Intex HORRIBLE Customer Service Experience!
It's moments like this that I am grateful I have a blog. If you are shopping for an inflatable mattress, or need anything that INTEX makes, I highly recommend you read this before you do.
12/10/15, I purchased a queen sized airbed from Aldi. It was a special they were running, perfect before the holidays, especially with guests coming in from out of town. It served it's purpose well, until today.. well, last night.
I've been sick with a middle ear infection, so I didn't want to sleep with my husband and get him sick, too. So, this week I've been sleeping on the airbed, and nobody else is sick. # score !
Last night, while I was sleeping, I heard a muffled thump..and all of a sudden, the one seam rose, and this humongous bump formed on the top of the bed! It was apparent that one of the plastic chambers had detached internally from the top "plush" layer of plastic. It scared the hell out of me while it was happening, and I made a mental note to call Intex in the morning. This morning, another one lifted! Nobody was even on the bed at the time, and again, it scared the crap out of us all! So, I grabbed the box, because we did the responsible thing by keeping the bag in the box, in the bottom of the closet, because on the box it says a 1 year warranty.. it's not even been 90 days.
I call Intex, with a photocopy of my receipt, the box, the bag, and a picture of the knob (for model number purposes, on the box it looked like I might need that), and call INTEX.
After holding for a little while, I got hung up on, while being connected to the next available representative. Fun. So I call back. I am placed on the automatic hold, endure the normal waiting music, and get a representative on the phone.
I explain what happened, and told her that I have the Airbed, the receipt, the bag, and the box.. and she asks if I have the included warranty card. Warranty card? Nope. I don't know if anything was even in the box.. but it's been less than 90 days, it's obviously a manufacturer defect, I don't want a refund, I'm willing to do an even exchange, or send this one back, and they can send me a new one, just let me know.
The lady basically tells me that I'm up a creek without a paddle, and I can take it up with Aldi... which I will do, but I know Aldi, I love Aldi, I know that they'll gladly refund this piece of crap, because Aldi has amazing customer service. However, I won't be able to exchange the item, because, well, it's Aldi, and they only carry things for a few weeks before they sell out, or send whatever is left back to the distributor. If you're lucky, next year, you can buy it again. I tell this to the lady, to which she gets super snarky and says well, there's nothing I can do about it, if you dont have the warranty card, I can't help you. I ask if there's any way I can download the form, because I honestly don't recall there even being a form in the box- if so, I would have shoved it in the bag or the box and kept it together. She again, tells me no, and says that Aldi puts in the warranty card with the item.
So, then I bring it back to INTEX- it's not even been 90 days since I purchased this thing, don't you have a standard of quality that you uphold at Intex? I can't believe that with a dated receipt, there's truly nothing you can do! "I don't know what to tell you, ma'am." So I ask if she can at least tell me if another storecarries this particular item close by, because I will go through the hassle of returning it at Aldi, and then going to repurchase it at another retailer, because I do like the product, and it was priced well. Then she tells me, huffing and puffing, that she can google it if I'd like her to, but that I'd get the same results if I Google it.
Um, what?
Up until this point, I've been pretty poised and handled myself nicely, but now, now I'm ticked off. I give her some lecture on how customer service obviously means squat in their company, and that I'm sorry for disturbing her day with my complaint, but that I can handle googling myself, and that I won't be re-purchasing an INTEX because their customer service sucks! I added "have a great day" before I hung up, but pushing the button on a cell phone doesn't give the same satisfaction of slamming down a house phone in situations like this.
Anyway. Now I'm deflating the airbed, packing it back up, and getting ready to bring it back to Aldi, because I know their customer service will take it back with a smile on their face, because they actually give a crap about their consumers.
The bottom line? Unless you're analysis retentive, and check the box at the store and make sure you have a warranty card, are able to keep this card, the receipt, and sometimes the upcoming from the box, you have no warranty. No standard of quality. No customer support or even a freaking apology. You get a "go google" response, and a snarky representative. Read more...