Complaint Review: Candy King Of America

I purchased 42 Altoids machines from Candy King of America in January of 2005. The contract came with a lifetime guarantee of all defective material or workmanship.

These machines were not properly built to withstand the rigors of the vending environment. There is breakage at certain stress points, and the sheet metal used is scarred and dented very easily, so the appearance of the machine deteriorates very quickly, especially in high traffic areas (after about 2 months).

Candy King has since gone out of business, and the ALTOIDS brand was sold by KRAFT to the WILLIAM WRIGLEY Jr. CO. The manufacturer of the machines is CDI.

I have contacted all these companies with not one favorable reply. CDI will sell parts at an inflated price and shipping cost, making it not cost effective to fix these machines.

I have condensed my locations by rebuilding defective machines with spare parts from slower installations. Of the 42 machines, I am now down to five that are left working. Three of these have weakened bases, and will need to be removed, since they cannot stand straight, a common defect in all. So only two survive after four years.

Is there anything we can do as a class-action. I understand thousands of these were sold. I paid $1256 @ piece, which included ALTOIDS product for about one year. I valued these at $1193 each for inventory puposes, and have depreciated about 90% of this. As a separate entity, these have lost considerable money all four years.

Jim
Harrington, Maine
U.S.A.