You couldn’t post this two hours ago before I bought one? ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
I’ll report back.
I’ve left reds on the counter and the wine has been in great shape…but putting it in the fridge (or at least the cellar) probably wouldn’t hurt if you’re not planning to drink it for a while.
Bummer man! Sounds like you got a defective unit and a shitty Amazon seller. You’re obviously upset but saying that the QikVin is ‘terrible’ and that ‘you do not recommend it’ because of a bad Amazon transaction seems a bit…extreme.
I’ve purchased 2 QikVins (also from Amazon) and they both work flawlessly. I wouldn’t sweat it Tom ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Ugh! You mean you bought on Amazon. If you buy from Amazon, you can now return to any of a few partner businesses. (Whole Foods, Kohl’s and one other local option for me.) Your crap seller needs a crap review. I suppose you could contact the Qikvin folks themselves. (Also, not likely in this case, but counterfeit products is one reason to be wary of independent sellers on there for some sorts of items. Seller ratings matter, too.)
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The Amazon seller is supposedly QikVin for my purchase.
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Well, you can weigh my experience and review as you like, but I paid the same $100 that you did and I can only speak to my experience as a customer. I received a unit that bubbles air through the stainless steel disc as I pour, despite what seems like a reasonably tight seal. And it sinks towards the bottom as the bottle sits upright. Maybe that’s defective, maybe it’s an expected failure rate for a finicky product, or maybe that’s how it’s designed to work. I only have an experience of one unit.
It’s correct that I didn’t buy “from” amazon, I bought “on” amazon, but the seller appeared to be Qikvin itself and not a 3rd party reseller. And when I called Amazon customer service, they told me that they had received multiple complaints about the seller.
I will note that their warranty on the product is only 6 months. Less than a year seems suspicious to me after examining this unit, and I wonder whether they are really built to last much longer than 6 months or whether the seals fail after that amount of time.
In my opinion, the search for the perfect wine preservation device continues… and the Qikvin is not the answer.
I totally get your reaction based on your experience. I’m sorry that happened. You’d probably think as highly of it as Rich and I do if you’d had our experiences.
I hope you find something that works for you. This is an exciting and promising general development for the wine lover — being able to just pour yourself a fresh glass from a bottle whenever you want over a week (as long as I’ve gone) or probably a decent amount longer, with moderate cost and no recurring cost consumables.
I’ve been really happy, picking a “wine of the week,” and one that is at maturity (ie not needing to skew young so it’ll hold up) and just leaving it on the counter, pouring myself a splash, a glass, whatever I want with no more effort or thought required than that, and having it taste like the bottle was opened an hour ago. It’s by far the biggest development I’ve experienced in multi-day bottle drinking since I got into wine.
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That’s what I was hoping for. Even offered to have them send me another unit and I could send back this one. I wanted to actually try it based on the experiences here.
Reading over the Amazon policies again, their A-to-Z guarantee for 3rd party sellers says that if the product is defective I should be refunded return shipping costs as well. I’ll try that route.
I also realized that on the Amazon page under the Q&A section, the first comment is about an identical issue. The stainless steel ring slides down slowly and doesn’t hold a seal. The comment says they were promised a new unit but it never came and then the return window expired and they weren’t able to get a refund. So I’m not the only one…
For those of you who have used it successfully, how long have you been using it? Does anyone have a unit working well with a good seal at 6 months or one year?
Ashish, I’ve had it for two months (bought it based on the comments from Rich in April), and had it in constant use. All good so far, but I really have no basis for knowing what the failure/defect rate is or how long it will last. I’m guessing nobody here has had it long enough to know the answers to those questions.
If one wanted to be more cautious in making the purchase, he’d probably need to wait a year or two to benefit from more extended use reports from the WB community.
I’m encouraged either way. Even if, hypothetically, QikVin turns out not to have a great reliability record, it should be possible for them and/or someone else to make a device in this general concept that does the job well.
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I wonder if we could get someone from the company to join the discussion here. Maybe make a BD 2022 offer even.
I also ordered a Qikvin on Amazon after reading this thread. Took almost 2 weeks to arrive from the date ordered, which is way longer than usual on Amazon, so I checked the third party seller and it was Qikvin as well. Just arrived yesterday and I probably won’t get a chance to try it for a few days. But I will report back.
Very sorry to hear this, and quite disappointed by their return policy. Your frustration is understandable. Hopefully Amazon’s defective item refund will prevail.
I’ve been using mine continuously for nearly 3 months, and so far it’s performed flawlessly. I agree with Chris and Rich’s reviews as to how well it works. It’s totally changed my buying perspective with the ability to fully savor a bottle over a week or so.
As far as longevity other than the one-way valve the only thing that can really wear are the silicone seals on the piston and around the top. On their website QikVin says replacement seals can be ordered, so a working unit should be easily repairable if the seals do fail at some point.
Really hope you can get this worked out. Please keep us posted.
I keep my QikVin in the refrigerator. I drink exclusively red wine so pour a glass about 30 min before drinking. The lab tests they published from an independent lab show less oxidation when chilled vs left at room temp. But based on others experience it may be that the difference isn’t very noticeable by taste. Easy enough to try it both ways, which I may do now that Rich and Chris have reported good results.
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As far as I can tell, there is no need to use the refrigerator for the sake of preserving the wine. It’s only a question of what temperature you want the wine to be for your drinking.
