Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We have been using this blender for about seven months. We make daily smoothies with crushed ice (crushed from our ice maker) and frozen fruit (bananas, strawberries, etc.) and milk or juice. We have always noticed a slight electrical smell from the unit whenever we were mixing our drinks. The quality of the blend was generally OK; occasionally it was unable to break up some of the ice chunks. A plastic part on the base of the unit ended up shattering. This is a cheap plastic piece that turns the blade. I e-mailed Cuisinart's customer service group. It was a couple of weeks before they returned my e-mail. I had also left messages with their customer service number. After a few attempts I was finally able to speak with someone. I was told that I would have to send the blender back to them, at my cost, and include a ten-dollar check for them to repair the unit. After I told them that their policy was against the law in the State of California they agreed to issue a pickup tag with UPS and waived the ten-dollar fee. I finally received a new blender back about a month and a half later. I will never purchase another Cuisinart product. We have since replaced the blender with a Kitchen Aid KSB5. So far this blender is incredible. It makes easy work of blending ice. I cannot recommend the Cuisinart because of its lack of reliability and Cuisinart's non-existent customer service. *** Update *** This review was first placed in 2001. It is now April 2009 and the Kitchen Aid KSB5 is still running strong!