VinoTemp

Since a VinoTemp saga was a thread on this forum as well as the CT forum, it may interest Berserkers to see the link Eric Levine posted on CT

What a bunch of douchebags.

In case people don’t want to read a link.

It’s a non disparagement clause similar to the one that recently popped up in the news from the company Kleargear. It’s actually pretty similar to the Kleargear used. In Kleargear’s case, someone posted a negative review and they “fined” (aka charged) them $3500. When they wouldn’t pay, they put it as a non payment of bills on their credit report. (a little more info if you’re interested… Kleargear faces lawsuit after fining couple for negative review.)

Non-Disparagement Clause
In an effort to ensure fair and honest public feedback, and to prevent the publishing of libelous content in any form, your acceptance of this sales contract prohibits you from taking any action that negatively impacts Vinotemp, its reputation, products, services, management or employees.
Should you violate this clause, as determined by Vinotemp in its sole discretion, you will be provided a seventy-two (72) hour opportunity to retract the content in question. If the content remains, in whole or in part, you will immediately be billed $3,500.00 USD for legal fees and court costs until such complete costs are determined in litigation. Should these charges remain unpaid for 30 calendar days from the billing date, your unpaid invoice will be forwarded to our third party collection firm and will be reported to consumer credit reporting agencies until paid.

Well that makes it easy. I’ll never buy one of their products so long as they have such a clause.

wow… actually… vinotemp copied EXACTLY the same clause as Kleargear. I’d be curious who would put this on after the whole Kleargear fiasco?

Should you violate this clause, as determined by KlearGear.com in its sole discretion, you will be provided a seventy-two (72) hour opportunity to retract the content in question. If the content remains, in whole or in part, you will immediately be billed $3,500.00 USD for legal fees and court costs until such complete costs are determined in litigation. Should these charges remain unpaid for 30 calendar days from the billing date, your unpaid invoice will be forwarded to our third party collection firm and will be reported to consumer credit reporting agencies until paid.

Thankfully when I was searching for a wine cabinet, the many, many, many stories of terrible customer service at Vinotemp steered me well away from their products. Don’t get me wrong, I was tempted. Low prices will do that, and certainly they are cheaper than some of their competitors. But that cheapness doesn’t come cheaply as it turned out for far too many people.

Fortunately, I read one too many horror stories to risk making such a large purchase from such a dodgy company. And I suspect it was those very same horror stories that caused Vinotemp to make the dire decision to include such a clause in their purchase agreements.

After all, why would anyone purchase anything from them? There’s but one reason: ignorance.

Thank you, Eric (and Scott), for helping to keep us informed. Hopefully the other poor suckers around the web are learning what this company’s all about.

I’m with Andy and everyone else on this, will NEVER purchase one of their products. Just from what I know about VinoTemp I wouldn’t purchase their wine cooler anyway but this seals the deal.

Not so clever. And certainly pretty nasty to customers.

Wow! … Thanks Charlie, duly noted.

Interesting. An incredibly odd “contract” provision … hard to believe it will stand-up in court. Also would seem impossible to enforce if you didn’t buy directly from Vinotemp … many are sold through places like Costco (who I imagine won’t be a fan of this clause … not their style).

I have been a Vinotemp customer (the 400E). Used happily for a decade or so. No negative experiences with the product or service, so generally I recommend them to folks. Agree this casts a shadow over that.

Above clause is why I bought mine through Costco. So far so good after a few months.

The author of the blog states that the clause was only quietly added in the past 2 weeks. Did you see it a few months ago?

I just gave my opinion.

It’s too bad about this company, since they really would be in a position to be an exceptional product locally in the U.S.

I have a small VT-34 that has been fine for 2+ years and been happy with it, though haven’t had to utilize the customer service. Based on the above issue, I will not purchase from then again.

For better or worse, I am frequently asked to recommend wine and related products (sometimes coolers). Although I have recommended vinotemp in the past, I will not so again.

Exactly. If they actually addressed the customer service issues it would be a recommendable and very competitive product. Shame. That clause is more damaging than anything that an individual could write about them.

Guess I’ve been lucky. I bought mine at Costco for a steal (compared to on-line prices). Have had it for at least 4 years without a hiccup. Selling my home next month and leaving the Vinotemp behind, so I guess I wont have to worry about it.

Wow. Thank God for Wineberserkers… I was considering getting a couple of units from Le Cache and then I saw that Costco has similar Vinotemp units at a much lower cost… Even though Costco has excellent customer service, there’s no way I’m going to indirectly support such a shady company as Vinotemp. Le Cache gets my business.

We bought one from Costco in 2010. Luckily we haven’t had any problems with it, but will definitely be looking for a different model if/when we upgrade or need to replace.

Given other recent nastiness by Vinotemp against a fellow Berserker, I just want to push thread this back to the top.

That’s pretty funny: "In an effort to ensure fair and honest public feedback . . . this contract prohibits you form taking any action that negatively impacts Vinotemp . . . " In other words, it’s “fair and honest public feedback” only if it’s positive. If it’s negative it must not be fair and honest!