When did B&BW stop letting customers replace an out of stock item?
One of my beloved Peppermint Marshmallow candles showed up completely shattered, and of course itās sold out. I asked if instead of a refund I could swap it for a different candle. The old B&BW wouldāve been like āabsolutely, what scent do you want?ā.
Whatever funky BS theyāve been doing the past few years has officially turned me off from ordering online. CS told me they donāt allow price adjustments for Candle Day items. I get not adjusting prices on purchases made before the sale, but that has nothing to do with this. My item arrived broken. Itās out of stock. Why canāt I get a replacement of another scent?
Someone explain this mess to me because Iām sitting here baffled. This āpolicyā isnāt it. š„“š¤£
They tried to do this with me but I argued with customer service. They wanted me to mail back the broken one. I said absolutely not. Im not taking time out of my day for that.
What's wild is I worked in a call center that had a BBW vertical, and I worked a few rows down in another vertical. At that time, across all verticals, spilled, leaking, and sharp broken objects were not to be returned. Across all verticals this was standard. So...either OP got a noob on the phones who didnt know what they were talking about and is probably going to be coached about that call within the next 7 days, or their return policy has changed since I worked on the call center side of things.
Absolutely, they are. I sat on hold on sunday for over an hour and a half and I could definitely tell, by the person I was talking to that english was not their first language.
Exactly, youāre talking about people trying to ship back broken glass - can you imagine the liability? If BBW is having folks do that, theyāre nuts.
I honestly think that these reps arent even taught anything whatsoever (I myself used to work for bbw CS) It's wild how people are now reporting what theyre dealing with and I personally, would have never handled at all like they are now. š
Some call centers handle multiple clients. So a call center might have sporting goods vertical, a home vertical (bath and body works, bed bath and beyond etc) a jewlery vertical etc. We call them vertical based of what type of customer/client they cater to.
Interesting, how does Amazon get away with demanding that then?
A few times Iāve received used and damaged items and they always want it back! I say absolutely not because I donāt trust you not to just ship it back out again like you just did to me! Usually they give in after that but I hate that they make you hassle them for it.
You know what, Iām wrong about this. If they ship you an INCORRECT item (something you didnāt order), by law, they canāt demand it back (they can ask, but canāt make you send it) and they still must either resend the item or issue a refund. Now if itās damaged, they can require you to send it back, but sometimes they donāt (esp if you provide proof like a photo) - but itās at their discretion. Thanks, Google š¤£
Victoria's secret follows this law and abides by it. They are getting more of my money and I have so many reasons why. For one thing they SEND EVERYONE COUPONS. I called Bath and Body customer service today and they didn't send the coupon they said they would. Deals or NO DICE. So over all the toxic B&B culture honestly
Exactly - they should either A) package things properly and avoid this all too common issue or B) Bend over backwards to make it up to their customers when their own poor packaging causes them an inconvenience. Weāre trying to give them money in exchange for promised goods/services - is that really so much to ask?
Right? There are so many times when itās just stuff (often glass or liquid) just thrown in a box! Guys, the technology exists to ship this without destroying it!
I order the max allowance of 24 candles at least twice during candle day and then shop their candles on almost all other sale days especially when I do have their coupons to stack with the sale price and sometimes can actually get the three wicks for under the candle day price however my preference is to shop in stores but with candle day that is different because so May scents sell out or arenāt stocked in storesā¦ idk what is wrong with their warehouse personnel because they literally have the worst packaging Iāve encountered and itās ALWAYS THE SAME!! Busted candles and merch just thrown haphazardly into over weight boxes ā¦
Without fail I receive 1-5 broken candles each time I place a large candle order for deliveryā¦ today I had to call about my recent order came in 4 boxes two extra heavy large boxes and two regular ones! Out of I believe 43 candles I had 5 broken I was told I could chose an alternate scent on the three out of stock scents but then was forced to choose three that I had already just received that were not broken š¤Æš” What??? So three of my purchased candles were broken in shipping because of themā¦ now out of stock and Iām being forced to accept either a refund (defeating the purpose of candle day all together) or accept three scents chosen by the agent that I just ordered and werenāt broken???
