Flair EspressoReviews of flairespresso.com

Their Kickstarter campaign was a disaster, sticking backers with outrageously high shipping costs that make the final price far worse than retail. Flair espresso machines regularly go on sale on Amazon with 15% discounts and free shipping to many countries outside the US. At that rate, I could grab the Go for around $190, all in – shipment, import fees, everything. But what do they want me to pay just because they couldn’t be bothered to offer a cheaper shipping option? $249.97. Two hundred and fifty dollars, basically. I’ve supported Flair for years – purchased the pre-Classic 2017 model, later the 58, and just recently, the 2024 Neo Flex. The Go was supposed to be next, but after this campaign, I think I’m done. I might just sell it unused – that’s how bad this left me feeling.

It's ridiculous that they won't reconsider and work with other couriers to reduce the shipping cost. But if that's the case, they you should give an option for refund for customers who can't afford the shipping. Since I have the Flair 58, I have had experience with customer support in the past. They have been so helpful and considerate. I don't understand this change of attitude towards customers. Okay, now they are reasoning as if other Kickstarter campaigns never gave refunds as an option. Timemore offered refunds during their campaign for the Sculptor. So there you go.

Some Facts about their Kickstarter campaign. - For some countries the shipping price increased significantly from the evaluation. - The promised Add-ons are not there (which will require to place another order and pay more shipping fees). - Survey sent right before Christmas with only a week to answer leaving people no choice but to pay shipping in this specific time. - No kindness on their part, just straight facts and "it is what it is" kind of answers. Thanks for reading. --- EDIT 1 --- As per Kickstarter comments section: Backer: I wish I could add mirrors with add-on Flair: We will include the Shot Mirror as an add-on during the survey! Backer: Short mirror as a possible add-on would be appreciated... Flair: We got you! Backer: is there a way to connect a shot mirror to this beuty of a product? Flair: Just tested - and yes! Woohoo! --- EDIT 2 --- Company Entitlement: In summary, entitlement in a company often manifests as a disconnect between what is promised and what is delivered, coupled with a dismissive or defensive attitude toward those affected by the failure. The company feels they are above reproach or that their customer base will continue to support them despite the lack of follow-through.

A campaign that could damage Flair in long-term. First to say I already own a Flair 58 model and love it, due to this and Flairs so far client friendly service I decided to back the Flair GO campaign. This campaign is so to say a free marketing campaign to built up hype around a marginally cheaper released product with the opportunity to check on costumer demand for the GO. During this campaign Flair was always trying to respond fast and also promised certain add-ons in the Question segment to be available with the survey. Further they promised some stretch goals like coffee and other stuff. What did they fail on now? Well a lot of the demanded add-ons were not available against the odds of the made promises and none of the stretch goals will be available for costumers outside US. If this would be a company new to the coffee game a lot would say nevermind but you guys are years in the business with partners all over the world and now rely on direct costumer delivery??? - totally strange And last but not least explanation on the increase in shipping cost only has been done after a huge amount of complaints and criticism and not with the release of the survey - a communication mistake par excellence. You've lost my trust as a company.

Flair is a company that has been around for a while in the coffee scene, so when they launched a Kickstarter campaign to build a portable espresso machine, people supported them in mass. At that time, they provided estimated shipping costs and taxes for certain countries. These were very high figures, but people still supported them out of trust in the company. Now, after a few months of waiting, they send out surveys to collect shipping details for a product that is supposedly shipping in January 2025, and it turns out they have raised the prices they initially estimated, which were already high. Depending on the country, the price now exceeds the initial estimate by 50%, meaning the espresso machine, for which $125 has already been paid, ends up costing around $220-240. They’ve charged almost the same amount as the product itself for "supposed" shipping costs. And the worst part is that they don't even respond to complaints or offer the option to cancel. It's a terrible company policy to blatantly scam consumers and ignoring feedback instead of trying to make changes to improve customer perception. Edit after Flair response: Thank you for taking the time to reply to my complaint. While it’s true that you’ve apologized, that’s simply not enough. The campaign ended on September 26th, a little over two months ago. If you were already experiencing delays with other shipments, you must have known it was better to use a trusted carrier. If that was the case, you should have updated the campaign to inform us about this increase in the final price and given us the option to back out. Nobody expects to pay an 80%-plus increase due to shipping and VAT on the price of a product. If the decision to switch to DHL was made after the campaign ended, you should have issued another update to notify us about this price change, rather than waiting until the surveys were sent out. This isn’t just about the $30-plus increase on an already high shipping and VAT cost; it’s about the fact that you didn’t even consider us, the backers, when making this decision.

Backed a product on kickstarter only for Flair to jack up the shipping costs. No response from company on this, it's a shame that lots of influencers will shill their products without having to pay while customers get fleeced. Edit - the reasoning in the reply was not explained to backers. Even so, the initial cost of the project would have come in below VAT rates for the UK, but their ineptitude means that the cost has now risen to the point that VAT will need to be collected. They have refused to refund my pledge, despite admitting that they could do so if they wanted to. Just an awful enterprise with a passive aggressive tone to all of their communications. Avoid all Flair products.

If you're reading this, you're likely in the same situation. For those unaware, this crowdfunding campaign presented highly inaccurate shipping cost estimates. Many backers are now stuck with a deal where shipping costs nearly equal the price of the product itself—something most would never have agreed to had accurate estimates been provided. Dear Flair Espresso, Even granting the benefit of the doubt, I understand that estimating shipping costs is challenging. However, many other projects have managed this much better than you have. Your best long-term strategy would be to either issue refunds or absorb a portion of the shipping costs. The alternative—leaving hundreds of backers feeling overcharged and disappointed—may boost your immediate revenue but will undoubtedly tarnish your reputation in the long run. Please do the right thing.

Durante los últimos meses la empresa ha lanzado una campaña en Kickstarter para comercializar la Flair GO. Se dieron unos precios previstos de envío que ya resultaban algo caros, pero que aceptamos. La empresa ha esperado a que acabara la campaña y nos cobraran el importe del producto para informar de que los gastos de envío se elevaban a niveles inexplicables. En el caso de España, de 28$ + impuestos a 58$ más impuestos. Se da la extraña circunstancia de que los envíos a los compradores de USA son gratuítos, mientras que el resto del mundo debe pagar precios elevadísimos. Si la respuesta de la empresa es que el precio base del envío iba incluído en el precio del producto, significa que están cobrándonos aún más de esos 58$, cosa que es una barbaridad, y supone precios superiores a los que conseguiría un particular que contactara con la empresa de transportes. No hay por donde pillarlo. Lo peor de todo es que dijeron que trabajarían para conseguir los mejores precios, y lo que han hecho es duplicarlos, y avisar de ellos cuando ya no había vuelta atrás para el comprador. Mientras tanto la empresa no se pronuncia y se acaba el plazo para acabar de cerrar la compra (de la que ya se han cobrado el precio del producto).