Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The Stagg EKG Kettle: a story in three parts. 1. I ordered the kettle from Amazon. It was ludicrously spendy for me, but so beautiful. Nothing else on the market comes close. And given the repeated heat waves in the Northeast this summer, I wanted a kettle that could heat my water for coffee without adding heat to the house. When it finally arrived, I unpacked it, ooohed and aahhed at the beauty, added water, plugged it in and.... nothing. No LCD, no heating, simply.. nothing. Sighing heavily, I assumed it was an anomaly and sent it back. I ordered a replacement version that same day. 2. Take two: a few days later, the second Stagg kettle arrives from Amazon. Unpack, plug it in.... aaaaand nothing. Double check the plug, move it to different outlets, reset said outlets - finally, for reasons unbeknownst to me, the LCD lights up with "Fellows." But nothing further. (I've now hit the "on" button about a zillion times). So, in frustration I tweet, Facebook IM and send a message the Fellows Support folks on their website. The Fellows customer service rep got back to me within the hour, ***from his vacation*** to help me out. Said that definitely shouldn't be happening and said, "Please let me send you one directly from our warehouse." Asked for the Amazon order numbers, as he thought perhaps there is something in Amazon's handling that is affecting performance of the kettle. In the meantime, I've gotten Kettle #2 to actually heat water to the boiling point once (on the 100th try or so), so I message the CSR back and say "Maybe it's working?" Next attempt? The LCD said "no water" and refused to do anything. Back it goes. I returned to the CSR and requested a kettle direct from Fellows: I was happy to pay for a replacement kettle, but he insisted on sending it free of charge to compensate for my hassle. 3. EUREKA! The third-time's-a-charm kettle arrived about 3 weeks ago. It has worked like a charm ever since the first minute. Heats like a dream, quickly, efficiently. Holds the temperature accurately to about 1 degree. Pours easily, smoothly and effortlessly. My husband (who initially scoffed at the price) is increasingly enamored of this kettle, and says frequently (sheepishly) how much he loves it. It is everything all of the 5-star reviews say and more. So, finally although I've had very good luck with Amazon over the years, my advice to you on this one is: go directly to the source. You won't regret it. And a very huge shoutout to Fellows support for A++ customer service!