On Friday 25 September Pierrie(Bugger) Eksteen was sitting next to me on his awesome fold up chair.
I have the same chair, as does Avon, they are great, you flip, flap, fold them up into a small bag the size of a small narrow briefcase.
But they are pricey.
Anyhoo, when bugger stretched out his long legs& leaned back, the chair collapsed.
I was sitting next to him, it was funny to see him suddenly drop to the floor.
Now the chair is rated for 120kg, bugger weighs 118kg & his heels were on the ground.
So his chair weight must have been well under 100kgs.
Now given that the chair costs well over R1100 & given that it is made by South Africa's premier supplier of camping accessories, I felt a warranty swop out would be available.
As I was going to Back Walker to buy another such chair (they are really nice) I offered to take it in for Pierre.
So about a week later (early October) I popped to Kyalami, bought a new chair (unfortunately they had no carry bags for the chair).
Once Id paid for my chair I handed them Bugger's chair & told them the story.
The guy told me what parts had failed immediately (obviously its happened before).
Unfortunately they were out of stock of the flimsy parts.
They did not offer to take the chair - but suggested I return in a month (early November).
They were very friendly & helpful...
I drive a single cab KB300 & the chair & my briefcase, fit behind the passenger seat - that's how neatly it folds up.
So it stays with me as I try sort this out for Pierre.I was in the area today, so I decided to pop in.
I went in, they have no parts, in fact, they have no stock of the chairs.
Bit disappointing when a premier South African company does not have any back up for a very good, but very expensive product.
In fact, the mere fact that it broke is cause for concern.
I was told to return mid-December, but I suspect this will be a matter for February 2021.
Lets hope the factory (probably in Shina) that makes the chairs gets it's act together.
Listen to Ricoffy (... for once !) and sorry Shaun , I dont have dry rods, to fix that cheap steel alloy that GroundBummer use;
Manny, I have one of those old fold-up army stretchers that fold with hinge brackets like those shown ... and they also buckling.
Do you guys realise Beast [The Rugby Player] weighs about 118kg and Eben about 123kg ... and I also wouldn't let them sit on any deck chair of mine ...either.
That's the lowdown.
... Famous Fiver VoorLoper ...
... Veni Vidi Vici ...
1. Beef up the strength of that bracket
2. Reduce the carrying weight to 110kg.
3. Put a red warning sticker showing "Max 110kg'
4. Sort out my stock supply issues.
5. Order a few dozen sets of the parts so that as guys bring thei chairs in they can be fixed, under warranty, on the spot.
Note: In buggers case it wasn't the weight - as I explained above, but those chairs are clearly not capable of anything over 80kgs currently...
Buggers broke shockingly easily.
