Never buy a Nemo Wetsuit

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jongillham

Registered
Messages
7
Reaction score
4
Location
San Francisco
# of dives
100 - 199
Kind of a long story but bear with me… it might save a whole lot of frustration.

The short story:
Via their website I ordered a custom made wetsuit from 5.5mm/3D neoprene in Grey/Red. I ended up spending +$620 (ouch) and have a non custom made suit from cheap neoprene that went from 5mm to 2mm in 15 (fifteen) dives.

The long story:
When the first suit arrived it wasn't the color I had ordered. Instead of telling me that red wasn't available in 3D they substituted it for pink. The limited color choices for 3D weren't mentioned on their website, and they didn't send me a picture of available colors until after I received it.

Even though it was the wrong color I decided to keep it and took it on a trip. After 3 dives the main back zipper broke open and the seam weld points started to peel off. The zipper repeatedly came open after that point. I contacted them and their suggestion was to replace the zip. Since I didn't buy a repaired suit they eventually agreed to replace it.

I shipped the defective one back to them at my expense as their courier service never contacted me as they told me would happen! I asked them to please allow me to choose the color this time but they refused and told me they would only replace it with the same material and color I originally picked.. which would be pink again. After a few more emails they stopped responding. I was $620 out of pocket ($481.88 plus $140 return shipping) with no wetsuit and they aren't replying. Awesome!

Then a few weeks later a black wetsuit appears. Of course I'm relieved and I naturally assume it's the 3D neoprene, though I had suspicions it wasn't custom made as I had not requested arm zippers and this suit had them.

I've just returned from Lembeh where I used the wetsuit. On the 3rd day (after 7 dives) I noticed that it was getting a lot thinner. After 2 more days it was getting really thin, and around the same time the owner of the resort asks me how I like it (he's very familiar with Nemo). I show him how thin it is and he says 'Yeah, but that's the cheap neoprene, maybe $120 suit.' I guess that explains why the first suit didn't compress after 3 days. He winced when I told him how much I paid.

So, to solve a series of problems of their own creation they fix it by sending me a product that's inferior to what I paid for and not custom made… like buying a custom Mustang and an overstock Escort getting delivered. Letting other people know of my experience is the only option I have as they have already stopped emailing with me. I'll update this if they choose to do the right thing and correct this situation.

Hope this helps others, and thanks for reading.
 
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Heatwave in Santa Cruz would be your best bet next time. If you're talking about the Indonesian Nemo custom made suits, I just have to ask why in the world you would buy a custom suit that's not made locally. Or how you weren't able to locate one.

Santa Cruz is only a 2 hour drive from SF and you'd only need to make 3 trips total to get your suit. Measuring, final fitting, then pickup.
And if you don't like Djon, there's Cricket at Otter Bay Wetsuits in Monterey. Although she's more awkward than Djon, by a lot.

This is just a real awful situation. I'm sorry it turned out this way.
 
I went with them because on a recent trip all the dives guides had them and our guide had over a 1000 dives on his and the neoprene was still good. But yeah, silly idea in hindsight.
 
Ouch, that hurt. If you get another made ask for Yamamoto neoprene and make sure you are present during the process. I feel for you hope you have better luck next time.
 
Ironically the trip where the zipper broke open was to Japan. My wife is Japanese and we visited her trusted suit maker during that same trip. If I hadn't already been embroiled with Nemo at that point (we booked the Japan trip after I had ordered) I would have been able to get a custom made suit from Japanese neoprene, which has been highly recommended before. You live and learn - 'a fool and his money...'. I just hope I can help others by sharing my experience.
 
I had a custom suit (Sequel) made from Yamamoto neoprene a few years ago last time I was in NZ. Several hundred dives later bar the odd scuff still looks like new.
 
Update...
I posted a link to this on the Facebook page of the folks that recommended Nemo, Critters@Lembeh. I was contacted by Lauren (who is now running the dive center) and she did something really amazing, even though I have never met her. She contacted Nemo on my behalf, and without going into the details, a few days ago I received a new wetsuit.<br>

I can not thank her enough for helping me. She had no connection this situation, nor do I think for a second that this was any responsibility of Critters, but she went out of her way and I am so grateful to her. Obviously it would have been more professional for Nemo to have remained in direct contact with me and for them to have chosen to replace it without Lauren's intervention, but I'm not complaining. I would also like to thank Nemo for eventually correcting this.
 
Wow, nice, that's amazing. Getting service from a company that did wrong is hard enough nowadays let alone service from an, essentially, unrelated company. Awesome. I'm glad it worked out for you, I hope this suit works out better than the first.
 
Hi jongillham,

Thank you for bringing your situation to our attention and for the kind comments - we do care about our guests, and will try to help where we can.
We are happy to have been able to help out and glad to hear that there was a positive resolution to the situation.



Update...
I posted a link to this on the Facebook page of the folks that recommended Nemo, Critters@Lembeh. I was contacted by Lauren (who is now running the dive center) and she did something really amazing, even though I have never met her. She contacted Nemo on my behalf, and without going into the details, a few days ago I received a new wetsuit.<br>

I can not thank her enough for helping me. She had no connection this situation, nor do I think for a second that this was any responsibility of Critters, but she went out of her way and I am so grateful to her. Obviously it would have been more professional for Nemo to have remained in direct contact with me and for them to have chosen to replace it without Lauren's intervention, but I'm not complaining. I would also like to thank Nemo for eventually correcting this.
 
Hi jongillham,

Thank you for bringing your situation to our attention and for the kind comments - we do care about our guests, and will try to help where we can.
We are happy to have been able to help out and glad to hear that there was a positive resolution to the situation.

For your effort, just put you on our list of resorts to go to. A good deed deserves acknowledgement and something good in return. Well done!

And well done Nemo. We bought 2 wetsuits from them when we were over there and they are fine.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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