Worst gear story/experience

[Cera]

I would really like to hear the horror stories about different products and companies. For example, my friend sent his Bare wetsuit in to get it fixed, (it came unstitched) and they spilled glue all over it and had it for like 4 months before they finally just sent him a new one. He had to call them weekly towards the end...
I have also had problems with UK, essentially they told me they wouldn't replace my defective flashlight, I should just buy a new one! BOO!
But It doesn't have to be all bad, I want to hear good stories too.... Like how went my O'Neill suit was ruined when an a-hole dropped a jar of nails on it then proceeded to walk all over it putting lots of holes in it.. O'Neill fixed it for free! Even though it was not thier fault! I was impressed! Or how Princeton Tec replaced a guys flashlight when it flooded, even though he had it for over two years, and it was his fault!
Please share!

[Burntchef]

the story i want to hear is why your dry suit was next to a box of nails and how did some a hole manage to then spill the nails and proceed to walk all over the suit?? hope you exacted some sort of revenge

[Cera]

it was in the gear cleaning section of the shop and the owner of the building was doing work. my dry suit was on a boot dryer on a bucket, they knocked it down and the table next to it, with nails and a jar?! and then just kept going.... I made him pay for the 'repairs' or what I was told they would cost... I didn't actually pay for anything except shipping.. But I was not a happy camper

[Grateful Diver]

OK ... my horror story had to do with a custom drysuit I ordered from Northern Diver.

I got measured for this suit ... in fact, I followed recommended procedure and had the measurement done twice by two different shop employees. So they send the measurements off to ND and the wait begins.

Three months go by ... no word on the suit. Another month goes by and the suit finally arrives. We pulled it out of the box, unrolled it, and as I stood there with the shoulders of the suit in my hands, and my arms stretched as high as I could get them, we watched the boots roll down to the floor. I don't know who's suit this is supposed to be ... but it's not mine. Looks like it was built for a member of the Lithuanian basketball team or something. Furthermore, it's got a relief zipper on it (I didn't order one), and one pocket instead of the two I ordered.

Convinced there must have been a shipping error, we checked the paperwork. Nope, it was supposed to be for me. So we contacted Northern Diver.

First they claimed that they built the suit according to the paperwork that was submitted. But I had a copy of the order ... complete with the FAX stamp on it. I scanned it and sent them an electronic copy. Then they claimed that the measurements were wrong ... so I went to a friend who runs a different shop and asked if he'd do me a favor and check the measurements ... they were right.

OK ... so I get on the phone with Northern Diver ... at about $4 per minute because I'm talking to someone in England. They finally agreed to make me a new suit. I sent them the most current measurement sheet and insisted that they make the suit as I ordered it. There was considerable resistance to a second pocket because ... as one lady told me ... "it won't look good". I insisted, and they agreed.

A few weeks later the second suit arrived. It was about six inches too long and about 2 inches too tight in the shoulders ... but wearable. I called ND in England again and demanded to speak to "whomever is in charge of the company". I finally got to speak to a lackey of the CEO (they wouldn't put me through to him) ... and she agreed to just give me the suit if I'd shut up and go away. I later found out that they billed the dive shop for both of the suits ... despite the fact that it was clearly their screw-up, and despite the fact that it was they and not the dive shop who offered to give me the suit for free.

End of the story ... I wore the suit for a few months, finally had a DUI suit made, and sold the Northern Diver suit to Doug Steding. Those of you who've ever seen me and Doug together know that we look kind've like Abbot and Costello ... he's four inches taller and about 50 lbs lighter than me. The suit fits him way better than it fits me ... but it's still a bit long in the leg.

So much for a "custom" dry suit from Northern Diver ... I saw this situation repeated several times with other divers who ordered Northern Diver drysuits. They build a nice suit ... but it's not the company you want to buy a "made to measure" suit from.

They never seemed to understand that if a drysuit doesn't fit you properly, it's worthless.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[dsteding]

Priceless rant, Bob.

For the record, whenever I put that suit on I think about how ND could have possibly built it for you. It is still tall on me, if you hang the thing up, the neck seal comes to the top of my head.

