You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Just bought a Sage The Barista Touch refurb from the Sage outlet for £375 on eBay using the 25% Black Friday code. Normal price £1100!
Be quick if you're interested as apparently the code won't be running for much longer (according to daughter #1 who works for eBay)
EDIT: ignore me, found it. BLACKFRIDAYSAGE.
How do you find the Sage outlet on eBay ??
Bollocks. I didn't know there was an outlet. Just bought a Bambino plus from Currys, shortly followed by a Smart Grinder Pro.
Code not working for me.
EDIT - it’s automatically applied but only on some items..
It's going for £356 with chilly5 at the checkout
I've too many coffee machines and why do you see so many sage stuff reconditioned, are they fragile ?
Pretty sure the Touch wasn’t highly thought of on here though. Can’t remember ?
Seems to get very good reviews generally.
Dunno.
Perhaps I’m mis remembering. It’s a good PSA and I’m tempted…
Top psa there, in case anyone wants a stovetop alessi are doing 25% off the pulcina 3 cup or 6, plus if you abandon your cart you generate an extra 10 the following day. Pulcinas are lush, i have both, make sure you choose the induction one though.
With CHILLY5 added as well there is a SAGE Oracle Touch for £552.18... 😮
I have an itchy trigger finger...
Excellent PSA, thanks. Oracle touch ordered for £569.99.
Bit more than the above but I'm not nit picking over it 🙂
I have been on the hunt for a Sage Dual Boiler as I bought a separate grinder a couple of months ago. Those Refurb'd Oracle Touch's tho are excellent value assuming the refurb has been properly done and it's just a bit of pre-use patina. Tempting....
The Touch is really good. I have the model below (Barista Pro) which has been excellent. I’d buy something similar if it broke. BIL has the Touch which I have used a fair bit.
The Touch is bigger and sturdier although I gather the internals are much the same. The actual touch screen is fine - unnecessary really but looks posh. The milk steamer is way more powerful and consistently gets better textured milk than I can ever achieve with the Pro. I imagine the criticism of the Touch is that the touchscreen is a bit of a gimmick and at RRP it’s expensive.
But at that price it’s a steal and I’d get one in a heartbeat if I needed a new machine.
I have a 5 year old barista pro with a very tired grinder (hence buying a separate one). I see both the Oracle's are versions of the dual boiler. I'd probably go with the non touch screen one as I'm not really a fan and quite like a bit of faff! Hopefully they'll have sold out before I finish dithering.
I like the idea of my old Barista Pro as a workshop coffee machine tho 🙂
Just had a Quick Look and we bought our Sage Oracle in Nov 2020. It cost us £1,300 then in a sale so actually one thing that hasn’t gone up stupidly since COVID
We had a Bambino before that. We have found our Sage machines faultless and give brilliant coffee. More than paid for itself not buying coffee from Costa etc.
However the Oracle we received first was faulty straight away. However Sage replaced it immediately with another one
Our friends who run a small campsite have one of the oracles - been back to JL twice both within a year. They just keeping getting replaced with new ones! First one had a leak, second one just stopped working completely. They don't get a massive amount of use so it does put me off a bit. I'm sure others have had zero issues tho.
My Barista Pro is 5 years old, has made at least two double espresso's most days, so that's at least 3500 shots and it's still - touch wood - making great coffee even if the grinder needed fixing. I have lately had a hankering for a flat white which is the only reason I'd probably bother with a dual boiler.
I wouldn’t buy another Dual Boiler. We had one, it had various fixes during warranty then died shortly after it ran out and there are no reliable repair centres so it worked out at about £200 / year for coffee which didn’t seem like a great deal to me.
I’d go for the bambino plus or a gaggia classic pro evo if I was going to again.
Oracle at £552 incoming. Let's hope it's worth it....
I noticed that some of the listings had quite a few bits missing - milk jug and all the cleaning tools etc so I picked one that had the least missing. Hopefully the description was accurate....
I am still hovering over the buy button. I bet you lot have them all by now 🙂
Surely ebay 'reconditioned' units these are just secondhand? Do they have a warranty?
I got the barista express from idoodirect and it came with 12 month warranty. Didn't have to use it as the machine works perfectly. Had some marks to the drip tray but apart from that was spot on and was their cheapest machine at ~£270.
I noticed that some of the listings had quite a few bits missing – milk jug and all the cleaning tools etc so I picked one that had the least missing. Hopefully the description was accurate….
