vinotemp.com

Worst experience! Bad product & Terrible customer service

I'm a Wine Sommelier with years of experience in the business. During my career I had seen the name "Vinotemp" in Cellar units & stand alone wine coolers; Since I was looking for a unit for a custom 250 bottle Cellar I decided to contact them. The units are not cheap, (Mine was $1800) they are actually expensive compared to others, but I wanted to make sure I was buying a state of the art unit. They recommended the SLIM 1500 based on the pictures, description, and all information I had sent to the salesperson. The unit took a long time to arrive, and once it did I immediately took it out of the box, put it on my desk, and plugged it in to make sure it turned on. The unit stayed on my desk for a couple of weeks until my AC guys were able to come and install it. From the moment the unit was installed it never cooled down to proper temperature; Just seemed like it wasn't strong enough. My AC guys checked for cool air drafts on the cabinet/Cellar and installed seals at the bottom, top and sides to be on the safe side. The exhaust was routed properly to come out the top and the intake from the back, which grabbed air from my walking closet which is almost the size of a small room, and has a central AC vent blowing from the top. Everything looked great but the unit was still not carrying its weight. I called VINOTEMP and advised them of the problem. They suggested to change the installation, so I had my AC guys come a second time to install it exactly the way they had suggested. To our surprise the change in performance was insignificant, and they noticed it was showing some error codes. I called them again and exchanged emails back and forth, but the reality was that nothing was getting done for me. I requested to SWAP the SLIM 1500 unit for the bigger unit which actually costs less without asking for the difference - They immediately told me they didn't do swaps. I asked the salesperson if he could talk to management and explain the situation, and all I got was a bunch of deflection, and excuses. Finally, they JUST STOPPED responding to my emails. The lack of empathy for a customer that had just spent $1800 with the company, and had been in touch with them from the beginning of the issue was incredible. It just felt like they didn't care one bit. My frustration started growing and since I was really busy with my own clients, I decided to pass on the issue to my wife since she had more flexibility in her schedule to deal with it. She spoke with multiple people, including salespeople, Directors, and even the Vice-president and was told not to worry, everything was going to be taken care of. They wanted us to be happy customers. To our surprise, the next phone calls COMPLETELY CHANGED THE TONE. They went from "We'll take care of the issue" - "We stand behind our products" to suddenly turning around and trying to blame it on us - "You might have damaged the unit" - "Someone will call you tomorrow" but never called (Happened multiple times) and my wife had to start chasing after management almost every day. Then she finally asked to speak to the President of the company, and they told her that he's the owner, and he does not speak to customers. One final attempt got her to speak to a Director "Mary Ann" if not mistaken, and she was very polite and professional on the first call, and promised to look into it and return the call the next day. That never happened. These people have the worst FOLLOW UP Ethics I have ever encountered! Finally, my wife and Mary Ann spoke again, and the tone was back to RUDE and CONDESCENDING as it had happened before. To the point where they pretty much said that they were not going to do anything. LIKE NOTHING! They just decided it was easier to blame the unit not working properly on us, and wash their hands. I have never felt so deceived and abused by a company. We spent $1800 on something that did not work properly from the second it was installed, and they are willing to do ZERO for us! They are all very nice when you are buying their expensive units, but if something ever goes wrong with them be prepared to be treated like crap! LITERALLY.WORST EXPERIENCERUN THE OTHER WAY*Response to VINOTEMP Reply 01.15.21Your company can try to explain the situation getting technical but you're just looking desperate to try to justify the apathetic & simply indifferent attitude toward your customersFurthermore, you are just assuming that all these things took place to justify the lack of performance of your very expensive little machineFirst of all, the unit was never running for more than a few hours each time it was tested. So there was not overheating of any kind. Also the unit was installed a second time following your exact recommendations... and the compressor never stopped working; You also made that up! The unit turns on and still blows cold air, just not enough for the space it is in

Date of experience: Jan 14, 2021