Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

If I was researching my first pressure cooker again, I would want to be aware of both the potentially dangerous safety problems the Fagor Duo has, as well as the abysmal customer support in the event of the product falling apart. Our pressure cooker arrived broken, but we didn't realize this for the first month because we were new to pressure cooking. Some steam was escaping a poor-fitting gasket, which allowed us to still cook, just taking longer time. Over the first month, however, the escaping steam increased until it was clear that something was wrong and potentially dangerous. We contacted Fagor, who took three months to respond after repeated email inquiries from us. They require the CUSTOMER to pay to package and ship a broken part to them; they evaluate it at their location. Fagor shipped us a new lid after determining that nothing was wrong with it. It took 1 1/2 months for us to receive the replacement lid. The replacement lid arrived with a gasket that had a large gouge taken out of it; a replacement gasket was mailed to us. Once all of this was resolved, months after the initial problem and many emails/calls from us--it worked great!! Cook times for foods was as indicated in the recipes, and no violently escaping steam. We cooked three meals successfully-delicious-and then cooked a corn chowder for a gathering of friends. As I carried the pressure cooker pot to the dinner table, the handle snapped off, the 8 quart steel cooker and all its contents slammed onto the table, cracking dinnerware and spilling scalding chowder everywhere. A toddler's scorched clothes were immediately removed, dogs let outside, babies scooped up, and we felt lucky that no one required an ER visit. The remarkable piece is that Fagor customer service ignored our request for refund for three months in an almost comical approach. We contacted Fagor via email the day after the handle snapped off (with photos), and then more than five times by email, four times by phone (speaking with an actual person!!), and once by US mail (including printouts of unanswered email correspondence), over the next three months. EVERY SINGLE ONE of these contacts was then not followed up on in any way by Fagor. No effort was made to address or deny our request. Fagor seems to be a mysterious never-never land of either inept or consciously negligent service--I can't tell which, because I receive no service. We are still in the process of requesting our refund.