Your experience highlights a real paradox with tents. You only need a tent in bad weather to shelter you from the elements. Generally only a quality tent will work in foul conditions. A poor quality shelter that doesn't work in bad weather is worse than useless.

There are two ways of dealing with this. 1) Only go out in good weather. The problem here is that weather forecasts aren't necessarily all that accurate. 2) Carry a tarp, as large and lightweight as possible. I backpacked for eyars with only a tarp, generally a GI surplus poncho as shelter - worked fine with my first quality down bag. Only a few years ago I and a friend did a multi-day trip in the Gila Wilderness in early November. We encountered rail, hail, lightning, and high winds. Our shelter was a 10x12 blue tarp right out of the local home center. It worked splendidly (by this time, I had at least two shelters in my stash that I could have chosen, but the tarp was perfect for the job).

You need to learn a bit to pitch a tarp correctly; a reasonable command of knotcraft is extremely valuable,as is a developed eye for selecting a good site for your shelter. You will need this last skill whatever shelter you deploy. I have seen top of the line North Face alpine tents shredded due to improper placement, otherwise known as P.I.S.S. (Poorly Implemented Site Selection).

You will want to acquire a good shelter soon enough, but I just wouldn't put it in that high a priority. After all, what are friends for, if not to loan you a good tent? I would also recommend renting for a trip or two to get an idea of what will work for you. A quality shelter doesn't automatically mean expensive. And as always - workable, lightweight, cheap - choose two of the three, tends to be the case. Gain knowledge and experience and you will learn what you want for good gear, not just shelters.