We have bought one of these freezers 2nd hand. It seems to turn on and start freezing then stops getting cold (and everything defrosts before freezing solid) although the motor still seems to be running. We aren't sure how the dial control works - you can turn it from off, through 1 to 7, at 4 it states "colder" but there are arrows pointing back down from 7 to 1. Which is colder - 1 or 7? We have tried both and in the middle and so far it hasn't seemed to have made a difference, but it would be helpful to know which is meant to be the coldest.