A couple of weeks ago, I was in the dilemma on buying a refrigerator. The dilemma was resolved at the store when I made my purchase. After seeing all the models, me and my wife concluded that the Sharp refrigerator with ionizer function to reduce smell and plasmaioncluser to keep the vegetables fresh was the best buy. It was offered at a very good price from SEC and we bought that model proud of our purchase. When the refrigerator was delivered after a few days, we were instructed to leave the refrigerator idle for a day before turning it on. It was not stated clearly why, but it seams like a standard practice. We did that and the following day, we were happy to have ice and cold drink in our refrigerator. However, our happiness was short lived. Two days going into operation, the refrigerator failed to function. The ice turn to water, and the box literally becomes like a storage box. Going back to the retailer (SEC), they help to fax the repair needed to the SHARP Service Center. Two days later, the sharp representative contacted us and only manage to come and have look at the refrigerator 3 days later.

He fixed the item, and the failure was attributed to the ‘timer’, and when questioned, he mention that the timer and relay failed the most. Our faces were smiling again as the refrigerator is now working again and we headed to the groceries shop to buy some items to fill the refrigerator. To our surprise, when we return on the very evening, the refrigerator has turned into a storage box again. This time, the compressor still runs, but no cooling air comes out. The service men from Sharp service center said they will come and pick the refrigerator up to be fix.

We are now a week after having a refrigerator and not using it�

I am refraining to conclude that sharp make bad refrigerators or refrigerators with poor reliability. The fact is that for every 1 000 000 deviced shipped to customers, some of them are bound to have defects. I guess it is just our bad luck to receive a defective unit. In a perfect world, we would have been replaced with a new refrigerator (Guarantee, not Warranty). And so we wish, maybe sometime in the future consumer may have such rights, but not today�

Refrigeration technology has been around for so long and so matured, why can’t the manufacturer provide product Guarantee rather than Warranty? Is it up to the cost? Why not Guarantee for the first month and Warranty there after? Maybe it only takes one manufacturer to adopt this concept, then others will follow…

Before that, my next refrigerator will not be Sharp anymore, once bitten twice shy… Like Donald Trump said in last night’s Apprentice, “If you keep on loosing, how can I take a chance on you?”

On this day..

• The end of Haze? - 2009
• Parking Fail - 2009
• Congratulation Tee Bin - 2007
• Ethnic Plastic Surgery - 2007
• Maxis Online - 2004
• Haze - 2004
• Bright Sky - 2003