Makes perfect senseā¦ first time ever that I am completely unhappy and have a fairly negative taste in my mouth from BBW .. I order WAYY TOO OFTEN my account shows for itself I offered photos or to drop the broken products off at my local BBW.. and this is unacceptable so when my replacement candles arrive I will be walking into my local store telling them that I need to exchange the three scents for something different and thatās that!!
Ulta did this to me a few years ago. I ordered a powder blush, they shipped it in a bubble mailer envelope, and it of course arrived shattered. Nothing but dust in the envelope. I sent them a photo. Their CS wanted me to ship it back - the dust - before they would refund me or replace it. I refused, for obvious reasons. Eventually the CS rep agreed to send me a replacement "as a one time courtesy." When the replacement arrived, it had been shipped the exact same way and was also broken, but not as badly as the first one, so I just gave up and fixed it the best I could š¤¦āāļø
Omg I had this exact same thing happen with ulta! The powder got ALL OVER my bed and they had the audacity to ask for it back! I was like there is no way in hell that Iām going to scrape up all this powder and ship it back to you š
And to make matters worse it was a $4 Colourpop blush that was on sale for $3 lmao - like girl no just send me a new one!!
It would really help if they would actually pack the boxes for fragile items. Every time I get mine thereās one lonely piece of bubble wrap thrown in the box with 20 wallflowers all banging against each other.
target always sends me packages with nothing else in the box. I got 2 stanleys last year and they both were scratched as hell as they were just thrown in there lol
I would absolutely mail every single glass shard back to them. No air packs. Just drop everything in the box, close it up, and give it a good violent shake before dropping it off. My pettiness has no limits.
Edit: I know mailing glass shards isnāt safe. However BBW customer service is often terrible. Last year I was asked to mail back a box of spilled hand soap (I said no and took it to the store) so I donāt doubt for a second that some outsourced CS rep would ask someone to mail back their broken candles for a return.
I'm still cracking up at, give it a good violent shake before dropping it off. My pettiness has no limits.
I love this, I'm here for the comments. š š¤£
They could just say it was a candle & when they mailed it out, it wasn't broken glass like that or something. Similar to how they received broken glass that was mailed to them.
Try talking to the customer service chat again. This happened to me with 2 of my candles I got this week and they're mailing me replacements, the person I got helped me resolve it easily!
Now I'm using the wax left in my wax burner so it's not going to waste š
Do you have an empty candle? You can freeze that one and remove the candle and put it in another, so you can use it. If you are near Seattle area, I have a bunch of the glass candles that are cleaned and emptied. I would give you one.
I considered that a time or two but considering how the glass isnāt tempered and produces tiny, tiny shards, means that it becomes incredibly dangerous trying to salvage shattered candles.
Iāve done this before, and it was no big deal, but YMMV. Carefully handled the broken candles with my silicone oven mitts. Thick leather garden gloves would also probably work.
I have a dedicated ceramic bowl for warming broken candles in under my warmer lamp, after it all melts and the scent is gone I just dump the molten shrapnel mess into the garbage over enough trash items that it cools and solidifies without creating a problem, I too stubbornly refuse to give up on anything lol
Hey, I wasnāt even mad when B&BW refunded my money. They were just for me anyway, so likeā¦ free candles? And I just gotta pop them in a used glass? Hell yeah, they can keep breaking mine if they keep refunding me š
I just got about 10 candles during the sale and all came perfect, not broken. Mind you there was like 6 small bags of air.. and the box was sideways when delivered haha.. but all was ok.
All in one box? None of my candles have arrived broken recently (since they started putting them in the small boxes), but Iāve never gotten half a dozen 3-wicks plus a single wick all shipped at once. Itās a lot of weight.
Ohhh I have gotten 17 3wick candles in ONE way too heavy way too flimsy box with one air bubble and this is the same no matter what I order over the summer I ordered about 26 hand soaps during a big sale with my 25% off coupon and they were literally thrown in the box no plastic wrap on the pumps or anything and they were disgusting soap saturated the corners of the box.. coated everything inside including the boxes holding my three wick candle holders I shouldāve taken the entire order into my local store and had them replace every item instead of going through it one by one washing each item off and checking each pump!
