We've made ice cream several times this week. As long as instructions were followed, it went perfectly. Keep in mind that if you add warm ingredients to cold ice cream it will send heat into the ice cream and making it begin to melt. Everything going into the mixture needs to be frozen or cooled for a few hours in the fridge. I also hand clean it only after it's completely defrosted. Obviously putting hot water to clean into a partially cold mixer will cause fractures to happen in the seal. So I simply let it thaw out, and don't put it back in the freezer until it's totally dry.