RE: [at-l] Stephenson's inquiry

[Debbie_Smith@Millipore.com]

Lyle asked:

<<Has anyone had any experience with Stephenson's service after the sale?>
 snip
<<I've had no personal experience with them, but that is because of the
experience a good friend of mine had back in 1980. This was a person who
did
not abuse his equipment, dried it before packing (or ASAP during wet
conditions), kept it out of direct sun as much as possible, etc.

His Stephenson tent began de-laminating. After several letters and phone
calls to the company, he was told in no uncertain terms that Stephenson's
does not make defective equipment, so any problems he was having HAD to be
his fault and they would do nothing to correct the problem! That was how
they left it. He ended up having to buy a new tent, the several hundred he
spent on a Sthephenson tent was down the drain.>>
===============================

Hi Lyle,

Okay I can help you out here.  I'd probably have to agree with your friend
about service.  I have lots of good things to say about Stephensons... I
bought a 2RSB and used in on my '98 thru, loved it, learned a lot using it,
and wouldn't trade it for the world (except when using my Nomad).  In my
opinion, for the weight, space etc. it can't be beat.

But the downside IS the company service.  I don't really think they know
what the word means post-sale.  Shortly after I received my tent I set it
up in my backyard.  I set it up as Stephensons recommended (using my WHOLE
body weight to stretch the tent out as tightly as possible).  I was letting
it air out, sleeping in it a couple nights etc.  It was November.  We had a
freak snowstorm one day and I was at work.  About 1.5-2 feet of heavy, wet
snow fell that day.  When I got home, my tent had collapsed under the
weight of the snow, even though most of it had slid off the sides.  No big
deal until I thought.  But when I unburied the tent I found that the front
pole had bent in 2 places, tearing the tent in one spot.  So I contacted
Stephensons.  Their reaction was that I must not have set the tent up
right, and that some animal must have walked on it to break it because if I
had done things right there was NO WAY their tent would have had any
problems.  They said it would have laid down under the weight of the snow,
but just twisted a little and not broken the poles.  I actually got a
hand-written letter from Jack Stephenson saying of course it was my fault.
So I had no choice but to buy new pole sections from them, and to repair
the tent myself; and they wanted payment in advance even though it was only
$7.00 each for a tent pole section.

So yes, I had a bad experience with service.  I imagined that if I ever had
a larger problem, my experience would be the same... not very good or
receptive service.  So I've just depended on the quality of the product
(and have had no problems since).  However I have never put a product on my
tent that wasn't recommended by Stephenson's, just in case.  Then they
wouldn't have that excuse if I did have a problem.  Hope this helps.

Twilight
GA>ME '98

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