AERIS - A BC Saga

[toodive4]

I own an AERIS SPORT BCD. Its about a year old... After doing a buddy check (the BCD was fine) and a controlled seated entry, I went diving in the quarry to about 60 feet. During the dive something rubbed the inside lower edge of the BCD and "scraped" a hole into it.. It is important to note this happened under normal diving conditions. After exiting and the removing the BCD I inspected it. I noticed the material was extremely thin at the location of the hole and apparently just by going diving, either my weight belt or the tank boot or the back plate rubbed against the bcd causing the hole. Over the years I've used BCD's from many manufacturers and a hole has never formed in another brand of BCD.

I find this relevant since the BCD did not have a hole prior to starting my dive. I had checked it prior to entry during my buddy check. The rubbing and hole occured during a dive in the quarry to 60 feet. Luckily I'm an Instructor and discovered the BCD was not holding air. I was able to safely abort the dive and return to the surface to discover the problem. I am concerned because these low priced entry BCD's are often bought and used by entry level divers and rented through dive shops. A less experienced diver may not have returned from such a dive.

While there is no clear explanation of how the hole was formed, I am concerned that AERIS has refused to honor their warranty. The material is clearly to thin to support safe diving. Beware of AERIS BCD's and their poor customer service.

Anyone's thoughts?

 

[scubatoys]

We have over 40 Aeris BC's that we use for our training and rentals - also have some tusa, mares, etc back by our pool... And so far, Aeris are the only ones that did not develop any holes. We have had zero problems, and their "no-fade" material has held up a lot better in the chlorine than any other brand we tried.

Are you an instructor in a shop that sells them? Or did you get it somewhere else?? I have found Aeris to be some of the best at customer service in the industry - they have never let me down in warranty issues. Of course it doesn't hurt that I buy about one million dollars of inventory a year from them... but even friends of mine that have smaller shops that don't buy much say they get great service - so I'm not sure what the deal is in your situation.

As far as material too thin... they use some of the toughest material, even on their least expensive BC's. They don't use the thin 420 like most. But not matter the thickness, I don't see how you could rub a hole in the bc... there is not any movement going on that would normally do that...

Is there any chance you got it from us?? If so, I'll gladly jump in the middle of this and come up with a reasonable solution.

Feel free to PM or call me later today if you want to discuss this.

I own an AERIS BCD about a year old... took it diving and found that it had a hole in it. Definately not my doing... but noticed the material was extremely thin and apparently just by putting a tank on it (which you must do to dive,) the top of the tank boot had apparently rubbed against the bcd causing the hole. Over the years I've used BCD's from many manufacturers and the top of the tank boot rubs (or is positioned) in same place on all of them. A hole has never formed in another brand of BCD.

I find this relevant since the BCD did not have a hole prior to starting my dive. I had checked it prior to entry during my buddy check. The rubbing and hole occured during a dive in the quarry to 60 feet. Luckily I'm an Instructor and discovered the BCD was not holding air. I was able to safely abort the dive and return to the surface to discover the problem. I am concerned because these low entry BCD's are often used by entry level divers and rented through dive shops. A less experienced diver may not have returned from such a dive.

Worst of all, AERIS has refused responsibility. and has failed to honor their warranty. The material is clearly to thin to support safe diving. Beware of AERIS BCD's.

Anyone's thoughts?

 

[toodive4]

I am an SSI AOWI. I bought it through a dive shop I used to teach for. There was a falling out between myself and the owners over what I considered use of unsafe equipment. That is another story. I called them about this BCD and of course they didn't want to help me. I called AERIS direct and was first told by Jonothan Stahlman to send it back and they would send me a new one. I sent i back and after two weeks had heard nothing. I called and spoke to Deidre? She told me there was nothing they could do because something had worn a hole in it. DUH! We knew that. The BC was used only 10 times in the pool and this was the first dive in a quarry. While it was slightly more than a year old... you should know that I usually dive my Scubapro BC's (of which I own 4.) I do use and dive an AERIS computer and I love it, but after this fiasco and what I truly think is a dangerously thin BCD, the attitude I got after Jonothan had told me no problem... I'm really perplexed. They did offer me $60 off of a $400 Atmos XT... but why should I be out $340 after I'm already out the $199 I paid for the Atmos Sport? If you can help, I would appreciate it... As you know, we don't get rich teaching SCUBA... Thanks - Ken Barrick - toodive4@earthlink.net

We have over 40 Aeris BC's that we use for our training and rentals - also have some tusa, mares, etc back by our pool... And so far, Aeris are the only ones that did not develop any holes. We have had zero problems, and their "no-fade" material has held up a lot better in the chlorine than any other brand we tried.

Are you an instructor in a shop that sells them? Or did you get it somewhere else?? I have found Aeris to be some of the best at customer service in the industry - they have never let me down in warranty issues. Of course it doesn't hurt that I buy about one million dollars of inventory a year from them... but even friends of mine that have smaller shops that don't buy much say they get great service - so I'm not sure what the deal is in your situation.

As far as material too thin... they use some of the toughest material, even on their least expensive BC's. They don't use the thin 420 like most. But not matter the thickness, I don't see how you could rub a hole in the bc... there is not any movement going on that would normally do that...

Is there any chance you got it from us?? If so, I'll gladly jump in the middle of this and come up with a reasonable solution.

Feel free to PM or call me later today if you want to discuss this.

 

[jonnythan]

Sounds to me like you had an isolated incident with a BC puncture/comprimise, and you had some issues with the company.

IMO this doesn't warrant a blanket caution against Aeris BC's. Show us a pattern and you'll have a case..

 

[toodive4]

Didn't mean to issue a "blanket caution." My point is simple. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. It could also happen with other brands of BC's (although in 9 years of diving - it never has.) I have stated that I use other AERIS products and that I am satisfied with them. This gives my warning even more credence. I am not out here simply to bad mouth AERIS, but rather to caution against a particularly bad experience with a (possibly) single faulty product. The material in the area of the hole is in my opinion to thin. It will be hard to show a pattern since I only own this one Atmos Sport. I suspect as with any corporation AERIS will hide other reports of this type of problem to avoid a costly recall.

Sounds to me like you had an isolated incident with a BC puncture/comprimise, and you had some issues with the company.

IMO this doesn't warrant a blanket caution against Aeris BC's. Show us a pattern and you'll have a case..

 

[jonnythan]

Are you saying I work for Aeris??

 

[jonnythan]

I couldn't find a "cukoo" icon

 

[toodive4]

Another Important Note... I want to thank Larry at www.scubatoys.com for offering to help with this situation. I've never done business with Larry, yet he offered to do more for me and better things for me than AERIS themselves did. He has won a new customer from across the country. While I will likely never buy AERIS products from him (due to AERIS's poor customer service,) I will definately be sending business Larry's way. I will also make some future purchases from Larry. Jonathan and the rest of AERIS should take lessons from Larry in the way to handle customer concerns. BIG THANKS Larry!

 

[toodive4]

I just spoke with Jonathan at AERIS... he basically said to me exactly what you said in your post... I assumed you were the same... if not, my apologies.

I couldn't find a "cukoo" icon

 

[jonnythan]

Oh, man. I don't work in the dive industry in any way, dude. I work for the New York State Banking Department. There is more than one Jonathan in the world, much to my chagrin