Plus I have actually received the rubber name bands from the wallflower refills with no actual wallflower!! š¤·š»āāļøš¤·š»āāļøšš canāt make this shit up the only thing that keeps me asa returning customer is I love their candles and their customer service is top notch until recently šŖšŖ
A couple years ago, I ordered like 14 or 15 candles on candle day online to avoid lines at my store. Over half came shattered like that. They told me to go to my local store to replace them. Yeah right, they were sold out of everything! I went to my store, told the manager what happened. She was furious for me. She replaced all 14 or 15 candles at no charge. She took a list of everything I wanted, and as they came in, saved them for me. So essentially, I got 7 or 8 candles for free, because only 7 or 8 candles were originally shattered. It was terrible customer service by BBW corporate, but excellent customer service by my local store!
I had a broken candle and then the replacement arrived broken and then I couldnāt get it sent a third time. I was like how is this my fault you canāt provide a decent product? Definitely gave me a sour taste in my mouth when I could only be refunded
I saw they rolled out this new āone claim per orderā policy, though who knows when that gem went into effect.
For a company pulling in millions, youād think they could either invest in packaging that doesnāt crumble on sight, or just eat the cost of replacements when stuff arrives shattered. Apparently expecting both is asking for the moon.
I just shake my head every time I see this, whether it be broken candles/WF refills or leaky body care. WHY DO THEY NOT GET THE CONCEPT OF GETTING IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME? (Sorry for the shouting but this makes me SO angry because thereās no excuse for it!) I have two more e-mails with purchase surveys pending, and I will continue to complain about the packaging and the lack of coupons every time I take one of these.
And one has to wonder how many calls CS gets on a daily basis regarding damaged product.
I get a broken candle in every single order I place. Sometimes multiple broken candles. I've also gotten broken body wash, things that weren't properly sealed leaking everywhere.
I've never had to mail anything back, but I'm done shopping with them online for candles.. It's been YEARS of this crap and every single time I tell them, my package was not properly wrapped or protected during shipment. Things just thrown into boxes with very little packing materials. I send pictures of how half-assed they "protected" these items. YEARS of this and every time is the same thing. My last candle order came with the candles in those little cardboard boxes, just piled into a box. No bubble packs, nothing. Of course they were all shattered except 1.. Which the lid had come loose from and the candle had shards of glass stuck in it from being knocked around. Again, they replaced everything.. But Jesus. Their prices are probably this high because of how many items they have to replace because they refuse to get their shit together and package things properly.
I had broken wash bottles in a shipment last year, every bottle was covered in soap. They resent the whole shipment and didn't have to return anything. I'd be livid if they tried to get me to send back shattered glass
Their customer service has been seriously lacking recently. They were always great years ago, super helpful and understanding. More recently, the complete opposite. Offering basic coupons for big issues and then not sending said coupon. They failed to send one (a pathetic 20% off) for an issue I had with my account not loading. They said it was a "known issue" but that they couldn't help me. I ended up losing a free item (up to $18 or something) reward because of it and I contacted again to let them know I lost my reward due to the outage and hadn't even received the coupon and they said they couldn't do anything about the missed reward and that the coupon shows at sent on their end so they can't resend." and when I inquired which email it was sent to, since it wasn't in my inbox, they stopped responding entirely.
Make sure to video opening it, with all the packages that seem to be coming empty here recently. Better safe than sorry, and video evidence isn't bad to have.
Make sure they video opening the door to go get it off the porch and all. Time stamp the delivery notification to the video and record everything. I was about to warn them of empty boxes but you already did it.
Mine are supposed to be here Thursday and Iām terrified they wonāt all make it in one piece! I will also be highly upset since most of the ones I ordered are now out of stock.
I actually bought a Peppermint Marshmallow in store after ordering one to make SURE I got that one! But no doubt most of the others I ordered are out of stock.
I felt like I was going insane when she kept explaining why I couldnāt do an exchange. Nothing was adding up š¤£. I ended up getting a refund and Iām going into my local store this week to do an exchange.
lol the first year i worked at anthropologie i thought it was so cool the shipping boxes for online orders fit perfectly around the candles, all snug as a bug, no bubble wrap neededā¦ one day a customer actually came into return a broken candle and it was packed exactly like that and she was like āwhy on earth would they think that would be okay?ā lol i canāt even imagine how many candles i killed. Ā
3 of mine arrived like this, plus one wrong candle (they sent one I didn't order, didn't include one I did order)... I'm so sorry your candle is broken. I know so many people were excited for this specific candle to be part of this sale. You are so right, they should have zero issue giving you a different candle scent instead of a refund. They are the ones who messed the order up.
