Need Help with Christmas Tree!!

[MerryLady]

Hi all.
Last year after Christmas, I purchased a seven and a half foot, pre-lit, Douglas fir style tree from Walmart.
I really wanted this style, but they had run out of all but the floor model, so that's what I bought. It was lovely, but didn't come with assembly instructions.

I didn't think this would be a problem because it consisted of only three pieces and the stand. Easy enough right?
Well it would be, except for a little problem. The stand consists of two metal pieces that lay flat against each other when the three is put away, and form a cross when the tree is up. In order for the stand to lock in position to allow the tree to stand up, a screw has to be put into the stand and tightened against the pole of the bottom third of the tree.
However , it seems that when that piece is inserted into the stand, the screw will not tighten at all. As a result, its impossible for me to make it stable enough.

I can't believe I cannot figure out how to tighten that blasted screw. Since like I said, it was the floor model, I know it works..it was standing up fine last year.

Does anyone have a tree like this? If so, can you advice me how to do this right so that I can get my tree to stand? Thanks in advance.

[Annette1990]

I too had gotten one semi similar from Walmart as well...Mine did come with directions but I tossed them thinking oh not a problem...wrong I could still use them...Here is what I would suggest..and let me know because I don't have a local Walmart close to where I live...find out the maker of this tree...im sure mine is from the same company...look this company up online or call information for their number and contact them directly. Chances are good they could have manuals to view online for setting up, or for replacements...I got rid of my box and all because I purchased this huge red and green Rubbermaid duffle bag to store my tree in.

[MerryLady]

I'm actually about to head out to Walmart in a few minutes to see if they have some directions, I sure hope so because it would be really a shame if I could not put up this beautiful tree because of one lousy screw:sad:

I did look online to see if there were any instructions, but so far I can't find any. I have the tag that the tree came with and it doesn't list a manufacturer , just says seven and a half foot pre-lit Douglas fir.
I googled Douglas fir, Walmart, assembly instructions and any other phrases I could think of, but found nada.
Anyway, I'll be back later and will post again sometime this evening and let ya'll know what I found. Thanks again.

[gennifyr]

Maybe the thread is worn out? I bought a 7.5 footer from a look nursery and it has the same stand you describe. It is a simple as screwing the screw as tight as you can. This year I found that it wouldn't tighten enough to keep the tree steady. I noticed there was another hole even though the tree only came with one screw. I stole a screw from our old tree (which has 4) and used that on the extra hole. It worked great. If you can't get a hold of a new screw I would contact the manufacture about getting a new stand.

[MerryLady]

Thanks for your suggestion genni. And thanks everyone who's replied so far.

I wish this tree had a second hole, but unfortunately it only comes with one. Although initially I said it was a seven and a half foot tree, when I looked again, I saw that it was a seven footer and the seven footers only come with that one screw and one hole.

I went to Walmart today and they were nice enough to open one of the boxes and let me see the directions.
Unfortunately, the directions for the stand were just pictures of it with an arrow pointing to the screw indicating how it goes in. I pretty much knew this already, so the directions were really no help at all.
The lady who worked there suggested hammering it in. I'm going to try that and if that doesn't work,I'm going to try and get an artificial tree stand. I saw some on sale online, but I'm afraid if I order now, it might get here too late, so I'm going to head to Home Depot or Lowes tomorrow to see if they have any. Wish me luck!