That being said, it has been a great suit, 40+ dives on it so far with no complaints.

[CaptnJack]

My Northern Diver fits my chest like a barrel and is too short in the arms. Also a "custom"

[Sounder]

Love my Gravity Zero drysuit, but it took a long time to get here from Italy... evidently they use the slow boat.

Great suits though!

[lamont]

Salvo can't be beat for dive lights. Whenever they get an order or something in for repair it ships back to you a day or two later. They'll also cross-ship, work on lights from competitors and their customer service is very geared towards getting you in the water with functioning dive gear right away...

I also really like my Photon Torpedo LED light...

[Sounder]

Thanks Lamont - I'm looking at Salvo lights as we speak. I've heard nothing but great things about them.

[dsteding]

Salvo can't be beat for dive lights. Whenever they get an order or something in for repair it ships back to you a day or two later. They'll also cross-ship, work on lights from competitors and their customer service is very geared towards getting you in the water with functioning dive gear right away...

I also really like my Photon Torpedo LED light...

I'd second both these points, knowing Salvo's reputation for customer service helped me swallow the bitter pill of spending 11 scuba units on a light. I love the thing, and it has worked flawlessly on almost 50 dives so far.

On the other hand, I ordered a Halcyon Evolve 60 wing through my LDS 5 weeks ago. It has yet to show up. I want to clearly state that this is NOT the LDS's fault, in fact the gang has been quite helpful in loaning me a wing, and its become a source of much humor.

As near as I can discern, it seems that Halcyon's distributor keeps shipping wings to the Pacific Northwest and they get "lost" in transit, or this is the line we keep getting. I think the actual story is that said distributor does not have a wing in stock, and is buying time (I've heard rumors that the wings are back ordered).

This is annoying because (a) its been five weeks; and (b) the distributor seems to be telling a story that is a bit different than the truth. He keeps promising two day shipping, it was supposed to be here last Friday, then Monday, then yesterday . . . bladdity blah. If he'd just come clean and say "it is on backorder, you'll see it around Christmas" then I could plan accordingly (and buy a different wing).

Arrrggghhhh.

[Cera]

OK ... my horror story had to do with a custom drysuit I ordered from Northern Diver.

I got measured for this suit ... in fact, I followed recommended procedure and had the measurement done twice by two different shop employees. So they send the measurements off to ND and the wait begins.

Three months go by ... no word on the suit. Another month goes by and the suit finally arrives. We pulled it out of the box, unrolled it, and as I stood there with the shoulders of the suit in my hands, and my arms stretched as high as I could get them, we watched the boots roll down to the floor. I don't know who's suit this is supposed to be ... but it's not mine. Looks like it was built for a member of the Lithuanian basketball team or something. Furthermore, it's got a relief zipper on it (I didn't order one), and one pocket instead of the two I ordered.

Convinced there must have been a shipping error, we checked the paperwork. Nope, it was supposed to be for me. So we contacted Northern Diver.

First they claimed that they built the suit according to the paperwork that was submitted. But I had a copy of the order ... complete with the FAX stamp on it. I scanned it and sent them an electronic copy. Then they claimed that the measurements were wrong ... so I went to a friend who runs a different shop and asked if he'd do me a favor and check the measurements ... they were right.

OK ... so I get on the phone with Northern Diver ... at about $4 per minute because I'm talking to someone in England. They finally agreed to make me a new suit. I sent them the most current measurement sheet and insisted that they make the suit as I ordered it. There was considerable resistance to a second pocket because ... as one lady told me ... "it won't look good". I insisted, and they agreed.

A few weeks later the second suit arrived. It was about six inches too long and about 2 inches too tight in the shoulders ... but wearable. I called ND in England again and demanded to speak to "whomever is in charge of the company". I finally got to speak to a lackey of the CEO (they wouldn't put me through to him) ... and she agreed to just give me the suit if I'd shut up and go away. I later found out that they billed the dive shop for both of the suits ... despite the fact that it was clearly their screw-up, and despite the fact that it was they and not the dive shop who offered to give me the suit for free.

