Hestan Culinary Reviews 68

Was a little delay on delivery but got there in the end. Great product.

Glitzy and quality driven business, from all one reads. Lifetime warranties, state of the art materials, etc. However, when it's time to walk the talk, customer service cares not one iota about you. My brand new Nanobond 4 quart saucepan arrived with what I learned is an adhesion. Thousands of layers of titanium are applied in a sterile environment. If even one dust particle lands during the process, it is trapped forever, and ends up showing in the patina. Sales rep for the company confirmed my issue and customer service received my case. Did not bother to contact me. Sales rep put out the word that my case was important....still no response. Sent my saucepan back to where I purchased. Hestan has lost my allegiance.

I feel like I've been searching a long time for a good frying pan. But there have been so many brands I've tried over the years that have been disappointing. Concerned that the non-stick pans that I frequently use had started to chip and decompose, I decided to do some research on replacements. And in the end I pulled the trigger (last fall) on the purchase of a frying pan from Hestan Culinary (from their NanoBond line).

When I was doing my research, it seemed that this brand had mostly positive reviews. Though some of the reviewers in the research flagged a few things. One indicated that they didn't transfer heat as evenly as some other pans. Some reviewers had issues with warping. And pretty much everyone said that the high price point was a deal breaker when there were equally good pans that could be had a a lower price. Ultimately, I was intrigued and decided to get a pan and test it for myself.

My conclusion was that I loved these pans and how they performed. In fact, after a few months I bought some additional pieces, one of which I gave as a gift. And after a year of cooking with them I have to say I've been delighted with their durability. Despite daily use, I have to say that a year after the first pan arrived, it looks very much as it did when it was new. The titanium NanoBond coating is fantastic and lives up to the hype.

Though these pans are not marketed as non-stick, I've actually had good results even cooking eggs in them. Providing you heat up the pan sufficiently, and then use enough butter or oil to coat the pan, things release. And when I've had food stick or discoloration of the surface of the pan, I've used the paste polish that Hestan sells which almost magically restores the surface to like-new condition.

After this experience I was inclined to purchase more pieces from Hestan. But unfortunately, I won't be doing that as their customer service and privacy practices have driven away my business permanently.

As I despise having my personal information treated like a commodity, upon placing an order I immediately asked Hestan Culinary to not send me marketing. I don't know that I ever had the courtesy of a reply. But I thought the request worked until seven months later when I received my first Hestan Culinary marketing mailing via USPS. I sent another message to their customer service asking them to stop. And this was ignored. No reply at all. And the unwanted marketing has continued to come.

When I've tried calling customer service I'm never able to get through. There is no customer service on weekends. And their telephone customer service hours are a bit limited. When I have called and gotten through I get voicemail and – despite leaving a message – no one calls back.

The state of their customer service, despite being a premium-priced brand, gives me pause about how this company is being run. It makes me wonder if their company is having issues if they're not able or are unwilling to assist customers. Either way, by ignoring my requests to have my privacy and preferences respected, they have squandered the opportunity to earn more of my business, which is ironic because I'd guess that is the opposite of what marketing is designed to do. They have made me a never again customer for these reasons.

If they had had the capacity to politely and efficiently respond to my requests, and to not be so boorish and aggressive with their marketing, I would have recommended this brand. But I simply cannot. If they can't respond to a simple address removal, I'm left wondering how they would respond to a warranty issue.

Update: I thought it was worth mentioning that I took the time to send a letter to Hestan management about my issues with their aggressive marketing and never received the courtesy of a reply, which I think is just despicable. This company just DOES NOT CARE.

Purchased a very expensive Nanobond pan to find that it was faulty on arrival (handle on each side of pan were not aligned). Reported matter to customer service who advised they would immediately dispatch a replacement to me and asking me whether I could return the faulty one. I advised that of course I would but I was away for a week on holiday and would do it on my return. Arriving home after a week, I find that no replacement was issued - contrary to what they said. Clearly they were waiting for the faulty one to be returned first but rather duplicitly did not make that clear. So, put off by the whole experience, I’m returning the item for a refund and will buy from a different manufacturer.