I didn't know I would need this free gift until after I replaced my zipper slider
I received this when I had to replace my slider on my 6 month old family camper. I was greatful for the generosity and wonderful customer support. Months previous I mentioned to customer service that my spring bar end caps came off and I could not find them in the heavy brush. One morning I woke up after a night of maybe 25 mph winds and found the end of the bar protruding though the canvas sleeve. Now I was lucky to have the patch kit they previously sent me, and was able to repair it before the rip spread further. Months previously I asked customer service about the end caps and the sleeves, and was inquiring if the sleeves could ever travel further than the length of the bars they traveled on. And I really didn't get a proper answer on any of that. I was just told the caps proteced the tent during setup. I hate to 2nd guess the manufacturer, but the large rectangular patch I used was the exact dimensions I needed for this repair. And that tells me this is a common failure point. Once the tear had happened it could have spread so easily. A tear of this kind under tension spreads like lightning. It bothers me because I believed early on that these bars were probably left short for asthetic reasons, or weight restrictions, or cost savings. Now maybe non of this is the case. But I have lived in this tent for 6 months and through winds that were worse than this. The reason I was surprised was because I did not even realize this happened while I was sleeping. This was not a storm or bad wind conditions. There are only 2 brands in the world I trust. Number one is Toyota, and the other is Spring Bar! And I need both of them to keep me safe and healthy. Ive been toyng with the idea of buying a second Spring Bar tent as backup in case I have another failure, but I do not really have the room to travel with 2. I do know if the spring steel was 4 inches longer this failure wouldn't have happened. I'm sure I'm not as educated as the engineer who designed it, but I would be heart broken if they chose these shorter bars for asthetic reasons or cost savings. I was told they would send me end caps, but those were missing from the package. I've decided to put slightly longer pieces of smooth and flexible PEX tubing over the spring bars to hopefully protect against this failure in the future. I hope the company does not hold this against me as a void of warranty, but I am not sure if I really have a warranty anyways. I have great faith in spring bar, but I do believe they kind of pick and choose what information they release. I really wish they would release an owners guide that fully covers every aspect and solution that could ever be encountered. But they seem to leave that up to the community online. As in my past correspondence where I have asked these questions that have gone unanswered, I hope they answer this one fully. I want them to be in business forever, giving us pro campers peace of mind under any conditions. And I do not want them to fail because of their own generosity. Now I may be wrong about the bars being to short, and whatever else. But in the end it breaks my heart to have to write this. I can understand if you do not post this review. But I wish I could get a longer set of spring bars to prevent this from happening again, and some extra end caps to replace the ones that fell off. And in the patch package I received, it only contained 2 of the rectangular patches of the correct tab color to fix this type of failure. So if this were to happen again I would only have enough for one repair. I just want to add that I am a genius when it comes to engineering and repairs, so I must tell you that I use extensive thought to foresee future problems with my equipment. Everything I purchase lasts a lifetime. But I did forsee this problem after purchase. I understand that the repair is just as good as new, but it breaks my heart that it happened. Lastly I will say that you do have gold standard customer service, and I understand that you might be overwhelmed at times, and you all do your best, and it shows. But I know from experience that you probably only read these once, and you miss things. So I kindly ask that you read this more than once, and don't miss anything when you reply. It would sadden me if you were to disappear, because without spring bar I couldn't live like I do, and wouldn't know of any other options. I think of all of you as my friends, even though we've never met! Thank you kindly.
