Khyam Tents Purchase June 2024 Lifetime warranty - Now in liquidation. Any rights?

RowenaRubysMummy

Back in June we needed to repalce our damaged unreparable tent so after a lot of research and consideration we purchased a Khyam airtent at a cost of around £2k. This was a very considered purchase due to the high cost.
We camp alot and did lots of research into the what the best brands were and best value for money would be. We found an excellent deal with the 'Rolls Royce' of tent manufacturers and decided to go with them. Also cementing the deal was the 'Lifetime Guarantee', now i know this only covers certain things, I'm not naive but it does offer a certain level of security with this type of product. We chose to use Dividebuy as method of payment as, why not. Whilst we could have purchased outright, 0% interest free we saw as a bonus. Fastforward 4months later and it would seem the company has now gone into liquidation. There was no sign of this when we made our purchase as we would have not obviously gone ahead, and purchased from elsewhere instead. 
So basically what I'd like to know is do we have any rights? We have an expensive tent that if any of the air beams fail we are unlikely to be able to source a replacement etc. This tent was an investment we anticipated lasting many years, and hopefully still will but we had the safety net of knowing we had a warranty should anything happen, or at least a company to approach for help & advice if something wasn't covered under the warranty as from our research we found from the camping community they had a good reputation for excellent customer service and really did offer good help and advice (even shipping replacement beams out to campsites to people who had had problems on site). 
I'm one of the lucky ones to be fair as my tent is currently fine, however there are some customers who have sent their products back under warranty and are waiting for replacements and repairs, whether this happens remains to be seen. 

Aylesbury_Duck

RowenaRubysMummy said:

Back in June we needed to repalce our damaged unreparable tent so after a lot of research and consideration we purchased a Khyam airtent at a cost of around £2k. This was a very considered purchase due to the high cost.
We camp alot and did lots of research into the what the best brands were and best value for money would be. We found an excellent deal with the 'Rolls Royce' of tent manufacturers and decided to go with them. Also cementing the deal was the 'Lifetime Guarantee', now i know this only covers certain things, I'm not naive but it does offer a certain level of security with this type of product. We chose to use Dividebuy as method of payment as, why not. Whilst we could have purchased outright, 0% interest free we saw as a bonus. Fastforward 4months later and it would seem the company has now gone into liquidation. There was no sign of this when we made our purchase as we would have not obviously gone ahead, and purchased from elsewhere instead. 
So basically what I'd like to know is do we have any rights? We have an expensive tent that if any of the air beams fail we are unlikely to be able to source a replacement etc. This tent was an investment we anticipated lasting many years, and hopefully still will but we had the safety net of knowing we had a warranty should anything happen, or at least a company to approach for help & advice if something wasn't covered under the warranty as from our research we found from the camping community they had a good reputation for excellent customer service and really did offer good help and advice (even shipping replacement beams out to campsites to people who had had problems on site). 
I'm one of the lucky ones to be fair as my tent is currently fine, however there are some customers who have sent their products back under warranty and are waiting for replacements and repairs, whether this happens remains to be seen. 

In short, unless the guarantee was underwritten by a third party, then it's died with the company and any rights you had with it are gone.

If Dividebuy is a finance provider, you may have section 75 protection in the event of a problem.

Grumpy_chap

RowenaRubysMummy said:

 it would seem the company has now gone into liquidation. 

Is "the company" that has gone into liquidation the retailer or the manufacturer (Khyam)?

born_again

Aylesbury_Duck said:

If Dividebuy is a finance provider, you may have section 75 protection in the event of a problem.

Sadly they are yet another buy now pay later with no S75 protection

Interest free credit agreements provided by Zopa Bank Limited trading as DivideBuy that are 12 months or less in duration are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service. Zopa Bank Limited trading as DivideBuy is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority, and entered on the Financial Services Register (800542). Zopa Bank Limited (10627575) is incorporated in England & Wales and has its registered office at: 1st Floor, Cottons Centre, Tooley Street, London, SE1 2QG. VAT Number 281765280. DivideBuy’s trading address is First Floor, Brunswick Court, Brunswick Street, Newcastle-under-Lyme, ST5 1HH. © Zopa Bank Limited 2024. All rights reserved.

Guessing OP is talking about

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12278425/filing-history

RowenaRubysMummy

Grumpy_chap said:

RowenaRubysMummy said:

 it would seem the company has now gone into liquidation. 

Is "the company" that has gone into liquidation the retailer or the manufacturer (Khyam)?

Both, we bought directly from Khyam not from a third party stockists like Go Outdoors (for example).

Alderbank

Grumpy_chap said:

RowenaRubysMummy said:

 it would seem the company has now gone into liquidation. 

Is "the company" that has gone into liquidation the retailer or the manufacturer (Khyam)?

Companies House says

   KHYAM (UK) LTD

   Company number 12278425
   Creditors voluntary liquidation commencement of winding up 23 October 2024

user1977

Voluntary liquidation suggests not insolvent, so in theory you could get in quick with your claim...

Bradden

user1977 said:

Voluntary liquidation suggests not insolvent, so in theory you could get in quick with your claim...

I don't think they want to claim currently.

Ergates

RowenaRubysMummy said:

Grumpy_chap said:

RowenaRubysMummy said:

 it would seem the company has now gone into liquidation. 

Is "the company" that has gone into liquidation the retailer or the manufacturer (Khyam)?

Both, we bought directly from Khyam not from a third party stockists like Go Outdoors (for example).

You're pretty much stuffed then in terms of warranty or returns if something goes wrong.

However, most things in a tent can be fixed or replaced by a 3rd party.  Obviously that costs, but a lot less than a whole new tent.

Grumpy_chap

RowenaRubysMummy said:

Grumpy_chap said:

RowenaRubysMummy said:

 it would seem the company has now gone into liquidation. 

Is "the company" that has gone into liquidation the retailer or the manufacturer (Khyam)?

Both, we bought directly from Khyam not from a third party stockists like Go Outdoors (for example).

Oh, your consumer rights are with the retailer and can't now be enforced.
The warranty is in addition to consumer rights but also can't be honoured unless it was an insurance-backed warranty, which I doubt.

Out of interest - what does a "lifetime" warranty mean?
Whose lifetime?
 - The lifetime of the purchaser?
 - The lifetime of the tent?  (How long is that?)
 - The lifetime of the organisation offering the warranty?

If it is the third of the above, the "lifetime" warranty has been satisfied, it's just the "lifetime" is shorter than you expected - the corporate version of the organisation being knocked down by a bus a day after purchase.

The OP is at least not in the worse position of having returned a tent for repair and wondering if and when they'll get the tent back.

daveyjp

With any luck the Khyam tent will last as long as mine that I purchased about 30 years ago from a different Khyam tent company which also went bust!

Still used every year, its now a little faded, but all the quick erect mechanisms still work, it isn't ripped and it doesn't leak.