my vintech just crapped its daks

[xsorxpire]

I got home from the chicks house this morning and my four month old vintech is on one degree.
ONE DEGREE!


"Holy shit" I squealed like pre pubesent school boy.

I reefed open the door and pressed lots of buttons.
"Bugger bugger bugger" I kept saying. The settings were right.


"oh shit" I wailed as I checked the bottles and found them very very cold.

"please don't tell my I have $20 odd k of icy poles".

All I could think was Sandalford slushies. Rockford basket press sorbet and Kay brothers icy block 6 (06).


I'm a little freaked out.


I call Hardly Normal, where I bought the fridge, and (I'm an idiot) "Don" gives me the wrong contact details for the service mob.
"Wa#ker", I scream after ringing a bloody fax machine.
Bit more running around and I'm on it. I've got the service mob.

Tony says he'll get straight on to it.
Five minutes later I get a phone call from Vintech, we have a chat. "Sounds like a solenoid" he says confidently.
"We'll have to take the fridge away, what's the temperature like over there at the moment".

Well when I'm stressed out I can think of nothing better to talk about than the weather.
"Oh you know, a little bit cloudy. About 24 degrees, really quite nice" I say.
"well pull your bottles out and store them in the coolest room of your house. He'll probably come Tuesday".

So my fridge is turned off in the hope I can bring the temperature down slowly.
Hopefully my kitchener cabinet gets here before tuesday. I know its on its way.

What a bloody nightmare.


Cheers

[Red Bigot]

Chill! The wine will be fine, but you might get a few tartaric acid crystals dropping out, the last couple of pours could be a bit crunchy unless you decant..

[TiggerK]

I feel your pain, albeit not quite as scarily.

Got home quite a few months ago, went to get a beer from the beer fridge (water, beer and champers/white waiting for fairly quick consumption)....

Pssst.. ahhh...... hey what the....frozen slushy??

Same deal, -4 in fridge and all yummy craft beers bought days earlier wasted. In my case, I found that by turning the fridge off, letting it fully defrost (it was a standard small bar fridge/freezer thing), and putting some water bottles on the shelf underneath the freezer area (near the sensor wire thing), it started to work again as the temp remained normal around 3-4 or so. Weird I thought. My dad-in-law who was an electrician/appliance repairer said this happens sometime, like a weird thermal runaway related to the sensors in the fridge. Still going strong.

My other drama was the opposite, realised one day that one of my wine fridges was no longer showing 15, but 18 (it's max reading). Thermometer inside was reading room temp..... 23 at the time.. arrgghhh.. Much investigation and calls to dad-in-law later... it was a dead thing, and not worth fixing. Condenser gone bad, it just happens, and expensive to fix.

Got a vintec myself, a SG30e thing from Dj's. Works well but it has always has had a noticable chemical/freon type smell which has annoyed the hell out of me. I stick to screwcaps i tat firdge as apparantly they are generally imprevious to smell ingress, while corks have a small smell pickup. Vintec happily replaced it first time I complained (good service), but the next one was just the same. Talking to them now they are mystified and say clean it with bicarb, and no one else has the same issue (??? really how come I got 2 the same then?). Maybe I'm smelling things.....

Anyway, I digress, sorry needed yet another vent on the issue. Good luck with keeping the wines cool in the meantime and let us know how the kitchener goes. 1C should be OK, not catastrophic like -4 would be. Ity's the mystical art of will a wine be alright or not, which depends on So many factors.

Cheers
TiggerK

[xsorxpire]

Chill! The wine will be fine, but you might get a few tartaric acid crystals dropping out, the last couple of pours could be a bit crunchy unless you decant..

Please tell me more about this tartaric acid crystals.
If I had an old wine that gave me heart burn or felt acidic could I chill it to remove some acidity and make it more palatable?

I'm asking because I have a Sandalford 96 Shiraz that has to be drank within an hour of opening or it turns.
Some bottles become acidic.
If I were to lower the temperature could I pull out some acidity before consumption?
I have about five bottles left, my mate twelve.
How would you suggest we structure an experiment?

Is an experiment possible?

Cheers.

[Red Bigot]

My first answer wasn't precisely correct, the crystals are actually mostly the tartrate salt of tartaric acid and potassium. White wines are often chill stabilised to drop out the tartrate before bottling as otherwise the crystals may form in the bottle in the refrigerator. I'm not sure whether chilling a red wine to drop out the tartrates will actually lower the acid level as the tartrates dropping out were probably there post fermentation and not formed when the wine is chilled.
Try one of your acidic wines and see.

