By James Wells
SYDNEY: Saeco Australia has responded to the controversial A Current Affair report in which one of the judges labelled the quality of a coffee made by its Incanto automatic machine as a “zero”.
Like other brands including Breville, Sunbeam and De’Longhi that believed that the story was biased, Saeco Australia national sales manager, Andrew Kremmer, felt as though the report could have been more objective.
“This review seemed to be heavily one sided and did not represent an accurate price or model cross section of the domestic coffee machine category,” Kremmer told current.com.au.
“I fail to see the credibility of this review when Paul Bassett was obviously the only coffee machine spokesperson present. It’s no wonder the concluding results were as bias as they were.
“There were many inaccuracies in the review including the way our Saeco Incanto was used,” he said.
“Considering that the four baristas in the review claimed by ACA to be four of Australia’s best, they appeared not to understand the automatic machines. I find this astounding when the average coffee machine consumer has no trouble understanding or operating them at all. Although at the same time it comes as no surprise to me because the term “barista” is used very loosely in the media these days.”
Kremmer felt the review unfairly criticised automatic espresso machines and “did absolutely nothing to help the countless retailers that have found pleasing results in their sales”.
“Our on-going results indicate the market is aware that Saeco automatic machines not only make fantastic espresso coffee, but are extremely easy to use. Not to mention the one area the review didn’t touch on; which machine was the easiest to clean. I’m confident the Saeco Incanto would have taken this title no matter how inaccurate the review,” he said.