Last June I got my then 3 year old a TP Activio with Surroundsafe, which is a poncey tension-set, ultra-padded safety net, because I know some medics hate trampolines as they cause a lot of injuries.
This is what the net now looks like:
- To the left of the entrance.
- To the right (we tried to repair with duct tape, not very successfully!)
- The entrance.
- Hole above the entrance, covered in duct tape, and several pinprick holes above that.
- Pinpricks to the right of the entrance (all the holes started as pinpricks, then as the trampoline was used failed under the tension - that tension is stressed as essential to proper functioning, as it's what is supposed to keep the kids safe from hitting metal springs when jumping!
- More pinpricks, round the back this time.
- The safety note that you can't use a trampoline with a damaged net.
- The bounce mat's logo, which is still pristine because the weather last summer was so awful and the winter so cold, DS has barely used the damn thing.
I've been going to and fro with TP's spares distributor for a couple of weeks, because the surround net is basically rotted inside that single year and has small holes and bloody great tears all over the fabric parts, rendering it unusable. They've told me it is a month out of warranty and thus I need to buy a new net from them. I did try to explain that warranties are in addition to statutory rights, not in lieu, and you can't sell an outside toy for hundreds of pounds and then say it is fine for it to rot inside a year, but to no avail. I wouldn't mind so much if I had several hulking teenagers, because they might have done the damage through carelessness when alone, but DS is a cautious and wary kid, has been supervised every time, and we've been scrupulous about all the safety information - the side tears are just because the fabric weakened so much that the bouncing tension ripped it. I know it's been a bad winter and was a wet summer last year, but this is just ridiculous. And to be told that they don't care what the law says (that something must be fit for the purpose for which it is sold) because it's out of guarantee, so hard cheese, is galling beyond belief.
Am I being unreasonable in expecting a reputable company, making an outdoors toy, would expect that toy to last more than one summer? I appreciate pregnancy hormones may be firing me up more than normal, but seriously, would you be okay with this? Or am I justified in thinking it should last at least a couple of years, if not more?