[xsorxpire]

So it's Tuesday and I have not heard anything from Vintech since they said they said they understood the urgency and would get onto it straight away.


I've rung the W.A. rep and now I am waiting for Vintech to call me to let me know what is going on.

Hmm. Not quite what I was expecting.

I'll keep you informed.


Makes for an interesting customer service experience I guess.

[xsorxpire]

On a brighter note I just got a call from the delivery driver for Kitchener Cabinets. My new wine cabinet will be here tonight.

So i'll shift the wine from the Vintech to the Kitchener and park the broken one on the kerb.


Four months of use out of a wine fridge and poor follow up customer service is a bit rough Vintect. Get your shit together.

[xsorxpire]

Called again today.
Told the story to Jean as Tony is out of the office.

"Vintech should have been on to that straight away, i'll get Tony to call you back", says Jean.

Five days and counting.


I wonder if Vintech actually care that the failure of their product has put my investment at risk...

[dave vino]

When mine developed a problem, they just asked for the Serial Number and a convenient day next week and they gave me a new one and took the old one away. (gas leaked out, so it was just keeping it ambient)

[Stavros]

Called again today.
Told the story to Jean as Tony is out of the office.

"Vintech should have been on to that straight away, i'll get Tony to call you back", says Jean.

Five days and counting.


I wonder if Vintech actually care that the failure of their product has put my investment at risk...

Maybe emailing this link to them might get them to get a wriggle on..

[xsorxpire]

Tony called back. He said Vintech had been trying to ring me on my mobile for he last two days.
I told him it's never off. (It's the only phone I have and how I post here and on the internet in general).

Oh well.
They are sending me a replacement.
They will call to arrange a suitable time...

[xsorxpire]

They called.
They wanted to come at half seven tomorrow morning.
Erg.
We settled on 9am.

I'm excited.

[xsorxpire]

6:45am (Day six) I get a phone call from the delivery driver on his way to pick up my fridge.
I tell him I thought it was a swap.
He knows nothing about it and offers to make a call to clarify.
He calls back, can't get hold of any one.



7am get phone call from Chris in Sydney asking if there is a problem.
I explain what Tony said yesterday about swapping the fridge.
Chris gets quite grumpy at me saying things like "We reserve the right to examine the fridge before we decide to replace it".
He says a few other things in the same tone.

I apologise and tell him I am only going on what I was told yesterday.

So now my fridge has gone somewhere to see if it can be fixed. If it is going to be a long and arduous repair they will send it back to the manufacturer and replace it. I think.


Chris has told me to ring him in Sydney now and not to call Tony in Perth.

Both say they are from Vintech. But both have told me different stories.

So my fridge has gone somewhere with a delivery driver who tells me he'll bring it back when they call him.

Don't think i'll bother with Bintech again.

[xsorxpire]

Got a phone call this morning..
"It's such n such from such n such deliveries. We have a wine fridge to deliver. Will you be home in ten minutes or would you like to arrange a time tomorrow"?

Two fellas put my fridge back where it belonged, told me not to turn it on for fifteen minutes and they were gone.
(I reckon fifteen minutes would get them far enough not to have to come back)...

That's a joke by the way.


And we are off again.

(The door of my new Kitchener wine fridge doesn't seal properly)...

[rens]

Got a phone call this morning..
"It's such n such from such n such deliveries. We have a wine fridge to deliver. Will you be home in ten minutes or would you like to arrange a time tomorrow"?

Two fellas put my fridge back where it belonged, told me not to turn it on for fifteen minutes and they were gone.
(I reckon fifteen minutes would get them far enough not to have to come back)...

That's a joke by the way.


And we are off again.

(The door of my new Kitchener wine fridge doesn't seal properly)...

I think you need to go out into your backyard and dig two holes. One big enough to fit a vintec and a Kitchener wine fridge and the other for a 'propper cellar'.

[xsorxpire]

The kitchener can be fixed with a hair dryer I've just been told.

Too much salt in the air in Perth for a successful underground long term cellar I was told.
Maybe when everything is screw cap I'll start digging.

[rens]

If you do you could host an off line. Everyone brings a shovel or betterstill one person brings backhoe. You provide the wine (good way to get rid of those pesky bottles with corks).

[Cloudy]

Vintec & Transtherm are total crap & over priced for sick performance, bull artists to boot re service, there is none. They advertise like crazy cos they are desperate & paying full time article writers to promo the brand. Doin' deals with wine growers, bottle shops, like for every fridge they sell, Vintec stocks it with x cases of their wine.......duh, big deal if the fridge is a dud, nothin but grief form these dudes.

