I bought a used vitamix 4000 off craigslist

[noamnety]

And wow, I am impressed with vitamix's customer service!

The vitamix was missing the lid (the "action dome&quot . I can use it with a silicone baking sheet on top to form a seal, topped with a cast iron fry pan to hold it down. But then I can't see what's happening inside.

I couldn't find just a lid on ebay or CL, so I called vitamix and was able to order one, along with a plug for the faucet to make cleaning easier. I also asked about a tamper, but they no longer have them in stock for the older model. The rep asked out of the blue if I had the instruction manual which I didn't, and said she could email it as a pdf to me, but if I don't have a printer she would print it and stick it in the package for me (!).

Then I got this in an email: "Before you look for a tamper – let me check with my supervisor to see if there are any of the wooden tampers left. She had a few at her desk. I will let you know when I hear back from her tomorrow."

and the next day: "Good News! We do have a few wooden tampers left. I have requested one to be sent out to you as a courtesy item."

I think I'm in love with a corporation.

[hlthe2b]

1. I've had my cherry red vitamix 5200 for 7 years now. It is rare to have a day when I don't use it.

Made in the US. I've been very pleased even though it is pricey.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

2. Now that is customer service.

Let me tell you of what can happen when you do not take care of your customers properly.

In the late 1980s, I was working for what was then Illinois Bell, maintaining a software application for telephone operators we had bought from Indiana Bell. We had bought 20 systems (PDP 11/73s) from Digital Equipment Corporation, to be delivered in pairs over ten months. We also got a tape with the operating system and other software with the first pair of systems. Unbeknownst to us, halfway through the period, there was a hardware upgrade in this particular model of computer, which was subtly incompatible with the version of the OS we had.

After we had been running for well over a year, I was able to track down some errors that we were having half the machines to this incompatibility. The old hardware was no longer available, and we were told that we would need to get ten new motherboards and a new software tape to make all the hardware the same and to have a good version of the OS. The kicker was that DEC insisted that we pay $8000 for each board, and $2500 for the software upgrade, for a total of $82,500. We maintained that since the problem was because of something they had done, they should eat the cost. We probably could have come to some arrangement for splitting the cost, but they were adamant. We had to pay it all. They would not come down even on the price of the OS tape, which probably cost them less than $100 to produce.

Since even the properly working systems were slow and the application software difficult to maintain, we determined that we would start over again on this application, using a proper database management system (the old one used ISAM files), C language (the old one used BASIC), and UNIX (the old one used RSTS/E) and faster hardware. However, at the conclusion of the meeting where this was decided, the CIO stated "Digital Equipment Corporation will NOT be invited to bid on this contract." Thus, DEC lost out on a contract worth nearly $750,000 because they insisted that we pay $82,500 for a problem that was really their fault.

It was at least partially poor customer service that killed DEC, once the second largest computer company in the US. It now exists solely as a nameplate on a rather obscure Compaq computer.

[noamnety]

4. That's an incredible story.

Charging almost 100k for equipment that was unusable as delivered, omg. You sound like 30 years later you are still ready to go off on them - and I think I would be the same way!

[NJCher]

5. interesting story

thanks for posting it, Fortinbras.

It sounds like they thought they had you over a barrel, kind of like how the medical profession and the pharmaceutical industry thinks these days. Oh, and the insurance industry, too.

It's not surprising to me that their product never worked in the first place. They were all about money. A better idea is to love what you do and to do it the best way you know how; then comes the money.


Cher

[kentauros]

3. Yes, their customer service is excellent!

I managed to make my new 5200 stop working after only three weeks (I may have tried to blend too little of whatever it was.) The guy at Customer Service was very helpful, sending me what I needed for postage to them. All I had to do was pack it up in the original box.

I don't know what the problem was only that the motor stopped working, and none of their resting/cooling tips worked. There was also no repair slip, making me think they just replaced mine with a new one. My first one likely got repaired and sold again as a refurbished model.

Oh, they also have an excellent recipe resource on their site, if you haven't seen it yet

[noamnety]

6. question about grinding wheat in this thing

Has anyone used a vitamix 4000 for grinding grain? It has the stainless steel container, so I know that part will be okay, but I'm wondering if the plastic action dome is going to look like it's been sandblasted if use it for that.

[fortyfeetunder]

7. Grinding wheat in a vitamix

There is a special dry blender container for grinding wheat. Works like a champ. The blades are different than the wet container. And they are not interchangeable (cannot process wet items in the dry containers. Pricey but I use it for grinding coffee in bulk, making gluten-free flour, etc.

[noamnety]

8. Thanks for the reply - but this is an older model.

The 4000 doesn't use separate wet and dry containers and blades. The instructions say to clamp on the action dome and go to town on high for 3 1/2 minutes to grind 2 cups of wheat. I was just wondering if it beats the crap out of the dome since it's plastic, or if the steel container on this thing is tall enough that it's not a problem.

[Major Nikon]

9. Here's a note about grinding with a blender

A blender doesn't grind, it pulverizes. A true grinder has two grind plates, one of which is stationary. One rotates and shaves off material from whatever it is you are grinding. A blender works more like a hammer smashing the material into successively smaller bits. The results at the microscopic level couldn't be more different. With a true grinder you get relatively uniform shapes and sizes. With a blender you get a wide variance of shapes and sizes. This can effect the way in which the finish product behaves.

For whatever you are doing with your flour, you may not notice a difference or you may even prefer the unevenness of what the blender produces. For some bakers, the grind quality of the flour is very important and they prefer to use a wheat grinder that is designed for that purpose.