Complaint Review: EdgeStar

On 1/18/12, I bought an EdgeStar 16 Bottle Wine Cooler (Item# TWR160S).

Fifteen months later the cooling node died (fan continued to blow, but only warm air).

I contacted their customer service and was ASTOUNDED at how nice they were!  They speed delivered me a replacement (EdgeStar Small Cooling Node for Thermoelectric Wine Refrigerator, Model: TWR-SM-COOL-NODES) at no charge on 4/23/13. 

Now on 7/18/14, EXACTLY 15 MONTHS LATER (!!!), the cooling node died again!

I contacted customer service and explained the situation and my concern.  Rather than reaching the kind customer service that I was expecting, I reached an emotionless, careless person (who I later was told was the supervisor!), who basically told me that I was out of luck and if I wanted the replacement, I would have to pay $48 for it!!!!!!!  (The cost of the ENTIRE wine fridge was $119, including shipping!)  Upset and repeating information about the fail being like clockwork, he just left me dead-in-the-water.  He also said that they should not have even relaced it the first time, as the warranty was for only 1 year!

Then, after my explaining that I was currently using BlueIce packs to keep the unit cool, and that it was hot, summer weather here, he said that it would ship tomorrow and take 7-9 days for me to receive it!  I asked if there was anything that he could do to get it to me faster, as there is risk of "cooking" what is in the fridge, and his reply was, "Only if you pay for it!"  I asked how much, and he said that Priority Mail was $15.  When I asked if he could at least wave that fee, as the item weighs about 1 oz and cannot be less than the roughly $6 Priority Mail cost, he said, "I don't make the prices," and that was that.

I called back and was told by the next representative that the first person I was talking to was the supervisor and then he took my $15 to speed up the shipping.

So, $63 later...  It appears that I will get 15 more months out of this unit, and, believe me, I will be buying a replacement, from a different brand, before then.

Lastly, the first time around, they sent me a link to a video on how to easily install the part.  This time, that was not offered, so I asked for it at the end of the call, but no link was ever sent.

Bad products...  That is clear, and was so from the beginning.  However, when you now add that to the HORRIBLE customer service...  It is a no-brainer to avoid this company!