Question Advise on dealing with online purchase, any experience with...?

[photog]

It seems to me that while they are fully at fault for sending you the wrong suit originally, they didn't actually do anything wrong afterwards. They did refund your original purchase. It was kind of a jerk move to not honor the original price, but their replacement cost had obviously gone up and it seems to me that it was their way of telling you that they did not value you as a future customer enough to eat the difference. It seems from your post that you were a, shall we say, high effort customer.

When I placed the 1st order I let them know my situation. Didn't hear anything beyond the initial "Your package has been shipped"(which means a label was created). I watched the UPS status. The day the order should have arrived was when I contacted DDF so they wouldn't ship it as I was moving in a couple of days, which they knew from my initial message. It just got worse from there.

Meanwhile, the price on that suit was upped to $403 for my purchase, and is now lowered again! Hard to say if this was on purpose or they just don't know what they are doing with eBay.

 

[photog]

Thanks to all for your replies!

I found a trusted dive shop that can order this suit for me and have it shipped from the Akona warehouse/factory? ( I assume they are not made in the USA). $286.

If I can just figure out how to get it to me now that I've left the USA...

Still have to deal with the refund from DDF. I've submitted a dispute to the CC and will also dispute it with eBay. Such a huge waste of time and energy!

I'm happy to hear others have had good dealings with DDF, but I certainly will avoid them. I did some searches here on ScubaBoard before I bought from DDF, there was nothing current.

Now for today's lesson on Akona... I happen to own a Hyundai Kauai (small SUV). This car name only exists in Portugal. In other countries it is a Hyundai Kona. What to know why? Google "what does kona mean in Portuguese".

It occurred to me that a suit emblazoned with "A'Kona" might not be something I'd want to wear just everywhere

Wish I could have found that Henderson.

 

[lowwall]

Oof. Well at least you know that you should never order from them again.

Sometimes people just don't get along. If it's the same owner, he treated me and my wife quite well. Again, this is from several years ago and I don't know the current situation, but back then most of their business was selling full packages of dive gear to people outfitting yachts, both new and for charters. The owner seemed to enjoy it when actual divers came into the shop if they were willing to listen to what he had to say. But I do remember he was a bit prickly with some customers for whatever reason.

 

[photog]

Oof. Well at least you know that you should never order from them again.

Sometimes people just don't get along. If it's the same owner, he treated me and my wife quite well. Again, this is from several years ago and I don't know the current situation, but back then most of their business was selling full packages of dive gear to people outfitting yachts, both new and for charters. The owner seemed to enjoy it when actual divers came into the shop if they were willing to listen to what he had to say. But I do remember he was a bit prickly with some customers for whatever reason.

I've been out of diving for a while, so it's been great the past month or so when I could go into dive shops and chat. I've stayed hours talking to divers in the shops, swapping stories, just because it's been so long. I really miss diving. Every shop was friendly, knew my time constraints, and tried their best to help me.

During Covid times I went to Diving Talks, the 1st ever Portuguese Diving Conference and had a great time. Even though it was 95% tec diving, cave diving, wreck or deep diving, and other sorts of diving I'm not going to be doing, it was just so Wonderful to be around divers at all. It was a very different sort of conference with many interesting speakers. I hope to be able to go again in 2023. Missed it this year. Was in Greece. Maybe next year I'll miss it cause I'm out diving.

 

[Cthippo]

Akona suits are make in China. I have a 7mm that seems well enough made, but is not super comfortable. On the other hand, that may just be a function of 7mm suits.

 

[photog]

Update... Refunded!

I disputed the charge with the credit card bank, and also asked eBay to help resolve this issue. eBay got to it first.

eBay looked at the transactions, the messages, and immediately initiated the refund. I never heard from DDF again.

EBay customer service was really nice. Suggested reviewing the seller's profile, which I did before buying - the rating is 100% perfect.
Now I see that I can't leave feedback on either of the 2 orders, so that rating is still perfect

With this refund, I recommend you search and purchase same item from our other sellers. I know you are a responsible buyer; and with your good buying record, our sellers will surely love to do business with you.

Moving forward, however, please feel free to review the sellers’ profile that captures their credibility on eBay first before placing any orders or committing to buyer items from them.

 

[lowwall]

Happy to hear you got your money back.

And I agree that the ebay review system leaves a lot to be desired. I remember having to jump through a bunch of hoops to leave a negative review the last time I tried, but I was mad enough to fight through the process.

 

[BRT]

Update... Refunded!

I disputed the charge with the credit card bank, and also asked eBay to help resolve this issue. eBay got to it first.

eBay looked at the transactions, the messages, and immediately initiated the refund. I never heard from DDF again.

EBay customer service was really nice. Suggested reviewing the seller's profile, which I did before buying - the rating is 100% perfect.
Now I see that I can't leave feedback on either of the 2 orders, so that rating is still perfect

I buy a lot of stuff on Ebay but I refuse to leave feedback. They won't let me leave negative feedback so I won't leave positive either.

 

[covediver]

So I just ordered a GUL suit from Watersports Outlet. While they are located in UK, they ship from a California location. It was shipped immediately (shipping included). It was a multiple use suit (Watersports Outlet does not market suits exclusively for scuba diving). It didn't fit, so I sent it back via UPS. As soon as the suit was logged in, they initiated a credit on my card which was paid within a couple of days. Depending on your needs, you might check them out.