Inflatable Repair Customer Writes:
"We borrowed a Bouncy House from a friend this weekend and managed to end up with a rather large hole that we can't patch with our little fix it kit. Is this something you can do? What are your prices and where do we drop off the bouncy house? tear runs vertically up one side of the house and is probably 12-14" long."
"It is a residential grade I believe…Spin Master Toronto Canada. Made in China. Made in 2004 and called the 'Bounce Round'"
"is it something you think you can fix? Could we bring it by today or tomorrow?"
Customer's final reply:
"Thanks so much for this great response! It made all parties involved feel better and happily retire the 6 year old bouncy house and start looking for a new one! I really appreciate you taking the time to email this my way."
Bouncer Repair Answer:
After several back and forth conversations informing this customer that this type of inflatable needs to be patched or replaced, but this customer really wanted professional repair because it wasn't her bouncer, we sent her this response:
I’m sorry, but these residential grade inflatables are made with very poor quality materials. There are two facts of life that we have to deal with when it comes to these inflatables:
- Sometimes when we try to sew them back together, the material falls apart, making the area worse than it was before.
- Even if the repair is successful (maybe 50/50 chance), the cost of the repair is often close to, or higher than, the cost of buying a new inflatable.
That’s why we recommend Tear-Aid Type A patch. The patching material is stronger than the material the inflatable is made from, and it'll be much cheaper.
If this bounce house was sold anytime near 2004, it is waaaaaay beyond it’s useful life. Most residential grade inflatables have a life of 1 to 2 years, which can be extended sometimes with some patching here and there. Anything more than 2 years of use out of one of these things is pretty lucky.
We hear your story all the time, where someone borrows a friend or neighbor’s bounce house for a party or something, and it ends up getting damaged. Residential grade inflatables are so cheaply made, it’s not hard to damage them, and it unfortunately puts people in uncomfortable positions with the person they borrowed it from. Most people don’t understand how flimsy these things are, and I can’t blame them because the writing on the packaging often talks up the durability of the product, which is absolutely not true.
We generally do not look at residential grade inflatables because the answer is always the same. It’s either, “No, I’m sorry we can’t fix that.” or “Yes we can fix that, but the repair will cost $200.” and nobody wants to spend $200 on an old inflatable that might have cost that much new.