Go Outdoors and Outwell tent air poles - useless after 3.5yrs with little use

[Me_1329]

I bought a new inflatable tent in February 2020, we went in to lockdown in March.

I didn't get the chance to use the tent until June 2022. By which time the warranty was up. 

The tent has been used for a total of 8 nights and the tubes will not hold up and one has blown, to the point that I had to buy a new temporary tent to finish my last camp.

I would appreciate any suggestions as the tubes are so expensive to replace, especially after only being put up twice.

 

Tent pics.pdf

[BankFodder]

Please monitor this thread for a reply tomorrow

[dx100uk]

warranties mean nothing and do not remove, replace or void any claim under consumer laws.

sadly though you are going to have a very hardtime after +3yrs to get anything worthy out of this as a claim against the SUPPLIER.

regardless to useage.

dx

 

 

[BankFodder]

How much did you pay for the tent? How much is the cost of the repairs?

[Me_1329]

I paid £549 for it on a discount card scheme, I believe replacement tubes are around £69 + VAT each.  I am on benefits and I don’t think they will stretch that far, especially if I only get one proper use out of them. 

[BankFodder]

You are entitled to purchase goods which are satisfactory quality and remain that way for a reasonable period of time. Although you say that you have only used the tent eight times, as my site team colleague has told you, your chances of getting anything particularly interesting out the claim after three years of ownership is going to be very difficult.

The way that damages are calculated is that the life expectancy of an object is estimated. Then a value is given to the amount of time that the item has been used. The amount of good use is deducted as a percentage from the life expectancy of the object and that effectively gives you the value of your claim.

I don't know what the life expectancy of a tent might be – but let's say that it is five years. You have had it for about 3 1/2 years. This means that even if you sued for the whole tent, you would only reasonably expect just over 20% of its value to be awarded to you.

Of course you say that you have only used eight times but this kind of thing is difficult to establish and difficult to prove. These calculations really tend to go on the amount of time that you have owned the object.
I don't know how many of these tubes there are in the tent but even if you sued simply for the new tubes, the tent is already about 3 1/2 years old you would be lucky if you got to replacement tubes out of it.
The difficulty in bringing the claim would be fairly high. Your chances of success would be probably better than 50% but maybe less than 60% and these are not odds but I like.
Your risk factor would be the cost of the claim if you bought it and the cost of the hearing if it went to a hearing so this could amount to £80 or so and of course it will take you at least six months to 9 months for the matter to be settled for you to recover your money.

If you want some help then we can certainly support you but I don't fancy your chances. Aren't the tubes repairable? I would be looking at that

 

[Me_1329]

I have used the tent twice for a total of 8 nights. 
 

It looks like 3 out of the 4 tubes needs replacing. And looking at general information the tents should last 8 to 16 years.  And in storage for up to 40 years.   Although that information also says that tents should be good for between 50 to 150 nights. So even at an average of 100 nights, this one fell far short. 

[BankFodder]

Okay well it's up to you. If you are suing for three tubes then you are looking at about 250 quid. I think you will find it pretty difficult because as far as I can see the tubes are made of fairly flimsy material and can be punctured and you will have to convince a judge that there was no abuse.
Once again, they could be a reduction in your award because three issues with the deducted from the value of the award.

I think you're going to have a tough time. Who supplied it to you?

[Me_1329]

It was from Go Outdoors and is an Outwell tent. 

[BankFodder]

Well it's up to you to begin a correspondence with them about it. I'd keep it very polite and not challenging and try to develop the dialogue.

I think you should certainly point out that it hasn't been used and also I think it is significant that three tubes have failed – not just one – and that this point is not to abuse but actually some kind of design failure.

I would suggest that you start doing some serious research on the Internet see if this issue is being reported elsewhere. If it is then come back here and give us a link