THE GREAT SODASTREAM DEBACLE - Penguin/Centenary/Evolution etc no longer supported.

lilibeth

WARNING DO NOT PURCHASE A NEW SODASTREAM MACHINE WITHOUT CHECKING IT COMES WITH NEW '3 THREAD' CYLINDERS
Also be aware that you could end up in the situation the rest of us are in where they stop supporting it within the year. Because there is nothing to stop them doing it again.

ALCO²JET CYLINDERS ARE NOW DISCONTINUED

The only option for current owners of now (recently) non supported models is to buy a NEW machine or stop using Sodastream altogether.

Sodastream fountain jets are still on sale in Argos these use the discontinued alco²jet cylinders.
Their (Sodastream) website states that they will not swap empty 'alco²jet cylinders' for the new '3 thread cylinders'
So even if you buy a new machine (£50) you can't just send your old cylinders back for get an upgrade to the new ones.
Presumably they will still honour the license agreement which came with the Alco2Jets and allow you to return the empty in exchange for a token amount of money.

The website is not terribly helpful and it all seems very cloak and dagger. If you have bought your machine within the last 12months then you are eligible for a 'special offer!' The details of which are apparently top secret.:rolleyes:

As someone with a relatively new machine who bought extra 110 size Alco2Jets only six months ago from them I am not happy.

How can they justify discontinuing these when the still sell and support the old old 35 litre models from donkeys years ago?

Those of you that have Centenary / Penguin / Fountain Jet / Evolution models that take the Alco2Jet cylinders. Check the colour of the valve that the cylinder screws into.
They say if it is yellow your model is no longer supported.

P.S. Good luck getting through on the phone.

EDIT: PLEASE BE AWARE THAT IF THEY OFFER YOU A NEW MACHINE FOR 15 POUNDS They are ripping you off big time the new machines cost less than that to the general public on the German website.
14.99€ to be precise! Which is
[SIZE=+1]11.9473928 British pounds![/SIZE]

http://store.sodaclub.de/deretail/ca...chgerat&Page=1


BoardGuides:I put it in this forum because a search revealed this is where the most sodastream threads are. But if you think it doesn't belong here feel free to use your magic
I didn't add it to an existing thread because I think it is important enough to warrant it's own thread. I hope that is ok.

Pink.

Hi lilibeth,

As your thread has now dropped off the top of the Old Style board I've moved it over to the Warnings and Rip Off board to see if you can get some replies.

Pink

RadoJo

I have e-mailed them asking for details of their special offers as I am not too impressed that the Soda Stream I bought only two years ago has now been rendered useless! Will post an update when/if I hear back from them...

deanos

WOW people still use Sodastreams, get busy with the fizzy

CHR15

We've gone back to the 1970's :laugh:

I'm picturing Abba, Bony M, Afro's and flares

Buy a bottle of coke for a pound, at least it will taste okay.

sarahg1969

Sodasteams, eh? That takes me back.

Didn't realise they till made them.

Is it not cheaper to buy pop?

ETA: £60 at Lakeland! Wow. You could buy a lot of Panda Pops for £60.

lilibeth

RadoJo wrote: »

I have e-mailed them asking for details of their special offers as I am not too impressed that the Soda Stream I bought only two years ago has now been rendered useless! Will post an update when/if I hear back from them...

Have you heard anything yet RadoJo? I'm still waiting for a response.

RadoJo

Hi lilibeth - no response as yet to my e-mail, and I just tried to ring them only to get a recorded message telling me that there's nobody available to answer my call. I didn't leave a message as I have already e-mailed, but if I don't hear anything in the next few days, I will try calling again and see if I can get to speak to someone.

For those on here wondering about the MSE nature of the Soda Stream, it's great if you just like fizzy water - it costs anything from 30p to over £1 a bottle in the shops, and then you have all the plastic bottles to recycle, whereas the soda stream does work out cheaper, plus more environmentally friendly and I don't have to find somewhere to store all the drinks! However, this benefit will be worthless if I cannot get gas for it - £50 as an initial investment is one thing, but I cannot justify buying a whole new unit for such a lame reason. I hate throwing things away as well, but cannot really Freecycle or E-bay something which I know people won't be able to use!

RadoJo

Well, not sure if they're here reading, but after refreshing my e-mail I have an answer! They have offered me a new White Jet machine for £15 - not too bad really, although it's £15 more than I wanted to spend on a new one when my old one worked perfectly well! At least they have included information about the reasons for the discontinuation of the cylinders:

The reason for the change in cylinders was due to the UK being the only country in the Soda Club group to have the 5 thread cylinders, and due to costs of the raw materials, the decision was made to discontinue the 5 thread and to have the 3 thread throughout the company.

This still doesn't explain why the older models are still available to buy, but I suppose they wouldn't have chosen to do this unless there was a good reason, as I imagine plenty of people will give up and go without, thus losing them money and loyal customers along the way.

I hope you hear back from them too, if not, let me know and I will PM over the details I was sent.

lilibeth

RadoJo wrote: »

Well, not sure if they're here reading, but after refreshing my e-mail I have an answer! They have offered me a new White Jet machine for £15 - not too bad really, although it's £15 more than I wanted to spend on a new one when my old one worked perfectly well! At least they have included information about the reasons for the discontinuation of the cylinders:

The reason for the change in cylinders was due to the UK being the only country in the Soda Club group to have the 5 thread cylinders, and due to costs of the raw materials, the decision was made to discontinue the 5 thread and to have the 3 thread throughout the company.

This still doesn't explain why the older models are still available to buy, but I suppose they wouldn't have chosen to do this unless there was a good reason, as I imagine plenty of people will give up and go without, thus losing them money and loyal customers along the way.

I hope you hear back from them too, if not, let me know and I will PM over the details I was sent.

Thanks for posting back. I've still heard nada.
Regarding the reason for changing cylinders I find their excuse a little hard to believe because as far as I'm aware the cylinders all come from Germany (the largest soda stream market in the world) and the other countries are not all switching to the new ones.
I also heard that it has something to do with stopping people refilling them themselves. (I didn't even know you could do that, I'd be terrified of blowing the kitchen up)

Edit: Found This
http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/small-kitchen-electrical/soda-stream-drink-maker/reviews/

Duncan wrote:

Despite getting great use out of my Centenary, I've only had it two years. Fairly poor for Sodastream to discontinue both the 60L and 120L Alco2jet when other countries are using them. There was no reason issued by Sodastream either. In fact their website was rather confusing for a few weeks as to who needed to replace their sodastream.

Aside from this customer relations disaster, I've used their website to order refills etc for two years with great service.

AND

irritated wrote:

Sodastream got back in touch. At first they were going to offer a replacement - a different drinksmaker. Then they changed their minds and said they would replace it with a new Penguin, compatible with the new cylinders. So, I've received a replacement penguin, 2 bottles, 1 gas cylinder and I can swap my current cylinders for the new types next time I pay for refills. Problem solved. (Spent a week indoors waiting for returned phone calls, but apparently they were overwhelmed and the computer system crashed - excuses excuses.)

P.S.I still can't find the thing where someone said it was being changed due to people refilling it. I read it somewhere online

cpb121

Thanks for this thread, I knew nothing about this. Have just emailed them as only bought my machine 3 years ago and not impressed about this!