Soulpad versus Belltent

[LauraIngallsWilder]

Hi all
This OP is going to ramble on, sorry! My second post will get to the point honest :)

After seeing lots of positive reviews about belltents on here we decided to get one.
I ordered a 4m hybrid belltent, tea light chandelier and small table from belltent.

The tent cant be delivered until may (as out of stock till then). I love the tea light thingy. The problem has been the table.

Its got dirty marks on it. I emailed them to send it back. They ignored my email for a week. Second email they noticed and are now faffing about asking me to email photos of the table. I pointed out that I have already wrapped it. "oooh well we need photos".
I pointed out that I havent got a digital camera at the mo - "oooh well youll have to pay to return it then - we wont be able to accept it as damaged"

Well actually I never said it was damaged - I said it had dirty marks on it!

They have been soooooo rude and unhelpful in their emails - right now I dont care I just want steer well clear of the company altogether.

Anyway the upshot of all this is have any of you got more positive stories to tell about soulpad???

Thanks for any thoughts!

The supposedly succinct second post!
Is the soulpad 4m hybrid tent the same as the belltent 4m Ultimate.

Has it got the same quality fabric etc
Has the soulpad one got the necessary bit for hanging a tea light chandelier does anyone know?

The soulpad one actually works out £20 cheaper - but I shall be mega cross if I find out too late that the belltent one is better...............

I would be really greatful for all your thoughts!

I'm a bit confused - if it's not damaged but merely dirty, could you not just clean it? Or am I missing something? That might be why they are asking for photos, as it doesn't really make sense to me either. If you just changed your mind, dirty, removable marks are no reason for them to have to pay the return postage. If it's a defect, then yes, of course they should.

Sorry, don't know on your actual question, I'm sure someone here might.

For what it's worth, I've bought something (completely different - a hammock) from Soulpad, and their customer service was very good. No experience of Belltent, so can't comment.

I bought from Soulpad and their customer service was excellent - no experience of Belltent - however, I'm slightly confused as well by the OP - is the table permanently marked or does it just need a wash?

We've got a 5m hybrid and I don't recall seeing a loop for hanging a chandelier - however it has fixings for an inner tent, so it must have something there...

OP, are you still around? A bit odd to post and then never return. Please put me out of my misery - I've been wondering about the table situation as I'm nosy.

Hi folks sorry to post and then disappear!
And sorry to be so confusing!

The upshot of it all is that I was quite happy to pay to return the (frankly dirty and why would I want to scrub ingrained dirt off something I have bought new!) table because even apart from the marks I did hate it and it didnt look how I imagined it would from the picture.

What really really got me was their completely unhelpful "why is that our problem?" attitude. They dont seem to care in the slightest about their reputation - they ignored my first email for a week. They only responded when I emailed again.

I have now also asked for a refund on the belltent we ordered.

I emailed soulpad and asked a few questions - got a really friendly helpful reply almost straight away. They said that they wouldnt dream of selling a tealight chandelier as way too dangerous - They have a point!
So I will be keeping mine (as too late to return) and hopefully hanging it from the ceiling......

Soulpad basically said that belltent copied their tent design. That belltent use less stitches per inch of material (so the seams arent as strong) and various other plausible reasons why their tents are better.

I also got the impression that I am not the first to go to soulpad having preciously being burnt by belltent.

As soon as I the refund is sorted I shall order from soulpad :) [hopeful]

Funnily enough I emailed Soulpad after I'd posted my reply on here as I was after some advice on how to refold my tent to pack it away (I'm rather cackhanded and couldn't get it to go back in the bag properly) - they could not have responded quicker, or been more friendly and helpful in their reply. Zoe there is a lovely woman!

Btw, I don't have a posh "Belltent" tealight chandelier but I did buy a plain glass version from Ikea [cheapskate] and I use battery tealights in it (available from any poundshop!) - it looks wonderful and no fire risk - however the one time I remembered to pack it I managed to mislay the hanging hook, so can't report on how it works in a tent!

Good luck, hope the refund goes smoothly.:)

Hi
Try www.glampmycamp.com for chandeliers that come with a clamp, so you dont need the special hook you get with some tents. I have one and they look great. They have rubber inserts so that there is no chance of the tea lights falling out. They do loads of stuff to make your tent look great and they are not too expensive either. I have friends woith bell tents from both soul pad and bell tent uk and I would say they both seem of good quality.

Belltent are the company with the restrictive agreement with Obelink which prevents Obelink from shipping their way cheaper but identical tents from Holland to the UK. For that reason alone (even if Soulpad weren't also slightly cheaper in most cases) I would never buy from Belltent. Camping with Soul - yeah right.