The Intended Use of a Bell Tent and Warranty Claims
Intended Use Versus Warranty
The intended use of a bell tent (when defined by the various manufacturers) is blurry at best. It feels important to offer some clarity here as many start-ups fall into avoidable pitfalls when it comes to the intended use versus their warranty, when using bell tents for their accommodation offering.
Check the intended use with your supplier. How are the bell tents sold to their customers? Does the supplier specifically mention glampsite usage? Good suppliers will make this clear on their website, and if it isn’t clear you will need to check with them directly. In fact, even if it is clear on their website, consider asking the question anyway (ahead of the purchase) so you have it in writing as websites frequently change.
In The Beginning
Bell tents were originally aimed at families to use on touring holidays. A tourer will use their tent for short bursts and perhaps for their annual holiday.
There’s no authoritative definition of a tourer, but it’s generally agreed that the tent is used as temporary accommodation maybe once or twice a year. When we started out in 2006, just as the word ‘glamping’ started to come into use, bell tents were considered to be touring tents and were marketed as such.
Just as with other manufacturers at the time, we later found ourselves in many different markets. We hadn’t anticipated this, and so our initial message, warranty and terms and conditions all had to change with the new market demands.
However, we did notice that some manufacturers stood still, despite the obvious difference in needs between, say, a group of Scouts and a glampsite. They remained fixed on seeming to sell to the family camper, whilst also selling to businesses (B2C versus B2B), but without this reflecting clearly on their websites.
Blue cart blog explain the difference nicely;
B2B refers to a “business-to-business” company that provides services or products to other businesses. B2C refers to a “business-to-consumer” company that sells directly to individual consumers.
They’re two separate business models that serve different types of customers, one being businesses and the other direct to consumer.
Blue cart blog
Honouring The Warranty
When setting up a glampsite you intend to pitch the tents continually for a full season – the intended use of a bell tent. So this could fall outside of the supplier’s scope for its intended use, affording the supplier some wiggle room when it comes to honouring their warranty.
Generally speaking, bell tent warranties are valid for 1-2 years. Ideally, a warranty should be more generous than your statutory rights, and should address specific areas of concern. Some bell tent warranties are limited addressing only a few specifics such as poles, stitching and canvas treatments, whilst others are fuller and more detailed offering repairs or replacements for manufacturing faults.
Almost all bell tent warranties are aimed at the end user, their original intended user; the tourer.
Re-Shaping The Warranty
If you’re unsure if the warranty will cover your tents, don’t be afraid to ask for more. Just because it is written out on their website, or included in their terms and conditions, it doesn’t mean the warranty can’t be tailored to suit you. If the supplier is implying on one hand that the tents can be used on glampsites, but the warranty and/or terms and conditions imply otherwise – you need to make certain of how they will respond in the event that something goes wrong.
If the supplier wants to sell you tents for the use you have in mind, then their warranty should openly address that. It’s perfectly fine to push for a rewording of their existing warranty, specific to your needs.
For example: if the supplier tells you that to avoid mildew forming on the canvas during long term use you must re-treat it every four-six weeks, and you do this but mildew still forms, you will need to be sure that a reworded warranty protects you in this event.
Consider also these further questions you might like to ask your supplier.
