My family and I have just had to return after just 3 nights of a planned 7 night camping trip in the Gower due to our Khyam Ridgi-Dome Ultimate Classic tent leaking at the seams. This was at a site that took 7 nights money up front so in effect we have wasted about £80 in camping fees.
I bought this tent last week, 21st July 2009, from Aspinalls (AKA www.caravans-camping.co.uk) as a factory second. I didn't expect a tent sold as a factory second to be perfect, and I simply patched the 3 inch tear I discovered when I first put it up in the garden.
However, after getting the The Gower and setting up camp the rain started, and soon after that, the drips started coming in. The trouble areas where the seams at the points where the bedroom loops are sewn in. As soon as I noticed this I emailed Aspinalls via their contact us page (this was on Sunday night 26th July 2009) with an urgent message for them to contact me on my mobile phone. This plea seems to have been ignored.
It is my belief that any tent sold, factory second or otherwise, should be weatherproof.
I am going to attempt to contact Aspinalls today on the phone, and hopefully this issue will be resolved, I just thought I would post this here to keep a public log of my experiences with this store. The results of the phone call will also be posted here.
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That's awful. I really feel for you and hope that you can get the problem sorted as soon as possible. A tent should be fit for its purpose even if it was described as a factory second. Did they advise you of the tent's faults? The leaking seams can easily be resolved using seam sealant. I found a tear on mine this holiday and successfully repaired it with tenacious tape. Thanks to the advice given here on this forum. Please let us know the outcome and good luck.
i bought my khyam from them as a factory second . got the sun porch for an extra 30 quid . was over th moon cos we were after one of those as well . when they arrived the tent was perfect except for one of the poles missing . but the porch had a 3 inch tear in one of the sleeves and a hole in ome of the panels . rang them up and they said if i sent it back they would replace it . which i did at a cost of £18 . when the replacement arrived this was also damaged . one of the clips that clip onto the poles was torn off . rang them again said this time if i sent it back they would give me a refund . so to send it back would cost me £36 to get a £30 refund ! ! ! ! i dont think so ! ! ! had a very heated discussion of his idea of what a factory second is versus what mine is . i said they were damaged not seconds . but he obviously had complaints before cos he was ready with an answer for everything . upshot of it was iv kept the porch & going to get it repaired . so good luck tyler_durden
Well they don't open until 10am so I have another 30 minutes to wait.
I did forget to say that on one of the inner bedrooms the hook elastic was STAPLED into place! That was not really a problem and my wife fixed that with a needle and thread.
The other bedroom had a toggle sewn into the wrong place on the divider, again not a problem for us to fix.
If it was just a seam leaking then seam sealer should fix that with little problem. Seams in nylon tents that take weight ie. bedroom fixings are always prone to leaking as the seams stretch.
Personally I'd have lobbed it back at the at the point of a 3 inch rip unless I'd been told that this sort of damage was likely in a factory second.
------------- Piglet
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when you look on the web site it says items are usually inspected and repaired before dispatch . which i pointed out to him . and he just said " it says usually " very clever wording id say
I have just come off the phone to Graham at Aspinalls, and he has agreed to refund the cost of the tent. He did say they would need to inspect it to check nothing is missing, which I am hoping to be able to do this with them when I take it up there tomorrow.
That means I am out of pocket for the £15 delivery, and for whatever it costs me to get it back to them.
Overall, as long as the refund is honoured, I will be reasonably happy with this level of customer service.
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Topic: Leaking "Factory Second" from Aspinalls
