Lets Talk Popped Cubes

Okay, this is a little bit of an awkward conversation for new cubers, but we need to address the elephant in the room when it comes to cubes popping.

It's just a puncture

 "A popped cube is like a puncture on your new bike" 

You wouldn't take your brand new bike back to the bike shop because you got a puncture on your first ride out, the same is true with cubing.     Let's be honest, it's inevitable that you're going to get a puncture at some point of your biking life, and it's inevitable that your cube will pop during your cubing career. 

Survey

we asked 100 customers (that had placed 5 or more orders) their thoughts on popped cubes and refunds. Let's go through the results we saw 👇

Note: We only asked experienced cubers their thoughts on popped cubes. 

Looking at the results...

This has always been a little bit of a touchy subject for first time cubers and the parents/family members that purchase cubes. Let's break down the survey results from above. 

We asked EXPERIENCED cubers what they think we should do when a cube pops. 96% agreed that we should take no action because it is a part of cubing, 3 customers thought we could offer an exchange, whilst 1 customer said we should offer a return or a refund only if it was a bigger cube such as a 6x6 7x7 or bigger as these are harder to put together.  

Popping isn't bad

As cubers ourselves we understand that cubes do pop and that its a huge inconvenience when you're just trying to have some fun. BUT, it is a BIG PART OF CUBING. 

If you are new to cubing and you have just popped your 2x2 or 3x3 or even 4x4+ you should know that this isn't a one time thing, it WILL happen again, it will happen at competitions when you're at the table and it can happen both on the first day of ownership or a year down the line. 

You should also know that your cube will most likely get clogged up with hair and dust and should be intentially disassembled every now and again to be fully cleaned out. This will require re-assembly. 

How we help?

We offer a free re-build service if you really can't get the cube back together (ps, there are alot of guides on YouTube on how to reassemble almost all cubes), whilst this is free we do ask the customer to plan this rebuild around a new order, that way once we receive the puzzle and re-build it we can pop it in with the new order to save on additional shipping costs. 

Notes

In this article we are primarily talking about pops, NOT explosions. An explosion is when the whole cube falls apart and requires rebuilding, a pop is when 1+ pieces come out and require re-inserting.