When I first purchased this item I was very impressed with it. It seemed to work great and it was very affordable. But upon using my fryer for the 5th time, oil started leaking out of it. I contacted Amazon and they said since it was an Amazon Merchant that I purchased the fryer from, I needed to ship it back to the return center (at my cost) and then wait for a 50 to 80% refund. I guess this is an acceptable remedy, but in the future, I will think twice before ordering from a merchant. To me, a 1 year warranty should be exactly that-1 year-100% refund or exchange. I am considering contacting T-Fal directly. I own lots of their products, and have never been disappointed until now.