Stay Away From SeaLife Products...

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Erik Il Rosso

Contributor
Messages
266
Reaction score
0
Location
Livorno, Italy
# of dives
500 - 999
This e-mail has been sent to SeaLife USA and also to the italian importer...

After several e-mails it seems like that you are not interested in
this matter so I will inform other divers to stay away from your
products.


Reminder, no reply received so far
**********************************

Dear Sirs,
about three months ago I bought one of your underwater camera (DC800)
from a dealer located in Montecatini Terme - Tuscany (Italy) called
"Pluto". I prepared the camera for the dive as suggested in the owner
manual but when I reached 38 metres I could not operate the camera due
to all buttons being pressed by external pressure. I immediately
returned the camera to the dealer asking for a replacement and after
40 days I got a new housing. I re-arranged a test dive for the camera
and this time when I reached 36 meters the "Trash" button was pressed
due to external pressure and again I was not able to operate the
camera even if you advertise that this camera is usable up to 60
metres "Guaranteed".

I had to return the camera to the dealer another time and the people
behind the counter who represent your good firm were not too much
friendly. I offered to pay a premium and I upgraded my camera from a
DC800 to a DC1000 model. Being a certified Trimix diver I planned a
dive up to 60 metres and needless to say that when I reached the
bottom I was disappointed again. First of all when I reached 58 metres
some small droplets of water penetrated the housing but what is worst
is that when I reached 60 metres the "Trash" button was pressed due to
the external pressure and I was not able to operate the camera for the
third time.

I checked your web site and the most recurring word in it for both
cameras (DC800/DC1000) is that 60 metres are somewhat "Guaranteed" but
from my point of view this camera is usable up to 40 metres. Maybe I
got three faulty cameras in my hands but I frankly doubt that both
models can be taken up to 60 metres without troubles. Maybe there is
an engineering problem with the housing but you are the one who
designed it and you should know better.

What leaves me speechless is that I paid good money and in return I
was not able to take both cameras to the "Guaranteed" depth in
operative conditions and I also had to deal with unfriendly clerks
which are doing no good to your business.

At this point I do not longer trust to take my camera underwater and
this is why I am asking for a full re-found.

Your Italian distributor is in CC just lo let them know what is going
on.

At your disposal for any additional info you might need.

Ciao Erik Il Rosso
 
This would be the first time I have EVER heard of the buttons being pressed due to pressure. I've had my camera to 150-160' (46-49m) often and have NEVER had the buttons pressed due to pressure (ever!)

You must have received the only three new SeaLife cameras and housings to have this issue that I have ever heard of...

Leaking... I've heard of that. Almost every leak in a camera housing can be traced back to diver error in setting up the camera. If you place the camera in the housing with an obstruction or incorrectly, that may cause it to leak, or the buttons not to work, that would certainly make sense to me (much more common than a pressure issue at those depths)

Maybe I got three faulty cameras in my hands but I frankly doubt that both models can be taken up to 60 metres without troubles. Maybe there is an engineering problem with the housing but you are the one who designed it and you should know better.

Frankly, this leads me to doubt that you received three faulty cameras, but I am very interested in what the actual SeaLife reps have to say about this issue.
----

The other interesting thing is that you refer to these dive shop clerks as if they are experts and work for SeaLife. They are dive shop clerks who work for the dive shop. So in effect the unfriendly clerks should have been reported to the dive shop management as they are not doing their dive shop any favors by being rude to customers
------------

Nowhere in this post do I see that you contacted SeaLife directly or that they have even seen your camera or duplicated the issue.

I would think it fair that you could have them look at the "three faulty cameras and housings" in an attempt to duplicate and verify your issue before you publicly trash them.

But, that is just my opinion since I've had my camera for years and the only issues I can report to date are issues I created by not following the directions, attempting short cuts or not checking the camera COMPLETELY before I entered the water with it.
 
I sent three e-mails to SeaLife USA and also to the italian importer...

1st) 18/08/09 no reply
2nd) 20/08/09 no reply
3rd) 21/08/09 no reply

What else should I do ???

It seems like nobody is interested in solving this issue...

If I am trashing SeaLife is just because my money were good and their cameras were not so good...

I would have not written such message if I had at least received a couple of words from them...

By the way, two of the faulty cameras are already in their hands...

Ciao Erik Il Rosso
 
Have you called them or emailed the rep on this board. I have been happy with both my sealifes and the service. Good luck and I hope it works out for you
ciao
 
Have you called them or emailed the rep on this board. I have been happy with both my sealifes and the service. Good luck and I hope it works out for you
ciao
He's in Italy so calling is not as easy as for us in the US. It can be done economically with Skype but not everyone is into such. His emails should have been answered, except that it might be reasonable to allow more time for a reply.

The original post was certainly a strong one for the Sealife forum, and they could delete it if they wanted to; that is a privilege for Manufactures with their own forums here, as compared to Sealife Owners forum. I suspect that Joe will address it tho, not delete it.

I too am skeptical about "buttons being pressed due to pressure." I've used their cameras much deeper than 38 meters with no such problem and I really doubt that greater pressure would freeze the buttons. But then I would have test fired the camera at 0m, 10 m, 20 m, 30 m, etc to see how it worked at different depths.

Camera problems are usually operator error and I do not see anything so far here that suggests the user studied and test fired his camera on surface and in shallower depths?
 
Updates...

No replies to my e-mails received so far, it seems that the italian importer is closed due to summer holidays but I discovered it because a friend told me so...

When I am on holiday I leave the "Out Of Office" auto-reply on so if someone sends me and e-mail he knows I am not at my desk, it's just a matter of being professional, don't you agree ???

Regarding testing the camera at various depths, this test has been done, it seems that everything is Ok up to 40 metres then buttons get "Sticky"...

I know that my post was strong but it seems that nobody is interested in this case, one user on "The Deco Stop" reported the same problem so it could be a common issue...

Ciao Erik Il Rosso
 
Dear Erik,

Sorry for the late response but I have been out of the country and have had limited access to my emails and the web.

i am sorry for your problems with the camera and we will do everything possible to get you a unit that can make the guarenteed mark.

I cannot unfortunatley speak for the Italian dealer you have had to deal with. I will personally bring it up with our Italian distributor.

As for the no replies to your emails, again I apologize but the person responsibile for answering website emails was on vacation and with no access to respond. I am positive you will see a response from him today.

Erik, I would ask that you PM directly so we can have your issues resolved as quickly as possible.
 
Dear Erik,

Sorry for the late response but I have been out of the country and have had limited access to my emails and the web.

i am sorry for your problems with the camera and we will do everything possible to get you a unit that can make the guarenteed mark.

I cannot unfortunatley speak for the Italian dealer you have had to deal with. I will personally bring it up with our Italian distributor.

As for the no replies to your emails, again I apologize but the person responsibile for answering website emails was on vacation and with no access to respond. I am positive you will see a response from him today.

Erik, I would ask that you PM directly so we can have your issues resolved as quickly as possible.

I am really glad that someone replied and I am waiting for an e-mail from your side in order to have this issue resolved...

Thanks a lot...

Ciao Erik Il Rosso
 
As for the no replies to your emails, again I apologize but the person responsibile for answering website emails was on vacation and with no access to respond. I am positive you will see a response from him today.

Erik, I would ask that you PM directly so we can have your issues resolved as quickly as possible.

I am still waiting for a reply, I even sent you a PM here on ScubaBoard with my e-mail address...

Ciao Erik Il Rosso
 

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