Spirit Mountain Yurts - Think twice about buying one

[Dan R-M]

As long as there's a section here for buying a yurt, I figure I ought to give my two cents' worth.

There's not much helpful information on Spirit Mountain Yurts in easy reach through google, and I think every additional bit is a benefit to prospective buyers. I got mine second hand, so I had nothing to do with them before I tried assembling mine. Running up against troubles, I emailed and called them looking for specs, instructions, or any kind of advice. No hint of a response.

When I sent an email inquiring about buying one, the response was swift.

That echoes the experiences others have related elsewhere online, in reverse: SMY is great until money is sent, then the problems begin. They've got some fascinating case histories on the Better Business Bureau website.

I'm not saying they necessarily should answer my questions if I never paid them a dime, but that kind of attitude does reflect on their customer service. Especially in contrast to the incredible amount of information Pacific Yurts shares, both through their website and over the phone and email, with people who aren't even looking to buy their product.

I can't attest to the SMY product - ours was damaged in a severe windstorm, and needed some rebuilding. Was that the fault of an under-built design? Was is assembled poorly by the first owners? Was it just a freakishly powerful storm? No one's talking.

All I can say is, though they offer one of the cheapest yurts on the market, I think they've got some bad karma to deal with.

They'd go miles toward being a better company if they only communicated.

Hope this is helpful!

 

[mcdm007]

Nomad Yurts

Hello All,

Realizing this is not about SMY, and although they projected a reasonable image on U Tube, I have looked and responded to the "Nomad Yurts" of Alaska, as I was particularly interested in some details. I have sent emails to them on more than one occasion, with......no reply. They too say they have an active presence on the Web, and I cannot understand if that is true, then why no timely email response to my inquiry ??? Anyone have any dealings with them ?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Jafo]

As far has Nomad Shelter Yurts goes, I can only tell you that I contacted them just the other day about a spelling error on their site and they contacted me back in about an hour to say thanks.

Have you checked your spam folder? Did you try an alternate email address? I have heard nothing but good things about them and they have an A+ rating with the BBB:

Nomad Shelter Inc Business Review in Homer, AK - Alaska, Oregon and Western Washington BBB

 

[Jake]

Nomad Yurts

I have had excellent results in communicating with Nomad, probably the best of any company, if I buy one it will be from them. They also have a periodic newsletter.

I have compared them the best I can with others, the one that comes closest is Colorado Yurts, but from what I see Nomad has the best winterizing. As I am in process of moving to Alaska that is a big item to me, until fall I am living in a larger wall tent.

Jake

 

[Jafo]

Jake, welcome to Yurt Forum!

From the Nomad site, they say they have the usual insulation plus:

In addition Nomad Shelter offers a heavy winter liner that includes the light liner backed with 2" of polyester batting on the top cover and 1" on the wall. This is in turn backed with Tyvek building wrap creating a durable liner that can be repeatedly moved without wear or breakage.

I would imagine up there in Alaska, insulation is a priority! We get about as cold as Alaska here and just as much snowfall.

In defense of all manufacturers, the insulation can be supplemented by materials you can purchase locally. There is nothing stopping you from using traditional insulation on the floors and walls, though you would lose the ability to see the lattice. You could cut board insulation for the rafters if you wanted to. The use of radiant heat with the reflective insulation though, should provide ample insulation IMO.

 

[HawaiiYurts]

Nomad shelter is a small company. They work hard, they give an excellent product, and they have good business ethics... If you've tried getting through repeatedly with no response, then I would suspect you're emails are getting blocked or something. Try calling. If you've only emailed once, then email again or call. In a small business, volleying a lot of emails as well as trying to run the business and build things can sometimes lead to missing a response.

NAYA is the North American Yurt Alliance.http://yurtalliance.com/ Spirit Mountain Yurts have not been invited to join the group because their yurts have no engineering specs and they have long standing issues that there is no evidence that they have tried to correct, both with their product complaints and with their customer service complaints.

Pacific Yurts and Rainier haven't joined NAYA because... hmm... Well, I think they're afraid of losing business or something. It's complicated. The aim is to pull together as an industry so that we can fight the big battles as a united force to be reckoned with, not a fragmented group of companies that are anti-competition.

Regardless, word to the wise, DO YOUR RESEARCH. Companies that have a long standing slew of complaints that have done nothing to remedy them, well, you can bet your bottom dollar that you'll soon be on that list too if you work with them. Another aim of NAYA is to provide a place for yurt owners to go where they can check out whether a company is NAYA accredited, which means they have, by industry standards, a good product as well as customer service.

 

[Jafo]

For future reference, NAYA can be found here.