Expensive poor-quality products Made in China + Expensive Return Policy without any care for the customer
First time I ever write a review on the Internet but you will understand why I absolutely needed to take the time to write here. I was searching online for a high quality insulated tent which would last. Relying on my google search with the keywords "best insulated tent 2023", Crua came up in the first results so I blindly ordered them 3 products without taking a look at the Company profile nor their Returns and Warranty policy. I ordered: - Crua Combo Family ( Crua Core + Crua Culla Tents) €2.099,99 - Crua Camping Carpet €99,99 - Crua Deluxe Air Pillow €23.99 When unboxing the tents, just by looking at the thin tent bags with their cheap logo letters, I could already tell the Tents would be of poor quality. However I was still far away from knowing that the "Best night's sleep in the wild" would actually turn into a real nightmare. On the first use, the porch of the Crua Core deflated itself. Remember the price? €2.099,99. After pumping and repumping, I contacted the support which asked me to locate the problem by removing the beamer and putting it in the water. A defective valve. So support confirmed the product is defective and offered to replace the part. While deflating the pillow after inflating it for the first time in my living room, the pillow spitted out its inner synthetic foam all over my legs and the living room floor. Ironic for a product called Deluxe, isn't it ? Contacted the support which confirmed the product is defective and offered to replace it. So what would you do if you have bought 2 defective products out of 3 and "your personal feeling" (term used by their support when telling them their products are of bad quality) already told you their products are of bad quality simply looking at the tent bags ? ( I skip all the other details after opening the bags and first use: already a little tear on the thin tent material, the stitchings already falling apart,... and will write longer article on Medium with pictures and record youtube video - stay tuned). Could it be that the defective products simply reflects their poor quality? Of course yes. Would receiving replacement parts/product make the products quality better ? Of course not. Thus wouldn't you want to get fully reimbursed instead of receiving replacements? Well probably like me you wouldn't have necessarily look at their return policy fooled by their 2 year warranty and marketing message on the website like "We knew our tents needed to be tough enough to face it all.". (does not face even the first use). Well too bad because it is impossible to return the tents if already used (even after 1 use like I did) unless you pay 23% of your order amount, which means loosing 508euro + shipping fees (min 70euro probably), even if you were sold very poor quality products. Driven by a bitter feeling of unfairness like someone who just got robbed more than 2000 euro, I tried anything I could to get fully reimbursed or to get at least a financial compensation for the troubles, from exchanging emails for more than 10days with the support, to talking to them on the phone to desperately requesting to talk to manager (the COO) who also declined my ask. Which type of company would sell mainly defective products ? Which type of company would decline this fair ask to get fully reimbursed when products don't work and the flaw simply reflect the poor quality? Which company does not want to make their customer happy by simply fully reimbursing them when they are not happy? Which company would focus on small short term gains vs customer satisfaction and learning from their mistakes? Well a small start-up (please check them out on crunchbase) solely built out of crowdfunding abusing of digital marketing to sell cheap products from China at expensive prices and believes this is how they will succeed. I should have trusted my first judgement when looking at the bags and send back those poor quality products without even giving them a try. I would have still lost min 70euro because now that I have read the policy, "The customer will be responsible for paying the shipping costs of returning the goods." but it would have saved me more than 2000euro, some precious time and preserve my inner peace. So what should you buy if not Crua ? Well simply go with the big players you know them. They've been around for decades and decades for good reasons: better quality and better customer experience. Sad for any other start-up but will think twice now before buying from small companies. Check out Caroline's 2-star review, same experience with defective product, customer satisfaction ignorance and expensive return policy. Now it is only the start of my crusade to prevent anyone from falling into the same trap. Will record a youtube product video and medium article to put some visuals on top of these words.