Thank you for the long and thoughtful response! You make some really good points:
* the manufacturers are just not giving us enough info to really compare consumption. We depend on YouTubers for that. I looked, but these fridges are just too new. There are some reviews (and they are good), but they are anecdotal with no real data to answer my question.
* Hadn't thought about the English issue. Since the US address for the US distributor is in Walnut Creek, I assumed they were fluent. But that may not be the case always. It was a lengthy and wordy request.
My current thoughts (not trying to be self-absorbed here -- just brain dumping in case someone else is also having similar doubts) are:
* In terms of value and the product itself, the IceCo is a no-brainer.
* The only real issue is what happens if one gets a lemon or the unit is damaged during shipping. For example, the equivalent
Whynter has 19% 1-star reviews -- that's an extremely high risk for a product this expensive. I would never do that.
Overall, across all portable refrigerator brand names, there are lots of Amazon reviews reporting significant shipping damage. It's hard for me to believe, but that's what they are reporting.
The
IceCo Amazon reviews have 71% 5-star ratings, which make me feel a lot better, but still there's enough reports of damaged units and worse,
no response unless you complain on Amazon.
So what happens if I buy through their website instead of Amazon, and get a lemon. Am I stuck? At the very least, I'd have to pay for shipping, which would probably be a couple of hundred dollars combined both ways. Paying $644 instead of
$839 at Amazon (+cover since that one is not the combo), is a
great savings of $195+, let's say total savings of $250 with cover. But is it worth the risk?
The "safer" alternative is crazily more expensive -- Snomaster has a dealer in Austin, TX, and everything I found on the internet says they give amazing service. But the
equivalent Snomaster LP66 (with cover) is $1350. That's double!
Thank you again for the detailed responses!
Hey @islandboi , you bring up some good legitimate concerns that I wanted to talk to everyone about at some point. I have a few errands to run then I will personally call IceCo regarding the official lemon policy for you. I know they have a 1 year warranty on parts, and 5 years on the compressor. They may be busy and doesn’t respond well to emails, but I don’t get the sense that they are the type of company to screw you in the cases of a lemon. Also, from my experience, if you contact the company directly in most cases, they will give you the same treatment Or better, than if you go through
amazon. Their profit margin on
amazon is lower in most cases, which gives them less room to work with you when something goes wrong. It’s also easier for them to deal with just you, rather than deal with you and deal with an
amazon rep on top (many of whom have broken English to begin with, so broken English
Amazon reps talking to broken English reps from IceCo... oh man). I work with a bunch of first-generation Vietnamese people on both customer and employee ends, and there is a reason we let the Vietnamese reps handle the Vietnamese customers, the Hispanic reps the Hispanic customers, and etc. It’s good to keep things as simple as possible when it comes to these things.
Also, the important part here is that if you need
amazon to get a company to be fair in their warranty, then you are buying from the wrong companies. I take that chance for items I can afford to have break multiple times on
amazon and still be cheaper than alternatives, and figure if I get 30 days out of it for the price, then I get my money’s worth. I wouldn’t take that risk on something that costs as much as a fridge though.
Also,
Amazon’s return program is really only good for 30 days, and after that you will likely be dealing with the manufacturers anyways. I’ve had
amazon reps just tell me to contact the manufacturer for warranty, after the 30 days. I doubt anyone will break their fridge within amazons no hassle return period (boys, please, we all know you have a big hammer, but don’t try to prove me wrong here). If they do it’s likely because it arrived with issues, and that’s something that can be easily dealt with. It’s the warranty claims that’s further down the road that is harder to deal with; by then it’s hard to figure out if shipping damage, user error, or product flaw/defect, and by then
amazon really isn’t helping you anyways.
The best tip I can give you is to inspect the package immediately, while shipping company still there if possible. Any potential shipping damage needs to be reported ASAP to shipping company and here so I can inform IceCo/assist you. With my parents company, we reimburse for shipping damage with our money, then we get reimbursed by shipping company. I will find out IceCos official stance today.
Like I said earlier, when working with underdogs, without trust it could never work, and with trust established there is no need to worry about these things. For now, I just need for you guys to trust me that I won’t allow something like that to happen; where you get a lemon and it doesn’t get replaced or reimbursed. Just do me a favor, and inspect it well and document the receiving process just in case. We do that religiously here at my parents warehouse, in order to weed out shipping damage as well as user error. Just hand your daughter your phone and tell her dads about to become a famous YouTube Unboxer.
Also, last point I wanted to make regarding this is that you need to realize you are now buying as a part of a group. This is an example of how coming together and working together can benefit everyone involved; Not only do we get better prices, we also get treated as if we are buying as a company/business. With that comes higher standards of customer service.
I doubt any manufacturer will think twice about screwing anyone of us, because that will come at a potential cost of losing the business from all of us. Not saying IceCo is the kind of company to try, like I said I sensed that they are good people, but my point is you are not alone if ever you need help dealing with IceCo.
Dont think of yourself as just 1 customer that they can live without, think of yourself as part of a community, and if the members within that community collectively decided to take their business elsewhere because they don’t like how some fellow members are being treated Unfairly... well that’s going to be much harder for a small business to live without. I trust the smaller businesses like IceCo to take good care of our members and work hard for us, and with that comes certain things like honoring their warranty and getting things right on their end.
