Well clearly I’ll never win you over, you are obviously a fan of icemaster /morebeer. But here’s some more info for anyone else reading:
We are American Made
and employ a shop full of people right here in Knoxville TN. That means in order to compete with products made in China on price we need to be wise about our warranty and return policies along with all the other expenses that go into making chillers and running a business in general.
We have nothing to hide about our warranty or return policies. Both are aimed to reduce claims or returns by placing a small barrier to proceed. The result is that only the ones who truly need to send a unit back do so which helps keep our cost down. But even then, we don’t leave you to the wolves, we can provide the shipping label at a reduced rate (our cost) so for our smaller chillers it’s around $30-$35 to send in.
Stated policies are just that- stated, as a minimum level of service/expection, but they aren’t the end all be all. We have the ability to apply some common sense and treat people in a decent human being kind of way. So if the situation calls for us to eat all of the cost, we will.
I am grateful for our customers, many who return to purchase additional chillers. They’ve allowed us to grow exponentially year after year, to the point that it’s everything we can do just to try to keep up. This hasn’t happened by luck, customer service is the backbone of this company. The human element and the fact you can call up and talk to someone, and not just anyone, but someone who can talk in depth on technical topics is something a lot of companies are moving away from, it’s something I’ll fight to keep in place as we continue to grow as I truly believe it makes all the difference.
I’d rather work with a customer before the sale to ensure they are getting the right chiller the first time. Rather than relying on a return policy that allows the buying process to be more of a “guess and check” process.
If there is an issue post sale I’d rather work with the customer to properly diagnosis the issue in order to provide the best corrective course of action and to get it back up and running ASAP. Possibly even fix it on the spot by simply talking to the customer and walking them through stuff. We can offer this level of service not only because we understand your brewing goals, but also because we are experts on our products and how they work inside and out. Jumping the gun to send it in serves nobody, it cost more money and may delay getting you back up and running if it wasn’t necessary to send back in the first place.
Morebeer’s policies cost them more money, they in turn build that into the price of the products they sell. They can get away with it because they are importing from China and buying for far less than our units cost to make.
As for the refrigerant leak scenario, I was referring to after the warranty period. The other companies will tell you to buy a new one. Good luck on calling an AC tech, most companies won’t touch small chillers like these. If you luck out and find a company to work on it, expect at least $200-$300 service bill, maybe more.