Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Many companies claim to have excellent customer service; they stand by their product, they'll take care of the customer, etc. Unfortunately, this simply isn't the case in the vast majority of times people lay claim to this aspect of their product. This review is more about the service than the scale--but I'll get to the scale too. For just a summary, scroll to the summary part, but this next bit is worth reading. First of all, the scale got here very fast. Plus, free shipping and $25 for the product can't be beat. We'll start there. You can go to Walmart and buy something for $25 but it won't be a scale like this. When our scale arrived, I remarked about some imperfections that appeared to be part of the manufacturing process that immediately drew some negative attention from me. I popped in the batteries, had myself a weigh-in and got a nice LCD readout telling me that I was about 10 lbs lighter than what I thought I was. Awesome! The scale surface looks and feels durable, though the plastic underneath does not. (It's really the surface that matters, though.) Unfortunately for my wife and I, after several days of using the scale, we knew something was wrong. Each weigh-in had drastically different results. We'd gain and lose pounds just by staring at the scale and re-weighing ourselves. Something was most certainly wrong with the scale. It was around this time I got an email from the company who sells this scale. They were simply requesting I provide them some feedback on Amazon as to my feelings on the scale. I replied to the email that the scale was unsatisfactory and was most certainly defective. At this point in time, in the relationship with a customer and a company, things can go one of two ways. The customer can be satisfied, or the customer can be unsatisfied. It's that simple. The company has a choice to make--they can ensure customer satisfaction, or just not care. I am happy to say that BalanceFrom, and specifically, Doug from BalanceFrom, have been some of the greatest people to work with in a situation like this. Doug assured me that they would do everything in their power to ensure my satisfaction. Typically, this is something any company says but rarely delivers to the full extent. Not Doug, and not BalanceFrom. These guys emailed me multiple times to ensure they had the right information, the right address, etc. They asked me what I wanted; stating that they'd accommodate any request I had in regards to a replacement or a refund. Well--we just wanted a scale that works. BalanceFrom / Doug, had a new scale overnighted to me at no cost. Furthermore, they didn't even care about the old scale; keep it, they said, "we want there to be no inconvenience on your part at all." To me, this is above and beyond. This speaks tremendous volumes about the company. They ate the cost of one scale, the cost of overnighting the new scale, and they gift wrapped the new scale as a little extra touch. Let me say, this little gift wrapping gesture was not only appreciated, but took us aback a little bit. This was something someone had to specifically instruct in order for the product to be sent to us in this fashion. This wasn't some edict handed down to some customer service rep and they pressed a button to get a new scale shipped; someone put time and thought into sending this new version to us--the little things matter a great deal. Onto the scale. The new scale works great! With the new scale, we were able to verify that there, indeed, was some sort of defect in the old scale as the weights the two scales give are different. The new scale gives consistent (and accurate) readouts on every weigh-in and even has a brighter backlit display than the old one. Hey, I understand the business of manufacturing; defects happen, they just do. Sometimes it happens to you. Again, it's the company that can determine how things go after that (to which I've already gushed BalanceFrom's praises)! There were no physical oddities on the new scale which had alarmed me about the old one, the platform is super heavy duty and feels nice and sturdy, and it's got a nice low profile for easy storage in various places. Had I never had an issue with the first scale, I would have left a passive review about how the scale met our expectations. However, because there was an issue, I had the opportunity to see, first hand, what incredible customer service is all about. Get the scale, don't get the scale, whatever--but if you want to make sure you will get something that works, and a company that *really* stands behind their product, buy this scale. The worst case scenario is that the company will refund your money, or replace your scale for free. That really can't be beat. For me, it's the service that counts. SUMMARY Pros: Top-notch customer service!! (This is important--see above if you skipped to this part!) The scale is just cool looking. Bright, clear LCD display. Heavy-duty standing surface. It's $25. I mean, humans blow $25 on a trip to McDonald's with the fam. Cons: Really, none that would pertain to a potential customer. You can't lose. If the scale is broke, you can get your money back or get a new one. - Anthony Dietrich