I have bought a number of items over the years from Sunplay. In fact, it was one of my go to saved sites that I utilized for pool and spa equipment of which I use both. After years of use, and close to $10k of orders, I recently had to return my first item to them. It was a Pentair vacuum pool cleaner that I bought for $661 that cleaned well, but within minutes of running would consistently get stuck at the same location on the steps entering my pool. It would be stuck there permanently while running, with the tail whipping up water onto the pool deck. I had a pool service professional come out to adjust it, but they could not resolve the problem. After this experience, I tried to return the pool cleaner, having already bought a second $1,000 Dolphin robotic cleaner to replace this one (a brand I have had before and trust). I received the new robotic cleaner which worked great, and tried to return the vacuum cleaner which is when I learned of Sunplay's most ridiculous return policy.... they ONLY accept returns of unopened items! In fact, what they said to me is that "we are not in the business of offering demo products"! and "You should have researched your pool before buying this to verify it was compatible"! Both of these statements are completely absurd.
First of all this is hardly a demo, I would have not returned it if it actually worked at all. It was malfunctional. And likely it does work well in other pools, but I have a fairly simple shape, a rectangular pool with a dog leg, and a set of half circular steps going into the pool. It is not some complex shape, and has no waterfalls or other unusual features within the pool. What research could I possibly do to verify this would work with my pool shape, and how could I possibly expect that it would not without actually trying it? They said I should contact the manufacturer and they may be able to help. I did, and a manager in the service department at Pentair who was very courteous also agreed that Sunplay was being very unfair in this matter. In fact, since Sunplay gets credited by the manufacturer for returned items, they did not understand why they would not accept the return. They researched whether they could process the return for me directly, but after reviewing said that this would have to be done through the actual seller and recommended I go back to them and try again. I did, and they refused for all of the same reasons mentioned prior. In fact, I filed a chargeback with the credit card company through which I purchased this, and because Sunplay's terms clearly state they do not accept returns for opened items under any circumstance, they chargeback was rejected. I will be appealing it, but this now requires significant additional work including a signed statement from a competitor stating that Sunplay was incorrect and the unit is truly malfunctional and that I should receive a refund. I will be going to my local Leslie's to do this, and with the relationship I've had with them for 10 years, I'm confident they will be able to provide this statement, and I'll be able to finally be reimbursed.
Now I understand that they have terms of sale that are stated on their website, although in small print on their legal page, and that they are only following through with exactly what their terms state. But in this day in age, this policy is completely unusual and unexpected, and in my situation were the equipment is essentially faulty, completely unfair. As more and more sales move to the internet, when these type of situations occur they remind you of why you should really support your local physical retailer like Leslie's, who would never have such a ridiculous return policy, or at least buy only through large and known retailers like Amazon, who have very liberal return policies where they accept anything for virtually any reason, completely opposite of what Sunplay has.
Long story short, I strongly regret the $10k I've spent with them in the last 10 years, and will never spend another single dollar with them going forward. I'll make sure to make my story known to anyone who has a pool, spa, or is looking for equipment offered by them. Moreover, I would highly recommend that anyone reading this not buy anything from them. There is always a chance that you will have to return an item for a variety of reasons, and a return policy which doesn't allow returns once the seal of the box is broken is ancient. Even if it costs you a few extra dollars, buy from a local retailer or an online one like Amazon with a known good return policy. At the end of the day, regardless of what your legal policy is as a company, there is something morally wrong with selling a product to a client that doesn't work for them, and then not giving them any sort of recourse to return the product. With this type of behavior, it is a matter of time before Sunplay becomes defunct by not being able to compete with great service oriented retailers. read more
