not a company name listed, no manufacturer, no parts replacement phone number, no consumer response number...nothing.
So, if you have forty to sixty dollars you want to throw away and experiment on a food chopper advertised on an enticingly produced television commercial, I wish you the best luck. However it is my recommendation you avoid the Ultimate Chopper and purchase one from another company. One whose products are of quality construction, and sold by a company backed with a reputation for after-the-sale customer appreciation.
On this and other websites, there are titles appearing to be a different food chopper. I believe Ultimate Chopper is a proprietary name registered by this company. So anything referred to in a review as "The Ultimate Chopper" in my opinion would be the same food chopper I purchased. My recommendation to not purchase it would apply.
The company offers different color choices for the power bar on the unit. This is the plastic bar you push to process your food. It could be red, blue, green, yellow or white, supposedly to match your kitchen decor. But other than that it's the same food chopper. It's the same one I wasted my money on, and so many others did also. So don't be fooled by the different colors.
Sylmark, is interested in volume sales. They're interested in receiving your money. Not in providing you a quality product with service and backup as they guarantee. And any product or company in my opinion, is only as good as it's guarantee.
I have written (4) emails attempting to get replacement on this very simple inexpensive and dangerous broken blade described above. I have since discovered numerous others have also experienced a similar type of blade related defect.
Therefore to assist you, hopefully my fourth and last email to them will give you the best insight of what you are also likely to experience eventually if you buy the Ultimate Chopper. And why it is my consumer advice you avoid purchasing this product. So here it is:
Dear Sylmark, (Ultimate Chopper) 10-08-04
I am going to give you one last opportunity to honor the guarantee on your Ultimate Chopper. Your television info-mercial clearly states that the blade is guaranteed for life.
The guarantee makes reference to dulling of the blade. However, my problem is even much worse than that. The blade unit came apart in the middle. That means that when you go to remove the blade after chopping, the top part comes off but the blades stay on the spindle. There is no way you can safely remove the blade because the bottom of the blade section is snapped on. There is no way to grab it and remove it. The top part of the blade contains the spring release.
Serious injury of a cut would result from trying to remove the blade. It would also be extremely dangerous if it were to separate while it was spinning. The blade unit should never have come apart like that in the center where it is molded together.
This is a defective component in your product, it is inexpensively made and this is my fourth email asking for a simple replacement of that inexpensive blade. The machine cannot be operated with this separated blade.
If you refuse to acknowledge this minimal customer satisfaction, it will not be in your best interest. The power of the internet is enormous. I will take the time to go to all the consumer complaint and rating sites, and advise potential buyers of your product to buy another brand chopper from any of many other reputable companies. Such as Ultrex, or QVC.
I do not want to take this action, but I am not a consumer who allows any company I do business with to rip me off. I am patient, understanding and reasonable. But when you have a safety defect in a product or component part, which you proudly boast is guaranteed "for life", I will demand you honor that guarantee.
Look at it this way. If one customer does not buy the Ultimate Chopper because of the negative experience I will relate, it has cost you ten, fifteen, maybe twenty times, what the cost of simply replacing my one blade would be. However it will likely be many more than one customer, because I will use my emails to show the extent of my requests for this minimal satisfaction. Sites such as Amazon, ReSeller Ratings, Complaints.com, Biz-Rate, My Simon...are only a few that I will take the time to thoroughly inform.
There is no corporate wisdom for you, not to simply mail me a replacement blade. Not to mention the lack of integrity. Or concern for safety of your customers. You can even have the defective blade back if you want it. A reputable company does not even consider making a consumer go to this time or extent to remedy a problem. Especially when injury from the product could result.
This can be resolved with an inexpensive part, of which you have a warehouse full. I would not risk injury and you will not lose me as well, as a future customer of anything Chef Tony advertises, or that Sylmark manufactures.
I will ask you one more time as respectfully as I can, to just send me a replacement blade so I can safely use and utilize your chopper. I will expect an answer at your earliest opportunity.
Thank you.
______________________________________________________________________________
My email was ignored. Is this the company you want to purchase from?
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 59.00
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
aavi
|
|
Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.