It’s been cool the last few months and so I’ve just been leaving the QikVin on the counter, so I don’t have to let the wine sit in the glass a long time to warm up and all. Or I could put the QikVin in the fridge for 10-20 minutes before I pour it if I wanted a more optimal temperature.
If I used it for a white (which I haven’t done yet, though maybe I should buy a second one for whites?), I’d just keep that in the fridge.
The best thing would be if you had a wine fridge in the kitchen or otherwise convenient enough. Keep it at your 55-59 degrees. When it gets warmer here, I may consider that. One of my big storage cabinets is just in the living room next to my kitchen. But even that small inconvenience takes something away from the beauty of having it sitting there to pour right when either of you feels like it. So I guess I’ll experiment.
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I guess I’d amend my last response and after reading Jim Summers’ last post – it must be the case that refrigerating the QikVin will make the wine last even longer than if you had it at room temperature.
But in up to around 8 days at room temperature, I haven’t seen any real decline, so I don’t think it’s necessary unless maybe you’re going to hold it a long time, which I don’t think is usually how someone would use the device (how often would you spread a single bottle of non-dessert wine over 2+ weeks?).
And I say that as someone who is on the more sensitive side to the decline of wines on day 2+ generally. I know there are others who feel like they just recork a bottle and leave it out and like it just as much on day 3-5 as they did at first – I’m not really in that category personally. But everyone is different on that.
I took the step of contacting the QikVin folks letting them know they were getting some negative feedback here about their customer support and return policy. I’ll just post the response I got and leave it at that.
Harald Tomesch <harald@qikvin.com>
11:57 AM
I am in Aruba for the month post pandemic.
Please share this in your forum.
MRH Products is a company that stands behind our product. We we’re hit hard by the pandemic- let all of our workers go… the restaurant relief package does not apply to restaurant suppliers. Indeed, we turned our whole operation into saving lives in the pandemic. We used our knowledge and plant to make PPE for Wisconsin, Illinois and the Military. Did it for free. Now we are trying to get back. Some people will write posts in anger - leave multiple emails and post within minutes and rant! We stand behind our product - but let me say you get more bees with honey than vinegar. Tips on use of the unit for newbies. Use water first as per instructions. The umbrella valve may stick if not used during inventory period. Don’t be afraid to push the piston up if for some reason it drops- we have found the two major issues for dropping are not washing and testing it first (remember- in dishwasher always spout down); and second not placing the lid on squarely and the twisting it once when on the tube. I have used the product in my winery - month after month no drops nor issues. If on occasion it did I would simply use my fingers or a pop can to remove any air. Air can only enter the chamber through the valve, the v-rings on the lid or the v-rings on the piston. We vacuumed test each part lid and piston and also do a liquid test after assembly. Our website gives address for returns, our policy on returns and our friendly plant manager is quick to respond to the returns. Regards, Harald
Fascinating.
To his comment “Don’t be afraid to push the piston up if for some reason it drops,” one thing I can’t really do is push the piston up when I haven’t just poured a mostly full bottle into the QikVin. My Popeye forearms are too big to reach up it, I guess. And I can’t push it up like using the butt end of a spatula or something, it just doesn’t work when you don’t have pressure more evenly than that.
I guess I could get my daughter to do it or something, unless anyone has another idea.
[Note, I haven’t had any need to push the piston up beyond the initial filling of the QikVin, except the last time, when I poured just the second half of a bottle we opened for dinner in there. With less liquid, the piston needs to be pushed up higher, and I struggled to get up there and push it far enough.]
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I try to actually measure my pours, so use a scale and currently use a ruler to reach up through the bottom to slowly push the piston for more precise control. I’m thinking of getting a large dowel so it’s got a wider cross section to push in the middle of the piston.
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Well, in case that feedback was for me:
- I washed the device in water and tested it as instructed, which is where I discovered the leak problem. It was immediate. Air gets in while pouring, and if I leave it upright the disc sinks over minutes.
- I can certainly push the disc up again, but then within minutes it lets air in again. So not really helpful as a wine preservation device.
- I waited 48 business hours after my initial contact to report the unit as broken on arrival prior to posting negative feedback anywhere to allow them a chance to fix the problem. And yes, after getting their offer to return and have me pay shipping I posted negative reviews based on my experience thus far.
- And yes they have a return policy on their website, which includes that the customer pays return shipping and won’t be credited back the outgoing shipping fee either. And I would argue this isn’t a return, it’s a defective unit.
- If I wait a month for him to get back from Aruba, the Amazon guarantee expires and the unit is not returnable.
- I’m really not a fan of his blaming the customer approach to customer service.
And for updates: I finally got a message through Amazon that said they would pay for return shipping and had e-mailed me a label, except that I have not actually received such label as of yet. (They responded to an inquiry that Amazon customer service submitted on my behalf, NOT to my original communication with them about the defective unit. So what got their attention was the escalation of feedback to Amazon customer service.)
Also interesting that you got a response by contacting them through their website. I did that yesterday as well before your inquiry and have yet to hear back from them through the website.
And in case you think my experience is unique, this is from the Q&A section on Amazon:
The piston inside the plastic bottle did not stay up for us. When I emailed the company Harald Tomesch gave us several ways to get it to work and it still did not work. This went on for weeks. When I asked about returning it he said wait for him to send me a free new one and then return it. By then a month and passed, I no longer heard from him and it was too late to return it!
By rebfun on October 22, 2019
For some reason doesn’t show up as a review or under feedback, just the Q&A section.
Anyone who likes these want to trade me your working unit for this one?
Update: Just now did receive a return label from them. So, I can give them credit for that.
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