Customer Reviews

Ronco Automatic Pasta Maker

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Yep, I bought one of these years ago. After seeing the infomercial upteem times I fell for how easy it was to make.
Well, folks, it ain't that easy and to date I have never used the item again. It sits, unused, on the shelf. The parts fit poorly and the recipe is off. When I called to complain about this all they did was try to sell me another recipe book! I finally got so frustrated with the Popiel folks not listening to my complaint on the manufacture of the pasta maker and the inaccuracy of the recipie (which by the way they pointed out and their fix was for me to buy the NEW recipe book) that I finally gave up since they seemed to be flummoxed by what to do about my complaint. All I heard was them talking to each other in the background puzzled.
Would I suggest this item to anyone? NOPE!
Save your money. You can make your own noodles and pasta far better by hand or with one of those stainless steel pasta makers the old Italian ladies used for decades that didn't need to be plugged in, didn't have "parts" that didn't fit properly, etc. I have priced those out at less than $40 each and no shipping charge folks since they can be bought locally.
If there was a lesser rating than one I would have given it to Ron on this one.
I will admit he is a good showman. Oh, that free bagel cutter? It arrived cracked and the knife was the only good item out of the whole deal.
I do own his slicer that I got when I purchased the food dehydrator. That thing is useless also.

Save your money, folks and go to Sears or BJ's and buy close to home so if the item is a bust you can actually see the person and demand your money back in person instead of being kept on the phone while they try to sell you even more of the stuff for an item you can't use.

The face plate on my machine disintegrated within 4 months and I have been having a horrible time getting it replaced. I sat on hold for over 2 hours with their customer service in Chatsworth, CA. I never did get through, they closed before they answered my call! That was my 3rd call trying to get it replaced. I love my machine, hate the customer service!

I had this machine for about 6 months and used it for making so many different wonderful types of pasta. It was actually fun to use and I was impressed with the quality and taste of the pasta. I used liquids such as champagne to make delicious fresh pasta that I even gave as gifts. Then...the machine cracked. The circular piece on the machine that held the extrusion die in place broke but the worst of it was that I could NOT contact the company for a replacement. I called week after week hunting down any number I could find for them to no avail. No one ever answered and I could not leave a message. Finally, I threw in the towel and threw out the machine. Too bad that customer service for such a marketed company can be so non-existent.

I don't want to give it even a 1-star rating. It doesn't deserve any rating, except maybe an F minus! This thing is SOOOOOOO poorly engineered, I'm amazed Ron Popeil shows his face on the street, much less on television. It mixed the dough well enough, but would NOT extrude unless I forced teaspoon-sized wads of dough into the extruder screw. Do you know how long that took to extrude 2 cups of dough? 45 minutes! I had to open the lid and squash the dough in constantly. But wait, there's more! - the mixing paddle turns in the opposite direction of the extruder screw, knocking my pitiful dough wads off the extruder screw. Plus, dough gets caught all over the outside of the turning mechanism and under the outlet, so you lose a lot of it, because the bowl is too small to get your hand in to scrape it out. What a mess! It's like knitting socks in slow motion. So SLOW, so NOISY. I made lasagne noodles with the mold, and they were about 3/4 of the width they should be. It took 45 minutes to extrude what I could've rolled out on a table and cut in less than 5 minutes, and gotten the correct size. Ron Popeil, you owe me an apology! Or, at least an aspirin, because your noisy, slow machine gave me a headache on top of all the frustration.

Interesting machine, looked well built, sturdy and easy to clean. Video that came with it explains everything in detail. Unfortunately right out of an undamaged box -- the lid, mixing bin and face plate (all clear plastic) had multiple cracks that penetrated both sides around all holes. It was my assumption that under the strain of use these cracks would only worsen and render the unit un-useable (except as a paperweight). Immediately sent for new parts and after waiting over 30 days the replacements were also cracked in the same locations and the mixing bin was of a different model and would not fit the motor base. Popeil does not answer e-mails or faxes, but did have luck on the phone in getting through. They wanted to send a new motor base and all new plastic parts again, but could not guarantee them to be free of manufacturing defects. In disgust, I was given a full refund and sent it back postage pre-paid to the seller -- who admitted that this item has had problems. Still want a pasta maker and there are several available such as Simax MX-700, but do not want to go through the hassle again with a defective product such as the Popeil unit.

I bought mine over a year ago and used it a couple of dozen times. The machine does make great pasta and is relatively easy to use. Unfortunately, the face plate cracked the last time I used it rendering the machine unusable. I tried to buy a replacement from Ronco for 3 months without success. Ronco's customer service is non-existent. You can't get through on their 800 number and they do not reply to e-mails sent to their customer service department. They also do not have a facility on their website to place orders for parts. I ultimately did get through to their parts order department by phone, placed the order but never received a thing! I will NEVER buy a Ronco product again!

The parts do not lock in and flour is flying all around. It is wet and when you try to put it back together, the flour keeps you from doing so. The flour jams the "turning gear" and threatens to break the machine. You cannot clean it as there are 100 tiny, tiny crevices which make cleaning impossible.

I sent it back and for 8 months have tried to get a refund. I still do not have one although I complied with all requests, including the receipt from UPS.

It took three times using the machine to get the correct ratio of liquids and solids to make good pasta. Unfortunately, a plastic piece in the driving mechanism cracked during the third use. On the fourth use the plastic mixing spiral kept slipping on the drive shaft. The whole machine is now in the trash.

Where should I begin well, I just went through my second machine! The first didn't last a year and me being stupid I thought that maybe I had a defective one so I got another because my family and I love fresh pasta. Well I have not even had this machine two months and i threw it out when I was trying to prepare dinner tonight and I finally had it! First off when you are mixing it spins in the direction to unlock the face plate and you have to take it apart and take all the dough out to get it back together! That usually fixed it but happened 3-4 times while mixing then it would stick and click really loud so i again took all the dough out and tried spliting it in half so it would not have as much in it to see if that would work well of course not! This machine is a waste of money and time! If you read this and still want to buy it youd save some time just throwing your money straight in the trash!

Actually I've used it often and the pasta was fantastic. However, clean up is not fun. The most disappointing thing tho is that if you need to make two batches... you need to start early. The machine makes one batch without a problem but the motor overheats shortly into the second batch and you have to let it sit for quite some time before it's useable again. Very frustrating if you have 3 or 4 or more to feed.