Blackdog017
Registered
OK, apologies beforehand for the rant. But allow me tell you a story.
First diving day on the first of two weeks cruise in the Red Sea.
My wife has a Perdix Ai that she bought in 2019, but effectively, has been used during four live aboard cruises, some 6 weeks in total.
For the first dive they use air in these Red Sea cruises. Since the Perdix was still set to “Nx31” since last time used, my wife turned it on and set it to “Air” just before the dive. Also checked the tank initial pressure on the Perdix (we have the Transmitter). She finished suiting up and we jumped in the water.She jumps backwards because she uses very long freediving fins.
Just a couple of meters into the descent she checks the Perdix and to her surprise it was off….
Then we noticed that there was water under the glass, and finally noticed the left button assembly hanging from the thin cables threaded through the small o-ring. So, the Perdix was not off after all, it was dead.
After the dive, on the boat, we checked the internet and found in this very forum that other people have had this failure, and that it is apparently a known issue due to a design flaw in some early production units. Fortunately, these other users had the issue happen on dry land, and the DC was not killed…. Not our case, though.
We are based in The Netherlands, so following the directions in Shearwater page we sent an email to their service center in France (the ONLY point of service they have in the EU !).
This was three weeks ago. And we have never received any answer from this French service center. Complete silence.
About half way we also contacted Shearwater info email in Canada with the issue, and they suggested that the French site might be rather busy, being it high season and all…. (an answer that I find simply unacceptable), and to try to contact the UK service point instead to see if we have better luck.
We are just back from the holidays. We have not yet contacted the UK site. But frankly, it really feels like the brand is not set up for proper customer service in Europe.
My wife finished the diving holidays with a 13 years old trusty Suunto Vyper, that we always carry around as an eventual backup simply because it refuses to die. But its end of life might well be around the corner.
After the failure of the Perdix and considering the age of the Vyper we were thinking about buying a new backup DC, and we were very fond of the Peregrine. But after the poor response of Shearwater's service people, and still not knowing if they will honor the fact that this was due to a design flaw, we are seriously thinking of other options.
Maybe Shearwater is not the DC to have for people living in Europe after all. Now strongly considering Aqualung, or other such mainstream brands with some serious support network.
I know that the Perdix is a forum darling, and very likely for good reason, but on this side of the Atlantic, their service seems seriously sub-par.
First diving day on the first of two weeks cruise in the Red Sea.
My wife has a Perdix Ai that she bought in 2019, but effectively, has been used during four live aboard cruises, some 6 weeks in total.
For the first dive they use air in these Red Sea cruises. Since the Perdix was still set to “Nx31” since last time used, my wife turned it on and set it to “Air” just before the dive. Also checked the tank initial pressure on the Perdix (we have the Transmitter). She finished suiting up and we jumped in the water.She jumps backwards because she uses very long freediving fins.
Just a couple of meters into the descent she checks the Perdix and to her surprise it was off….
Then we noticed that there was water under the glass, and finally noticed the left button assembly hanging from the thin cables threaded through the small o-ring. So, the Perdix was not off after all, it was dead.
After the dive, on the boat, we checked the internet and found in this very forum that other people have had this failure, and that it is apparently a known issue due to a design flaw in some early production units. Fortunately, these other users had the issue happen on dry land, and the DC was not killed…. Not our case, though.
We are based in The Netherlands, so following the directions in Shearwater page we sent an email to their service center in France (the ONLY point of service they have in the EU !).
This was three weeks ago. And we have never received any answer from this French service center. Complete silence.
About half way we also contacted Shearwater info email in Canada with the issue, and they suggested that the French site might be rather busy, being it high season and all…. (an answer that I find simply unacceptable), and to try to contact the UK service point instead to see if we have better luck.
We are just back from the holidays. We have not yet contacted the UK site. But frankly, it really feels like the brand is not set up for proper customer service in Europe.
My wife finished the diving holidays with a 13 years old trusty Suunto Vyper, that we always carry around as an eventual backup simply because it refuses to die. But its end of life might well be around the corner.
After the failure of the Perdix and considering the age of the Vyper we were thinking about buying a new backup DC, and we were very fond of the Peregrine. But after the poor response of Shearwater's service people, and still not knowing if they will honor the fact that this was due to a design flaw, we are seriously thinking of other options.
Maybe Shearwater is not the DC to have for people living in Europe after all. Now strongly considering Aqualung, or other such mainstream brands with some serious support network.
I know that the Perdix is a forum darling, and very likely for good reason, but on this side of the Atlantic, their service seems seriously sub-par.
