We bought a Quest Rolli in April thinking it would solve all our awning problems, we used to have a Fiamma canopy, porch and full awning and had to swap them around depending on the length of our stay, the Rolli is a canopy with good quality sides that make a decent, airy awning and we we're very excited about it.
Well it all went horribly wrong last night, at 3.30am I was woken by a loud noise and it had collapsed, two of the roof struts had buckled and the awning had ripped out of its bag collapsing down denting the van and breaking the clothes airer and electric coolbox.
We took it back to Jacksons of Old Arley today who were fantastic with us, Tim took one look at the photos and immediately offered a full refund, we were stressed out because we have a holiday booked next week and had sold our fiamma and awnings a few days ago! He then did us a great deal on a Kampa Jamboree awning and Fiamma canopy, he's asked me to email him the photos showing the collapse and damage and is going to get in touch with Quest.
I'm unsure what caused it, maybe faulty stitching or maybe a pool formed and caused the roof to buckle, Quest claim it's weatherproof but we'd lost all faith in it and didn't want a replacement.
Yeah, I must admit I've lost faith in this kind of product, in the morning there were a few awnings with puddles sitting on the awning roof and they were all standing, with the canopy material it's completely non absorbent and so there's no 'give', also the poles on the Quest had pips that clicked into holes so as it got heavier the pole could't telescope back into itself as a normal awning pole would.
I don't know how pools gathered in the first place though as it was firmly tensioned and should have run off, it had only been raining for 4 hours and not heavily.
We've gone back to square one now and will use the Fiamma canopy for weekends and just have to accept that we will have to slide it out and slide the 'proper' awning in when we want an enclosure, it's no more hardship than sorting that mess out in the rain in the middle of the night and the peace of mind is priceless.
There are fiamma rafters that are supposed to tension the canopy and help rainwater run off. We had a floding camper awning that had water pooling on the roof in france once, but it was torrential rain and the awning stood up to it.
Quote: Originally posted by brianconwy on 03/6/2012
There are fiamma rafters that are supposed to tension the canopy and help rainwater run off. We had a floding camper awning that had water pooling on the roof in france once, but it was torrential rain and the awning stood up to it.
Quote: Originally posted by brianconwy on 03/6/2012
There are fiamma rafters that are supposed to tension the canopy and help rainwater run off. We had a floding camper awning that had water pooling on the roof in france once, but it was torrential rain and the awning stood up to it.
Someone told me about the Fiamma rafters yesterday, we only had the 2 end ones in our Fiamma (the ones that are fixed to it) and so we'll probably invest in an extra one now, the Quest had 3 roof rafters as standard though plus 4 guy ropes to give it extra tension, we even had it slightly lower one end too so it's puzzling.
Like I said we only assume it was rain after seeing other awnings bowed with water and it wasn't windy so wasn't due to that.
The staff at Jacksons were amazed to see what happened as they have never heard of one failing before so maybe ours was a one off but I think there's a few definite design faults with it, the crossbar is much heavier than the Fiamma so there's a heck of a lot of weight to start with plus the material that wont absorb a drop, plus the fact the poles can't telescope back into themselves.
Thats awful! Can you get the damage on the van repaired?
We are currently looking at the Fiamma Caravanstore and had found the Quest Rolli , which seemed a good solution to needing different types of awnings. But perhaps not? Isabella also do a similar one which we hae also considered. Really don't know which to go for.
I know that Jacksons of Old Arley have a good reputation for customer service but this is proof of just how good they really are which is encouraging for anyone wanting to buy products from them in the future. The last thing you need when you have a problem like this is haggling with staff over defective goods which Jacksons have lightened your problems instead of making them worse. Well done Jacksons for a 5 star customer service once again.
I have a caravanstore zip and we use it year round without problem. Maybe the cheaper Quest is inferior? I don't think there is a problem with Fiamma's so they should not be grouped with the other makes.
we have 2 roof supports with uprights as well as the corner poles, we do not get puddles in the roof!
Lassie ~ we're not sure yet what will happen, I'm about to send the email to Jacksons who will pass the information onto Quest and I assume/hope they will be helpful, aside from the two dents it broke our clothes hanger and electric coolbox plus the cost of diesel on a 160 mile round trip to/from Jacksons to return it which in turn meant we lost a day of our holiday, on the day we returned it we stayed at home for the night and it was after 5.30 by the time we got back (we'd dropped the dogs off to save them being stuck in the car all day) we were shattered and didn't have the enthusiasm to go back to the caravan.
Tango ~ I agree, Jacksons are excellent, I commented to my husband in the middle of the night when we were thoroughly wet and miserable sorting out the wreckage that I was glad we had bought it from them as I knew they'd be super helpful, it was a plus point when everything was so negative. As I mentioned Tim was great, he was the one who we dealt with when we bought it and he was equally great when we took it back.
Rushallmanor ~ the Quest is more expensive than the Fiamma, it was £700 for the size we bought and the equivalent size Fiamma including all panels is £512, not the zip version but the panels which fit our model.
We've gone back to the Fiamma now and in our opinion it's flimsier than the Quest and the privacy rooms are too dark for us but it's personal choice, we would never buy the side panels now anyway. The flimsier build is one reason we've gone back to it as it's lighter, the poles can concertina back in if a puddle does form and the roof is flappier so we're hoping rain will blow off it easier.
Anyway, it's all behind us now, we're home and thoroughly shattered but in hindsight we're glad it happened this weekend and not next week when we're off to Keswick, we'd have been totally stuck if it had happened up there.
We don't like the Fiamma sides either, the windows are too small and they're very dark inside which in turn makes the caravan dark, we sold a black awning for the same reason.
We saw the mesh sides at the caravan show, they had a candle one side and a fan the other and it didn't blow out!
Our Rolli collapsed too but this was in severe wind which resulted in it being blown over the top of our van luckily no other damage other than to the Rolli. One thing i did notice is that if either end leaked where the poles went through when it rained it could do with a lip on the outside like a proper awning. We bought ours for the exact same reason was fed up with chopping and changing awnings depending on length of stay. Now we dont know what to buy instead, because we actually liked the Rolli.
We have the Fiamma Zip 3.6 metre size. It has stood up to all sorts of weather surprisingly well. Our sides have windows the full depth and half the height, the front also has a large window, so it is very light inside.
I'm not sure if they've changed the design, we bought the front panel and planned on buying the sides but after seeing a few on site we didn't like the look and so sold the front, the fiamma windows always look a bit smeary/cloudy and not clear whereas the Quest had an antimist guarantee and we found they were very clear, another thing that made us buy one in the first place.
To be honest after what happened we've been completely put off having that type of "awning" again so are going to use the new fiamma as just a canopy and roll it up if it gets too windy/wet then have a proper awning for when we want an enclosure. The Quest claimed to be completely weatherproof and we were seriously tempted to try another because it's such a light, airy, dog proof awning but there would always be the worry when the weather turned.
Jacksons rang me yesterday to say the Quest rep is due in on weds/thurs this week and he'll show him the damage to the caravan and equipment then let me know what they are going to do about it.
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Topic: Quest Rolli Awning collapse disaster.