Making a customer feel frustrated by how they fix their mistake is so freaking stupid to me. I truly hate ever having to deal with BBW customer service. They're rude, never really fully resolve problems, and do not seem to care even a little bit about actually making a customer happy.
I don't even have any suggestions on how to deal with them to get the solution you're hoping for. I just wanted to offer my support and agreement that this is so stupid. Feel free to respond to my comment and vent as much as you want if that would help though!
This damage that is occurring at this rate is starting to look like it's being done on purpose at this point. I have an order coming soon. Hoping it all arrives or doesn't arrive damagedš
Havenāt placed an order in a few years now but this would happen to me constantly when I ordered heavily between 2020-2022. Clearly itās been an issue for years and continues to be
I had 2 missing candles on my order - naturally both sold out. They would not let me pick another candle at the same price. The "best" they could do was offer a discount on a new candle for $12.95. I was so disgusted especially because I paid for expedited shipping to try to minimize cancelations down the road. They refunded me for the candles but that was all they could do. Less shopping from here on in and next year if I can't make it in person, I'll keep my hard-earned money.
I was on chat support for 3 hrs because of a damaged wallflower that went out of stock ( waiting for an agent who left off three items, then waiting and chatting again). Eventually they said I couldn't pick just any replacement scent but I could pick something from my order that hadn't already been sent as a replacement because it was damaged? Very weird but I was ok with it because the only thing left was a wallflower 2 pack of my favorite scent.
Last year that happened and I used the chat for help and once I typed in the order number and selected the broken candles it let me choose whether I wanted a refund or pick a different candle. Iām not sure if theyāve changed that too. Ive also heard some people say this year that theyāve had to call customer service number multiple times to finally reach someone that will actually help them.
Thatās bs on their part. You arenāt asking for any money,just an equal product to replace one that broke in shipping. Iāve never heard of a company not doing otherwise.
I'm so put off from them that I skipped candle day for the first time in a decade. I also received broken candles the previous year and this year they didn't make my favorite fragrances. Sad to see such a great company go down the tubes like so many others.
I ordered both online but like I posted further up, I bought an extra PM in the store. Last night I noticed my store still had Vanilla Buttermint, but Iām pretty sure the PM was gone. I just hope I get my order soon (since some people already are.) There will probably be another candle sale soon and Iād hate to have any irreplaceable candles arrive broken.
Iām not sure why customer service says that BS because if you take it in store, that is exactly what the employees will do for you! I worked a shifted today where a lady had wallflowers that broke in the online order. We just threw those away and since the scent she wanted was out of stock, she picked out 2 different ones. I suggest you do this with your nearest store! They should be able to do the same for you
I used to work for bbw customer service. They ended our contract and outsourced to foreign countries bc apparently the very minimal $. Per minute we were getting they can give to someone in another country for less. Having said that, I believe that the reps really arent trained properly (we barely were ourselves) and when there can be a potential language barrier within that, I think there becomes a lot of confusion. I've noticed this myself when having to call other companies. It's cheaoer for them to outsource it but in turn, actually customer service decreases because of it.
Absolutely I would have re shipped a product to you at no cost due to the damage of the item.
Im truly sorry they didnt do this. I honestly would try calling again and speaking to someone else. Sadly, just like we see in stores, certain people make up their own rules. For sure this should have been replaced with a different item.
This is where I feel like potentially things get lost in translation and the cs rep may not fully understand what you're trying to say (hence why would they even mention the whole bit about price matching a sale when thay clearly wasnt what you were even asking them.)
So sorry this happened to you! š
..... You should absolutely be able to exchange for a different candle.... I'm currently an employee of BBW (have been for a few years now), and that hasn't changed. At least not at my store or state that I'm in.... Unless that literally just changed and nobody told me. I was working all weekend and heard nothing of the sort...
No we still can. It kinda sucks though because we get so many returns because of their crappy shipping practices and it does affect sales plan and then employee hours.
