Bare/Divetank Customer Service

[Corigan]

Ordered a custom bare drysuit (CD4) from divetank, only took about 3 weeks to get it from start to finish. YMMV..

Matt

 

[hex92]

I sent my Nex-gen back to Bare last winter to get cuff rings put on. It took 3-weeks total. 1 week each way shipping (UPS ground) and they had it for one week.

If you ship a suit back to them it goes to Washington, not Canada.

 

[sharkster]

So I get the impression that if the suit is initially ordered through a suitably big dive shop Bare will send it out in good time. What I'm concerned about is turnaround for warranty service or retrofitting that my LDS can't do. Three weeks seems reasonable however, is this one of those YMMV things? cmt489's experience worries me a bit.

 

[Debraw]

Bare has a 10 business day turn around policy on their service items. So add in shipping time each way and it is usually about 3 weeks. We just sent in a drysuit to have the legs shortened ( we are in DFW) and it was 21 days exactly start to finish. Look for a Tier 1 Preferred Drysuit dealer and you will get your suit within 3 weeks. We are a Tier 1 and I can attest to the fact that we get preferential treatment. Stock suits ship immediately and custom suits ship in 3 weeks. A couple of options you may consider are the suspenders , great to have between dives, and cuff rings. Cuff rings make it a breeze to change out seals and or add in dry suit gloves at a later date. The Trilam HD is a tough suit, very nice construction and already has the built in gators! If you are going to be in DFW for the DUI dry suit day come by the shop and check one out. We offer smoking deals on drysuits and free undergarments to boot! PM for directions.

 

[J75]

I ordered three Bare Nex-Gen suits from Divetank in the Spring and I was thrilled with the service I received. I had to exchange a couple of things for different sizes and it was effortless. Also, the advantage of purchasing from Divetank is that they're located close to the Bare factory, and they handle all of your warranty repairs. I would highly recommend them.

 

[sharkster]

So wait, the Bare factory that doesn warranty service is in the US, not Canada?

 

[crpntr133]

I talked to Richard from Divetank on Sunday and I got the impression that the factory that they deal with is in Washington state(?). I might be wrong but by the way he talked it was close and in the US. He also said not to send a repair or retro directly to the factory, it would take longer. If you buy the suit from them send it to them and they take care of it. He said they do a lot of commercial and military divers suits and the shop tends to get high priority.
BTW, I ordered the same suit that you are looking at and got a nice deal by ordering before yesterday. I didn't even call Scubatoys, sorry Larry. I ended up spending $1,400 on a complete setup, including undies and a couple upgrades. Figured it wasn't worth the time to call around, and my days have been full. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to get the suit. I was told 2-3 weeks. I know we have a holiday in there but that shouldn't do too much damage.

 

[Jasonmh]

since I'm in the US and they are in Canada ... Also they only offer a 2 year warranty (not sure if this extends to seals) whereas DUI has 7, with 1 on the seals.

For what it's worth, I was also told that they are located in Washington state. It is possible that they have another Canadian facility to service that market.
Also, and this is where I am really confused, I seem to have a hard time getting warranty info. I just received an email from Bare today regarding a question I emailed them about drysuit warranties. What they sent me back said:
...covered by a limited lifetime warranty on workmanship and 1 year warranty on materials excluding drysuit zippers and seals.
But my LDS that sells alot of Bares says it is 2 years. Can anyone shed some light on this, Larry maybe?
I know that obviously I should believe what I hear from the horses mouth, but the response I got was someone at Bare scanning a label from a product and emailing it to me. I don't even know if that product was a drysuit or how old the label was.
I guess that the "excluding zippers" part means there is NO warranty at all on the zipper. So if I get it and the zipper leaks on the first dive, am I SOL?
I like Bare, have had great luck with their wetsuits, but a warranty that is way less than others I have seen has me a little nervous.

 

[Jasonmh]

I ended up spending $1,400 on a complete setup, including undies and a couple upgrades. .

That sounds like a pretty good deal, where did you get it?
Thanks

 

[Mike Nelson]

A lot of Vancouver/Canadian companies maintain a U.S. postal address. You ship stuff to the Washington address, and an employee walks it through customs. Much faster than if you try to ship direct. Some of the contact lens companies do the same thing - you order from a Canadian company, but they walk the lenses across the border and ship from the U.S.