Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I purchased the Homedics fountain for my wife as a Christmas gift last year so she opened it and set it up a few days after Christmas. My wife reads directions. She assembled it carefully and washed the stones and opted to use distilled water in the fountain to minimize mineral build up. The little fountain is inexpensive and made of cheap materials but it actually looks pretty nice if you add a few colorful stones and some sea glass. It worked perfectly and she really liked it. The pump was very quiet and the sound of the trickling water was quite peaceful. Last week (early February, so about 5 weeks into using the fountain) I walked into her office and the noise of the water was completely obscured by the pump noise. When I asked what happened she said it had been getting gradually louder over the last few days. The water level was at maximum so I decided to disassemble it and look for debris that perhaps was caught in the pump. The user's manual shows an exploded view of the pump and provides disassembly instructions. It's super easy to take apart and reassemble and I was disappointed to find no obvious debris in the pump. I cleaned it up anyway, put it back together and it's still just as noisy as before. My Amazon return window is closed and the shipping will probably be close to $20 to send it back to Homedics so I guess it's a write-off. I'd happily pay twice the purchase amount for a unit like this that would last longer than a few weeks, but after looking over all the reviews it seems most people are dissatisfied so trying it again doesn't seem to make sense.