Intex Air Mattresses Defective, Class Action Says

A class action lawsuit against Intex Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores alleges that Intex inflatable air mattresses are defective and sold through deceptive advertising.

According to the complaint, Intex airbeds “are defective in that they leak air, burst, and suffer from frequent internal chamber separation that results in large bulges or bubbles in the Airbeds, and thus fail in their essential purpose.”

The class action claims that the defendants knew of these defects, but continued to market Intex inflatable air mattresses as “quality tested” and “a quality pillow that provides supreme comfort and stability.”

The Intex defective air mattress class action lawsuit accuses Intex of deceptive advertising. Intex airbeds are sold nationally through Walmart and other stores, and also online. The complaint claims that Intex markets its airbeds with its own “AIR LOCK” trademark, advertising its mattresses as “100% quality tested for air tightness.” The Intex website makes other claims about the quality of its mattresses, including that “interior construction has been enhanced with Fiber-Tech ^TM Construction.”

However, the class action alleges that Intex air mattresses “are inherently defective and virtually guaranteed to fail.” The lawsuit cites to numerous consumer complaints out of “hundreds or thousands” online. Given the number of complaints and returns to both Intex and Wal-Mart, the class action argues that both companies knew that Intex airbeds were defective.

In particular, the class action points to the warranty Wal-Mart provides for air mattresses, which is different from most other products. Instead of Wal-Mart’s typical 90-day return policy, the complaint states that Wal-Mart will only exchange a defective airbed, not give a refund. According to the complaint, “Wal-Mart only provides refunds for non-defective Airbeds” which “demonstrates its knowledge that the Airbeds are defective and it is attempting to reduce its own risk for the sale thereof.”

Plaintiff Georgeta Mirescu states that she is 70 years old, and lives in Arizona solely on her income from Social Security. After seeing the advertising for Intex air mattresses, Mirescu purchased one for her primary bed. The complaint claims that about a month later, the airbed “burst in the middle of the night while she slept,” and she could not get off the floor or get help until her daughter arrived the next morning.

Mirescu asserts that she tried to return the mattress to Wal-Mart, but the store only offered her an exchange. Her new Intex air mattress again deflated a short time later, so she exchanged it also for another mattress. The complaint states that “this pattern repeated itself multiple times.” In total, Mirescu alleges that she exchanged four Intex mattresses in Texas and three more in Arizona, that were all defective.

The Intex defective air mattress lawsuit seeks to represent a Class of all persons who purchased an Intex air mattress, and a subclass of all persons who purchased an Intex air mattress from a Wal-Mart. The class action sites numerous violations of federal and state consumer protection laws, and requests restitution and treble damages for all consumers, as well as a court order stopping the defendants from selling defective airbeds.

Mirescu is represented by Adam M. Tamburelli, Charles T. Spagnola, and Eliot F. Kriger of Sullivan, Krieger, Truong, Spagnola & Klausner, LLP; Thomas A. Zimmerman, Jr. and Matthew C. De Re of Zimmerman Law Offices, P.C.

The Intex Defective Air Mattress Class Action Lawsuit is Georgeta Mirescu v. Intex Recreation Corp., et al., Case No. BC 609522, in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles.

UPDATED: The Intex air mattress class action lawsuit was dismissed on April 20, 2017.  Please keep checking Top Class Actions for updates.  We will let our viewers know if any similar class action lawsuits are filed.