Avanti WineFridge

Just a complete rant that I will take down if the company makes this right...  If not, I'll post that, too, as well as a link to a website I'll set up.

(11/9/08 - NOTE:  They have sent a new unit which - so far - is working well; details below)

Anyway...  

Ordered an Avanti wine fridge mid January 2007 on-line while buying appliances for a kitchen remodel at our house...  It was delivered in February and installed mid March 2007.  

It stopped working while we were on vacation in July 2007.

After calling the seller (to find out they didn't do repairs) and then Avanti (who referred me to a local repair place for warranty work) we called A-Z Appliance.  They came out in August 07, took one look and said they couldn't fix it as it was the electrical panel and 'those always go bad".  They would order parts but 'they are terrible about shipping quickly".

The part was ordered but was back ordered and unavailable..  until December of 07.  A-Z came out and installed the part and left (no one was home).  

Obviously it still didn't work.  

Two weeks later they were back out to check it out.  They said it would have to go back to the shop... but they couldn't take it as the truck was full.  Later that week theyame out and took fridge in for repair.

I finally got them to bring it back in mid- Feb.  Happy to finally have a working wine fridge instead of a gaping hole in the cupboards as we did over the holidays, we were frustrated but finally satisfied customers.

The unit worked 3 months and stopped by the end of May, again.

After numerous calls to A-Z who wasn't sure what they could realistically do any longer, they said unit is defective with an internal leak and cannot be repaired.  A new one would be necessary.  With both A-Z and myself calling Avanti, in early August, Avanti called me to say unit cannot be repaired, per a discussion with the repairshop, and that new one is necessary.  I was to send $10. (?!) to them to do so.

Check sent the next day on 8/7.

Check was cashed by Avanti on 8/13.

By late Sept., I called A-Z and Avanti wondering why I had not heard anything.  Unable to get any answers, leaving many messages, I finally spoke to someone on 10/1 at Avanti who said it had been too long  and that the item was out of warranty!  No fridge was to be sent, despite cashing check, despite acknowledging it cannot be fixed, despite it never working correct and being out of service for all but 6 or 7 months of the 20 months I had it...

Getting past a customer service representative I spoke to Meaghan, ' a manager'.  After telling her the problem she said she would talk to A-Z to have them confirm the issue and would call me back.  I told her that no one ever called back and I spent a lot of time on hold at Avanti... She promised she would call back by the end of the day.

Obviously, she didn't.

I called that eve, the next day, and other times all week.  Always told I was being transferred in, it alwys was put on voice mail and no one ever called back.

Totally frustrated by the worse customer service I have ever heard about, I asked for her 'boss' and was told to speak to David ______ (head of dept., supposedly).  He instructed me to fax/mail a copy of the sticker from the back of the wine cooler to him and a new cooler would be sent out.  I pulled the unit myself, and then both faxed and mailed it.

Having heard nothing by the end of the month again, I called on 10/30 to check the status.  More time on hold to get through, more time on hold after speaking to a rep and giving her the RA number for the issue...  After being put on hold for some time, the rep returned and  told me she could not even locate the RA number for my problem!  

I asked to speak to David and was given - surprise - his voice mail.  I left yet another message.

As of 3pm I have not heard back from anyone...  We'll see.

More to come, I'm sure...

---

I received a call later that day from a customer service representative who asked if i would be home the following week, lol.   She mentioned I would receive a call from a trucking company about delivery as the wine fridge would be sent right out.

Sure enough, I received a call from a trucker the following week who wanted to bring the unit by.  I pulled the current one out, and wrestled it down the stairs myself in time for the new unit to show up that afternoon.   Bringing the new one in and setting it up (they are 54 bottle units, I believe) it appears to be working well.  While I wish the original unit had worked properly in the first place and that it had not taken so long to get the problem resolved, in the end they did do the right thing, thankfully...