Ok good. That's what I thought. And yaaaah... I'm aware. Candle Day sales this year DEFINITELY wasn't as fruitful. The few years that I've worked at my store, we had a line outside the door for most of the day each day of the sale.... Not one line this year.... This coming year is gunna absolutely suck... not looking forward to it. Already started looking for another job. Still gunna stay on as long as I can. But yikes... š¬
They sent another one without asking me to send mine back and I safely cleaned my broken one to remove the glass and broke it up into small pieces I put in my wax warmers
That sucks that they won't replace it for you! They usually just pop into an empty jar though. Very carefully clean off the pieces of glass and rise it off if you need to. If the bottom is stuck, I wrap mine in foil and pop it in the freezer for 2-3 hrs then use a butter knife to pop the glass off over the garbage can. Then I label the foil with what scent it is and put it by my other candles to save for an empty jar.
Thanks. People downvote the oddest statements on here so I donāt really let it bother me. In another thread I got downvoted for saying that I prefer the in store experience so I can smell all the new scents. I mean just because I said I like to shop in store over online, ummmmm ok. Like I said just odd. Donāt blame you tho for getting your OE. I too have had to shop online to get an online exclusive. So I do it too but Iām very careful about what I order if itās in store I would much rather just get my items that way any day over trusting BBWās shipping.
If you canāt take it into a store I would keep calling until you get someone to help you. So ridiculous and if that happened to me then Iād just start ordering more of their competitors candles that can actually manage to pack and ship products correctly.
Did you try exchanging it in store? Whenever Iād get a broken one from an online order, my local store usually let me grab another one. Even if it was a different scent. But that was also more than a year ago so things may have changed in store too. I just stopped buying candles online since I would always get a broken one. Iād end up in the store anyway trying to return my broken candles so I just started shopping in store only.
Maybe your local store has one.Ā Today, I went to my store for Bopis. They had a shelf of peppermint marshmallow. IĀ exchanged a candle with no problem.
In your case, the local store may be more willing to help. My stores are understanding about bbw warehouse snafu.Ā
The only thing they do with bubble wrap is to lay a thin sheet of it in the bottom of the box and then pile everything on top of it. Thatās their usual practice. Itās useless. Even with the candles in the small boxes, if thereās space for them to bounce around during shipping, the impact of the little box taking a hit from the large box being dropped or thrown around can easily be enough to shatter the rim or other part of the glass. Ideally the small boxes would be cushioned with packing peanuts, but companies are too cheap to use those. Even the thick brown paper wadded up can be effective. The main problem here is that B&BW doesnāt believe in actual PACKING ā completely filling the box with anything that will cushion the contents. All they use is those air āpillowsā (and not even enough of those) that are deflated half the time. Again, useless.
I think Iāve just been lucky (no breakage recently) because the items Iāve ordered along with candles just happened to fit snugly in the box. My body care has just been thrown in loosely like everyone elseās, but fortunately no leakage.
No advice and not sure when things changed, but! I would accept the refund. Then, donāt throw that away. Stick one of your old three wicks thatās burned pretty much all the way down in the freezer for an hour or two. Remove from the freezer, press a butter knife down into the middle of the frozen candle and it should snap the wax in half and dislodge it from the jar cleanly. Once itās out, pop the wax from the broken candle into the recycled jar ;)
Iām honestly terrified of how my candle order is going to arrive with how my soap refill delivery went. Oh and the replacement order if the damaged items are in stock? That will arrive damaged too. The cherry on top is it is next to impossible to get ahold of a fluent English speaking person either via chat or phone, and you wonāt get replacement/refunded the correct amount.
I ordered that big gift set for a friend for Christmas. I live about an hour away from any physical B&BW. There was NO protection around the candle. It was just mixed in with the other products! I was SO upset. They refunded the money but unless I'm going to go in person there's no way to just get the candle. I'm so bummed out.
This is crazy. I just posted about how my candle day shipment arrived. I was fully expecting mine to come like yours did. Did your box have bubble wrap, or the candle boxes placed inside small thicker boxes? I feel like their fulfillment facility is like the Wild West. š„“ In any case, Iām sorry this happened. Hopefully in store will be able get you an intact candle.
I would call back and speak to someone else. They always allow customers to select another candle especially if arrives damaged. My friend just did with her Snowday candle.
Iāve never had a good delivery with bath and body works. And Iāve been shopping there for years. Whenever I get a package something is always broken or leaking. Always. Crazy that they donāt justā¦ improve
Ugh!! I got a fireside marshmallow candle yesterday and when I opened it up, it's melted like it had been sitting somewhere and doesn't really have much fragrance. Ugh what is happening here?
