New Isotherm Fridge arrived with swiss cheese sides

[SV THIRD DAY]

"Customer Service".....what is that these days?

Now sure...it's only cosmetic, doesn't affect the performance, and won't even be seen once the unit is installed...but what kind of Client/Company relationship was built with such a shitty response to you not being happy.

Selling gear....here's how it should have been handled.

*******************************
"****, I'm not sure how that happened but those holes shouldn't be there.
So here's what we can do for you.

We can ship you out another one and send you a return shipping label to take that one back.

OR

How about you keep the one you have and I give you a discount/refund or 30% off"
************************

What gets me isn't really that the cosmetic holes happened, that's just poor manufacturing and packaging techniques, but what's telling is the level of "screw you" customer dis-service you received in trying to get some explanation to what's going on. You didn't buy something from Wal*Mart for $19.95 for heavens sake...but you were sure treated like it.

[hellosailor]

Hey hey hey! I've bought stuff from WalMart, some of it more than 19.95 and some of it even under a buck. And I never, ever, had WalMart tell me "Yeah, so what?" if I brought something back to them.

Years ago I read something in the original and very radical "What Color is Your Parachute?" job-hunting book. The author said that if you go someplace for a job interview, ask to use the restroom. Take a good look. If the restroom is not clean, management doesn't give a damn about employees or visitors, and you really don't want to work there.

That can really be applied to a lot of business. If someone's not "taking care of business", you can almost always go elsewhere and do better.

[rwidman]

That's a shame but I doubt it's worth going to court over or even attempting to cancel the purchase through the credit card company.

Since the holes aren't very deep, I would probably just cover them with duct tape and install the refrigerator. You could fill the holes with spray foam insulation but I don't think it's worth the trouble.

[hellosailor]

but I doubt it's worth ...even attempting to cancel the purchase through the credit card company"

Gee, Ron. Some cc companies require a copy of the credit card bill and the bill of sale (receipt) so it can take 15-20 minutes to find and copy all that, stick a 49c stamp on it, and send it in. But the better ones will take your complaint via the computer or the phone, and if the merchant can't explain away the problem ("He ordered the one with holes in it" the charge is reversed, you get your money back, and you've still got the bum merchandise. All for less than 10 minutes effort.

No heavy lifting required.

But you'd prefer to let shoddy vendors prosper??

[rwidman]

It's a non issue. The refrigerator works as advertised. Do we expect the company to send a truck to box up and return the "defective" one and then ship and unbox a replacement?

If it didn't work or had a visible defect that would be an entirely different issue. But, each of us is different so if you expect "perfection" then you could attempt to have the charges cancelled. You would probably have to send it back though.

Many times, this refrigerator would have been installed by a pro and he wouldn't even know about the holes.

[hellosailor]

"It's a non issue. The refrigerator works as advertised."
Is it? Does it? And, not knowing what unusual events caused the damage, can it still be expected to work properly five or ten year from now?
Something out of the ordinary happened to that fridge. If, perhaps, it fell off a stack of boxes causing something to impact inside? Who is to say that didn't also crack some solder or cause some other latent damage inside, which won't cause a failure until six or ten months from now?


That's the real issue that I'd see. Not whether it works now, but wtf happened to this machine, and does that now make it suspect for the long term? If the manufacturer truly has no idea what happened...it still wouldn't be hard to tell the customer something more than "ignore the man behind the curtain". At least, say it is just a cosmetic problem, but we'll extend the warranty for an extra couple of years, and include return shipping if it fails. Show their faith in their product.

[Zach]

How is this fridge performing?

[autumnbreeze27]

We had the fridge roughly mounted in the spot until we started to freezer refurb project.

I pulled it out a week ago and put it on the settee in the salon, with the swiss cheese sides clearly visible. So I thought it would be a good opportunity to check out the holes with my Seek IR camera. I couldn't make out the holes in the image, so I assumed that it's a non issue.

No issues with the fridge so far, but I don't know that I'd order another product from them. We considered (briefly) going with a pre-built drop in freezer, but the biggest one we could find was an Isotherm, it was too shallow, and it was like $3000. Pretty stupid price if you ask me. It'd be one thing if they were using vacuum panels and other high tech stuff.

[autumnbreeze27]

Just wanted to post an update on our POS Isotherm fridge.

About 6-8 months ago the spring in the fridge handle failed. Normally when you pull the handle out it would spring back, well it doesn't do that anymore. It still worked, so I just told the admiral to get over it.

Just this week the spring that pushes the catch out has failed, so now it does not close and latch properly! I've tried lubricating it, but it's not a lubrication issue, it's not sticking, there's just nothing pushing it out anymore!

So be warned about Isotherm products. I emailed the Italians I talked to about the swiss hole issue, I'll see if I get any kind of response from them. There's two screws behind the handle, I'm tempted to take them apart, but with my luck I'll have to take the whole door apart, and we just re-provisioned!

[autumnbreeze27]

Update: I did get a prompt email reply from Isotherm using the same email contacts I had when I first complained about the damaged insulation.

The handle comes out pretty easily with just 2 screws. It's a $20 part to replace it. I took it apart and it appears the spring broke twice, the first time it broke I'm guessing it affected the closing of the latch, and then it broke again. I was able to "screw" the two larger pieces of spring together and reinstall it, and it appears to be working again. I asked if I bought a new latch if it would be of a better design, but wasn't told of any change, so I think I will keep an eye out for a suitable spring and replace it myself if it happens again.

[senormechanico]

Sending you a new latch gratis ought to be the LEAST you should expect from them !