[dazza1968]

I Just put htis on anther Blog Yes they r pieces of Overpriced SHIT My wife bought me a vintec dual zone wine fridge now it was 1500 odd bucks and i have to say the biggest over priced piece of shit i have ever seen , first fridge lasted 3 days now the prob was we went away 2 days in and all was spot on then stocked it ready for when we got back from a xmas trip to melbourne . Broke down wrecked a grands worth of wine then they sent out a replacement fridge Now it really hit home when i had a decent look at the compressor and its an LG Compressor and a made in china sticker for me didnt help .

For me you dont pay top dollar for anything chinese and in this case we did . since then i watch the fridge , keep regular checks on temp variation and have been waiting for it to break down (how sad) to be honest with you if i could send it back i would and then get something else

regards DazzaSome people slurp it,others swill it,a few sip on it,some gaze at it for hours ,enough now wheres the RED
dazza1968

[Red Bigot]

The Fujitsu reverse-cycle split aircon that guards my cellar has run almost constantly for about 14 years now (internal unit, the external cuts in and out as required), had one service in that time. I am thinking of replacing it, but it coped Ok with a not too extreme summer this year, so I'll hopefully get at least another winter out of it.

[dazza1968]

The Fujitsu reverse-cycle split aircon that guards my cellar has run almost constantly for about 14 years now (internal unit, the external cuts in and out as required), had one service in that time. I am thinking of replacing it, but it coped Ok with a not too extreme summer this year, so I'll hopefully get at least another winter out of it.

Yes i have one on the cellar as well but this fridge was supposed to keep me away from the bottles that are not ready to drink yet

Regards Dazza

[Glen]

I sold my vintech when I bouight my new cellar....I mean house! Was sorry to see it go as they look great, but am much more happy with a stone cellar now (definately not made in China).

[dazza1968]

I sold my vintech when I bouight my new cellar....I mean house! Was sorry to see it go as they look great, but am much more happy with a stone cellar now (definately not made in China).

Cool way to buy a cellar and you get a house to sleep in to keep an eye on the cellar so no feral vermin get in LOL Regards Dazza

[xsorxpire]

My fridge has since run without problem.
I must admit i walk past it everyday and check the temp now.

My kitchener is more of a problem. the seal does not fit at all and i ended up put a couple hasp and staples on it to keep the door sealed.
$5000 on two fridges and i've had enough.
For approx $220 a year i can store ten cases off site with insurance.
That's ten years worth of Kitchener and more of Vintech without insurance.

I keep the stuff to drink a home now.

[Rednick]

Well my Vintec has just done the same thing, display said two degrees but Hygrometer says 5.8 in the middle. I'm not too worried even though it's probably been like it for a few days - cold is much better than heat

I'll phone them directly this morning and I'll report back how long it takes, the unit was 18 months old.

[Rednick]

Well it's been a week so far and no sign of a repairman. Parts had to be sent up from Sydney so I expected some delay, I'm glad it's not the middle of summer.

On the plus side they have agreed to fix another minor fault on an older unit I have which is out of warranty free of charge.

I was looking to buy another couple of the big fridges as well and then build all of them in, thnking twice about this now and may look again at building a small cellar.

[Rednick]

Parts arrived yesterday and repairman contacted me and will be onsite tomorrow - if he can fix it I'll be pretty happy with the service.

[Rednick]

Engineer arrived and all fixed. All up I'm pretty happy with the service, especially as they fixed a fault out of warranty.

Nick

[xsorxpire]

( I had a bit of trouble finding this thread. Please excuse that this is a repost).

So, 12 months down the track and my Vintech is about to go back a second time under warrenty.
The dual temp display has gone haywire this time and the fridge has sent my bottles and corks all moldy, plus the fridge has started to corrode.

Then there is my kitchener.
I have the (ct) fridge now set at nine degrees. This keeps the temp in the bottom of the fridge reasonable stable at 12 degrees, while the top varies from 15.7 degrees to a peak of 18.2 degrees. That is without the door being opened at all. (Mind you the door does not seal properly and the manufacturer told me that would not be a problem, but gave me a hefty discount on the buy price)

Off site storage is by far a less frightening option.

[Dave101]

Engineer arrived and all fixed. All up I'm pretty happy with the service, especially as they fixed a fault out of warranty.

I like this!They act fast and they did a good job about it!