I've bought a Hilleberg Allak as a replacement for a 1985 (ish) TN Quasar that
died of flysheet proofing rot.
Not arrived yet, but I've had the "on its way" phone call
.
Actually getting it was all a bit involved.
Hilleberg's current idea of "green" is verging on black (as seen in
this review of an Anjan 2), and red is a bit too public for me, so I though I'd get a "sand" version. Google showed nobody in the UK admitting to selling one, but Trekitt in Hereford had it in green, and aren't too far away, so, as the weather was good, I rode over from Gloucester to look and ask (Saturday).
The green was indeed very close to black, and when I asked about a sand version, the person said they didn't have one, they would have to ask about getting one from Sweden, and they would give me a call on Monday to let me know.
No phone call, so I emailed on Wednesday chasing up.
No email, so the next Saturday I rode back to Hereford, extracted an apology and another promise to find out about ordering (email rather than phone this time).
No email, and it was raining the next weekend, so I emailed them again, in a somewhat grumpy tone.
This time I got a reply from the stock control manager, saying they were on forward order (i.e. waiting for a batch to be made), that he would let me know when the ordering deadline was. I replied saying that as late as the end of February would be OK, and please let me know.
There was no further contact, and as I'd exhausted my chasing up quota, I gave up and tried somewhere else.
Somewhere else was Alpenstock (Stockport).
Email enquiring, a "not in stock, have to order from Sweden" reply more or less by return, replied saying "How long?, Feb deadline", got a reply after 2 days saying "in stock in Sweden, it will take a week or so", so I ordered by phone, and it's taken just over a week.
Not only did Alpenstock actually take an interest in selling me a tent in an efficient manner, they were cheaper too.
I don't know what was going on at Trekitt, but I wasn't very impressed. If they didn't want to order in from Sweden, they should have said so straight away.