Product review (1 stars): 3rd time's the charm! (Update: Died after 1 year 5 months)
UPDATE 11/15/2015:
Just a few weeks ago, our fridge died. We've had it only 1 year and 5 months (just past the warranty). The compressor died, and the cost to repair it is significantly more than the cost of the fridge itself. I'm lowering my score to 1 star now. Looks like Amazon has lowered the price, but I wouldn't recommend this fridge. The Danby model might be a better buy, but to be honest, these beverage fridges don't appear to be made to last very long no matter which brand you purchase. I had a mini fridge in college that was still going strong after 4 years. I can't believe this one failed after less than 2 years!

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

While the packaging on this fridge seems OK, the first two boxes arrived pretty beat up and the fridges also had some dents in them. The first one we received sounded like a lawnmower when plugged in. The second one I didn't even bother taking out of the box since I noticed the corner was dented severely. There was a hole through the fragile sticker which is pretty pathetic. They clearly have some packaging/shipping problems on these. Looks like other brands of fridges have similar problems, not just NewAir. Buyer beware! This could happen to you. It might make more sense to just buy it from a local store if you don't want to take a chance.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

I finally decided to call an amazon customer service rep to see what they could do. He apologized that I wasn't able to get the fridge in good condition. I asked if I could have UPS ship it since the last two had been shipped by FedEx. I also wanted to be able to sign for the package in case I wanted to refuse it (our package deliverers have a bad track record of actually knocking or ringing the doorbell!). He said he would do his best to do these things. Helpful and friendly.

The same customer service rep even followed up with me the next morning to see if we could call UPS and get a signed delivery. Unfortunately UPS said it was too late, that we should have done it when the package went out (not sure why there wasn't a checkbox for the service rep to check? But I don't know how their system works). That being said, the package arrived in pretty good condition (much better than the previous two attempts!) and the UPS man did ask for a signature. I was hesitant when unpacking it and plugging the fridge in, but so far everything looks OK! FINALLY!

Amazon's customer service was excellent. They gave me free UPS pickup for both returns and each pickup/delivery only took one business day.

As for the fridge quality itself...

FRIDGE QUALITY:

The Danby fridge is $100 less, and I suggest you also take a look at that one if you want something cheaper but with what looks like similar quality. This was a gift for my husband and he picked out the NewAir because of the slightly better reviews.

The quality is mediocre...3/5 stars. Not nearly as good as a real fridge. A couple of the shelves aren't quite straight and the cooling metal plate at the top are not quite level either, which makes fitting some of the drinks a pain. The front with the stainless steel door looks nice. The sides are black metal and neutral, but after seeing dents in the first two I know they aren't super sturdy. The back is not metal; it looks to be made of a thin type of wood (think cardboard but sturdier). It is also open on the bottom so you can see the condenser coils. If you want to display the back I suggest getting some kind of metal grating to cover everything.

It comes with what we assume is a condenser tray loosely stuck with putty on the back of the unit (not mentioned in the manual at all). We aren't quite sure if we need to reattach it...we'll figure that out later. There's also random putty in a few other places...looks a bit sloppy but I guess no one will see it since it's in the back.

The door appears reversible but I don't see this mentioned in the (paltry) instructions. Note that if you reverse the door, the "NEWAIR" logo/text will be upside-down. So in that sense the door is not "truly" reversible.

Also note that this is not designed to be put under a bar or counter. You unfortunately need to get an expensive fridge that vents from the front for that, or design the counter with plenty of air flow.

I've had the fridge on for about a day without any drinks and it seems to go below 30 on the bottom when I measured with my thermometer...so it should keep drinks cold.

It is not silent, but it isn't super loud either. I hear a humming sound and a gurgling sound when the compressor runs. The rest of the time it is quiet.

As another reviewer noted, the LED lights are white, not blue...though I guess they are "blueish".

So was this a good buy? I certainly hope so! I don't know how long this thing will last, but if we get 5 years out of it I'd be happy.

I'll update this review if we run into any problems.

UPDATE:

We've had this fridge now for almost a year, and no additional problems so far. The only tiny issue we had is that someone at one of our parties was leaning on the door (who does that?! seriously!), so now it is very slightly crooked, but I'm pretty sure we're the only ones that notice it. At this point I've either gotten used to the humming, or the fridge has quieted down over time. I don't notice any noise from this fridge at all anymore. That being saidI'm very good at tuning out sounds, so YMMV.