Friday, June 3, 2011

Bounceland Fun????

Keane Breck and Tyleigh have been saving up money to buy a water slide for the stifling hot Alabama summer! So you can imagine their excitement when it was finally time to order one! I googled water slides for best prices and the best price was from bouncelandfun.com. We went the cheapest single slide we could find paid and 5 days later the slide was here!!! HOORAY!!

Well, not so much HOORAY =( The new water slide we purchased was not new at all. Upon opening the box I smelled a horrible stagnant moldy water smell. As I unrolled the slide I saw black mold, white mold, pen markings, pulled stitching and fading to the slide???? My poor babies =( They immediately started crying when I announced this thing has to go back. I put it inside and got on the phone to contact the company. No answer.. I got online to their website and filed a problem report not to much later I was contacted back by a customer service rep online who said all their products were new but they would accept the slide back for a full refund. At this point I am steaming because I feel I am being called a liar.. the slide I received was clearly not new as by the pictures you will see so I pitched a fit to say the least, threatened an attorney if it was resolved.. yatta yatta.. (you know me) If my babies aren't happy nobody is happy! Oh and to add to the madness just in the short time I was trying to get in touch with someone the kids mold allergies flared up! They were getting all stuffed up and inflamed so I moved the stinky slide outside!

I finally got someone on the phone (the next day) who said this type of thing had never happened before when I asked for an explanation as to why I received this slide. She said it was shipped from the main branch not their location and they would ask the company to inspect things better before shipping ( I say that is a good idea)... She said I should ship the slide back in its original package for a full refund.. problem is.. I split the original package trying to get the darn molded slide back in there! So she said she would talk to her boss and see what could be done. In the meantime Keane and Breck are freaking out because they are not going to have a slide so for the sake of my kids I called back and spoke with Cheryl (the rep. I had been talking to) and asked if instead of a refund I could just send the nasty one back for a new one.. again she has to ask her boss.. so boss says yes just send the slide back in a different box and we will send you the one once we have the old one back.. Okay good deal.

I had Memorial Day planned around the slide so unfortunately we were not able to celebrate like we thought we would with the water slide but just used our boring ol slip n slide instead! So I requested that the slide be back to me by Sat. June 4th because I am having another event with children and need it here! The original purchase date was May 19th 2001 I received the molded slide on May 25th, the slide was shipped back on the 26th (the company provided the label and had UPS pick up the next day) they received the molded slide on the 31st so to get to me originally and get back to them took 10 days because both ways was a 5 day delay so I was not expecting to get the water slide by June 3rd as promised by the company but guess what!!! I did! They even sent a better grade of slide (due to my children's sensitivity to plastic smell??) I made it clear it was not plastic that they were allergic or sensitive to it was stinking mold! So I can say that the company replied and complied with what they said they would do and were very quick with their responses (etc).

I do not feel that they took the blame though. To say they would ship a better slide due to my kids sensitivity to plastic smell and by saying all their items were new?? They never admitted any blame to me or BBB. They tried to turn it around on me saying that I had apologized and they were working with me to send another water slide.. I apologized for my temper but not the overall upsettings about this ordeal. They kept saying to satisfy the customer we will send the other slide. So as far as fixing the problem bouncelandfun.com did a great job but as far as taking any blame or responsibility or a true apology I feel like they were lacking.

But overall we are satisfied now with the company and if they did not feel they were wrong I do not think they would have sent a replacement anything and especially not a more expensive slide!?

As for the slide itself .. it is small. Good for my 4 and 1 year old but boring for the 6 year old. Although the slide is 7 feet the the drop is probably 4.5 or 5 feet.. so not that exciting for older kids! But it was the most reasonable price and it will keep them cool so its worth it! Here is the link to the slide we ended up with! Keane Breck and Tyleigh's Waterslide.

Overall I would say if I needed another bouncehouse or slide I would use bouncelandfun.com due to the willingness to make the problem right, sticking to their word and doing it very quickly! So if you are in the market for a water slide for the hot summer give them a try.. at least you know they will take care of any problems if you have one!!!! =)

PHOTOS OF THE ORIGINAL SLDE SENT TO ME VIA FACEBOOK MY ALBUM!