Cracks on James Baroud Evasion

BrewsterII

Member
Several years ago, while searching for a hard shell RTT I went to Overland Expo in Flagstaff. I looked at the Baroud tents along with Autohome's Maggiolina line. At the time the Baroud tents were several hundred dollars more than the Autohome.
I wasn't looking at saving a buck, I wanted what I believed to be the best hard shell tent out there. Autohome advertises "Hand Laid Fiberglass", the people in the Baroud booth could not answer that question at the time. The Baroud just seemed to be a well done copy of what Autohome had been building for decades.

I ended up getting a Maggiolina Extreme. Having used it for several years now ........ my RTT has not developed any cracks in the gelcoat, although Autohome themselves say gelcoat cracks are a normal thing as time goes on.
Any used boat will display gelcoat cracks over time, and area's that are prone to flex a bit will be the first place they show up.

I made sure I used 3 load bars to mount my tent onto the roof rack. As the trucks body flexes when put to work I felt the more rigid the RTT was fastened to the roof rack the better. Autohome themselves also recommended 3 load bars when doing serious off road work.

As always, your mileage will vary. :)
 
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I spoke too soon. Here it is January and many emails to Baroud with absolutely no response. I have no idea who any of their vendors are besides Adventure Ready. Portugal asked me to wait until November for the new dealer to get stock in. Once again, the c.s. is completly sh__. Calling Adventure Ready, see if they can intervene.
 
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Hi TTengineer,
I was wondering if you ever got the warranty issue solved and the new RTT.
How could they tell you to get a tent replaced by company in Washington when you live in Georgia?
 

ttengineer

Adventurer
Hi TTengineer,
I was wondering if you ever got the warranty issue solved and the new RTT.
How could they tell you to get a tent replaced by company in Washington when you live in Georgia?

Oh man. It’s been an experience to say the least.

So in July of 2019 I contacted JB. It took many months and emails and phone calls and social media DMs but in November of ‘19 I was told I would be getting a replacement. I gave them photos and a description of the issue as well as a video in order to receive the replacement.

Many weeks of DMs with adventure ready went by as they were waiting on their 1st shipment. In December the guy I was talking to went dark with no response but the DMs were posting as “seen” just no response.

So I called.

Spoke to a guy, literally took care of me right then and there over the phone. I was a tad annoyed I had to do all the leg work, but whatever, I was getting a replacement.

The replacement was shipped out December 20th. They did not have my tent color and/or style in stock so I paid the difference for a Grand Raid, $200.

It arrived Friday January 3rd at 8:30 PM.

Upon inspection the shipping company put a giant hole through the bottom. FML.

I called my contact at Adventure Ready on Saturday morning, he was understanding and as upset as I was with the shipper. He said he’d call me Monday once he has a game plan for another replacement.

So that’s where I’m at. Getting close but not done yet.

Going on 7 months ...

Edit:

Adventure Ready is the US distributor for JB, which is a Portugal based company. All warranty claims, from what I can tell, will be handled through them and the warranty department in Portugal.

JB has recently swapped US distributors so there was a bit of a lag during the switch in 2019.


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Hey,
Thank you for the update.
Can't believe they put a hole through it and delivered it to the dealer anyway without letting them know...
Also sorry to hear you're going on 7 months, I'm at 5 months. Maybe it's just me, but Baroud should eat the $200 difference in price you paid for the Grand Raid but o.k.

Got a couple of questions for ya':
"Spoke to a guy, literally took care of me right then and there over the phone."
Who was the guy? Portugal contact or Adventure Ready? If you don't want to publicly post, can you pm with his name please? I would really appreciate it.

I remember the switch but are you saying Adventure Ready is the only distributor now? As in- you can buy one anywhere but have to deal with Adventure Ready in Seattle if there's a warranty issue?
I thought they were trying to set up a new distributor.

Was the new RTT shipped to you in Georgia or to Seattle?

Thanx a lot for your help.
 

ttengineer

Adventurer
Hey,
Thank you for the update.
Can't believe they put a hole through it and delivered it to the dealer anyway without letting them know...
Also sorry to hear you're going on 7 months, I'm at 5 months. Maybe it's just me, but Baroud should eat the $200 difference in price you paid for the Grand Raid but o.k.

Got a couple of questions for ya':
"Spoke to a guy, literally took care of me right then and there over the phone."
Who was the guy? Portugal contact or Adventure Ready? If you don't want to publicly post, can you pm with his name please? I would really appreciate it.

I remember the switch but are you saying Adventure Ready is the only distributor now? As in- you can buy one anywhere but have to deal with Adventure Ready in Seattle if there's a warranty issue?
I thought they were trying to set up a new distributor.

Was the new RTT shipped to you in Georgia or to Seattle?

Thanx a lot for your help.

So JB in Portugal sends all their tents to AR in Seattle. From there they are shipped out to dealers, from what I understand. So mine was shipped in a massive stock of tents to AR in Seattle. From their AR inspected the tent and re packaged and palletized it. Then sent it to me in GA. It was damaged from Seattle to Atl.

Ernesto at AR is who I have been dealing with recently and he has been very helpful.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Thank you for the info ttengineer,
I actually got a return email from Antonio in Portugal yesterday. Social media pressure is all I can figure. He told me the same as he told you- thought it had been taken care of already.
I asked where dealers were but didn't get an answer, he just said we have several. I gave him my address so they could ship it to me in N.Y. Not feeling like driving to PA or something.
Did yours get delivered to your home?
 

ttengineer

Adventurer
Thank you for the info ttengineer,

Did yours get delivered to your home?

I did.

I don’t think Antonio does anything more other than approving or denying warranty claims.

You most likely need to contact AR.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Very glad we got you both sorted out and thanks again for your patience. This whole change over has been very frustrating all around but we’re finally seeing the light. ?
 
Sorry for not posting sooner! It got here a few weeks ago and is on and ready to go for the Spring. Thank you so much for your help AR.
 

VanWaLife

Active member
So reading through this thread the first warranty issue was related to a demo tent sent from the old distributor to AR, then shipped to the customer. The old distributor mentions several times "tents" in the plural that were part of this same lot. Are there other demo tents out there that were shipped to customers as new?
 
That is really interesting that you brought that up, Van. I was wondering about that myself, as far as what I got as a tent from the original retailer in NJ.
When the new tent came, it came with a cover, with decals on the sides and has no flaw and is not a lemon.
I wondered what I was sold once I got the new tent from AR. Thank you, AR for being honest and helping get it all straight.
Baroud couldn't know what he would be getting as far as an American distributor and the tent they put on and the other issues that I have had in N.J. makes it no wonder Baroud split with them.
 

VanWaLife

Active member
This is the post from the previous distributor that has me worried:
"I literally forwarded you an email again this week where we told you they were demo tents for a Canadian customer and when we tried to get them picked up you refused. They also sat at your warehouse for nearly a year where you could have easily checked the condition or asked about them. You paid us pennies on the dollar for them and now are blaming us for this mishap? "
My tent was installed by AR in late 2017, seemingly new, but no cloth cover. Seems like this probably is before the window when the demo tents would have been in the AR warehouse, but I think Baroud owners deserve reassurance that anybody who received a demo tent, damaged or not, has been contacted and made whole. As a Baroud owner over the past couple of years, I can say the only problem with these tents for me is confusion over recommended installation practices-should the crossbars extend beyond the sides of the tent, should there be foam or rubber between crossbars and tent, etc. There's a use guide on the official Baroud site now, which I believe is more than was available when I purchased my tent, but it still doesn't unequivocally answer these questions. Planning to start a thread on the subject sometime soon...
 

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