Easycool is not easycool!!

[rottodiver]

So I decided to buy one of these easy cool fridge/freezers

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/EASYCOOL-42L-PORTABLE-FRIDGE-FREEZER-camper-caravan-camping-fishing-boating-/231091966442?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item35ce2791ea

It arrived today and as I do I read the manual , at the end of the manual I then read, any problems contact evakool. So I decide to do some hunting around the evakool site and find this

http://www.australiandirect.com.au/buy/evakool-ib-40-litre-portable-fridge-freezer/EVAIB040

Besides the digital display being In a slightly different spot these units are indentical. So I then go on to find the evakool manual, besides the picture on the front the manuals are word for word identical..
These are the same units in my opinion accept 400 dollars different. I don't believe you will find any of these evakools at anywhere near the same price of the easy cools.

Scotty

[NP99]

The ol' rebadge trick...:)

[Dales300exc]

Also food for thought on the fridge topic, Patterson Cheney trucks sell Chillstar fridges that are almost identical to ones that multiple companies sell for a lot more. 60l was 480 retail. They also do a 45 and a 30.

[Clunk]

blimey, at that price you could get a couple

[AB]

Let us know how it runs mate.

[rottodiver]

Let us know how it runs mate.

Will do, I have it running at the moment, will keep it running until the weekend and taking it away for the weekend (Asa. Fridge)and then going away with it on Boxing Day for 10 days( all of which should be 33 degree plus days, so will have a good idea how thing go with it after that. Probably be using it as a freezer )

Scotty

[BigRAWesty]

Possibly a older model compressor used under contract..

[AB]

I've been looking for a cheapi secondary freezer...lol

[taslucas]

I've been looking for a cheapi secondary freezer...lol

You'd be best to pay a bit more to make sure it's river proof:-)

[MEGOMONSTER]

The EasyCool says nothing about using the Danfoss compressor like it does In the EvaKool fridges.
That's where all the money is.

[Woof]

Been searching for a reasonable price fridge, will be following this with interest Scotty

[megatexture]

The EasyCool says nothing about using the Danfoss compressor like it does In the EvaKool fridges.
That's where all the money is.



Waeco don't use danfoss compressors any more but their prices haven't dropped lol

[BigRAWesty]

Waeco don't use danfoss compressors any more but their prices haven't dropped lol

Although they call them a weaco ac20dc compressor, the core guts of it is danfoss. Just all weaco add ons..

[threedogs]

Eva cool were Baileys who made awesome ice boxes, they then branched out putting retro fit motors to the ice boxes.
Then finally selling the ice boxes with the motor bolted on the ends, Great insulation as Eva cool were a QLD co.

[megatexture]

Although they call them a weaco ac20dc compressor, the core guts of it is danfoss. Just all weaco add ons..

Where do you hear this, if it used danfoss they would advertise it. There new advertising is that they don't use danfoss any more like its a good thing

[AB]

Plenty of other good compressors out there too, Danfoss isn't the be all and end all of compressors.

[BigRAWesty]

Where do you hear this, if it used danfoss they would advertise it. There new advertising is that they don't use danfoss any more like its a good thing

Yea just a few Sales people. Across a few stores and told the same thing so either they have there story set or its the truth??

[megatexture]

They must not have read the latest specs

[rottodiver]

So I have now had the easy cool fridge for just under a month...... When I received it, I plugged it in on 240 volts in the house and put a carton of warm coke in it and set it at 4 degrees, it took a good while to cool the cans but acceptable I thought.. After a couple of days of it keeping them nice and cold and after we did our shopping for our trip away I turned it to -18 degrees and put frozen stuff in there and a few things to be frozen, the next day the frozen stuff was still frozen and the stuffs to be frozen only froze if in the centre of the freezer so I had to put them in the household freezer to freeze. I wasn't too comfortable with the freezer as it fluctuated between -10 and -18 so I turned it to -22 as thinking the fluctuations would be ok if it only went down to -18.. All seemed to work..
The night before we went away I at about 6 pm( been a 40 degree day so was quite warm outside still) I put the freezer in the car on 12 volts(still at -22) with battery voltage on the battery at about 12.8 volts(brand new battery bought that day ...allrounder) by the time 4am arrived when we left the battery was 11.5 volts...... So far from practical for 12 volt operation.
In this time I had left negative feedback with "dreamrider online" ( the company I bought it from) due to there terrible communication and customer service. That day I received emails and a phone call from there sales manager asking me to change the feedback for 60 dollar refund... Sounded good to me so I changed it they refunded instantly and I had the mobile number of the sales manager now.
After the day driving and setting up camp on a powered site all was going fine with the freezer. Over the next few days I kept a close eye on temps and it really fluctuated from -22 down to 2 degrees...not so good... Unless the items in the freezer were in the middle or bottom they were starting to thaw ( mainly the stuff on top)...
After 4 days the temp started to rise I. The freezer and wouldn't get below 0 degrees and everything started to thaw.....
Basically the motor stopped working, the temp gauge etc all worked fine and buttons all set it to what you want but no cooling what so ever.
I emailed dream rider..... No response, I texted the sales manager.... No response....... I then threatened with lodging a dispute... No response..... So in the end I have now had to lodge a dispute through paypal because it was with in 40 days of purchase.
They have now said that I have to pay postage for the item and I get a full refund (still lose a heap as Perth to nsw is a bit pricey) and they have only given me a po box address so I have paypal chasing up an actual address as couriers to deliver to po boxes(which they know).

So to sum things up....... The cheap crap fridge/freezer is not worth it, the customer service is the worst ever and they buy their positive feedback which to me makes it worthless system...
So hopefully people can learn from my mistake...
Scotty

[Stropp]

thanks for the feedback Scotty, good to get so we can steer clear.

[megatexture]

I wonder how many refunds for sh!t reviews they have delt out.

[rottodiver]

I wonder how many refunds for sh!t reviews they have delt out.

That is what I wondered and then I started thinking how peeved off some people must have been to not let them buy the positive feedback...... For me $60 seemed a fair bit to buy feedback... Especially when I was going to review the fridge/ freezer on here and I will be letting others know also..
Sad for them because positive review may have helped them a bit.


Scotty

[Woof]

Thanks for letting us know Scotty, bummer that you had to find out the hard way though mate