Bare Drysuit Repairs Problems

[Redondoscubadude]

I have a Bare Trilam HD Drysuit I purchased in 2007 from the now out of business Divetank. It probably has less than 50 dives on it but I had stored in a closet for a while and came back to find the latex neck seal had almost melted. So I sent it back into Bare for repair last month.

After a week I got a call from Bare asking if I would like to have it leak tested when they fixed the neck seal. Sure. After another week Bare calls me back and tells me the leak test reveals the zipper is leaking and needs to be completely replaced for close to $300. I told them this did not make sense to me because the suit was so new. Bare stated they hadn't made my suit in a long time and maybe Divetank sold me an older suit that was lying around. Maybe my suit was a 2006 model but not that old. I sighed and had them make the repair since Divetank is out of business and I couldn't go back to them to dispute.

Flash forward to last week. I finally get my suit back and open the box to find a really old looking Bare drysuit with a new zipper and a tag with my name on RA number. Bare repair is saying that the mixup happened in shipping but it's pretty clear to me now that the testing and repairs were done to this old suit and not my newer one.

 

[dinasareeric]

Normally there is guarantee for drysuits 1 year free repairing with distributor and shops. Especially for latex seal, neoprene of drysuits are long lasting with no problem. Latex will come to aging and cracking because of sunlight and tempertature huge changing.

 

[dave4868]

Did Bare say they finally found your suit and did they confirm that it doesn't need a zipper?

Age and/or shelf life won't cause any significant deterioration of a zipper, so I wouldn't expect any leaks in a 3-year-old zipper with 50 dives on it.

Good luck. Please post the outcome.

Dave C

 

[Redondoscubadude]

The other customer who received my suit by mistake called and is sending it back. The lady in the repair shop claimed the mistake was made in shipping but I'm not buying that as this old suit has a tag with my name on it and a brand new zippper.

 

[BodenseeDiver]

Bare give 30 Years garantie in Germany

 

[Peter Guy]

I sent my suit into Bare in early-mid November to get the zipper replaced. After many phone calls from the shop, Bare finally said the suit was fixed and was shipped -- but NOT to me, but from the repair facility back to HQ. IF it is received and processed by tomorrow, 12/23, I'll get it soon -- otherwise, they shut down until January.

Evidently the lady asked, "Why does he want it. He's not going diving is he?" To which the shop owner replied, "He's an instructor and wearing your suit is good advertising isn't it? Do you want him selling someone else's suit?"

I hope it gets here because my backup suit has just started a neck seal tear!

 

[Tom Winters]

Even if I still lived in Kirkland, I'd sent my drysuits to Steve Gamble in Gainesville. In fact, if I lived down the street from Bare, I'd probably still send my stuff to Steve.
I can do a pretty sharp seal replacement, but Steve's stuff is the best.
Home
I get my seals from the Kayak guys in Issaquah. Steve has no problem just supplying the labor.

 

[Redondoscubadude]

I left a message for a manager yesterday and still haven't heard anything back. Fedex came today to pick up the wrong suit but I took pictures of my name on the tag and the new zipper. Anyone get the wrong suit from Bare recently?

The process with Bare for US customers seems convoluted since you ship it to Washington and then they drive accross the border to B.C.

I would probably not deal with Bare again on repair except that the seams are guaranteed for life.

 

[Rutger]

IIRC, from my experience with BARE, it is 1 year since the purchase is registered with them. You could have a suite from 2001 that was in-stock with a distributor, but the repair warranty starts ticking at the time of the sale. If you have your proof of purchase or CC receipt, then they should honor it.

it sounds like a moot point if they have given you a POS by mistake. You need to get to the bottom of the unintentional downgrade, first.

EDIT - Also, I know three people who sent their "new"ish BARE trilams in for neck-seal of leg/boot modifications (including myself) and the suit came back with crotch-leaks. Watch for that.

 

[Redondoscubadude]

I finally got my suit back and sure enough it's obviously the same zipper. Bare seems to be on holiday so I'm disputing the over $400 repair bill with my credit card company.