UKC

I thought I would try my luck in here as I am running out of options..

I went camping in the US last year and unfortunately the airline lost some of my luggage including my tent. No great problems, I wanted a new tent anyways so bought a new The North Face Minibus 33 tent. Great tent, eneded up using it twice last year for a total of 8 nights.

I went to put it up last weekend and I notice that one of the straps on the flysheet that fasten the flysheet to the frame has come adrift and whilst the tent will still work this means that the top of the fly is no longer taught and allows water to pool on the roof and eventually it will leak. The tent has been put up and taken down with the greatest of care and where the strap has come off it is not ripped with leads me to assume it wasnt fastened properly in the first place.

Not a problem I thought, mistakes can happen and besides I love the tent. Checked the paperwork and it has a lifetime warranty, excellent... what a tip top company The North Face are...

Now here's the rub... first stop, TNF website. Sent them an email and got no response apart from the email confirming that someone was going to get back to me. Tried calling customer service dept and in their intro speil they kindly explain that they only deal with tents bought through the online ordering section of the website. Any tents bought elsewhere have to be taken back to the dealer where you bought it for them to sent it back to TNF. Ok, so a bit of a hassle, but I like all my TNF gear and really am impressed with the tent so I am prepared to send it back to where I bought it in the US. I have just spoke to Backcountry.com (where I bought it from whilst in the US)and they very kindly informed me that TNF do not allow them to ship any of their gear out of the US so they would be unable to return it to me.

It is a complete catch 22 situation and I seem to be left with a £300 bag of washing and some pretty aluminium poles... I find it strange that a company who specialise in supplying equipment to travellers and explorers don't have some sort of process that allows kit purchased in other countries to be examined or repaired. After all, I often buy most of my outdoor kit in-situ as I find the shops in ski resorts / mountainous areas are often better equipped and the staff well trained on the products they sell

I though I would try my luck on here in the vain hope that anyone knows of any contact information for TNF or their warranty department in the UK? If anyone has any ideas or has had the same problem then please let me know.

thanks

luffy

In reply to luffy m: There you go

THE NORTH FACE (UK) LTD
AYNAM MILLS,
LITTLE AYNAM
LA9 7AH KENDAL, CUMBRIA

Phone: 01539 738882

In reply to luffy m:

If you take it to a shop that stocks their kit they will often be able to send it back for you. I know Cotswold Outdoors will send it back to TNF for you, even if you didn't buy it from them. There is one page of paperwork to fill out, mainly what happened to it, and your contact details, and you keep a copy of that, and wait. When cotswold get any details they will phone you up, and tell you what was said. Takes it out of your hands.

Josh

Jeez: I wish I'd tried here as a first rather than a last resort!

I'll give them a try and let you know how I get on

Cheers,

Luffy

In reply to luffy m: All warranty returns are dealt with in either Italy or Belgium (I forget which) which means it takes a bloody long time to get a warranty claim verified. I wouldn't send it to the Aynam Mills address as I think TNF uk moved to stavely and they might not deal with you.

In reply to higherclimbingwales:
Its Belgium, they deal with more of VF's brands.

Luffy if you need some email addresses to their warranty team, email me through here and i can send it to you.

In reply to luffy m:

If your anywhere near glasgow then there is a TNF store in buchanan street and they may be able to help. Never tried them before for returns but staff are helpful when buying things though