Matador

Ultralight Travel Towel

A returned item ruined my entire order

I had watched every review of the Matador small and large towels on the internet. Backcountry had both items in their inventory, so I ordered one of each for my husband and myself. The order came as expected with excellent tracking and communication. It wasn't a quick ship, but that was OK. The problem was that ONE of the large towels was in a taped up container, probably had been returned after getting moldy, and it probably "infected" the other three towels in shipping. I should have returned everything right on the spot. But I was in a hurry. I was going out the door right by my washer, and I had quickly removed all of them from their packaging, tossed the packaging and then tossed all four times and their covers into the wash. It was only as I was closing the door that I caught a whiff. Mold, mildew to the heights. I'm deathly allergic to various molds. I prayed right then and there that a wash with extra rinse would get rid of the problem. No way. I then washed all four with bleach. No better. I soaked them in vinegar for an hour; then baking soda for an hour. Washed again. Not as smelly, but when I "whiffed" I got the dizzy feeling some molds give me. I'm currently putting all out in the sun for hours. Yesterday's sun treatment didn't work--got the dizzy feeling from the sniff test. But I shall keep trying. I'm not asking for a refund. I was stupid. As soon as I saw the taped up package, I should have investigated. But Backcountry should never have accepted that return from the person who sent the product back moldy and they sure should not have sent it on to me. And since this product is advertised as "antimicrobial", I'm wondering how well any of the towels would have done on our upcoming trip anyway.