Dear Mr. Watts,

I am writing because in my humble opinion the problems with keeping the meat case refrigerators running are growing into a more serious problem. I have no doubt that you have given the question of whether to repair or replace the refrigerators serious thought, but given the large number of times that I have been in the Coop and seen the cases empty, I think there is the potential for the frequent fridge failures to be causing a painful loss of opportunity for the Coop. As a member, I will continue returning even when I see a failed empty cooler/fridge. However, I doubt this is the reaction from infrequent or non-member customers. This is not good for expanding the Coop's clientele.

I will take the liberty of suggesting three ideas:

1. If repair is the chosen alternative, understand why previous repairs failed so soon. The number of failures also indicates a need to seriously consider the possibility that the Coop is being taken for a ride/played for a fool by your refrigeration repair service. Is it reasonably possible to return the fridges to reliable operation (i.e. likely to be > or = 5 yrs. between failures, as guaranteed by a free repair guarantee of at least 2 years)? My experience with appliance and vehicle repair in Northern New Mexico is highly variable and consistent with the proposition that there are a significant number of fundamentally incompetent repair people attempting to ply their trade.
2. Purchase new cases, hopefully without involvement of the current repair shop, if it is not possible to reasonably understand the nature of past failures and receive a reasonable guarantee on current repairs.
3. The temporary scheme of having meat and seafood fetched from the storage freezers/coolers has one of my friends delighted with the quality of the food. Perhaps a longer-term solution is to place a slightly smaller display fridge in the meat department and knock a small hole in the wall for a meat and seafood counter? Thanks for taking the time to read and consider my mail.

   Copeland Compressor

Best regards,

Concerned Customer