Pampered Chef Reviews

First off, my sales representative has been wonderful, but she can only do so much since corporate policies are above her head. As my free party gift, I got a multi-function coffee machine that brews regular coffee, K-cups, and espresso pods. It's been mostly fine except with the espresso pods. They switched it out for me back in May even though I got it in February with a warranty that somehow only covered the month of my party in January. They recently sent me a new espresso insert because I was having issues, but the problem isn't really the insert itself. It's how the machine handles it. The seal blows out and water starts leaking from the back. I usually have to stop, reseal it, and try again. Sometimes that's not even enough. Earlier today I made one cup and had to start over three times, and after the third attempt water was all over the counter, so my cup wasn't even full and I had grounds all over the place. Having to replace a pod and restart every time gets expensive. I have a return label but it's the holiday season and they won't ship a replacement.

I bought the Brilliance pan set and honestly it's dangerous. The pan handles and lids get extremely hot and I actually burned my hand using them. I would never recommend these pans or buy them again. Do yourself a favor and pick up cookware from Costco instead. That's a much smarter move.

We got some items from them a while back. The cast iron stuff is okay, but the cordless handheld mixer has been awful. We got it at our party with a discount and it still wasn't worth it. One battery died and not long after that the whole mixer stopped working. I called them for help and they said there's nothing they can do because it's been discontinued and they don't stock replacement parts. For a product at that price point that we barely used, this is really frustrating. I probably won't shop with them again because of this experience. Spend your money elsewhere. You can find better quality stuff at much cheaper prices at other stores.

I've been a loyal customer for a while now, but this experience was absolutely terrible. The consultant running the party was incredibly unresponsive. She wouldn't engage with the games on her posted content, took a day or two to answer any questions if she answered at all, and it took her four days just to send the final total. It was ridiculous. On day four, three days after the party ended, I got a message with the total at 10:30 at night. I was planning to cancel the whole order the next morning because she never responded to anything. This consultant was unprofessional, disorganized, and seemed completely uninterested in doing her job or connecting with customers. I won't be participating in any parties with that person again, and honestly I'm hesitant to work with other consultants after this. She did a disservice to the entire brand.

Just got my order with some chili mix and roasted red pepper soup mix. The problem? The directions are printed in tiny type with light gray text on a medium gray background. I literally cannot read them. At least the bread mix has a bit larger print and uses white letters on the same background color, which makes it slightly more readable.

I just wanted to get a replacement catalogue that costs three bucks, but they slapped me with an eight dollar shipping fee on top of that plus tax. They promised delivery in 3 to 5 days, but it showed up 10 days later even though I'm only about 40 miles away. When I called on day seven to check on it, the rep was friendly enough and said he'd rush it right out. He seemed confused about why it was still stuck in processing and promised it would arrive the next day or the day after. Spoiler alert: neither of those days happened. Look, their actual products are nice and I've enjoyed what I bought before, but charging me eight bucks to ship a three dollar book that took ten days to get delivered across 40 miles? Not cool. I'm done shopping with them.

I bought a jar of Tamarind Paste and put it away in my pantry for a recipe I was planning. When I pulled it out and opened it, the seal was broken, there was dried paste all around the rim, and more than half of the contents were missing. This jar had clearly been opened and partially used before they sold it to me. I had to toss the whole thing because I was worried about it being contaminated. Their food products clearly don't go through any kind of quality check before shipping.

Remember those popular baskets that came from Ohio made with quality craftsmanship? Well, this company is following the same pattern. After the founder's passing, they moved manufacturing overseas to China without telling customers upfront. Products started arriving with Made in China labels hidden on the back while the front showed American craftsman imagery. The prices stayed the same though. Recognize the problem? That's what's happening here. Management decisions have damaged a brand that used to be great. I'm giving them two stars just because of what they used to be.

You remember those quality baskets made in Ohio that people used to love? Well, Pampered Chef is heading down the same path to decline. When the founder passed away, production shifted to overseas manufacturers, especially China, but customers weren't informed. People were shocked when their products arrived with pictures of American craftsmanship on the front and tiny 'Made in China' text on the back. And they're charging the same American-made prices. Sound familiar? That's exactly what's happening with this company now. Eventually they'll end up abandoned and forgotten just like that other company, with old warehouses falling apart. Bad management choices, that's all this is. I'm giving them a two stars just because I remember when they were actually good.

I really like most of what they sell, and I've gotten items from several different consultants who were all fantastic. The customer support team seems like they genuinely try to help. Their stoneware cookware is wonderful to use. But here's my problem: this is my third pizza stone and it cracked on me. THREE times. I haven't dropped any of them or been careless. They just cracked from normal oven heat while I was cooking by their guidelines. The newest one was already a replacement from an earlier cracked stone, and they were reluctant to swap that one too but finally did. I used it once. It cracked while it was cooling down on top of the stove after I pulled it out of the oven. The stone wasn't cracked when I took it out, but by the time I went back five or ten minutes later to grab the pizza, it was completely broken. I had actually cooked it at a temperature 100 degrees lower than what their instructions said was okay. There was no way someone else could have done anything to cause it. I was alone the whole time. Something is clearly wrong with their pizza stones. This shouldn't be happening at all, especially to someone who takes such good care of their cookware like I do. It's really disappointing.