After my trusty Lakeside -1 Travel 600 pole ended up damaged after getting stuck, I ordered a new one from Decathlon.
First I ordered the wrong one, I orderd a pole that when collapsed was 1.1 meters long (returns arranged and awaiting a DPD collection.
In the meantime I ordered the one below - which arrived in a timely fashion, all good there.
On arrival, I removed the pole from the overside box it came in (you could post a small child off in the box if you wanted to)
The pole was missing an end cap and as such the sections fell out.
Some sections of poles are already pre-jammed up.
I have the 2nd section from the main section (going from ground up) already stuck and looks to be in upside down)
and the last couple of sections are also jammed up and look to be upside down.
Lots of tugging, swearing and annoyance later. I have emailed Decathlon and have outlined the issues.
My old pole worked really well and has been well used and I was happy with it.
I was hoping to be happy with the new pole but at the mo its all jammed up - almost like its 2nd hand/ex demo been put back together wrong.
Decathlon have been emailed… which will mean I have two DPD collections awaiting returns after all this is sorted.
In other news, not SOTA/Radio related by WhatsApp has been pinging away only to discover its someone on holiday in Devon and sending me pics of the hotel room….and I have no idea who they are…..
I ordered a Decathlon pole for my trip to Tiree and Coll last year, I also received no end cap. The packaging showed signs of being opened beforehand. The pole itself was OK and I managed to make an end cap from a furniture leg rubber cap, which came in a pack of four from Boyes.
I emailed Decathlon and received no response whatsoever.
Last two decathlons i’ve been in (abroad) have had the poles but with no end caps. I suspect they are shipping them from a store rather than a warehouse.
I have emailed Decathlon so lets see what they have to say. I did pay via paypal, so I might be able to use that if they don’t play ball. Its not the missing end cap thats annoying, its the fact it was pre-jammed for me….
My local Decathlon is a train ride away…If I have to.
This would suggest that with the lack of an end cap, the sections have spilled out when the pole was inspected (by whom or when who knows?) and the sections were put back without considering how they fit into one another. Maybe whoever it was was attempting to salvage poles from a damaged consignment, hence the oversized packaging.
I changed the end caps on my poles to aluminium ones bought off eBay. They stand up better to the wear and tear they get during activations which far exceeds what they get when used as fishing poles.
I emailed Decathlon on Friday and did not get a reply or an auto reply.
I emailed them again yesterday with the same message but change the subject from the order number to ‘faulty item’ and got a reply today asking for pictures….Lets see what happens next.
