Carcoon cover. No support.

[jimxms]

Hi Guys,

In June '19 I purchased an outdoor Carcoon cover for just shy of £700. I didn't start using it until later in the year (around Oct) and now just over a year later the zipper on it has completely failed. I've tried emailing them several times over the course of the month from several different email addresses and got no reply. I've also tried calling them and they don't answer.

I purchased the cover using a debit card. What recourse (if any) do I have? I recall hearing about some new consumer protection act that means you are entitled to a repair/replacement for up to 6 years on some goods? Do I need to speak to CAB?

TIA

Edited by jimxms on Sunday 27th December 17:39

[anonymous-user]

Maybe they’re closed for Christmas, try again in the new year?

[jimxms]

charltjr said:

Maybe they’re closed for Christmas, try again in the new year?

First email was 7th Dec, second was 11th Dec and third was admittedly a few days ago. But also made calls in between those dates as well.

If they closed for Christmas on 7th Dec, I wanna work for them too .

[A1VDY]

Not what they're made out to be. Brother bought one for his car, it leaked and zip broke. Threw it out after only just over 2 years..

[jimxms]

A1VDY said:

Not what they're made out to be. Brother bought one for his car, it leaked and zip broke. Threw it out after only just over 2 years..

Sucks considering the money. If they'd only get back to me I'd happily take a replacement zip and then I could get it stitched on. I've even looked for new zips myself, but I cant find anything anywhere near as heavy duty.

[anonymous-user]

how has the zipper failed?

[paintman]

jimxms said:

A1VDY said:

Not what they're made out to be. Brother bought one for his car, it leaked and zip broke. Threw it out after only just over 2 years..

Sucks considering the money. If they'd only get back to me I'd happily take a replacement zip and then I could get it stitched on. I've even looked for new zips myself, but I cant find anything anywhere near as heavy duty.

Try looking for a caravan awning zip. Probably as heavy duty as you'll find.
Be worth speaking to a caravan sales place near to you, chances are they will know of/use someone local that does awning repairs.

ETA Quick google of 'replacement caravan awning zip' brings up quite a few repairers. I had a set of boat seat covers made up by one just outside Leicester a few years ago. I supplied the zip - moulded tooth type & I think YKK make - for the biggest cover but unfortunately I can't find the place I bought it from in my ebay history.

Edited by paintman on Sunday 27th December 19:33

[Plymo]

jimxms said:

A1VDY said:

Not what they're made out to be. Brother bought one for his car, it leaked and zip broke. Threw it out after only just over 2 years..

Sucks considering the money. If they'd only get back to me I'd happily take a replacement zip and then I could get it stitched on. I've even looked for new zips myself, but I cant find anything anywhere near as heavy duty.

Maybe one of the zips for a yacht sprayhood, awning or sail cover might do? They are normally very good and cope well outside.
As for the company, maybe try leaving some crap reviews, especially mentioning the fact they never get back to you.

did you buy it directly from them, or from another company?

[BIRMA]

I'd try contacting the company again as I had concluded they were excellent.
I had one for many years and kept my Alpine A610 in it. I put in a dehumidifier and it kept the inside at 60% RH all the time (I had remote sensor units all over the place for temperature and RH). The only cause for concern was one year in heavy snow it collapsed, it was a bit of a chore taking the car out and putting it back in but on the whole it worked for me.

[jimxms]

The Spruce Goose said:

how has the zipper failed?

The teeth (or whatever they are called) on the zip have started falling out in numerous places. So the zip regularly comes off the tracks or gets stuck and wont zip up completely

[jimxms]

Plymo said:

Maybe one of the zips for a yacht sprayhood, awning or sail cover might do? They are normally very good and cope well outside.
As for the company, maybe try leaving some crap reviews, especially mentioning the fact they never get back to you.

did you buy it directly from them, or from another company?

I purchased direct, which I'm kicking myself about now as I was previously going to purchase from demon tweeks, and at least then I would have had an additional company to contact.


I will check out those zip suggestions, thanks

[A1VDY]

Does yours have a plastic zip or a steel one. My brothers was steel, got jammed and eventually pulled away from the stitching. Tbf if he'd looked into it it probably could have been repaired.
The caravan awning and boat covers are a good suggestion for a new zip..

[85Carrera]

A1VDY said:

Not what they're made out to be. Brother bought one for his car, it leaked and zip broke. Threw it out after only just over 2 years..

Threw mine out too.

Not got dehumidifiers running in the garage instead. Far less hassle.

[jimxms]

A1VDY said:

Does yours have a plastic zip or a steel one. My brothers was steel, got jammed and eventually pulled away from the stitching. Tbf if he'd looked into it it probably could have been repaired.
The caravan awning and boat covers are a good suggestion for a new zip..

