I am 58 years old, have had more than one garage fridge in unheated garages in the Northeast and never had this issue. I never even knew this was an issue and I'm pretty up on things so I don't know why this man should have been expected to be aware of this and tell the salesperson they're using it in an unheated garage. It's the manufacturer's responsibility to make this information known to the consumer especially when it's not common knowledge. Most fridges have energy rating cards on them and specifications in the store. This information should be located there. If it is, then it's the customer's fault for not reading it. If it's not he shouldn't be expected to somehow psychically know that there might be an issue.

That said, I just found out on YouTube that some manufacturers actually sell accessory "heating kits" for their fridges in case customers want to run them in colder than normal environments. This will counteract the effect of the colder temperature on the compressor and trick it into coming on more often.

I don't happen to have a garage fridge right now but was considering getting one. I'm glad I came across this. I never had this issue before but I see that fridges today are different than the ones I used in my previous garages. Unfortunately a lot of people never "got the memo" on this. Thanks, Edgar!