I’ve just taken my sleeping mat back to the shop I bought it from after I pulled the valve out to deflate it and it disintegrated, leaving it useless.

I looked the receipt out and I bought it in April 2014, making it nearly 3 years old. If it had been 10 years old I probably would have just accepted it’s time had come and bought a new one. If it was 3 months old, I would have taken it back to the shop demanding a replacement there and then, and likely would have got one.

As it is, it’s in that annoying in-between period where the specified warranty period (which is meaningless, but try telling anyone that) has run out, but you’d reasonably expect it to still be working. I don’t consider less than 3 years to be a reasonable lifespan for a sleeping mat – am I alone in that?

For what it’s worth, it’s a Mountain Equipment mat (so not a cheap brand) bought from Cotswold (so I’m expecting reasonable customer service). The guy in Cotswold was dismissive at first, but when he realised I wasn’t going to be fobbed off with “it’s out of warranty, hard luck” he got his manager to send it back to ME, but said they’ll probably charge me for it and he didn’t seem interested in arguing my case with them. My contract’s with Cotswold so I’m not sure there’s much I can do.

I’m not sure what the point of this is. I’m not expecting an outpouring of sympathy. It’s just annoying isn’t it?

I would have got in touch with Mountain Equipment to see the cost of repair. Often a positive approach like that is rewarded with something like, “sorry its not economical to repair these, but we’d like to offer you 50% off a replacement”. I wouldn’t expect a piece of camping equipment to have a long lifetime unless marketed as such. How much use did you get out of it?

I did consider that, but thought Cotswold would offer decent customer service as well, and I can actually deal with them face to face.

I had a fair amount of use out of it – I would guess maybe 30 or 40 nights. I wouldn’t have thought that was a “long lifetime” but maybe I’m old-fashioned.

Update: went back to Cotswolds today (30th) since I hadn’t heard anything for over 3 weeks (sent on 5th). They rang ME who had authorised a credit for a new mat on the 16th, but hadn’t communicated this to Cotswolds. The guy in Cotswolds, who seemed genuinely happy to help me, and that I’d got a new mat, picked one off the shelf and gave it to me and that was that.

So credit to ME for honouring their warranty, with a couple of points off for neglecting to actually tell anyone, and partial credit to Cotswolds for ultimately sorting it out, if at first it was reluctant and they needed a bit of pressure applying.

I don’t think people do enough of this.

Nowadays we have become used to a disposable culture.

If we demanded the products we buy actually lasted a reasonable amount of time then we would cut down on waste and manufacturers would improve their products.

It used to be that the cost equated to quality but not anymore.

The Sale of Goods Act actually covers goods for up to 6 years, so long as it is considered “reasonable” for the goods to last that long.

If we demanded the products we buy actually lasted a reasonable amount of time then we would cut down on waste and manufacturers would improve their products.

Completely agree.

The thought of sending it to landfill because a small part of it had broken was a large part of my initial annoyance. Sadly I think that will probably have happened, indirectly.