Plastic zip on mine. I was thinking of swapping to steel, but if they jam up just as easy then its probably not worth the extra expense. I think a large part of the problem with the design of these carcoons is that you drive over the zip, so eventually the teeth do get mangled.

I had contemplated changing the zip for velcro, but I'm not sure what the longevity of velcro is outdoors and how effective it would be in 6 months time once it had picked up a load of debris.

[chippy348]

My zip has also failed, i would say only after 30 or so uses.

I took it apart over a year ago, called and emailed with no reply, its been sat in the packing room for over a year now, really need to get onto them about it.

[A1VDY]

85Carrera said:

A1VDY said:

Not what they're made out to be. Brother bought one for his car, it leaked and zip broke. Threw it out after only just over 2 years..

Threw mine out too.

Not got dehumidifiers running in the garage instead. Far less hassle.

Exactly what we did. Garage is adjoined to the house but opted not to have rads in there when it was built. Can hold six cars but one £350 dehumidifier does the job.
Carcoons are a good idea in principle but are not durable enough for prolonged outdoor use. Having to drive over a zip is a poor design..

[EVLATECOMER]

I would look up local boat hood repair / manufacturers and ask them to put a new zip in for you.

I imagine the zips are similar heavy duty and used in outdoor environments, they have the zips and the machines.

[gsr121]

A1VDY said:

Exactly what we did. Garage is adjoined to the house but opted not to have rads in there when it was built. Can hold six cars but one £350 dehumidifier does the job.
Carcoons are a good idea in principle but are not durable enough for prolonged outdoor use. Having to drive over a zip is a poor design..

I was thinking of going down this route but was concerned that there are gaps (fairly small) around my garage door (up and over type), so I would be dehumidifying the local neighbourhood! Is your garage well sealed, or are there gaps? I can seal the gaps to a certain extent I think.

Is yours an industrial machine therefore? I have slightly larger than double garage (6m x 6m) and am wondering what sort of dehumidifier I would need.

Thanks
G.

[BIRMA]

gsr121 said:

I was thinking of going down this route but was concerned that there are gaps (fairly small) around my garage door (up and over type), so I would be dehumidifying the local neighbourhood! Is your garage well sealed, or are there gaps? I can seal the gaps to a certain extent I think.

Is yours an industrial machine therefore? I have slightly larger than double garage (6m x 6m) and am wondering what sort of dehumidifier I would need.

Thanks
G.

The reason I went down the Carcoon route with a dehumidifier was because it was fairly easy to keep the RH at a fairly steady reading.
The problem with single skin buildings like most garages are is that a dehumidifier will draw moisture out/through anything. My garage was full of very valuable motorbikes and guitar amplifiers so I had to get it down to a decent RH value so I lined the ceiling with Celotex and fixed it to the walls and the garage door, as the material is very light the garage door still opens okay. I have a non desiccant dehumidifier as it's cheaper to run but you need to keep a decent temperature otherwise it will freeze up.
Here is a photo of the ceiling and garage door, the builder fortunately fitted a polythene membrane before the concrete floor was laid so that helps reduce moisture coming up through the floor. I have an Economy 7 storage heater in the garage and have just checked it's 14.5 C and 61% RH whilst outside it is 4C and 97%RH

Edited by BIRMA on Monday 28th December 14:54

Edited by BIRMA on Monday 28th December 14:56

[A1VDY]

gsr121 said:

A1VDY said:

Exactly what we did. Garage is adjoined to the house but opted not to have rads in there when it was built. Can hold six cars but one £350 dehumidifier does the job.
Carcoons are a good idea in principle but are not durable enough for prolonged outdoor use. Having to drive over a zip is a poor design..

I was thinking of going down this route but was concerned that there are gaps (fairly small) around my garage door (up and over type), so I would be dehumidifying the local neighbourhood! Is your garage well sealed, or are there gaps? I can seal the gaps to a certain extent I think.

Is yours an industrial machine therefore? I have slightly larger than double garage (6m x 6m) and am wondering what sort of dehumidifier I would need.

Thanks
G.

We had the garage walls fully insulated, fully boarded ceiling & plastic clip together flooring
The two up and over doors also have rubber seals around the edges and another which touches the floor when closed. The dehumidifier is a commercial 50 litre extraction per day piped outside.
I think new it would have been around £800 but I bought it with a small dent & scratch in the side and was reduced to £350.
Im no expert on dehumidifiers but the general concensus is to buy one which has more than enough capacity for each square metre of space you have.
Hope this helps..