Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought this coffee maker because I like waking up and having strong coffee ready, freshly ground. The coffee it makes can be adjusted for strength. It takes a bit of playing around to find the right mix of water, strength dial settings to get it the way I wanted it. I also liked the 3 year warranty since to me that implied they stood behind their products. Overall, I enjoyed it until it started smoking. Something the hot plate arced. I unplugged it and started the the warranty process. Called Cuisonart/Conair. They immediately sent a replacement and said they would be sending a label to send it back. When the replacement arrived, there was a bill for $20 for the shipment. I called and asked about the return label 3 more times over the next 2 weeks. Finally, someone in customer service said, I'll just read you the address and you can make a label. I then was told that I was responsible for shipment of the product back to them too. Figuring it would cost another $20 I thought that would be a total of $40 for a warranty did not make me happy but I accepted it. Shipping back to them was $45 because the return location is in AZ and I live on the East Coast!. This is a heavy coffeemaker. Now my coffeemaker has cost me about 35% of a new one to get it replaced "under warranty". I look at it a few ways at this moment. First, they honored their warranty quickly and the people in customer service were nice but forgot to tell me it was my job to pay for shipment both ways. My $165 coffee maker has now cost me $230. If it lasts for the remainder of the warranty then I just got unlucky and it was fate and an expensive lesson. Second, if the coffeemaker fails again before the warranty expires, then I'll feel ripped off. A warranty that costs me $130 on a $165 item (the current $65 plus the next $65) is worthless. Given what I know now, I would buy a separate grinder and good coffee maker of a different brand. The 3 year warranty sounds nice but is not viable in practice if the product fails repeatedly and you have to pay each time it fails. Upon further investigation, I have found that this specific coffeemaker has had problems with the heating plate. I am not very hopeful at this moment that it will last.