Bad Customer Service

Two and a half weeks ago I dropped $4000.00 USD cash at my local shop, same shop I took my PADI OW, Enriched Air, and Advanced OW. Of this $3000.00 was Oceanic Gear. Wetsuit, BC, Delta4 Reg, Proplus2 computer, Air XS, mask, fins, boots, gear bags, computer interface cable, etc. I would think that this was a nice sale for both the dive shop, and Oceanic. On the third dive with the Delta4 reg, the purge valve failed, lucky for me it was 70 deg. freshwater, and I was only at 20 feet or so. I was on a sponsored trip with the dive shop, so I showed the reg to the owner of the shop, he was not concerned in the slightest, this finished my dive trip (about 500 miles round trip) I was mad enough to call Oceanic the following day, and I inquired into some history of this gear. I wanted to be comfortable with the equipment or it is worthless to me. I finally got the Customer Service Manager on the phone after 30 minutes of the service tech jerking me around. We settled on me taking the gear to another local Oceanic shop for inspection. While at this shop, I was told that they would replace the reg, and the dive computer that appeared to have been pried open at one time. I felt that this was an appropriate solution. The following day, they had changed stories after the Customer Service Manager spoke with the shop that sold me the equipment. They would send a call ticket to have the reg and computer sent in UPS 3-day, (I purchased the equipment with 2 day air shipment) What really pissed me off was the tone he took with me, and he told me that I was inexperienced and had caused the reg malfunction myself, and that there was nothing wrong with the equipment as it was brand new. They will not honor the 30 day satisfaction guarantee, so I am stuck. I wish I had purchased a different brand. I am sure that other manufacturers would stand behind what they sell. Too bad I paid in cash (because the dive shop offered me a better price for cash, gee I wonder why?) or I would stop payment, and see if that would get some attention. Funny thing is my girlfriend is now in class to get certified, and we were picking out an Oceanic setup for her!, You can bet that will not be happening. I am at the point where I could have saved a thousand dollars or so if I bought off the internet, from a non-authorized dealer, and would have received the same level of support, or maybe even better. So I will hang the reg and computer on the wall to remind me of the $1500.00 hit I just took. I am not the kind of person that can sell this to someone else, and I will not risk my life by using it. Beware!

In what way did the purge valve fail?

third-coast-dive,

As hard as it is for me to believe, it is obvious that at several points along the way you were not treated with the level of service that we demand of our support staff and dealers. Please PM or email me, I will personally guarantee that we will resolve this to your complete satisfaction.

I also currently have a bad taste in my mouth about oceanic. I won't air my dirty laundry here though. Your experience was worse than mine however.

Brent

Actually, there are authorized dealers for Oceanic on the internet. scuba.com is one of them. Quite a few manufacturers allow their merchandise to be sold on the internet. Contact the manufacturer before purchasing to make sure the internet site is authorized. ScubaPro is one of the companies that does not authorize internet dealers.

Sorry to disagree with you both BUT !!! I've had nothing but great experiences with Oceanic. You post a complaint, on a PUBLIC (non-Oceanic site) at 11:07am Estern, and 14 minutes later have the personal guarantee from an Oceanic Marketing Mrg that you will be taken care of and satisfied... I've waited on hold longer than that to get nowhere with lesser companies...
I'd say that's pretty fast response.

I found that if given the chance Oceanic is more completely responsive than any manufacturer around.

Sorry if it sounds like I am airing my dirty laundry here, but I feel they left me with no alternative, and I am utilizing the only tool I have as a consumer, word of mouth. I thank God that I survived to whine about it.

There seems to be a lot of talk, but I wasted all day yesterday trying to resolve this, only after I go public they are interested, that is BS, and I still have not been taken care of.

third-coast-dive,

I received the requested email from you 5 minutes AFTER your last post, claiming to not have resolution yet. I am more than willing to work with you, and will contact you shortly regarding your request.

I'm always a lil sceptical when someones first post with no info in their profile is bashing a company... maybe fill in some info to get credibilty...