I order one with the missing bits and it actually had all the bits, thats not guarantee that you will get the bits though. Mine had the two baskets and the puck tool thing.
Do they have a warranty?
These do, yes.
I just bought one of the Sage machines for my wife yesterday as it happens..... Its a Barista Express. Was £440 in BF sale. I know nothing about these, are they any good?
I did look at the reconditioned ebay ones but as it was a present I wanted a new one.
If you take the right approach and fiddle with the grind size to make sure the pressure dial is hitting roughly the right place and continue to do this, it makes a great cup of coffee. Takes a little while to get the milk right but I can get a half decent flat white out of mine now. Since I'm picking coffee that suits me, it's usually better than 80% of the coffee I'd buy from a coffee shop when out. There are a couple of places locally that get everything spot on and it's still a step above what I can do at home.
Depends how much of a coffee dweeb you are, I think the short coming of the Sage machines is that it does require some fiddling with the grind size to get a good coffee and some people have no interest in this.
Most of these refurb units in the IdooDirect store state they are missing quite a few of the originally supplied accessories according to the description.
just something to be aware of if skim reading.
Sage Oracle Touch is £524 today with the various codes. BLACKFRIDAYSAGE and QUICK8
Most of these refurb units in the IdooDirect store state they are missing quite a few of the originally supplied accessories according to the description.
Mine is arriving this morning so we'll see.
I should admit that I'm hoping for something good as my daughter had a word with the category manager and he said he'd make sure I got sent a good one as some are "literally new"!
@sharkbait - mind letting us know how to get a good word in with the category managers so I don't get a lemon? Seriously considering placing an order for a Barista Express at under £300!
mind letting us know how to get a good word in with the category managers so I don’t get a lemon?
Have a daughter who works at eBay?! 😉
I'm sure they're all good. Yuo can always send it back if you're not happy I guess.
LMAO - fair enough 😉
So my machine has arrived!
It's definitely been used before but in very good condition indeed.
Things it didn't come with:
Frothing jug*
Filter for the supplied water filter housing
Manual
Water hardness test strip
Single wall portafilter baskets for ground coffee (came with 2 x double wall baskets for whole beans).
Very well packaged indeed.
Initial thoughts coming from a [single button push] Delonghi Magnifica:
Much nicer looking
Very solid
Not as big as I thought it might be
A bit more involved for each brew .... obvs
Milk frothing is really fab
A lot of customisation - but this is good as you can [eventually] tailor your coffee to exactly what you want!
Happy 🙂
* I already had a stainless jug to use for milk but on the first go the machine didn't stop heating the milk. Afterwards I looked at the jug and the bottom is slightly concave so the machine's temperature sensor [which the jug sits on] wasn't making good contact so it didn't know when to stop.
The next time I moved the jug so that the outside edge was def on the sensor - this time the machine displayed the milk temperature going up and stopped right on cue.
I may buy a slightly smaller jug with a flat bottom.
I’ve had one of these in the basket so many times and talked myself out of it. Should really just get on and buy one
Single wall portafilter baskets for ground coffee (came with 2 x double wall baskets for whole beans).
/
The other way round no?
Just seen a new code BLACKFRIDAY20
Annoyingly I bought a machine about 10days ago…
Mine turned up today and it's definitely second hand and very well used. There was ground coffee all over it as the chute between the grinder and the outlet was completely blocked with ground coffee. Some of it had dislodged during transit and there was a large "plug" of ground coffee on the drip tray. I spent an hour cleaning it all and then discovered that the chute was completely blocked. I managed to clear it with a small brush. There is also some corrosion on the casing at the top where the water tank can be filled from and marks from where the portafilter has been bashed against the back while inserting it. It must have been used either in an office or commercial environment as it has a PAT test sticker on the bottom from May this year. It most definitely is not refurbished using my definition of the word...
It does work however - only made one coffee as a test using supermarket beans (they did have a roasted on date though) as my order hadn't arrived, and it was pretty good. It was a latte using the demo - flat white on the cards tomorrow. The grinder is very noisy....
I suspect all grinders are noisy.... My delinghi one definitely is.
