Autohome Air-Sky 360 Disappointment

[Brad2064]

Bottoms line: my brand new large Air-Sky 360 leaks like a sieve.
Background: I currently live in Germany and ordered through an Autohome authorized dealer Canvaz.de. I paid extra to have the tent shipped to my house where I unboxed it and waited for a couple weeks for decent weather and a buddy to come over one evening to help me lift it on my rack.
The night we installed it we got a little bit of rain. The next morning I woke up excited to open up the tent and check it out. The moment I climbed up the ladder and opened the flap I could smell something wasn’t right. Sure enough half the mattress was wet and a couple of the pillows. Trying to determine how the water got in I immediately look to the roof hatch/window and see a water soaked roof lining all the way around the hatch. Also water in the screen sliding mechanism and rusted bolts that attach the mechanism to the hatch frame. Additionally the remaining roof lining was very loose and hanging down a bit.
I contacted the dealer immediately with videos and expressed my frustration. They speak with Autohome and get back with me a week later. The solution is to ship it all the way back to Italy to get it fixed and then send it all the way back to me. Additional damage during this journey seems extremely high and unnecessary to me not to mention a month+ that I would be without my brand new RTT. I called Autohome direct who would not speak to me and said I had to go through my dealer. I asked my dealer if they could request authorization from Autohome to send me a new tent and take my old tent back. Autohome denied this request.
I’m trying to remain calm but this just seems like horrible service for a company that has been around as long as it has. Not to mention producing a tent that has such horrible QC. When inspecting where the water could be coming from it looks the the outer ring where the hatch mounts has no gasket or caulking and in some places there is a 1/4 gap between the fiberglass and aluminum hatch flange.

Thanks for listening and a warning before you purchase this flagship model from Autohome.

 

[alia176]

I'm sorry for this BS, not what you paid for and waited so long. Please post up the pics, might help out others and perhaps gain some ideas.

 

[Brad2064]

This water damage goes all the way around the hatch. It then leaked on to the mattress below.

 

[Brad2064]

 

[Brad2064]

Hopefully you can tell from the picture but this is the aluminum shroud of the hatch and the black is the exterior fiberglass shell/roof. No gasket or caulking. I can’t tell if there is something under the aluminum but from the leaking I suspect not.

 

[MHALLDNW]

I'd like to take a moment to express that, as the distributor of Autohome products in the United States and Canada, we would have handled this situation appropriately, particularly for a brand new tent. We would then work with the factory on the back end to find a resolution. I am sorry that this was your experience in Germany.
-Michele
Autohome USA
sales@autohomeus.com

 

[mep1811]

I'd like to take a moment to express that, as the distributor of Autohome products in the United States and Canada, we would have handled this situation appropriately, particularly for a brand new tent. We would then work with the factory on the back end to find a resolution. I am sorry that this was your experience in Germany.
-Michele
Autohome USA
sales@autohomeus.com

Wow things must have changed. I always had issues with Autohome in the past . Good to know that it seems not be an issue anymore.

 

[Brad2064]

Thanks MHALLDNW. Good to know. I think it was a shock because this was my first experience with European customer service and with such an expensive product and a well known established company I did not expect it. Live and learn.
However, it’s sad to hear the perhaps mep1811 has had issues in the past with Autohome customer service as well.
Knock on wood, after I fixed the issue it does not seem to leak anymore and we’ve had some pretty decent rain lately. Albeit not something I should have had to do or worry about on a brand new purchase.

 

[MHALLDNW]

Wow things must have changed. I always had issues with Autohome in the past . Good to know that it seems not be an issue anymore.

We have made several changes over the past couple of years. I apologize for the difficulty you had in receiving a response previously.

 

[Enigma]

Whatever happened with this? I was scoping out a friends older Maggiolina this weekend and really liked the extra storage. Looking at the website the 360 looked pretty cool, but living in the wet southwest rainforest of BC, perhaps not......

 

[FrenchieXJ]

I have been a "Autohome" owner for 22 years. I got one from the first shipment sent to the US. I have had 6 different RTT' from "Autohome". For 16 if those years I averaged almost 250 nights a year in my "Autohome" tents. I never had problems with mine. Over the years there are occasional problems in anything made it does not matter who make it or what it is. The difference is how it is handled. Whether it is a space shuttle or a frying pan, things happen.

This is what can happens when the pride the manufacture has in their product and they do not want to admit they made a mistake! This can make the customer service suffer for the retail seller, I feel that the proper fix would have been to ship a New Tent out to the customer immediately. Then the factory can work on their quality control.

Over the years I had given suggestions, that went back to the manufacture for changes to the life style of the North American public. The way we use them in the U.S. id different then they do in Europe. Some of the changes were made and other not adopted.

Making changes has quite a lot of reasons they are not made. The big one the public sees first and is the most important to them is #1 Cost! The next items are, Weight, Strength for Driving and when Set-up, Fuel efficient, Design Styling, Size. Then comes the want to have; Pocket storage, Loft storage, Ventilation, Insulation, Awnings, Changing rooms, Skylights, Color Choices Etc.

Back to the problem of this skylight leaking! I personally think this is a very Bad Idea. "Well I want to look at the sky while laying in bed". I have heard more then one person say this about tents (Ground and RTT's).

I will explain my expenses with skylights and covers in general. A hole in the roof will leak! You have two different materials which expand and contract a different speeds with temperature changes. You have to have a gasket (sealer) between them to seal out the water. When these are attached the attachment is put through a lot of movement and stress. It will at some point fail and leak, but it should have not leaked at the first time it is exposed to water! I am not a fan of putting any hole in a roof for any reason. Especially to have view for the few moments. The potential of a leak out weighs the little advantage you would get. For some people you will also then need to have a cover for when you have a bright sky and you can not sleep with this light in your face.

From the photo what I see is a lack of quality during manufacturing. The roof of the hard top RTT's is they have a curve put in them for the reasons airplane wings have a curve built into them. This adds to the challenge of sealing them.

When you look at the other models of "Autohome" and the other brands of hard top RTT, you will see ridges and bends built in. There are to give strength. I like the "KISS" way of explaining things. Take a ordinary piece if printer paper. Fold in at 1' intervals 180 degrees for the length or width of the paper (like a accordion). Stretch it out to 1/2 its distance when it was flat. It will fold one one way, but not the other. These are the reasons you have the ridges and bents in the top of the roof and it is not flat and smooth. Now add a flat service over the not flat service and seal it so it will not leak.