Husky Stella Fridge going cheap (merged)

grex9101

Bahney wrote:

i bought one of these fridges ages ago for around £50 from makro (3years ago i think) it is a husky budweiser jobbie.

they are good but dont get as cold as a normal fridge and are VERY noisy so not good for the bedroom, but mine is still going strong ohh and they need defrosting once every few months because there is a huge ice build up a the back

yeah, i noticed that too. Think i read somewhere that they are quite power hungry too. Although not sure if this applies to all models...

LesD

sillygoose wrote:

I got one of the Lidl ones this morning, plenty in Redditch at £49. Firstly it is not Stella branded as on some leaflets but plain white or silver your choice, they still have the similiar drinks chillers at £66. Also the £49 one is not 50 litre capacity as on the leaflet but 46 litre, but... it is a proper food safe (5 deg) fridge with a compressor and not a glorified electric cool box like the slightly larger £66 chiller which is clearly marked NOT for food storage. many of those chillers are thermoelectric powered and very expensive to run (class G!), the lidl £49 is rated Class B which isn't too bad (A is best). Its a sturdy metal cased item and ideal for a bit of extra fridge space for all those BOGOF bargains!

The Lidl Husky is very confused about if it's safe for food! The packaging says it is, but the instruction book says it isn't! Do we have any experts here who can comment.

Incidentally, if you're going for the Lidl one at £49, I suggest you check it before taking it away from the store! We're on our THIRD at the moment. First two had very bad transit damage. The packaging isn't the best!

trets77

My job for seven years was in charge of Non-Food goods in for Lidl.

let me tell you they buy stuff that no one else can sell cause it,s either out dated or massive surplus stock. it always get delivered by dodgy east European freight companies. and it was NEVER handled very carefully by either myself or others in the warehouse chain. simply because we didn,t have time or motivation too.

lidl used to have " where quality costs less" as their logo plastered all over the lorries. We all ways said it should be " Cutting corners to save you money"

The amount of stuff that came back was nothing short of Mind Boggling. imagine the largest warehouse you can imagine CHOKING and i really do mean CHOKING on returns of non food. it got so bad they had to hire anthor warehouse to deal with just the non food returns. they then had large numbers of agency morons sort through it £4.50 a hour skipping half and then try make the other half presentable enough to sell in the hope the next poor mug to buy it would be too lazy to bring it back.

i saw everything from kitchen sinks to out dated mobiles to fishing rods that broke straight off the lorry FIRST HAND . guess what i never ever went to my local LIDL looking to pick something up with my hard earned cash.

broken fridge twice already whole lot was probaly dropped from a great height by a reach truck. chucked about by agency pickers or wedged into a over crammed lorry by some lorry driver who just wanted to get on the move. and thats after someone else probaly sent the thing back 2 years ago

Think very carefully about your so called bargain from them

The Disney store also have warehouse on the site where the Lidl warehouse was. The Disney store threatened to sue LIDL as they claimed it was in thier contract that there should only be one MICKEY MOUSE company allowed there

...boom boom

ppg

Hi LesD,
i noticed the contradiction too. Personally i would have thought it was ok as it chills down to 5C which i think is the main job a fridge has to do to meet regs, BUT im NO expert. Have worked in a supermarket and remember they had to check that the fridges were set to below 5C to be food safe and meet safety standards (think this is the temp needed to keep bacteria at bay, specifically for meat and dairy products). Have a look at this Argos one which also says food safe
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/2701888.htm

i cant really see any difference between the two except for the Stella logo.

Also Husky do two versions the other is a Thermocouple type but looks the same and definately says on the box not food & dairy safe (only cools to 20 below AMBIENT temp) not a definate 5C or below.

Maybe there has been some confusion with the manual as the units are manufactured in China and maybe is a reason Lidl have got them cheap. Might be an idea if someone emails info@huskyproducts.com and see if they can advise. This is their website https://www.huskyproducts.com

PS this does seem to be a good fridge otherwise, a quality Husky using the latest greenhouse friendly R600a refridgerant

@trets77 - thanks for the info about Lidl it does confirm my suspicions a bit. I was in a store recently and was shocked at how the staff member (who had been working there awhile and may have even been some kind of manager, have seen him authorise stuff) was slamming down the bifinett ovens onto the pallet to make room for other products even though he could see i was looking at purchasing one. He wasn't placing them but banging them down as if in a bad mood. Wondered if it would damage them, but oh well there is a 3 year guarantee, but it does seem a bit disrespectful to customers. Having said that most stuff I have bought there seems good value for money particulary the 3 year guarantee and not all been old stock AFAIK. Have also seen some pretty poorly packaged stuff too that looks pretty battered or opened and re-sealed with a couple of layers of selotape.

Have worked for a well-known UK household mail order catalogue company and you should have seen the way the products came hurtling down the conveyor belt (this was some years ago though and i think has improved now), workers would joke at how you would carefully open your new purchase unaware that it had been thrown around. Also seen courier delivery drivers do the same sometimes just bunging stuff onto their vans in a rush, some are more careful than others but i think its the pressure of the their jobs maybe. In my opinion Parcelforce are quite a good courier, i dont think they pressure their drivers so much but not sure. Anyway thanks for the info