Bundutec Australia

For 14 months we have been the owners of a custom 360 bunduawn to fit a13ft hybrid van. We had the awning custom ordered and installed through Bundutec after quite a bit of research. The Bundutec reputation is very high and your product information promised everything I wanted, including easy to set up and pack up, freestanding, able to with stand good winds, good fall from the clever roof design and replacement parts for longevity. So I had high expectations.

We’ve spent over 6 months travelling in the van with this awning on. So, this means I feel I can give some informed feedback on this awning. And sadly, Bundutec really need it to improve the product to the standard their customers deserve to expect given the price range and quality promises. My love affair with this awning ended a long time ago and it has meant, that despite travelling in constant heat, we spent about 3 months without putting the awning up because it just wasn't worth the hassle. I am so disappointed in it and fearful of it breaking, so I now avoid using it until I’m desperate.

Here is some honest feedback points from a user, as i found it very hard to find any decent feedback on the product prior to purchasing:

Let’s start with the bag/cover. Bundutec did our install for us and used a couple of thin pieces of stick on Velcro to allow us to hold the lower bag cover up when the awning is in use. We cannot use our lights or open and close our van door without the bottom of the bag cover being held up. The Velcro detached from the bag cover within the hour in heat. I purchased and tried some heavy duty stick on Velcro. This also failed after a period in heat. The Velcro does remain attached the the base plate, so I tried reattaching Velcro to the bag with Sikflex. This also failed after a few uses. I have now sikaflexed rare earth magnets to the baseplate and have more to use which allow me to hold up the cover. This works, but is far from an ideal solution. I did contact Bundutec about this just prior to leaving for an extended trip that we are now just finishing up. It was suggested that I put some press on studs onto the bag and base plate. However, they weren’t forthcoming in information on how to do this or offering the services of a suitable local company to do this. I definitely don’t have the tools to do this and don’t want to cause water ingress issues from the modification which wouldn’t be covered under warranty. This support/provided solution is incredibly poor considering Bundutec promised that the awning was suitable for our van and we paid for them to complete the install.

The second issue with the cover is that, even when closed up, it still rubs on the door when it opens and closes. Around 1 in 5 times the awning will pack up so that the door doesn’t catch on it. The rest of the time is entirely frustrating and we can’t seem to figure out how to prevent this.

We have the Bundutec awning and a Joolca shower tent attached to our van. After many dirt roads the Joolca bag will unzip beautifully, however the Bundutec awning bag will get so stuck we need to silicon spray it and tease it open. Perhaps they should look at the zip brand that Joolca uses... The awning itself feels as though they have taken a design which fits a car perfectly, upscaled this design, but never re-engineered the product to consider the increased size and weight. This first became apparent with the pin that the arms pivot from. Despite following pack up and set up instructions to use we found that these started to bend when we hadn’t had the awning set up in any adverse conditions. We purchased new ones and replaced them, but we aren’t sure if it’s the weight of the arms and material when opening up the awning, as a precaution we now feel that we can’t set the awning up solo and will always have two people so that one can be holding and supporting the middle arm until the end strap is connected and the awning pulled taut. We will also never use the awning without the legs down as we wondered if the weight of the awning means that awning cannot really be used as a freestanding awning, even in good weather.

Another selling point for this awning is the riser arms which provide great fall. Unfortunately in the longer awnings a third riser arm hasn’t been added. This means that the material in the middle sags, effectively removing most of the advantage of this design. No matter how taut we pull the awning we will have water pool slightly in the middle of the rectangle section. This is exacerbated by the Velcro edging that stays very taught and stiffer, while the awning material above it is more flexible and will then seemingly stretch or sag more to collect the water. I have had to connect an extra guy rope to pull down slightly on the middle of this rectangle area to prevent water buildup and also to reduce wind flap. We have also found that the arms droop down at the free end when packed away against the baseplate. The makes pack up a bit trickier. It would be really good to have some sort of bracket or shelf for the ends of the arms to sit on as they are pushed back against the backplate.

Our final disappointment was to have one of the arms flip over in a wind gust one afternoon. This happened in gusts that the bureau of meteorology recorded as 20kmph gusts, not quite the awning strength we were expecting from the product promises. At least here the ability to purchase replacement parts have been a saver. However this incident has very much added to our awning anxiety and reluctance to use the awning unless it’s absolutely critical.

As an aside, the customer service at your Bundutec HQ in Coomera/Gold Coast Australia has immense room for improvement.