End of the story ... I wore the suit for a few months, finally had a DUI suit made, and sold the Northern Diver suit to Doug Steding. Those of you who've ever seen me and Doug together know that we look kind've like Abbot and Costello ... he's four inches taller and about 50 lbs lighter than me. The suit fits him way better than it fits me ... but it's still a bit long in the leg.

So much for a "custom" dry suit from Northern Diver ... I saw this situation repeated several times with other divers who ordered Northern Diver drysuits. They build a nice suit ... but it's not the company you want to buy a "made to measure" suit from.

They never seemed to understand that if a drysuit doesn't fit you properly, it's worthless.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

We also HAD northern diver suits.. last year they switched dive reps for WA/OR.. We never got a call from the new rep, the company or anyone saying the change was made. I found out from the OLD REP! Supposedly their new rep is in the seattle area?! Hum... We had tons of problems with A) actually getting the suits and B) being charged twice for them. And getting invoices months after the suit arrived....

[Tangfish]

Bob, I wonder if your issues were an Imperial/Metric problem.... ](*,)

[diver-dad]

Bob, I wonder if your issues were an Imperial/Metric problem.... ](*,)

I thought of that too, but that would result in a total scaling problem: right proportions, wrong size.

Could be a mix of problems if more than one person were doing the conversion calculations, though.

(I keep hearing my father "measure twice; cut once.")

[Burntchef]

i would like to give huge gratitude and props to a few online stores i have used for small buys, the first being dive rite express- i use them for some back up o rings for my hid and they have greadvd movies too, they work with diverite directly so there prices are just as good as a lds but they allways have everything in stock, plus there customer service rocks the casbah.

another i have used is zeagle express, same thing as above and jean who works there is a way cool guy, i had ordered a oms product from there and the next day he called to say that item was out of stock but he had a local guy that made the same product that he swore by and was cheaper.

i dont want to make this sound like i dont support my lds, believe me i do and will allways do for large buys but when im looking for certain small things online is a good way to go.

[BDub]

Ditto to Bob's post about Northern Diver (which took place about the same time as his problems), only it took them 4 suits to get mine "right", and by "right" I mean a suit that fit me. Unfortunately, by the time I got the "right" suit, I was at the end of my rope and just dealt with the small, slow leak that myself and the lds just could not find after numerous pressure checks. I finally gave up after putting 200 - 300 dives on the suit, of which maybe 20 were dry.

I moved to a Diving Concepts and couldn't be happier.

And yes, I found out later that Northern Diver charged the dive shop for all 4 suits.

[diver-dad]

Ditto to Bob's post about Northern Diver (which took place about the same time as his problems), only it took them 4 suits to get mine "right", and by "right" I mean a suit that fit me. Unfortunately, by the time I got the "right" suit, I was at the end of my rope and just dealt with the small, slow leak that myself and the lds just could not find after numerous pressure checks. I finally gave up after putting 200 - 300 dives on the suit, of which maybe 20 were dry.

I moved to a Diving Concepts and couldn't be happier.

And yes, I found out later that Northern Diver charged the dive shop for all 4 suits.

Wow ... Makes you wonder how they stay in business! - And what LDS would want to do business with them?

[Grateful Diver]

Ditto to Bob's post about Northern Diver (which took place about the same time as his problems), only it took them 4 suits to get mine "right", and by "right" I mean a suit that fit me. Unfortunately, by the time I got the "right" suit, I was at the end of my rope and just dealt with the small, slow leak that myself and the lds just could not find after numerous pressure checks. I finally gave up after putting 200 - 300 dives on the suit, of which maybe 20 were dry.

I moved to a Diving Concepts and couldn't be happier.

And yes, I found out later that Northern Diver charged the dive shop for all 4 suits.

Wow ... Makes you wonder how they stay in business! - And what LDS would want to do business with them?

Well, they stay in business by selling the majority of their suits to Europeans.

Around here, a number of dive shops picked them up ... because their suits are well-built ... and subsequently dropped them when they realized that their customer service and business practices were sub-par.

