DeLonghi Magnifica S ECAM12.122.B
VerifiedMPNs: 0132213213 and ECAM12.122.B4 reviews
- Several times a week
This is the most dreadful machine and somehow it manages to make truly vile coffee out of high quality single origin espresso beans. I bought this to replace my old Magnifica (can't remember the model number) that made truly amazing coffees for a decade. This is apparently the new version of that but after six months it is nearly dead. I tried to get beyond the fact that it looked worse - plastic instead of metal, generally less robust looking - but the weak coffee despite every possible adjustment - descaling, adjusting the grind, cleaning every possibly accessible part etc - is just a vibe kill. The battery blew on my old one and I really wish I'd persevered with it as now I think it was one of the last good Delonghi appliances. I assume they sold the business or are trying to juice up the profits with cheap, components and less stringent quality checks so they can sell it it off to private equity. I am only giving it two stars because it did work really well for about seven weeks. But seriously, DeLonghi is not the brand that it used to be and I'm about to recycle this at the dump because I would not wish such terrible espresso on anyone.
Purchased in at JB Hi-Fi for $499.
- Product is used: Several times a week
I just saw the message to Country Bloke below - contacting Delonghi Customer Care is a complete waste of time and I would only suggest it if you have half an hour to spend looking at cut and pastes of the manual and being told you probably used the wrong beans. I will however be seeking a refund from JB Hi Fi so I can purchase a working machine from a reputable company.
I bought this machine from Amazon. Two months later it stopped grinding coffee and started making a horrible clunking noise. We contacted DeLonghi for a warranty claim... they told us to take it to a service centre... I explained we ordered it online and the closes centre was 4 hours drive away. They sent a return postage slip and informed us that a courier would be there the next day between 9am and 4pm to collect it... they didn't come... someone in my house missed a days work... they assured me they would come the next day... again someone needed to be home all day... they didn't come... Third time lucky? Nope.. they didn't come... I asked for a refund because it was clear they weren’t going to collect it and they are obligated to correct the issue without undue burden to the consumer... their response? Go talk to Amazon... Do not buy their products. They are either deliberately deceptive or utterly incompetent. I will be making a formal complaint via Fair Trading.
Purchased in at Amazon for $469.
Hello Country Bloke, We’re very sorry to hear about your experience and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused. This is certainly not the level of service we aim to provide.
We understand how frustrating it must have been to experience repeated missed courier collections and the resulting disruption to your schedule. Your feedback highlights a process that clearly fell short of our standards, and we would like the opportunity to make this right.
Please contact our Customer Care team on 1800 126 659 with your case reference number, order details, and contact information. Our team will personally review your case, ensure that collection is promptly arranged, or explore alternative solutions including repair or replacement at no additional cost or inconvenience to you.
We truly value your patience and thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. Your experience helps us improve our service and ensure this does not happen again.
Kind regards, The De’Longhi Customer Care Team
Forget it. I spoke to Amazon and within 5 minutes they had it sorted. Your customer service was disgusting and I am still lodging a formal complaint via fair Trading due to your refusal to comply with consumer law.
You cannot make a strong coffee with this machine. It comes close when the grind is set to the finest and the strength dialled to maximum, but then the coffee comes out one drop at a time and is cold by the time it finishes. I've used the same beans and ground coffee on my old manual coffee machine and the colour of the coffee when it starts coming out is black/dark brown. But with this DeLonghi automatic the colour is light brown, which is the colour you would expect after around 10 seconds of extraction, definitely not at the start. Clearly there is a flaw with this machine.
I’m not sure if this is an issue with all automatic machines or just this model but if you want strong coffee then I would stay well away from the DeLonghi Magnifica S.
Purchased in for $449.
Hi Tuc2000, Thank you for your message regarding the Delonghi Magnifica ECAM12.122B and we are sorry to hear of the issues you have experienced.
Please contact our team on 1800 126 659 and they will adjust your grinder to a higher setting to improve the drip and improve the quality of the coffee. Please also ensure that the infuser is also cleaned.
Speak soon
DL Team
I know how to adjust the grinder. The coffee flow is a lot better at a higher grind setting, but the coffee is weak and watery. The finer grind setting produces much better coffee but, like I said, it just drips out. It takes 3 minutes to get a coffee out, which defeats the purpose of an automatic machine. I can make it quicker using a separate grinder and putting the ground coffee into a manual machine.
Today, after 2 years, this machine just died. It has not been too bad. It made coffee that was a bit weak (even after adjusting the grinder to the finest setting and setting the amount of coffee to MAX). However, we just lived with that and we were happy that we got 4 coffees per day from the machine. We always followed the maintenance instructions by descaling as soon as the descaling light flashed. We also cleaned the infuser whenever we did the descaling (which happened about once every 11-12 days ~ approx 50 coffees). However, in the last few days (about 4-5 days), the machine started leaking water from the area around the coffee spouts. We were not sure whether we should bring it to get a technician to service it. But today, the warning light (the red exclamation mark inside the triangle) lit. Then, the machine stopped responding to button presses. Turned it off (at the back), waited for 10 minutes, turned on again. It didn't work. So, we got the machine for 2 years (and a few days) and made around 3,000 coffees. And now it's dead. It's unacceptably low quality from a supposedly reputable company like Delonghi.
Updates: After contacting Delonghi's customer service who was great in assisting me with getting the machine to one of their authorized service centre, Service Shed (in Keilor East) to assess (and Delonghi covered the cost). It was identified to be a faulty valve and the great people from Service Shed managed to fix it (and again Delonghi also covered it). The machine is back to our household to make 4-5 coffees per day. Hopefully, it will give us some more years trouble free. I'm updating my rating (from 1 star to 3 stars) to reflect the excellent service.
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I have an update. I never heard back from Delonghi of course but I watched a video online that says MANY Delonghi Magnificas have a microprocessor glitch which means the double light is on but the machine only dispenses a single shot. It's not apparent when you first use the machine but occurs after a few months and you suddenly start getting weak, hideous tasting cursed coffee. This is exactly what happened with our machine. The video also showed how to check that this is affecting your machine - you make your cup of "double shot" coffee and then check the pucks -if you have this common faulty microprocessor issue, there will only be one puck there or even a half a puck. I checked it - I'd say two thirds of a puck not even one and certainly not two. So I have spent hours messing around ensuring every setting is perfect and wondering how it could go so wrong after just a few months only to find out it is an UNDISCLOSED microprocessor issue from Delonghi. Why don't their cut and paste support crew know this? And why is this once great company so relaxed about shipping faulty product? I am assuming they sacked the quality control staff, are using cheaper microprocessors and know that if they make getting refunds difficult people will get fed up. It may work in the short term but every single company I've seen that's treated customers this poorly and stopped caring about quality has eventually gone bust. If someone says a nearly new machine is not working and that they have gone through every single step to ensure the settings, beans etc are correct, is is really an acceptable response to essentially say "so what?" And to let customers find out by searching forums that it's a known glitch? I'm going to review it on the store I bought it from to try and warn others off. It may seem trivial but I wanted this machine to just work.