Quick question. I bought a "returned during 14 day trial" grinder from a national retailer online. It's the Sette 270. I wasn't expecting it to be brand-new, but was expecting it to look almost new. When it arrived, it doesn't seem like it was checked and instead just shipped out to me. The burr is coated in coffee grounds, which then of course migrated into a fine dust across the whole unit. The Sette is super easy to clean with a rotation of the burr it all pops out and can be inspected and cleaned. It makes me wonder if I can trust this unit given how it was sent to me.

Am I off-base for thinking this isn't how I should receive a product from a vendor, even if it was purchased open-box? What a let down opening the box and seeing a fine dust over the whole unit, popping out the burr and seeing it coated in grounds. It doesn't feel right to me, but I wanted to check if this was somehow normal in the coffee industry? I've reached out to the vendor as well, but so far have only gotten one dismissive reply.

Frank,

I don' t know where you bought it, but for a comparison I just looked at the open box policy at Chris' Coffee. Their open box machines are bench tested prior to shipment and come with the original warranty. Bench testing may not include cleaning, but what you received looks rather dreadful.

Have you cleaned it and tried it out yet?

Rocky

Hi Rocky,

No, I haven't cleaned it. I'm still stunned at receiving i like this that I just set it aside and emailed the (Canadian) vendor. I've cleaned my Baratza Encore grinder many times... but I think for a 10% savings, I'm not sure that I can trust this unit was inspected, checked or anything, it feels like it was just taken back from the first customer and shipped out to me. It also bugs me that the vendor hasn't responded in over 24h now. This is one of the largest vendors in Canada who only sells coffee equipment, so I'm a bit taken aback and wondering if I'm just off base and this is to be expected buying open box.

I had a similar issue with an online vendor and a burr grinder (I suspect the same vendor)
Not only were the burrs not cleaned but they were stuck. When I contacted the vendor they claimed they test with coffee which accounts for the grinds. I call b.s. and returned the grinder.

There's no need to get our thoughts on the matter. Contact the seller and tell them what's up. Use their response to determine if you ever want to do business with them again (regardless of whether you keep the item or not). Then tell us about how well/poorly they handled the situation.

You guys need to take this all in a greater perspective. It's coffee.... in a coffee grinder. If it offends you, take a brush or rocket blower and puff it all out. Then refill it with coffee and move on. It's not dirty. It's coffee.

+1 And it was sold as open-box item. Coffee could just mean that they have tested it after it came back, found that it works and sold it as such. Not a big deal. Use it.

It does make one wonder if the item was ever tested as advertised.

Takes seconds on a bench with a vacuum or compressor setup to vacuum \ blow the burrs.
Seconds that instills confidence in the product and makes for a better sales presentation.

While I agree that it would have been nice if the vendor had vacuumed the grinder prior to shipment, Tom's right: It looks about what a tested grinder would look like, especially after all the jostling it's subjected to during shipping.

FWIW, I've received grinders with residual grounds and espresso machines that were wet. A note explained this was to be expected due to bench testing. I shrugged and moved on. It'd be a different story if the equipment was dirty (e.g. splattered milk or caked on coffee).

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. It helped give me perspective.

In the end, I spoke with the retailer today, and they are shipping me a new Sette and I'm sending this one back to them, for cleaning and resale. I spoke to them about the perception of a customer opening the box and getting a coated in dust grinder with beans still in the hopper. Even though I on many levels think its probably fine and I could just clean it, on other levels I dont know it was checked, one of the shims arrived bent (I didn't mention that in my initial message here) and just generally I had an unpleasant feeling about the purchase - not what you want when you spend $675. The retailer is making it right, and I hope my feedback prevents another full-of-grinds grinder to go out to another surprised customer. 10 seconds on the bench with compressed air would have prevented this, if it was tested.

Time to reach up on the Sette owners thread now to be ready for its arrival on Monday.