Okay, this sounds too good to be true, but I checked three times.
Decathlon – you know, that massive sports store where you buy cheap hiking boots that somehow last forever – just announced they'll give you a full refund on any tent you return this summer. Used, dirty, smelling like questionable festival decisions and all. My mate Sarah texted me about this at 2am last night with about fifteen exclamation marks, so naturally I had to dig deeper.
Here's the deal: buy any tent between June 9th and September 14th, drag it through whatever muddy hellscape you call camping, then bring it back before September 14th with your receipt. They hand you a gift card for the full amount. No questions asked about what exactly happened in there during Glastonbury weekend.
The Fine Print (Because There's Always Fine Print)
You need to be a Decathlon member when you buy it, but that's free and takes like two minutes online. Also, it's only their own brand tents – the Quechua and Simond ranges. Still, we're talking about a four-person Quechua tent that costs £199. That's not pocket change.
They started this madness in 2023 but apparently decided to go all-in this year and include every single tent they make.
Why They're Doing This (Spoiler: It's Not Just Kindness)
Festival waste is genuinely horrific. I volunteered at cleanup after Reading 2019 and... God. The tent graveyard was like something from an apocalypse movie. Thousands of perfectly decent tents just abandoned because people couldn't be bothered to pack them up hungover on Monday morning.
Here's a stat that made me feel terrible about my own past choices: one disposable tent contains as much plastic as 9,000 straws. Nine thousand! That's the kind of number that makes you rethink your entire relationship with festival gear.
Chris Allen from Decathlon's sustainability team said they're trying to "drive systemic change and change camping culture for the better." Fair enough – though I suspect they're also building a decent business model around reselling returned tents through their "Second Life" programme.
Celebrity Endorsement Alert
Broadcaster Vick Hope is backing the campaign, saying your tent "deserves more than one weekend of glory." She's not wrong, though I'm slightly amused by the idea of tent dignity being a thing we need to consider now.
They've even made giant flags out of old abandoned tents with messages like "I'm not leaving my tent behind, you shouldn't either." It's either brilliant marketing or the most passive-aggressive environmental campaign ever created.
The Membership Thing
Since you need to be a member, here's what that gets you beyond tent forgiveness: points when you spend (which convert to money-off vouchers) and personalized offers based on your shopping habits. Standard loyalty programme stuff, really.
Sign up at membership.decathlon.com/en-GB/ if you're planning to take advantage of this summer tent rental scheme masquerading as a refund policy.
Honestly? This might be the smartest retail move I've seen in ages. They get customer loyalty, environmental brownie points, and a steady supply of barely-used tents to resell. Meanwhile, festival-goers get to camp without the financial guilt of buying gear they'll use twice.
Win-win, assuming you remember to keep your receipt after three days of questionable decision-making in a field somewhere.
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