More and more people seem to be starting an inflatable moonwalk rental business. Many people are purchasing these inflatables from an online web store, most of which are coming in from overseas via California. A lot of these new units are not made to the standard of the big US manufacturers and do not hold up well at all under commercial rental use.
We have been doing inflatable repairs for many years and see a trend emerging. Five years ago, our repair facility saw most of the moonwalk repair customers coming in during the Winter time, which was the rental companies down time when the units did not go out much if at all. This gave the moonwalk rental companies’ time to get their units stitched up in time for the big Spring season kicked off in March. Inflatable slides and jumpers that are tearing during normal use, inflatable obstacle courses that have seam problems during the busiest time of the year. Why is that? We are seeing a lot more units with substandard material, that tears much easier, and thinner thread (sometimes the units are not even double stitched) that breaks under normal use.
We say buyer beware. We see very little repairs from Ninja Jumper inflatables or Moon-Walker inflatables, both made from high quality vinyl and well reinforced. We cannot mention the companies that are more often than not showing up on our repair tables. Check for warranty, get references, ask for previous customers to call and see how they like the inflatables they have purchased after they have used them for more than one season.
We are always happy to repair anybody’s unit. Just seems a shame to tell the customer that the brand new unit they purchased has more problems than they knew about or that the seam we stitch will hold now but that the other seams will start to fail soon.
There are not many reputable companies out there doing repairs of inflatables. Some people just buy a sewing machine and have at it. It takes years of experience and training to be able to repair a commercial jumper properly, not just big talk and a machine. Repair customers, beware also.