Warning - VauDe Tents!
David J. Ellis
Just been speaking to VauDe about a Space plus tent I own - approximately
3-4 years old. A year or so ago a pole broke at a joint which I managed to
repair. The tent was pitched on a very sheltered site with no reason for
the breakage.
A few weeks ago, the same thing happened, again there was no reason for the
breakage. This time I decided to write to VauDe about the problem.
After three weeks and not hearing from them I decided to phone them. It
turns out that to replace a set of poles is circa £60-£70, or a replacement
section is about £10.
I queried the breakage to see if this was a manufacturing defect and was
told that the poles have lasted well. I informed them I used the tent no
more than a fortnight abroad, and several weekends a year. I was told that
a set of poles should last about a year with my usage and they would
guarantee this.
It seems that VauDe poles don't last that well and therefore be prepared to
replace sections on a frequent basis. It maybe worth carrying a spare
section or two around with you in case your poles break.
Has anybody else had problems with VauDe poles?
I would have thought VauDe would have responded sooner, in fact as a matter
of goodwill sent a replacement section. Spending £300 on a tent and having
no customer care seems a little shortsighted.
I will make sure that I do not buy another VauDe tent and advise others to
be wary.
In fairness to VauDe they did tell me to send the whole tent back to see if
the problem is with the tent itself. But if they can't respond to a letter
after three weeks, how long would I have to be without a tent?
Dave
Iain McTaggart
-- Tent poles should last longer than a year. What utter bollocks. I
daresay the retailer informed you when you forked out £300 that you
would have to replace them on a regualar basis. There's still a tent in
my Mum's garage which I used to use as a kid which is at least twenty
years old and the poles are still intact. It is a bottom of the range
tent from Argos and has been used in the Scottish highlands on several
occasions.
Unfortunately customer service from lots of retailers and manufacturers
leaves a lot to be desired but I've always found Wild Country to be
very good.
Incidentally, certain climbing shops in London may be interested to
know that when something is ordered from Rock + Run on the internet and
they haven't got the product in stock they actually telephone you, let
you know, ask if you want to wait or discuss an alternative solution.
Instead of you ringing them repeatedly, being promised a phone call
which doesn't happen and eventually getting very pissed off with them.
Iain McTaggart
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
Hartmut Bielefeldt
They still work well; the older has suffered a little from the sand especially
at Aconcagua, so the zippers are no more reliable (after 6 years, anyway).
We never had any problems about the poles, even in stormy environment.
Certainly, the policy of Vaude doesn't sound as if they knew what customer
service should be like. Fortunately, I never had to try that.
Regards
Hartmut
--
Dr. Hartmut Bielefeldt
Experimentalphysik VI
Universitaet Augsburg
D-86135 Augsburg, Germany
e-mail: Hartmut.B...@physik.uni-augsburg.de
WWW: http://www.physik.uni-augsburg.de/~hartmutb , http://www.Bielefeldt.de
Peter Kirkham
it's been used shedloads from high altitude glaciers to deserts and a bit of
English camping in between. However, the poles had been bent out of shape in
the tent's youth and recently I thought I'd try to bend it back. <snap> went
the pole much to everyone's amusement. A classic case of brittle fracture
due to age hardening of aluminium alloy! It does seem to me a little silly
to use an alloy that will eventually end up brittle, but then again the
little pole fixing tube I've been carrying around for years has finally come
in handy... so for the moment I'm pretty smug that if I'm careful I might
just get another 5 years out of it.
I wouldn't rush out to dish the VauDe though. I've got loads of fond
memories of being tent bound and but dry inside. Gotta be thankful for that
at least?
PeteK
Graeme Peacock
> A warning to those who own a VauDe tent or are thinking of buying
> one!!!
>
> Just been speaking to VauDe about a Space plus tent I own -
> approximately
> 3-4 years old. A year or so ago a pole broke at a joint which I
> managed to
> repair. The tent was pitched on a very sheltered site with no reason
> for
> the breakage.
>
> A few weeks ago, the same thing happened, again there was no reason
> for the
> breakage. This time I decided to write to VauDe about the problem.
[SNIP]
A friend of mine has a VauDe tent, and has had the same problem - she is
now on her third set of poles. The problem seems to be that the poles
are not extruded, but are bent and welded, so they split at the weld
along the major axis. This seems to be really bad design. She has had
a bit more success in getting new poles than you though - both times she
has taken them back to Cotswold (where she bought it) and they have
arranged a new set of poles free (presumably courtesy of VauDe).
As to their comments, poles should last a damm sight longer than 1 year,
and shouldn't cost you that much. I have just replaced a pole for a
Vango tent (irrepairably bent, rather than snapped!) from a little place
in Lincoln (I think) - maybe called something like K2 sports (can't
remember - does anyone else know????). It cost a lot less, and they
were realy helpful. If anyone here can help with a name of the place
(it has been mentioned on here before...) you should try them.
