Complains about Mares Ariel BCD and MRS System

[murrayp4]

I'm using a Mares Jubilee i.e. the pocket has no support from the BC itself so if the rivets go pop, the lead goes plop.

 

[CODMAN]

I stand corrected Murray! Seing how it is set up, that would be a bad thing indeed...

Still, I doubt they would all give away at the same time...

Cheers!

 

[murrayp4]

Still, I doubt they would all give away at the same time...

LOL

 

[jerome01]

Just to add my 2 cents,

I bought a Mares Dragon Ergo in July '07 in DiversDirect store in Key West. 2 weeks ago, after about 40 dives one of the MRS plus mechanisms failed, luckily when I finished the dive. Tried to take it out (with 5.5 lbs weight in it) and it wouldn't budge. I took off the BCD and tried to pull it out and the internal pin snapped off.

When I went to the Israeli distributor, Dugit (דוגית המרכז לספורט ימי), they told me that since I had bought the unit in the US they was not required to give warranty support (this is not true - according to Mares website warranty "In case the MARES Product was purchased abroad the regional MARES distributor of your home country will render the respective warranty service (pls. refer to MARES distributors on www.mares.com)."

After a couple of e-mails and phone calls to Head USA (many thanks Tom Provencal) they are now willing to replace the pocket under warranty. However I am very worried about the failure itself. Tom told me on the phone that there were some initial problems with the MRS Plus release mechanisms that have now been fixed. This raises some questions.

1) Why hasn't there been a global recall?
2) If these units really do have a design flaw how come dealers still had stock in July of this year? The MRS Plus system has been on the market for a while now
3) Why are Mares distributors causing so much grief to customers?

BTW, as regards the original thread, I also have to load weight pockets before putting on BCD (not fun if you have a long beach entry), this is because pockets are facing in and down, so you can't fight gravity with soft weights. As for trying on equipment in the store, the answer is yes, you must always try on full gear (wetsuit, weights, and tank) when testing a BCD. I was helping a friend buy a BCD last week, and we found that the BCD that 'felt' great the first time she tried it on (without me or any gear), pushed weights into her hips when loaded and inflated. She opted for the same system with integrated weights - both she and the store owner are very happy with me

Zak, the ball is in your court.

Jerome Fink
PADI DM

 

[murrayp4]

Zak, Phil and Juan (scubastore.com) Thank you.

Problem Solved
Below is the latest email from scubastore.com

///////////////////////////
Dear Padraig,

I am Juan Cenzano from Scubastore - Diving Gear and Dive Equipment, Diveinn

I have just been informed about the problem related to the MRS weight
pockets that you bought in our store in June 2006.

I must say that this has been an unfortunate incident.

In the guarantee processes many steps take place from the initial claim
until an answer is given to the client and, with the involvement of so many
people, it sometimes loses the initial sensitivity with which the client has
come to us in the confidence of which its problem will be solved. As much
in Scubastore as in Mares we understand that the post-sale service and
customer attention is very important to obtain full customer satisfaction
with his purchase. However, sometimes we do not obtain this objective and
this has obviously been one of these cases.


For this reason, I hope that you accept our apologies and those that Mares
Spain have transferred to us and requested us to transmit to you.
With regards to www.scubastore.com, during the 10 years that we have been in
the front running edge of the market we have tried to base our success on
the total satisfaction of the client as far as service, range, efficiency,
guarantee and price. This has allowed us to improve from year to year,
which demonstrates the loyalty that our clients have been maintaining
throughout these years. Among which I include you since you have made
enough purchases in our store; and this is the best reward we can obtain
and pushes us to continue along the same line. Nevertheless, in this
subject we have not fulfilled the expectations; and that demonstrates to us
that we cannot relax in the objective of satisfaction of the client, and it
is for that reason that I reiterate our apologies to you.
I have to say that Mares understands that the situation has not been taken
in the best possible way and that there has been a failure in the whole
process of the guarantee that, usually, works in an impeccable way.

Today, a new set of MRS weight pockets will be sent to you to the address
that appears in our database.

I am very sorry about this situation although I hope that you will
understand that, being human, we can make mistakes. The greater joy that we
could obtain from all this situation is that, finally, your problem is
solved, you are satisfied and, also, we can get back the confidence that you
have demonstrated to us in the past.

Yours sincerely.

Juan Cenzano
COO
Scubastore - Diving Gear and Dive Equipment, Diveinn

////////////////////////////////////////




Above is a pic of my new MRS pockets I recieved free of charge from Juan in scubastore.
Zak and Phil went out of their way to resolve this problem and I thank them again for their concern and sterling work to solve my problem
The system works

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

Congrats!!! I knew they would take care of it!!!

to more diving

 

[GTO NEMESIS]

Good to see that Mares sorted the issue as I quite like their kit.

But I have to say it is yet another example of justice via a public forum, IE if you had not posted on here I doubt you would have had any replacements sent. Shame that this seems to be the case these days...

Mark

 

[CODMAN]

That's great news Murray!!!

 

[murrayp4]

But I have to say it is yet another example of justice via a public forum, IE if you had not posted on here I doubt you would have had any replacements sent.

I agree, and it is a shame I had to do it this way. But the two lads (Phil & Zak) did come through for me. They'll be glad to hear I've just bought a V42 Proton Reg.

 

[CODMAN]

Lucky *******!!! The V42 does seem sweet!!!

Let us know how you like it when you get a chance!!!!