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Help . . . . . . me . . . .
We’ve tried to make this site as easy to use as possible – find your gear, click on how long you want to rent it, and then tell us where to send it. Sounds simple. But alas, we know there are all kinds of questions that come up in the process. So this page has some general suggestions and points you to various locations where you will hopefully find your answers.
Each product we offer has a short and a long description, often with further links to other web sites or informational pages on this site. Click around on your product of interest and see what all you can learn. Go here to see our entire product line.
We’ve assembled some FAQs here that should prove helpful.
Our fine print, detailed rental policies can be found here.
General recommendations on what gear to take with you on your camping trip can be found here.
Recommendations within our gear selections – which gear we offer is best for what kind of trips, etc – can be found here.
Operating instructions, owner manuals and our numerous how-to and informational reference guides are summarized here.
Detailed information on how to place an order is on this page.
Finally, we’ve assembled some more basic issues and answers for you below.
I cannot find something I need.
We carry a few select items in each of the major gear categories –tents, backpacks, sleeping gear, etc – and numerous accessory items. We don’t carry shoes or food, but will include the latter in our offerings later on. You can search from the bottom of our home page and any results page by gear category or brand name, or review our entire selection (like example here). You can also search by keyword – if the word you enter is within the name or short description text, it will pop up. Finally, if you’d like to rent something we simply don’t carry right now, let us know what it is – we’ll at least consider any worthy outdoors-related gear to add to our inventory line. Let us know here.
I want to place an order.
As you browse our gear inventory, you’ll see buttons for weekend, 1-week and 2-week rentals. Clicking on the appropriate button will add the gear to your shopping cart. Rent that one item or continue shopping for more; each item will be added to your shopping cart. Then just follow the simple steps for “checking out”. But don’t mix different rental lengths within the same order unless you plan on dealing with multiple drop off dates. Learn more about ordering from us here.
I don’t understand how the deposits and rental fees will be charged to my credit card.
Each piece of gear has a deposit amount associated with it which is right at or slightly below its retail value. When you check out, the dollar amount of the deposit is indicated along with the rental and shipping fees. When you submit your order, a quick check is run against the credit card info you entered to make sure the number is valid. That way you can be notified immediately if there is possible entry problem. But no charges or reserves are placed against your account at that time. To review our complete rental policy statement, see here.
Right before we ship the gear to you, we will put an “authorization hold” on your credit card account for the deposit amount. This will not show up on your statement, but will affect your available credit. For example, if you have $3,000 credit available on your credit card, and we put a reserve against it of $600 to cover the retail value of the gear we’re renting to you, you will only have $2,400 in available credit to use for other purposes during that time. There is no interest charged to your account by your credit card company during the hold period. When you have returned the gear in a timely manner and in good condition, we then process the charge for the actual rental fees, any applicable taxes and shipping costs. The “authorization hold” amount placed prior to shipping is then automatically released from your account. Only the actual transaction that is posted after we receive the gear back shows up on your credit card statement.
I want to pay by check instead of credit card.
There’s a couple of ways you can do that. Go ahead and place your order through normal means, using a valid credit card that the system will accept to allow submission of your order. Nothing will be charged or reserved against the card. Write down the order number that you see when the order is submitted and send that to us along with your name, address and contact info, plus a check equal to the deposit amount associated with the order. We’ll deposit the check and ship the gear, and then issue a refund check for the difference between the deposit and actual rental charges as soon as we get the gear back. Or, make a list of the gear you want, and email it to us here; we’ll get back with you on how to handle everything. Any payment in the form of check will need to be received by us at least 10 days prior to our shipping the order.
I want to check out the status of an order.
As soon as we receive your order, we review it for any problems or questions that might arise. We will contact you as needed. You can contact us at any time if you have any questions on your order. When we ship your order, we will email you a notice, along with a shipping tracking number (usually from UPS) that you can use to follow the progress of the shipment to you.
I need to make a change in my order.
We currently do not have a means of making a change to previously placed orders online. Just contact us at any time with the particulars; we'll reply to acknowledge your request, let you know of any problems, or ask any questions we might have about the change.
I want to return the gear to you.
Easy. Inside our shipping box to you with the gear was a return label. Clean and dry out the gear after your trip, and then re-pack into this same box. Affix the return label in place of the one addressed to you, re-seal tightly with strong boxing tape and then drop off at any authorized UPS shipping point – including any Mail Boxes Etc or similar store; a UPS office; and countless other places. The shipping is already paid if you use the enclosed label. Just drop it off by your “Drop Off Date” to avoid any late charges. You are not responsible for any delays in shipping after you’ve dropped it off; just be sure to keep your shipping acknowledgement from the shipping point you choose to prove your drop off date in case of a problem. You are, however, responsible for lost or damaged goods, from the time you receive the gear until we receive it back; so you should consider adding insurance to the return shipment. The cost is nominal. To review our complete rental policy statement, see here.
I don’t know how to use a piece of gear I rented.
Start by looking for an owner’s manual or other instruction sheet normally provided with the gear. If not there or if you want additional information, find the product description on our web site and read it – there may be links to additional information from there. Also, we’ve summarized most of the manuals and reference guides we have at one location here.
I want to buy an item I have been renting.
Then do nothing! Just keep the gear; we’ll keep the deposit, and we’re just about even. Our deposit amounts are at or below the retail value of the gear, so you’re assured of a good price. And, you won’t be charged a rental fee for that item; only shipping and any taxes. If you want to return some gear and keep other gear, just ship back what you don’t want to keep. We’ll close out your transaction by charging you rent on the items you sent back and the deposit amount on the gear you kept, plus any applicable shipping and tax costs. To review our complete rental policy statement, see here.
List of Informational Guides
We've prepared a number of discussions on gear and camping issues that we believe might be helpful to our users. These are already linked to at lots of places around the site within relevant product context, but here they all are in one list:
If you still have questions not addressed anywhere above, contact us here.
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