In less than 1 year my SMEG blender which I may have used a dozen times started leaking oil from the blade assembly. It took me a long time to figure out what was leaking. I thought it was food residue from the blender vase. Finally I tried blending a cup of plain water and the water turned brown! Yikes! I contacted SMEG us support thinking they would make it right. They sent me to their warranty supplier Adco Service who did not answer emails or phone calls. When I finally did get in touch with them they told me they no longer worked on behalf of SMEG! SMEG finally asked their parts department to send me a new knife assembly which they never did. They did not seem concerned at all that oil/lubricant was seeping into my food! In the end I found a replacement on eBay and bought it Smeg knife blade joint transmission base blender 50 Style D&G BLF01 for $66. It arrived in April 2024, I started this conversation with SMEG in November 2023. I installed the replacement and now it works fine. I find the product well built and easy to use but the US support is horrible!