SOMETHING'S BREWING AT NESPRESSO AND I DON'T LIKE iT!

I perked up more than a month ago when I went to the Nespresso website to order a few sleeves (each sleeve equates to 10 servings) of the brand's 14 ounce Vertuo Alto Dolce coffee. I just refer to it as the grey coffee because that's the color of the foil on the capsule. The grey wasn't listed but the other 14 ounce offering, sleeves of the green foil capsule were available for purchase. I passed on purchasing the green as was hopeful the grey would soon reappear on the website. Was curious when the grey would be restocked so reached out to customer service. The person I spoke with on the Nespresso 800 number did not have any information so I then went to my "go to"complaint hot line: T-W-I-T-T-E-R. The Nespresso Twitter folks were quick to respond.

Only after questioning the Nespresso handle on Twitter I found out the 14 ounce size capsules are being discontinued and what will be introduced are new flavor offerings for the other capsule sizes. Hmph. I promptly passed along my displeasure. Then went to Bloomingdale's app and was glad to see the 14 ounce green capsules were available but would need to buy 4 sleeves, or 40 servings. Not a problem and I quickly placed the order. Within a day or two, Bloomingdale's notified me my order could not be fulfilled. Another Nespresso let down. Hmph.

Determined to locate the grey capsules I dashed out on a Saturday morning and found grey sleeves available at Bloomingdale's and then bought a few green sleeves at the Nespresso boutique. While at the boutique expressed annoyance with the green being discontinued. At the time I felt my opinion would not get communicated to the Nespresso decision makers. (Have I been proven wrong yet?)

Based on what I've read Nespresso had enjoyed being considered to be a luxury brand. However, looking back on my recent experiences it seems to have acted more like a mediocre consumer products company. It should have been proactive and then transparent in connection with discontinuing a product line. The 800 customer service number should have had up to date information.

More to the point-- I think it would have taken minimal effort on Nespresso's part to live up to a luxury brand feel. Nespresso has a data base of customers' purchases. In fact sometimes when I've gone to the boutique to buy sleeves, the sales associate omitted saying hello and went directly to asking me the phone number associated with my account.

Nespresso should have done a data review of the 14 ounce coffee purchasers and notified loyal customers the 14 ounce capsules are going to be discontinued. (I don't recall seeing an email notification about this.) It probably would be unable to fill orders for all those wanting to stock up on these capsules before they are phased out. However, a small dose of customer service would have been nice. I'd think a luxury brand would have communicated this phasing out of a well liked product.

Another oddity is as of today, the 14 ounce green foil capsule is still on the website in the shop for Vertuo coffee section. However, it is unavailable for purchase. There is an option to "Find Similar Coffee." When that is clicked, the 7.7 ounce or 1.35 ounce capsules of four other flavors appear. How are these similar? Aren't these smaller portion sizes?

Nespresso, please do better and bring back the 14 ounce capsules.