Review on Relaxation Illuminated Waterfall EnviraScape HoMedics by Billy Branch

I bought a Homedics fountain for my wife as a Christmas present last year so she opened it up and installed it a few days after Christmas. My wife reads instructions. She carefully collected it, washed the stones and decided to use distilled water in the well to minimize mineral buildup. The little fountain is inexpensive and made out of cheap materials, but actually looks pretty nice with a few colorful rocks and some sea glass. It worked great and she loved it. The pump was very quiet and the sound of gurgling water was pretty quiet. Last week (early February, so about 5 weeks of using the fountain) I walked into her office and the sound of the water was completely drowned out by the sound of the pump. When I asked what was going on, she replied that the noise had gotten louder and louder over the past few days. The water level was at its maximum so I decided to take it apart and look for debris that might have gotten into the pump. The user manual shows an exploded view of the pump and provides disassembly instructions. It is very easy to take apart and reassemble and I was disappointed to find that there was no obvious debris in the pump. I cleaned it anyway, put it back together and it's still as loud as before. My Revain return window is closed and shipping will probably be around $20 to send it back to Homedics so I'm guessing it's a write-off. I'd happily pay double the purchase price for a device like this that lasts more than a few weeks, but after looking at all the reviews it seems like most people aren't happy, so there's no point in buying it again to try.