I believe that their suits are currently being sold through UWS ... who can afford to take the risk because they have so many other product lines to offer as alternatives. Frankly, if you can find one that fits you off-the-rack, they're a nice suit for the price. It's the "made to measure" suits that usually turn into a customer's worst nightmare ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Cera]

Speaking of dive-rite, we ordered 10 renal bcd's (rec. wings) slowly everysingle one of the oral inflator buttons broke... 10! of them!!! They said it was a defect and we had to order new parts. We also had a lot of problems with their regulators breaking while underwater BUT they were purchased for their 'bargan prices'! I guess you get what you pay for, but I haven't bought dive-rite since.

[CaptnJack]

Speaking of dive-rite, we ordered 10 renal bcd's (rec. wings) slowly everysingle one of the oral inflator buttons broke... 10! of them!!! They said it was a defect and we had to order new parts. We also had a lot of problems with their regulators breaking while underwater BUT they were purchased for their 'bargan prices'! I guess you get what you pay for, but I haven't bought dive-rite since.

Can you explina the regs breaking underwater part?

I have a dive-rite R2500 reg on my deco bottle and like it. There are some tiny pins on the sides of the exhaust ports which break off, but its not a big deal IMO. I think they get snapped off during servicing actually.

[WylerBear]

My problem was with a Harvey's Dry Suit. It was supposed to be custom fit but when it got to me I could have fit myself and two of my closest friends in it with me. It looked like Monica's fat suit on Friends. Anyway, sent it back the first time to get that taken care of. This was after already waiting more than a couple of months for it to be made and arrive from Kent, WA. Waited another several weeks and it finally arrived and although it still didn't fit very well, I was willing to give it a go.
First OW dive for my dry suit orientation I was slightly damp, on the second I was pouring water out of my boots. Called Harvey's and ended up having to hand deliver it to them so they could work on it (Actually I think Janna dropped it off for me that time). They worked on the neck seal and I picked it back up. Next dive, same thing. I tried to get them to just take the darn thing back but they wouldn't because it was custom. So this time I took it back when they were there, put the suit on for them so they knew I was "doing it right" (huh?), they saw where it still didn't fit, and said they needed to fix the neck seal to stop the leak. Many weeks later Janna picked it up for me after making an appointment to pick it up, getting there, no one was there, and ending up breaking in to find someone in the back.
Still leaking like a sieve. Took it back and asked that they put a latex neck seal on-the neoprene was just not working for me. They tried to talk me out of it but I was insistent. They quoted a price for me which I agreed to but insisted that they send it to my shop and pay for the shipping costs which they agreed to. A couple of weeks later it arrived COD with a neoprene neck seal. I was not happy.
Another trip to Kent to put the latex seal on. It arrived a couple of weeks later-COD again-with the correct seal and a bill for twice the amount we agreed to. A call where I had to argue about the price but finally won. I finally had a dry suit I could wear and stay dry in.
The suit was fine (put almost 200 dives on it with nary a problem) and will still be my back up suit once I get a leaky valve fixed. And the actual people at Harvey's were very nice.
But in general their customer service sucked! All that time and gas wasted and them not doing what I asked, when I asked, was not cool.

[Cera]

Speaking of dive-rite, we ordered 10 renal bcd's (rec. wings) slowly everysingle one of the oral inflator buttons broke... 10! of them!!! They said it was a defect and we had to order new parts. We also had a lot of problems with their regulators breaking while underwater BUT they were purchased for their 'bargan prices'! I guess you get what you pay for, but I haven't bought dive-rite since.

Can you explina the regs breaking underwater part?

I have a dive-rite R2500 reg on my deco bottle and like it. There are some tiny pins on the sides of the exhaust ports which break off, but its not a big deal IMO. I think they get snapped off during servicing actually.

Well at first the parts started falling off (the exhaust port, and the mouthpiece) then the metal rings that hold the diaphragm on broke and fell off.. then the diaphragms themselves started failing. So we just got rid of them! It could be that the parts were failing because we had to work on them SO much, but I wasnt fixing them, so its hard to say, but the point is they should break in the first place, espeically new ones!

[Cera]

I mean the should NOT break...

[CaptnJack]

Were these in rental service or something?

[Cera]

Oh yea, I guess I spelled rental wrong.. they weren't kidney BCD... ha ha They were only in rental for about 5 months, they just broke too much.

[Cera]

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