HTH,
Graeme
Rob Stone
>A warning to those who own a VauDe tent or are thinking of buying one!!!
>
>Just been speaking to VauDe about a Space plus tent I own - approximately
>3-4 years old. A year or so ago a pole broke at a joint which I managed to
>repair. The tent was pitched on a very sheltered site with no reason for
>the breakage.
>
related story ...
I have a phoenix phunnel (way old now and going strong)
I took it to the Llanberis Pass and it was mighty windy bit not exccessive
as other tents were ok and it was pitched fine.
came back from pub and the main hoop pole had broken and split the
flysheet and the bag had blown away as the tent sagged.
I phoned phoenix, they replaced the pole, professionally mended the
flysheet, supplied a new bag for a tenner all in (thats about 5 quid post
and packing
BTW) No troube with it since. Highly reccomended and very nice they were.
-- Rob.
....................................................................
Rob Stone, Dept Psychology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD
www.bjc2k.york.ac.uk 13th British Juggling Convention 13 April 2000
....................................................................
Kate
Iain McTaggart wrote
"David J. Ellis" wrote:
> > A warning to those who own a VauDe tent or are thinking of buying
> one!!!
> -- Tent poles should last longer than a year.
> Unfortunately customer service from lots of retailers and manufacturers
> leaves a lot to be desired but I've always found Wild Country to be
> very good.
I agree entirely
When a pole broke on our Supernova (which we lived in for several months on
a long trip to Europe), not under any particular stress, I wrote quite a
nasty letter to Wild Country........they sent out a replacement pole, and a
spare, no problem.
When this tent finally died in Llanberis Pass in those gales of
whatever-year-it-was, we replaced it with another the same. Best "base camp"
tent going.
Kate
ed huesers
The hard anodizing on the aluminum is what causes the fracture and
hardening. The process is easy to get wrong and then the hardness goes
to deep and there isn't enough soft material left for strength. The
anodizing is done so the aluminum doesn't oxidize and turn your hands
black. It also makes the pole stiffer but this is what you wind up with,
snapping poles.
Ed Huesers
http://atlas.csd.net/~gmenge//icebox
Peter Kirkham wrote:
> A classic case of brittle fracture
> due to age hardening of aluminium alloy! It does seem to me a little silly
> to use an alloy that will eventually end up brittle.
> PeteK
Phaedrus
Iain McTaggart <mcta...@my-deja.com> wrote:
> Incidentally, certain climbing shops in London may be interested to
> know that when something is ordered from Rock + Run on the internet
and
> they haven't got the product in stock they actually telephone you, let
> you know, ask if you want to wait or discuss an alternative solution.
> Instead of you ringing them repeatedly, being promised a phone call
> which doesn't happen and eventually getting very pissed off with them.
> Iain McTaggart
Can only agree with the comments regarding Rock and Run. I bought a TNF
VE25 approximately 3 years ago - they knocked £200 quid off and when it
couldn't be delivered next day phoned to tell methat they were sorry. It
arrived the day after.
On the subject of customer care from the manufacturer. Last year I
noticed that the fly sheet had started to get pretty wet and that the
ground sheet was begining to seep. I also had a TNF Karakorum Jacket
with a ragged tear in the sleeve. Both of these were heavily used but
generally well looked after.
I sent them both to TNF Europe at Port Glasgow and within two weeks they
had replaced the ground sheet and the fly sheet on the tent and
replaced the Jacket with a new Kitchatna Jacket. Apparently the taslan
panels had worn heavily on the cuffs and shoulders.
--
Phaedrus
Adam Greenwood
> Incidentally, certain climbing shops in London may be interested to
> know that when something is ordered from Rock + Run on the internet and
> they haven't got the product in stock they actually telephone you, let
> you know, ask if you want to wait or discuss an alternative solution.
> Instead of you ringing them repeatedly, being promised a phone call
> which doesn't happen and eventually getting very pissed off with them.
If they can't work it out for themselves, why bother telling them - why
not just use the shops who don't need telling?
I think I'm starting 'Climbers Against Consumerism' (or CAC, nice
acronym) :) We could start with a list of shops known to have recomended
(sp?) the cheaper of two alternative similar bits of kit because they
thought it was better.
Cheers,
Adam.
--
Still no new .sig
Iain McTaggart
>
> > Incidentally, certain climbing shops in London may be interested to
> > know that when something is ordered from Rock + Run on the internet
> and
> > they haven't got the product in stock they actually telephone you,
let
> > you know, ask if you want to wait or discuss an alternative
solution.
> > Instead of you ringing them repeatedly, being promised a phone call
> > which doesn't happen and eventually getting very pissed off with
them.
