User Review: Paha Que' The ScreenRoom

Paha Que' The ScreenRoom
Above: The current The ScreenRoom, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed November 17, 2008 by echo9005

Rating:
Ease of Setup: fairly difficult

First off I want to say that I loved parts of this tent. LOVED it. I was so excited for it. I have been camping all of my life and my husband used to work for Eastern Mountain Sports so we did a TON of research before buying this Screenroom. We were so excited when it came we went right out to set it up. We had watched the video on their website so we felt informed on the set-up.

Well, before we even got it all the way up one of the roof poles snapped. Now we have probably set up at least 20 different tents between the two of us, so I would say that we are fairly knowledgeable in tent set up and how poles need to be all the way together. I was so bummed but when I contacted Jason at Paha Que they said if I sent the pole back they would fix it fast and send it back in plenty of time before my first camping trip 4 weeks later. 3 weeks later I contacted Jason again just to make sure it would be back in time for our trip. I am not sure where it was in the process but he said he would put a rush on it so it would come in time. It came the morning of our trip and I wanted to set it up to make sure we knew how to do it before we got to our campsite...we are nerds like that! We set it up just fine...I loved the light colors and the vertical walls.

I was really paranoid about the poles at this point though. So I took a really good look at them. They are good aluminum but it seems really thin for the size of the tent(My husband says they look like the poles on the old style lawn chairs). Also the part where one pole slips into another is not at all reinforced. When it's set up there is only one clip on the lower end of the corners so the poles bow out quite a bit on the top half.

So very satisfied with the tent and also with the set up of it...although a little difficult, we start to take it down. I had one corner, my husband the other and we lifted together to get them out of the grommets. There was a loud snap and I said I bet another pole broke! One of the cross beams was broken. I was heartbroken! I loved this tent.

I called Jason at Paha Que and was basically told it was our fault and that their poles and tents are the best on the market and they never have any problems with them breaking. Which is a lie because I have found reviews on other sites where people have had problems with broken poles. I felt he was very argumentative. Finally he said they would take the tent back and do a whole new pole set because maybe there was something wrong with the poles.

Well we went on our camping trip, without a Screenroom and when we got back I took the tent to UPS to send it back. Well UPS said it would be $110 because it was oversized. I was confused because it only cost $30 to send it out and they said that corporate accounts get a better deal because of volume. He said to contact the company and see if they will schedule a pick up.

After this I let some time go by because it was the height of summer at this point and we were very busy. We camp about every other weekend. So it was August by the time I got back to the Tent and called Jason. At this point he had forgotten about me and the story of the tent poles. So I went over it all again and he was again very argumentative and insisted that we broke the poles because we didn't set the tent up right. Now he doesn't even want to replace the poles.

I finally was able to talk to the owner and said "I don't want to walk away from this mad. I loved the tent but it broke, I would still consider Paha que in the future for our next family tent". He was VERY nice and said he would take the tent back and also refund shipping because of the hassle. So we arranged for a pick up of the tent.

That was in August. I kept an eye on my account for the refund. When it still hadn't come by the end of October I was starting to get worried. I contacted them in early November to see what was happening with it. Jason said he was sorry for the delay and he would refund my money minus a 15% restocking fee and no shipping. I contacted him again and went over the WHOLE story again. I didn't return it because I didn't like it...I returned it because it was BROKEN!

He insisted again that it was totally our fault and we should be lucky they took it back at all. So I reminded him what Jeff the owner had promised me and asked if he could consult with Jeff because I really don't want to walk away from this unhappy. I had already paid $20 to ship the poles back the first time. Jason said he was talking to Jeff and they would refund the total amount minus shipping and we should be grateful for that.

I felt like I had to argue at every step and defend ourselves against someone who thought we were idiots for breaking a pole when I know we set it up exactly how the video said.

So Bottom Line I am out $50 on a tent I don't even own, not to mention all the hassle and not having a Screenroom for half the summer. (I finally ended up buying a Eureka with MORE features, sturdier poles and better flaps to keep the rain out. It is darker fabric though which is a bummer.)

Be VERY cautious when working with this company.

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