Lofbergs Brazil if you want a good cheap supermarket kilo of beans, Morrisons for about £12
Nice crema and tastes pretty good for my flat white
I remember buying a returned John Lewis Samsung washing machine with a big discount, when it arrived it was obvious it had been used a good few times due to the soap scum around the seal, asked them to take it back but got another £150 off and the 5 year guarantee from the day I bought it
I'd be thinking of sending that well used machine back , you would expect them to clean it out before sending it off at that price
@oceanskipper – I'd have been returning that – as you say, it's anything but refurbished :O
The grinder is very noisy….
I’d dismantle/remove the top burr and check it and the fixed burr in the machine for damage and give it a good clean through as the grinders in these are prone to clogging (as you’ve found). I’d also remove the shower screen and soak in cleaning solution or use espresso cleaning tablets (check Amazon)
You may be able to check in the settings to see how many espressos it has made in its life.
They do make decent espresso once set up correctly though so don’t be discouraged
Ive given it a thorough clean and it's in a far better condition now than it was when it arrived with me. I've cleaned the burrs - top one out and washed, bottom one brushed and de-clogged. I've also cleaned the portafilter and group head screen by back flushing as per the instructions.
I'd be interested to see how many espressos it has made but there's no info in the standard settings page - there might be an engineers mode or something but no mention of it in the manual...
EDIT - found the service menu. 1780 coffees made.
EDIT – found the service menu. 1780 coffees made.
That's nothing, my sage duo temp is around 13000 without issue
Don't get the love for Sage stuff.
It's expensive junk. I'm on my 3rd machine and 4th repair. That said the warranty has been maxed out. Fair play there.
The consistency of my oracle is appalling. Dose is all over the shop.
Separate grinder has made a better job of it all though but I'd have just bought a decent simple espresso machine had I known better at the time.
Having said all that I got the itch with that new Jet machine.
@oceanskipper ... you've got unlucky there. Mine turned up today too, looked almost perfect although not in the original box, missing the filter etc as the others. Anyway, prompted by you my service menu says 28 coffees made, 3 of which are mine. Pretty sure they're all ex-demo/shop floor machines, reconditioned is a stretch - I have a 'reconditioned' Barista Pro from the same source which was a tiny bit scuffed and had obviously made a few already (I'd guess a 100 or so). Tricky in your position...I'd be erring on returning it I think based on the fact that I've had two really good ones, but they're big aren't they...
I've had two Sages previously (Duo Temp and Barista Pro) which had both been spot on - no issues with either which have both made 1000s of coffees.
Mine is most definitely second hand and Ebay's video explaining what refurbished means says, and I quote, "every inch of every item, yep every single inch, is refurbished to a set standard". Doesn't say exactly what that set standard is mind you and the description does say it may contain coffee and have water marks from the refurbishment process...
Still, I was expecting a nearly new item TBH. The PAT test sticker (assuming it wasn't PAT tested by the seller) is a bit disappointing as it means it wasn't a personal machine so potentially not looked after as well as it might have been. But as you say, very big to return - I do still have all the packing it came in though.... I have emailed them so I will see what they say.
It was listed as "Refurbished - Good" as opposed to Excellent or Certified which are the top ones so perhaps I was expecting too much.
I'll compare it to mine when it comes @oceanskipper as I too bought one that said Refurbished - Good.
tbh, if mine is the condition yours is, with the 1000+ on the service menu, I'll be looking to return it as for me that use is 8 months to a year old for an 2 person house. Granted yours may have been in an office but that is arguably even worse.
It’s going back - it won’t grind this morning. Motor just whirrs and then times out. Sounds like the burr is not turning so a stripped gear or something. Probably has something to do with the compacted coffee I found in the grind chute. I expect it was blocked and they carried on trying to use it until it failed and then sent it back. It did grind once yesterday so I’m imagining only a partly stripped gear. Anyway it’s in very very poor condition and I’m not convinced I even want another from them if their QC is so shocking.
Yeah that’s terrible. If you assume it was returned as it was faulty, how could they possibly have ‘refurbished’ anything with it in a dirty state.
The cynic in me wonders whether they just punt all the returns through the eBay shop without looking as it’s cheaper. The majority of returns are intact, customer just changed their mind so they get resold without issue. Any complaints and they just take the machine back no quibbles. So basically it’s a lottery.
EDIT – found the service menu. 1780 coffees made.
I’m not sure what the definition of an item for as refurbished is, but how dirty it was and how much use it’s had is definitely 2nd hand IMO
Refurbished should at least be clean
Personally I’d be sending back and buying a bettter 2nd hand ?
EDIT – found the service menu. 1780 coffees made.