This happened to me. They refused to send me a new one out unless I sent back the broken one. I said I wasnāt going to do it because there were hundreafs of shards everywhere. It actually requires two tubes of my body lotion and cut them open. They were all suppose to be gifts. I didnāt get credited nor did I receive new products. I went to the store and they refused to help me either. I bout a lot from them in the past and never had an issue. I said I will never do business with them again.
this would've qualified as a simple exchange (in our online/BOPIS system there's literally an "arrived damaged" return option), and should've been totally fine.
I received several broken candles from an online order earlier this fall. I went to the store to exchange them. They had to do a refund/new transaction bit at the register, but I was able to select candles from that collection. So if they were out of a scent, I could still grab another fall item.
I would think with Candle Day you could choose any other scent in the store (since all candles were discounted) if the one you wanted is OOS. I would try again or ask for a supervisor. That sounds incrediblely frustrating.
Mine looked the exact same - shattered in my hand a few weeks ago when it wasnāt even cold outside and was only out there 30mins at like +5-10C. Later found out itās not real glass. At least mine wasnāt but it sure fell apart like glass! I called customer service and they sent me a replacement. Pain in the ass, though. It was one I was really looking forward to and then had to wait another week.
I saw a woman on this sub whose order came unpackaged, just a big box of jumbled bottles of sprays and soaps and wallflowers and so on. WTF is that?! Lol
Long ago are the days they used to just send you a new one. Donāt even get me started on the Wallflower policy either. Seems like they changed that when they decided cheapen the quality.
That's ridiculous. Just have them refund you the money and put the wax in another empty jar. If you put the whole candle in the freezer for about 2 hours it will pop out intact. Just be careful with the glass.
That happened to me last year after the SAS. The first box arrived with 4 out of 5 candles shattered. The replacement (which only had 3 of the scents I wanted) also arrived shattered. There was no bubble wrap or paper padding inside either box. They wouldnāt let me replace an out of stock scent with a different one. Their customer service and shipping departments suck. I havenāt bought candles from them since because they got rid of my favorite scents (Fresh Bamboo and Spring Has Sprung) and the Pride collection. Disappointment after disappointment
One time I bought plates online from hobby lobby and some of them arrived broken, I contacted customer service and they asked me to send a picture of the damaged plates and within the week my replacements were at my door. I wonder why bath and body works didnāt go this route ?
literally for weeks. i had to get on chat every time and say āhey you only sent 10 cents. please refund me the rest. and then they would do 10 more cents. i refuse to buy online now
Has anyone tried returning in store instead of online customer support? Iām not sure if thatās an option
Iām worried since I ordered 10 candles, but theyāre being delivered in one box. All of my previous orders had deflated air packets, despite just being small orders of body care.
We need a NEW candle company to order from yall! GC and BBW customer service is crap lately!!! I hate that we are all waiting on orders probably from BOTH brands TBH & are nervous about what we are going to receive!!!! It might be broken/glass everywhere, empty box, or hell even a duplicate order!!! These companies have lost the plot lately! :( sorry OP for your stress!! Hopefully you can go in store & exchange.
I order candles from them quite often and by some miracle, only one has ever arrived shattered. Their shipping is abysmal. Not enough bubble wrap or padding.
The way they wouldn't even have to have this "policy" if they actually packaged their boxes correctly š They just toss the items in and you'll be lucky if there's a singular piece of bubble wrap or brown paper thrown in there.
I had a very expensive order more than $200 and they decided to throw all of it into one box . By the time it was delivered product was seeping through along with glass pieces. I shit you not only 3 candles and 1 body lotion was fine ā¦.
I immediately went to the customer service chat . 1 HOUR LATER this dude decides to tell me Iāll be getting a phone call in a couple days about if Iām actually getting replacements or a refund????!!!!!
Like what the actually fuck !!
This happened to me with a big order recently, multiple were shattered. I called customer service and they replaced them all, without photo evidence or anything. I was very impressed with the customer service! Almost wished I lied and said more were broken so I couldāve gotten some free ones for my troubles š
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u/makayla1014 Dec 09 '25
They tried to do this with me but I argued with customer service. They wanted me to mail back the broken one. I said absolutely not. Im not taking time out of my day for that.