In my searching for another product I ran across this on and decided to do an expanded comment/mini-review of my experience with this product.

Many years ago I purchased Salton Hot Trays(warming trays) because my family owned them and we loved them for their design and quality. When I purchased Salton's Ice Tea Maker my expectations were set for the same experience. How wrong I was.

The first thing I noticed on unpacking the product was that it was made out of a soft somewhat flexible plastic and seemed flimsy. It seemed unlike the Salton product I had owned before, which were solid and well made.

Nevertheless I unpacked it and brewed a pot of ice tea. Tea not only flowed into the pot but all over everywhere else. After cleaning up the mess and having a glass of good tasting ice tea, I went back to cleaning the machine. However I found this to be impossible as the entire unit was stained from the tea. The soft plastic had absorbed the color of the tea and would not come off. The snow white color of the machine was now a mottled dirty brown with white spots that did not get stained when the machine overflowed.

I called customer service. They were indifferent and arrogant. They told me it was my fault and that there was nothing wrong with the machine. They indicated that the staining was "normal" and that the machine would work fine, stained or not.

I took the machine back to Macy's who exchanged it for a Mr. Coffee Iced Tea machine, which has worked fine for us ever since. It does not stain.

My research indicates that Salton went through a major reorganization in 1988 and again in 1998 becoming a conglomerate of many different brands. The Hot Trays I purchase were made in the '70's. Maybe that might account for the difference in quality.

After my experience with Salton customer service and this product I made a commitment to myself that I would never buy a Salton or brand name owned by them again. That includes Maxim, George Forman, Breadman, Juiceman, Toastmaster, Farberware, and Melitta, to name a few.

My reasons for this position are not based solely on the product experience. Any company can occasionally release a bad product. They are based on the customer service experience by the parent company. That reflects a management attitude of the company to their customers.

As an example of Salton's current attention to business I ran the following quote on their website "brands page", under Toastmaster, while researching this review. This review was done on 5/26/2003.

"Toastmaster Ultravection Oven will launch via infomercials during the first quarter of calendar year 2001 before hitting wide release at retail next Spring. "

That was the last item on the brands description page.

Recommended: No