I’m not sure what the definition of an item for as refurbished is, but how dirty it was and how much use it’s had is definitely 2nd hand IMO
Refurbished should at least be clean
Personally I’d be sending back and buying a bettter 2nd hand ?
EDIT – found the service menu. 1780 coffees made.
I’m not sure what the definition of an item for as refurbished is, but how dirty it was and how much use it’s had is definitely 2nd hand IMO
Refurbished should at least be clean
Personally I’d be sending back and buying a bettter 2nd hand ?
Ediit: sorry not my fault for x3 post only done once with some weird WordPress error message
Seems that way, I’m going to call them as there is a number on their Ebay outlet. I’ve just taken out the bottom burr and refitted giving the motor a turn while I tightened up the nut and it did then grind although it was far too coarse. I tried again and it just whirred once more so it’s definitely not a one off clutch issue. Absolutely no refurbishment done whatsoever and I can’t believe this one just slipped through. I suspect as above, they just ship and hope, which is a bit off as they claim to refurbish every inch and also to be authorised by Sage.
It’s going back – it won’t grind this morning. Motor just whirrs and then times out.
That, and the fact that it's still dirty, sounds like it's not been touched at all!
Mine had all been cleaned and the grinder looks new.
Personally, I wouldn't be contacting them directly, only through ebay messaging, so there's a record. Put down the fact that it's not as described. If they don't offer to take it back, open an ebay case, if ebay agree they have to take it back for a refund. You should not have to pay for the return.
Not sure on mine now.
It landed this morning and has certainly been used. The front plate has wear to the chrome plating and it is not clean.
According to the service menu there are not that many operations but as others I’d expected a new returned unit, not clearly second hand. Maybe that says I should read more before buying but, the tarnish of my purchase has been taken off a bit.
That said, £570 for a s/hand £2000 machine with relatively low use and not bad cosmetics isn’t bad if it all works as intended.
Hmm, do I send it back?
I was tempted by a Sage Precision Brewer for around £120, but a new one is *only* £100 more.
695 espressos is virtually a third of what mine had done...
I rang them and they are sending ParcelForce to collect on Monday and then will refund/replace once they have it. They've sent an email to confirm so any nonsense and I can show to Ebay. I'm not sure I want a replacement unless they are going to give me a top notch one but I suspect they'll simply ship another lottery one and hope for the best. They offered to repair it but I declined...
My Barita Express turned up quicker than expected and with/without all the parts as advertised. I found one that was in "very good" condition and it's practically new. Just a little coffee residue in the grinder.
I've needed to order a couple of parts (dosing funnel, water filter) and cleaning bits but it looks mint perched in the kitchen, replacing a basket of baby bottles and other kitchen detritus that was sat next to the sink
The plot thickens with mine as it is faulty.
It won't recognise the hopper lock, so refuses to do anything.
Have tried manually pressing the switch in and nothing, so I guess it is either a damaged switch or circuit board.
Not really impressed with this and others in the thread unfortunately.
Shame as it could have been good.
Message sent through ebay and will no doubt have to wait until Monday now.
That’s a bit rubbish, well very rubbish really. They’re not at all good are they. Doesn’t bode well for the new ones either…
If you want a new machine then buy a new machine? Id rather have a new Barista Express than a second hand Pro - Ive owned both, not sure the more expensive machine makes coffee any better tbh, although I didnt mind paying extra for the higher spec machine. There's always the January sales.
If I wanted new I would have bought new
Exactly, and oceanskipper got unlucky. Mine had made 25 coffees, looked perfect, 1yr warranty, for 1/4 the price of a box fresh one. Not sure why you'd buy 'new' in that case.
I've had mine since maybe February, bought from ebay as used but "only done a few coffees" 0ne, but not via the refurb shop. Mine now has 468 coffees on it. 11 months at around 45 coffees per month sounds about right. Mine was £400 for a Barista Touch. I used the IDOO place discounts to get the seller to better them. Maybe try this?
I don't have that information access as to how many shots my Gaggia classic has poured since 2004 but it still works great with the Rancilio steam wand a must on these things
I swop between the Rancilio Silva I have just like sorn a car every few months when you fancy a change
Just bought a baby class Gaggia hardly used for £40 just to rob for bits for my Classic as I'm sure it has much the same bits underneath
What puts me off the Sage stuff is maybe too much that can go wrong and having to send off to get repaired, that's what put me off de longhi all in one machine twice broke down
Yes, I expected a refurb as I spent what I thought was a good amount for a refurbished £2000 machine. I'd have no problem with it being refurbished and working, but appearing to be just plain second hand with no remedial work or refurbishment what so ever is a little bit too much. (or little) imho.
