A camping one -To be so angry with Charlies and Vango

[MagicKingdomDizzy]

This post is a bit of a mixture.... Part rant, part warning (think twice before using these companies!) and part WWYD?

6 weeks ago DH and I purchased a brand new tent, a Vango Langley 600xl. We purchased it from the online camping store Charlies and it cost £350.

We went camping last week, and 4 days into the holiday there was some wind.

At wind speeds of 12mph both storm straps snapped from the ceiling.

Then that night stronger winds came about 30mph. Because we no longer had storm straps the tent was moving all over, despite my husband (who is a very experienced camper) adjusting gut ropes and trying to stabilise the tent.

3 guy ropes then snapped off and afterwards 3 tent poles split down the middle. The tent collapsed on top of us (including my 2 children) at 2am in the morning.

As soon as we could, we packed up the tent and came home early losing 2 days of our holiday.

I contacted Charlies when we returned and sent the pictures. They are saying we are not entitled to a refund or replacement as we purchased the tent more than 30 days ago. Also, they have told me that Vango's warranty doesn't include weather damage (despite this tent being described as 'durable and able to stand strong winds).

I am disgusted by both of them. We were sold an inferior product that was not fit for purpose) unless they expected us to camp indoors?!). It lasted 4 days!

So that's my rant.

My warning is to not purchase ANYTHING from Charlies.co.uk as they will not help if anything goes wrong. Also think twice about purchasing a Vango tent, as the quality is bad and their warranty is dubious to say the least.

Finally WWYD in this situation? We are down £350 and neither company want to take responsibility for a tent purchased 60 days ago, lasted 4 days, and collapsed.

We have already put in a claim with our credit card, but I'm not sure if they will refund us.

Presumably it's repairable and you can buy some more poles though, I mean you're not really down £350 are you?

By the time you’ve bought new poles, replacement guys new storm straps and had patching done you’d end up paying almost the same again.

If it was a strong wind then fair enough, but even a big family tent should be able to survive winds in the low teens without being wrecked the first time you use it.

Did you camp during those wind warnings?

We were near the coast and decided to delay joining friends camping by a day to avoid the high winds.

There were a LOT of broken tents by the bins in the morning....(our friends had a really sturdy frame tent, but the normal family tents hadnt fared well.)

We have an awesome vango tent. But its a family one and although is fine in normal winds we didnt pitch it suring the weather warning....

I get that its annoying, but disasters happen when you are camping. You seem a bit disproportionately angry. I think you will have a better response to your complaint if you are more factual and less emotive.
You wont get any compo for your tent falling on your three year old at night.

Anyway, credit card should solve it no problem.

How did you measure the wind speed?

Do you happen to have any photographs / video of the tent pitched and moving around? That would help with proving that the tent was pitched correctly, and that the wind speed was as you say. (30mph is fairly high for a bit tunnel tent like that I think?)

TinklyLittleLaugh

I have been factual. This wasn't my email to the company. I didn't realise emotive language was banned on Mumsnet.

Most people can't afford to waste £350 on something that fails the first time you use it!

Hmmm. That’s a horrible experience on your holiday.

It says it ‘stands strong against winds’ not ‘strong winds’.

The winds last week were up to 50 and 60 mph gusts and often a steady 40mph / 30mph.

Tunnel tents are not, in general, built to withstand strong winds and there were Amber weather warnings. There is a reason that much smaller mountain tents, or Dutch Storm Tents, for example, are much more expensive.

It’s the worst camping luck to get storms in the middle of your holiday,

Vango are usually very good with customer service so hopefully they will take a good look and at the very least repair your tent.

There is a MN camping board with lots of campers, try there also?

ItsAllGoingToBeFine

We used a weather app. Unfortunately we were so distracted by trying to sort the tent we didn't record anything.

The Met Office will have a record of wind speeds on that day.

The point is that the tent shouldn't have been advertised as being able to withstand high winds if the straps broke at 12 mph gusts.

Okay, well hopefully your rant has made you feel better. Hope you get it sorted.

