bodum french press defect

bodum makes and sells a french coffee press at starbucks and other retailers. there is a plastic shoulder nut that gets stripped after every few months of use. bodum will replace this part with a new metal shoulder nut for free.

If you're here, it's probably because your Bodum french press is jacked up.

You see that little plastic "nut" (actually it's called a shoulder nut) at the bottom of the plunger? When you pressed the coffee down in the press, you've stripped the nut's threads and now it is impossible to make coffee. Relax - it's a design problem, not yours.

You've got two options.

First, if you bought the press at Starbucks, and if you still have the receipt, you can take the press back. S-bucks offers a lifetime warranty on this product. While this will get you by in the meantime, it's not going to fix the problem - 6 months later you will most likely end up with another stripped plastic nut.

The best thing you can do is contact Bodum to let them know that your shoulder nut is stripped, and to request that they send you a metal one to replace it. They will ship you one out free of charge. There's a form on the contact portion of the Bodum website that will help you out in this endeavor.

Of course you might be asking yourself why they used a plastic nut in the first place, instead of a stainless or bronze nut which would be harder to strip? I asked Bodum this same question:

Thank you for sending me a new metal shoulder nut. I look forward to receiving it. It seems like this is a common problem, which makes me wonder - why does Bodum still uses the plastic shoulder nut on the presses sold in Starbucks stores? Perhaps these are just old inventory items, and newer presses come standard with the metal shoulder nut?

To which Bodum replied:

That is exactly right.