Agreed looks like they are just getting returned items, and sending them straight back out.
Refurbished should be like new.
How long is the guarantee? I’d expect it to be at least 1 year too
It’s 12 months but obv a right PITA to keep all the packaging in the likely event it will need sending back for repair.
Given that two of the four bought by posters on this thread are faulty it does seem like they do nothing other than perhaps turn them on and any intermittent faults or issues with pressure/temp etc are not picked up.
Im not sure what’s best, I mean it was a bargain but still a lot of money and no good if it’s faulty.
Im not happy about the fact they claim to refurbish them and be authorised by Sage when that appears to be untrue.
I mean even if they send me a much less used one like some others have had, who’s to say it wasn’t returned as faulty and still has that fault which might not be immediately apparent… I would say that anything with more than 10/20 coffees on the counter was retuned as faulty rather than a change of mind.
I might cut my losses and just get a refund…
I’d query if it’s even a fully legit part of Sage?
When our brand new one was faulty Sage instructed a 3rd party company in Birmingham to collect it and ‘repair’ it. They advised it wasn’t repairable and Sage sent us another brand new one direct
Maybe the 3rd party company is fleecing Sage and customers ?
I would be contacting Sage directly to see what they say as well as the eBay company
I think for the price difference I’d rather just have brand new, someone could have stuck their balls in the portafilter or anything and doesn’t even sound like they clean these things properly.
they claim to refurbish them and be authorised by Sage
Are they actually authorised by Sage? They appear "authorised" by eBay to do refurbishment of items in general.
I've looked into it more
If a seller is associated with the original manufacturer I believe we'd see items graded as "certified" (more on that later...)
https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/ebay-for-business/ebay-refurbished-program
I think what's happened is eBay has done away with the "manufacturer refurbished" and "seller refurbished" titles, so now:
"manufacturer refurbished" = Certified
"seller refurbished" = Excellent, Very Good, Good
To be part of the refurbished program they have to meet certain seller metrics, feedback, items not as described etc. Additionally, to use the Certified term they have to be authorised by the manufacturer.
As an example from idoodirect, I see they have "Certified" Sage items, e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335634715421 So they must be associated with Sage (according to eBay's rules) These items will meet the manufacturer's standards for refurbishment. Idoodirect also has refurbished Sage items graded "Excellent, Very Good, Good", technically these are seller refurbished, and to what standard is unclear.
I have sent Sage an email and link to this thread. Appreciate it might appear petty and tbh doubt they'll comment or do much but, we'll see.
Will also update with what the seller says when they reply to my ebay 'not happy' message.
Im not happy about the fact they claim to refurbish them and be authorised by Sage when that appears to be untrue.
They`re not authorised by sage and sage want nothing to do with them, a mate bought a refurb toaster from them a few years ago and it needed the handle repaired but sage said they are not authorised resellers and they will not repair any unit from them
What dmorts says is correct as far as I understand it also - Certified Refurbished is (or should be) basically a new machine refurbished by someone authorised by the manufacturer. Other gradings, excellent, very good etc are (should be) in full working order but with signs of use commensurate with the grade. Idoo use the Sage logo as well.
I’m not taking a replacement off them even if they offer a Certified Refurbished in its place and will buy new if necessary.
Out of interest when I queried the PAT test sticker they said it was done by them as part of their QC. Anyone else’s machines have a PAT test sticker on?
sage said they are not authorised resellers and they will not repair any unit from them
Authorised reseller is different to authorised refurbisher I would have thought. John Lewis/Lakeland etc are authorised resellers I would imagine and get their stock straight from Sage’s distribution channels. That’s going to be different to what Idoo, err, do. I would imagine that if I went to Sage with a unit from Idoo and said this unit I bought from an authorised reseller is faulty can you fix it they would tell me to do one. That said, as above they are claiming to be authorised by Sage so Sage must at least of heard of them…. Perhaps not as Idoo but as xsitems.
Anyone else’s machines have a PAT test sticker on?
Mine has.
Out of interest when I queried the PAT test sticker they said it was done by them as part of their QC.
Kinda makes sense.
No PAT test sticker on mine