I bought my first Oster beehive blender around August 2002 and I loved it from the start, but after about 4 months, the rubber piece that holds the drive shaft snapped in two. Thinking this was a fluke, I bought another beehive blender since it had performed so well before breaking (I use it nearly every day to crush ice for smoothies). And now, 4 months later, the second one broke the same way. This is obviously not a fluke.