TinklyLittleLaugh

Much appreciated, me too.

I bought my don and his girlfriend a , a Vango Langley 600xl. Their friends have the same.It's been used a lot, in amazingly high winds in the highlands and torrential storms in the lake district. Yours may have been a dodgy one, telling people not to but them is wrong.
You should definitely get your money back, that is so wrong the way you have been treated.

You will look back and laugh OP. It will become one of your family legends, like many of our camping disasters have.

Waking up to sheet music floating out of the outer tent anyone?

Spudlet

Thank you for your infomative and supportive posts.

Vango used to be great. Tents made in Scotland and a little more expensive but lasted. Now the tents are made in China presumably because they are cheaper and can stay competitive. I camp a lot - family and with the scouts. We stopped buying Vango as the quality and finish were pretty bad. You can only try Vango and see how you get on.

LVango have said they will inspect the tent and only refund if there is proof it was a manufacturing error"

I don't understand why you are talking about sueing if they have said this? Surely it is a manufacturing fault which should be obvious from your description? In which case they have said they will refund.

You've used it, they have said they want to inspect it and confirm the fault before refunding. You're confident it was fault. Surely this is understandable, otherwise everyone who tried camping and hated it (I understand there are some wrong headed people who think this ) would want to just get their money back, I can see the manufacturers having to have safeguards.

I don't think it would be worth all the hassle and talking about compensation for your childrens' distress does make it look as through you are over reacting, tbf. Surely this would go down in the annals of family holidays, as the time the tent fell on your heads.

the tent shouldn't have been advertised as being able to withstand high winds if the straps broke at 12 mph gusts

It wasn't, though. In a court of law, I mean, that wording "stands strong against winds" is meaningless fluff. You wouldn't be able to prove it was not fit for purpose based on that.

I'm sorry your camping trip was ruined, OP. Vango are usually a really reliable brand.

Outdoor brands seem to be particularly prone to massive quality drops and trading on past reputation. Thinking of Karrimor and the like.

Forget about Vango, go get yourself an outwell Montana 6p, we got ours off eBay for £300. it is absolutely bombproof and we have survived 3 proper storms in it, one was next to the sea in Devon that night I thought I was going to end up in Wales by morning! But the tent held. One trip I had most of the campsite's kids in my tent while the parents where chasing after tents. Sorry about you trip through, I would take it up with Vango. Have looked at things on the Charlies website before as their prices always seem good but won't bother now, shocking service.

I'm wondering which way round the tent was with respect to wind direction. It matters. Looking at pics of the Vango Langley 600xl - I see it's a very high sided tent so would only possibly survive if the back end was into the wind with double guying etc.

I appreciate at the kind of sites where all the tents are in rows, the orientation issue might not be apparent.

I won't dispute your claims of material flaws in the tent but also think there might be a 'user error' factor in this.

Hopefully Vango will at least supply some replacement parts and that you're not put off camping.

Hands OP conciliatory and . It will all get sorted OP. Hope you get the chance for a bit more holiday to make up for the days you lost.

I'm sure we'll see the funny side at some point.

It's hard to right now. We aren't rich and that was a lot of money to us.

We have no usable tent and we can't afford another one.

Many PP seem to think they would be fine and laughing if this happened to them, I guarantee you would feel different if it actually did happen!

Vango used to be a good brand but I think their quality has waned and their target audience has changed. They seem a bit el-cheapo these days when their name was previously a mark of quality. Like Karrimor - who are now Sports Direct’s own brand. There was a time, back in the 70s and 80s that Karrimor were the last word in British outdoor clothing and equipment. It’s just tat now.

Sorry about your tent OP, I’d be furious too.

TinklyLittleLaugh

Thanks.

P.s I’m a camper too and I totally get why you’re so upset.

i agree with @perch we have two outwell tents and no matter what the weather slings at them including torrential rain and windy motorbike rally fields they have stayed up and stayed in one piece even when they have looked like the devil is outside the tent shaking it