Tidaka - Poor Customer Service

Recommendations for buyers and upgraders from the site's members.
Valo_Soul
Posts: 158
Joined: 6 years ago

#1: Post by Valo_Soul »

I'm very interested in purchasing a Tidaka dosing funnel, but it took almost three weeks to get a response to an email inquiry, and now I've been waiting two more weeks for a second response. As much as I'd like the funnel, I'm now extremely wary about sending money to a company that can't even answer an email.

Has anyone had a similar experience?

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Moka 1 Cup
Posts: 835
Joined: 5 years ago

#2: Post by Moka 1 Cup »

Few days after placing my order I sent them an email with a question regarding my shipment. Never received a reply.

Having said that I like the 7gr kit, it's all I use for my espresso. It's pricey and yes, they do not respond to email messages from their customers, but I would buy it again.

Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness.

kwantfm
Posts: 543
Joined: 11 years ago

#3: Post by kwantfm »

I've bought from them a number of times and have never had an issue. I, for one, think their dosing funnels are the best in the business.
LMWDP #602

Max1411
Posts: 30
Joined: 6 years ago

#4: Post by Max1411 »

I bought 4 funnels from them. Always worked well but I heard, that communication is sometimes a bit "tricky", I don't know why exactly but I've never heard of someone not getting his order, even if it's a bit laggy from time to time... Sure that's bad service but the product is good.

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baldheadracing
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Joined: 9 years ago

#5: Post by baldheadracing »

Imagine if one communicated to a similar webstore located in the USA solely in German.

I just received an order last week and a part was missing. I received a reply yesterday and shipping notification this morning.

While there are some coffee-related vendors that deserve every knock on their (lack of) customer service, Tidaka isn't one of them.
-"Good quality brings happiness as you use it" - Nobuho Miya, Kamasada

Valo_Soul (original poster)
Posts: 158
Joined: 6 years ago

#6: Post by Valo_Soul (original poster) »

Excellent feedback. Thank you, everyone. This restores my faith a bit. How long to receive orders, typically? I am in Canada.

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baldheadracing
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#7: Post by baldheadracing replying to Valo_Soul »

Really hard to say because the longest holdup is typically with Customs.
-"Good quality brings happiness as you use it" - Nobuho Miya, Kamasada

Bret
Posts: 611
Joined: 8 years ago

#8: Post by Bret »

I ordered their Tamper Cube when I ordered a Tidaka funnel. My experience was not good:

You have to select a ring to place in the cube that will fit your tamper. I did. They changed the size. My portafilter is a breville, 58mm, not that unusual in size. They said that after reviewing the dimensions, they felt the next larger size would work. I figured they should know. The cube was listed as in stock when I ordered, but they told me they had just sold the last one, and would I be willing to wait for over a month to get it (not made in Germany, apparently). Since I wouldn't be able to use it until I set up my new station which was going to happen around that time, I figured it timed out okay, and agreed.

They didn't ship the other items I had ordered, and informed me of a longer delay on the cube. I had to ask them to ship the in-stock items so I didn't have to wait months for them, too. It almost seemed like a novel idea to do that.

Fast forward a bit, and get the cube and the larger adapter ring. Of course, the ring was too large and it would not support my portafilter, which would roll around in the space freely, clearly unusable. I let them know and requested the smaller ring that I had ordered. They wanted me to pay again for the correct ring, would not exchange it for the incorrect ring that they had chosen, and I noted that it was now several months (more on that in a bit) after I had ordered, and I would like them to send the smaller ring asap, I would happily return the unusable ring in parallel. They suddenly decided that no adapter ring would work for my 58mm portafilter! So I requested a formal return.

I ordered the cube in mid-May. I received it in mid August and let them know the same day that I needed the correct ring. It took them until mid September to 'decide' that no ring would work, and that is when I told them we needed to start the return process. In November I received the information on shipping the cube back for refund.

Here is the other problem: a 'prompt' response to an email is apparently a week at the earliest. In at least three instances, they waited 2 or more weeks to reply at the end of a day where they also let me know that they were going to be closed for 1 or 2 week holidays. And then it took 2 weeks after the holiday was over before they answered the email. And if I asked more than one question in an email, they always ignored at least one of the questions.

Off topic: the tidaka tamp thru funnel doesn't work well for that with my baskets: tamp thru works, but the funnel fits poorly, so ground fill up under the entire rim of the funnel, so it is much more mess and hassle than using a normal funnel. I've been using a levtamp anyway, so I was only going to use it to avoid the gap at the rim caused by normal funnels during grinding into the portafilter, etc. It might fit better on some basket types.

Their countertop tamper stands are very nice and work well. IF the cube had the correct ring, it would work well. But if they got on a plane and hand delivered me the correct ring tomorrow, I would just hand them the cube and get my money back. Too much hassle to ever enjoy using it.

I won't do business with them again, and can't recommend them based purely on my customer service experience.

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Moka 1 Cup
Posts: 835
Joined: 5 years ago

#9: Post by Moka 1 Cup »

Wow! that was an adventure.
Thanks for sharing it. A this point I hope I don't damage my kit so I don't have to buy a new one.
Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness.

zap
Posts: 7
Joined: 4 years ago

#10: Post by zap »

Hi there,

On Sunday I placed an order for a tamping station sized to accommodate the 49mm portafilter for my La Pavoni Eurobar 2.0 (ca. 1982). I asked some questions to pre-empt some of the issues others say they experienced. The person responding to me is Melanie, and so far they've been very responsive and asked me to take measurements to be sure they send the correct adapter ring.

I'll follow up as things progress, but I wanted to provide a positive data point relative to the other thread.

Now I'm trying to add a dosing funnel to my order, hopefully that can be accommodated without having to put through a new order, which now may not even be possible--I noticed the option for shipping to USA disappeared within a day or two after I submitted my order for the tamping station!

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