Customer Reviews

Haier HVF024BBG 24-Bottle Single-Zone Wine Cellar, Black

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Purchase date: Purchased the product from amazon.com in December 2008.

Price: Several web sites were selling the unit for three hundred dollars including amazon. When amazon reduced the price by thirty-six dollars I made my purchase.

Shipping: With the free Super Saver Shipping, the cellar was delivered by UPS in 3 days.

Packaging: The packaging is minimal. There is thin Styrofoam packaging covering each of the four corners and a square piece covering the top. Plus a piece of Styrofoam is inside the door to protect the glass door from the wire shelves. Cardboard covers the four sides and the top. There is no packaging at all covering the bottom of the cellar and there is no Styrofoam covering the sides.

Delivery: I was most concerned about damage to the glass door and the compressor - which were not damaged. UPS delivered the cellar by using a dolly with a very long blade that was wider than the cellar. I believe this helped avoid any damage to the bottom of the cellar. (Remember there is no packaging for the bottom.) But, unfortunately, there was damage to one of the sides. I did not notice it until UPS was gone but there was a small tear to one of the sides of the cardboard - small enough that it looked like normal wear and tear of shipping and not significant enough to be a concern. But there was a small dent in the side of the cellar. If there were even a thin piece of Styrofoam covering the sides, the damage would have been prevented. I took the easy way out and decided to just keep the cellar.

Cooling: The cellar lets you set your own temperature or you can use the white wine button (which uses a temp of 47 degrees) or the red wine button (which uses a temp of 57 degrees). The compressor turns on when the temperature is 3 degrees more than your setting. It turns off when the temperature is 2 degrees less than your setting but the cellar does continue to get colder. I keep the cellar in a room where the temperature is in the mid 60s and the cellar continues to get another 3 to 4 degrees cooler. So, all together, there is an 8 or 9 degree temperature variation.

Noise: Some of the reviews of various cellars I read complained about the continuous running and noise of their cellar. But this cellar is extremely quiet. I do not notice when the compressor is on. And when cooling, it's on for only a couple of minutes.

Vibration: Since this cellar uses a compressor for cooling I was concerned about the amount of vibration that it created since it can disturb the sediment in the wine bottles. But the compressor in this cellar is bolted to a bracket on the bottom of the unit and there are rubber bushings in between the compressor and the bracket. I did, however, feel a very, very small amount of vibration when the compressor is on. To measure the vibration, I put a glass of water on the cellar and found, to my relief, the water was completely undisturbed. I also watched for vibration when the compressor turns on and when it turns off. The water in the glass does show some vibration - more so when it turns off than when it turns on. But this is probably less vibration than when you open or close the cellar.

Warranty: The manual states the warranty for parts and labor is 12 months from the date of purchase. The compressor, condenser and evaporator have a warranty of 5 years from the date of purchase.

This is very nice quality 24 bottle wine fridge. Previously, I owned a similiar-sized Danby which was unreliable and I had extreme difficulty finding anyone to repair. The Haier is much better quality and worth the slightly higher price. Nice features include: digital temperature display, key lock, full door handle, inside light, good quality racks. Also, received very quick delivery from Amazon.

Frankly, I expected more from Haier. This is basically a dorm-fridge, with a glass door, and digital temperature display. It looks very nice, an my wife is thrilled -- which is what matters most. It sits on ceramic tile in my TV room, and the noise, while present, is not bothersome. I am a bit less happy with the constant 5-6 degree temperature variation. Needs better insulation, I shudder to think how much electricity its eats!

I purchased the HVF024BBG from Amazon. Not only was the first unit damaged, but so was the second. The design looked sound and it is offered at an attractive price. Unfortunately, the packaging of the unit is positively horrible.

A one-inch piece of Styrofoam serves as the shipping base for a product that weighs 75-lbs. Upon delivery, the base of both units was completely shredded. Even thinner strips of Styrofoam are used to protect the corners. They offer no protection, especially to the corner with the door hinge. Both units showed up with the upper portion of the hinge broken and unable to support the door. This rendered each unit completely unusable. Finally, the cardboard wrapping that surrounds the entire package is far too thin. Both units have dents and scratches.

The entire product should be shipped with the following:
- A very thick cardboard base should be used. Take the thickness of the cardboard used to package the unit and use four of these. The base should extend up around the bottom by one-inch to provide a solid foundation for the entire unit.
- Use real foam corner pieces instead of Styrofoam. The corner pieces are for protection, and the Styrofoam inserts currently being used aren't getting the job done.
- The cardboard shell that wraps around the entire unit should be double or triple the thickness of the one being used.

The good news about the packaging is that it revealed the questionable manner in which the door hinge is assembled and held in place. Enlarge the picture and look at the upper right corner. The hinge for the door is held in place by the plastic at the top of the door. If that plastic breaks, the door falls off the hinge. This happened on the first unit. The second unit was not as bad, but the door hanged to the left side so badly that it could not be used.

Hopefully, someone will read this, change will occur, and future customers will see the benefit. Until the packaging is fixed, this product should be avoided. Due to the poor design of the support for the door hinge, I will be steering clear of Haier products for the foreseeable future.

Please note, that this is NOT a problem with Amazon. Haier is 100% responsible for a questionable design and the very poor packaging of the unit. As usual, Amazon handled the return of both units nicely.

when i opened the door,very strong plastic smell come out.
and it was broken package when i received it.

After doing research on all the wine cellars, we decided on this Haier 24-bottle wine cellar. It is relatively quiet and does not have a lot of vibration. The product is shipped via UPS. UPS did not ship the wine cellar on the day it was suppose to. On the 3rd day past the delivery date, I had to call up UPS to figure out what happened to the package. When it finally arrived, the packaging was very flimsy and there was a ding on the side panel.

Looks great, and when it works it works well. But I had two units fail on me within a year.

The unit I originally bought was DOA, but after an inspection by a service technician revealed that the coolant had completely leaked out, Haier replaced it. The replacement unit was a refurbished unit which seemed to have some damage on the bottom. But it worked fine, until it failed almost exactly one year later, too late to be covered under the warranty!

I liked the looks of the unit, and the digital readout is a real boon--if nothing else, it helps to tell you when the unit stops working. :-)

But I don't think the headache, and the hours I spent on the phone, are worth it. I'll look for another brand next time.

I agree with other reviewers who were disappointed....extremely poor hinge design....in fact, mine arrived with the door off the hinges. There was no visable damage to the packaging....which was in was minimal. The "leveling" wheels were bent and not effective and a piece was missing from the left lower corner. I would have paid 4X the price for a well designed appliance with appropriate packaging. Too bad, I will never know whether the cooling device worked well or not....this is going to the curb side tomorrow to be haulded to the junk heep!

Product is excellent to date. Shipping (UPS)
Product container very beat up. One shipping strap broken. Fist sized hole through
container. Driver delivered through front door and immediately returned
to truck without waiting for a delivery signature. Luckly, product seemed
to be OK, and is OK, working properly at this time. Maybe too large for UPS
shipping ability, unless product was mishandled at warehouse. Not good PR for
UPS in my view.

This product seemed to be an excellent buy. But unless you can actually pick it up in person, there is a much higher than average chance that your product will arrive at your door damaged. As previous reviews have mentioned, the packaging is inadequate for a product that requires a little care in shipping. I am shocked by the lack of packaging used. Do you really need the pain of returning it?