>
> Can only agree with the comments regarding Rock and Run. I bought a
TNF
> VE25 approximately 3 years ago - they knocked £200 quid off and when
it
> couldn't be delivered next day phoned to tell methat they were sorry.
It
> arrived the day after.
>
> On the subject of customer care from the manufacturer. Last year I
> noticed that the fly sheet had started to get pretty wet and that the
> ground sheet was begining to seep. I also had a TNF Karakorum Jacket
> with a ragged tear in the sleeve. Both of these were heavily used but
> generally well looked after.
>
> I sent them both to TNF Europe at Port Glasgow and within two weeks
they
> had replaced the ground sheet and the fly sheet on the tent and
> replaced the Jacket with a new Kitchatna Jacket. Apparently the taslan
> panels had worn heavily on the cuffs and shoulders.
>
> --
> Phaedrus
>
> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
>
-- Spray way also give excellant customer service. I, I mean a mate,
had a problem with the map pocket on his jacket. I, I mean he, tried to
stuff a wooly hat, gloves, map and cigarettes into the pocket. Not
surprisingly the taped seams become unattached. I, I mean he,
telephoned to complain about shoddy workmanship etc and was asked to
return the jacket. A brand new one arrived in the post a few days later.
Iain McTaggart
Jon Bagshaw
Iain McTaggart wrote:
<big snip>
> -- Spray way also give excellant customer service. I, I mean a mate,
> had a problem with the map pocket on his jacket. I, I mean he, tried to
> stuff a wooly hat, gloves, map and cigarettes into the pocket. Not
> surprisingly the taped seams become unattached. I, I mean he,
> telephoned to complain about shoddy workmanship etc and was asked to
> return the jacket. A brand new one arrived in the post a few days later.
I agree. I have had a reversable sprayway fleece fpr about 7/8
years. The zip went a few months ago. I didn't complain about shoddy
workmanship or anything, just asked how much to fix it. They said
return it. Got it back maybe 5 days later fixed, all for the cost of
postage, about a quid.
No problems at all with sprayway. I wish more suppliers were the
same.
I have had a similar pole problem with a Jack Wolfskin tent. 3 poles
bust in 12 months. The first time, after much aggrevation, I managed
to get two replacement poles. After that they wanted to charge a lot
of cash.
cheers and beers
Jon
--
Kate
Adam Greenwood wrote
> If they can't work it out for themselves, why bother telling them - why
> not just use the shops who don't need telling?
>
> I think I'm starting 'Climbers Against Consumerism' (or CAC, nice
> acronym) :) We could start with a list of shops known to have recomended
> (sp?) the cheaper of two alternative similar bits of kit because they
> thought it was better.
I nominate Outside in Hathersage for good service, though not exactly
meeting your criterion..............
We mail ordered a guidebook, choosing which one by descriptions over the
'phone. When it arrived, there were much fewer topos, and much more
writing (in Spanish, which I struugle to read) than i had imagined.
I 'phoned them to say so, and they they were quite happy to take it back.
They'll get my business again.
Kate
Kevin Trickey
wrote:
>
>I nominate Outside in Hathersage for good service, though not exactly
>meeting your criterion..............
>We mail ordered a guidebook, choosing which one by descriptions over the
>'phone. When it arrived, there were much fewer topos, and much more
>writing (in Spanish, which I struugle to read) than i had imagined.
>I 'phoned them to say so, and they they were quite happy to take it back.
>They'll get my business again.
>
>Kate
>
>
full rack of either quadcams or technical Friends - the newer ones
with the cam-stops. The guy in Outside convinced him to buy the
older, non-cam-stop Friends that were on offer at about £10-£15 each
less than his intended purchase.
Across 7-8 friends, that's one hell of a saving.
Kevin
Adam Greenwood
>
> Adam Greenwood wrote
> >
> > I think I'm starting 'Climbers Against Consumerism' (or CAC, nice
> > acronym) :) We could start with a list of shops known to have recomended
> > (sp?) the cheaper of two alternative similar bits of kit because they
> > thought it was better.
>
> meeting your criterion..............
> We mail ordered a guidebook, choosing which one by descriptions over the
> 'phone. When it arrived, there were much fewer topos, and much more
> writing (in Spanish, which I struugle to read) than i had imagined.
> I 'phoned them to say so, and they they were quite happy to take it back.
> They'll get my business again.
>
I think the smiley in my post should have gone right at the end,
although I suppose we all tell our friends if we like a particular shop.
I'd like to think that places who employ climbers to sell cimbing gear
etc will always do well, and shops that are run by climbers even better.
Rock + Run's job adverts are great, 'must be up for a bouldering session
at least once a week' or something similar :)
Cheers,
Adam.
--
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With searching comes loss
and the presence of absence:
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