Innovative Wine Cellar Designs

After an exhaustive search for a specific type of racking system and a hybrid cooling system for our wine room in our new home the only geographically close ( we are in California ) company was Innovative Wine Cellar Designs. We contacted the company and the owner Mr. Horwitz said he would be happy to come to our home under construction as he has work in California. He assured us his proprietary cooling system would work well and protect our extremely valuable wine collection without any concerns. The racking system was what we desired and so we engaged him to design the interior design as my wife and designer had already laid out the multiple glass walls. At that time we told him all equipment and racks would be installed by OUR contractor and the cooling system itself would be installed by a team we had worked with before as this was our second home construction and our second wine cellar and we are part owners of a wine company. Our refrigeration contractor has done many large wineries in our area some as large as 250,000 cases per year. We wanted local and knowledgeable contractors because of the value of our wine collection and Mr. Horwitz is based in Arizona. After the initial meeting we engaged Innovative Wine Cellars to design and supply the materials for our wine room. Through out the design and design change process communications were inconsistent and often not in a timely fashion. Finally ,after one major change we placed the order and after the first of the year, because of typical construction delays, the equipment was shipped. Immediately after receiving the equipment communication issues became a more serious problem. Installation drawings and instructions were always delayed. The cooling system was an immediate problem as the AC installer who was placing the outdoor component and electrical and ducting realized that the two cooling components ( which were to be connected together ) had 2 different and INCOMPATIBLE refrigerant stickers and can not be combined. We called Mr. Horwitz who was curt and unhelpful and he told us to call his manufacturer Hawks refrigeration in Phoenix. We did this and his answer was that he built theses systems himself and had FORGOTTEN to change the stickers and apologized. Not a good beginning in retrospect. When installing the racks we had some questions and a need for schematics but delays occurred with return e-mails or phone calls. Many excuses later the necessary information arrived but usually with unpleasant remarks. Within 2-3 months of turning on the cooling system the system failed for the FIRST time. Both of my installers came out and with in a short period of time they found a refrigerant leak from an INADEQUATE solder joint on a coolant line in the outdoor unit. At that time several other solder points appeared circumferentially incomplete. These were redone while the system was open. The cost for the repair was $300 and I was reimbursed. The concern for manufacturing defects in the future was high. A few months later we started to notice a fine oil mist on some of our glasses. Over a few more months the oil mist recurred 3 times. We called our cooling team and they told me the oil is a marker for a refrigerant leak. The in room unit which was complex installation had to be opened and after removing it completely at least 2 coolant leaks were found, again because of incomplete sealing with solder. After 2 days of labor to remove, fix and reinstall the unit the cost was $1500! We immediately mailed the paid receipt to Mr. Horwitz and sent him several e-mails over a 2 week period but he both refused my phone calls ( his assistant designer always told me he was in the office ) and my e-mails some were pleasant and as time went on they were more aggressive as paying twice seems ridiculous. Innovative Wine Cellar designs states the equipment is warranted and our gross failure ( multiple manufacturing defects ) occurred in that defined period counting on the time it was delivered and the leaks happened. Innovative Wine Cellars Design and Mr. Horwitz in particular has real problems with communication even when things are going well and is far worse when there are negative events. Refusing to honor product warranties, however is the real problem here and refusal to acknowledge the problem forcing us to pay nearly twice is just wrong. He did not deserve our business and he should not deserve yours in the future. Cooling System Cost $9,743 Repairs $300 Reimbursed, $1528 Not Reimbursed Both in less than 1 year!