Try a new batch of pods; perhaps those are near their expiration date? The ones that come with the machine are sometimes very old

I'd be very disappointed with Nespresso like you are getting and if Nestle sanctioned a cheaper machine that doesn't produce enough pressure, that would be shocking. The whole point of the Nespresso system was hassle-free consistent and reliably good coffee. Not as good as the best espresso you could make but close enough, and Nespresso was the first "convenience" system which had decent crema. So you are right to want it fixed. Either a manufacturing or design defect and I've personally used a dozen different Nespresso machines (often in places where they were prone to abuse) and they worked better. Now the competing pod systems don't produce good crema -- hope Nespresso hasn't decided to dumb down to match the competition.