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I owe Divevolk a public kudo for their extraordinary service recently -- granted that it starts with an issue with the housing, but their response was extraordinary.
I've had a Divevolk Seatouch 4 MAX PLUS for about 6 months, and have used it on a liveaboard trip and a couple of short trips; a total of 26 dives so far.
(I'll note here that my practice has been to bring an old phone along on trips as a just-in-case fallback; I'd still recommend this.)
On the very first dive of a multi-destination Indonesia trip, something went wrong*; the membrane ruptured on the inside, oozing the membrane liquid into the phone compartment. I chose to continue the dive, on the theory that there didn't seem to be seawater intrusion and otherwise the damage was likely done.
Upon surfacing: yes, the membrane liquid had thoroughly flowed into the phone compartment. (Tangent kudos to the fellow divers at my first couple of locations, who were willing to forward their photos to me to help capture the memories.)
Once back at the room and thinking about the many dives ahead, I remembered at least one person on SB mentioning a good experience with Divevolk's customer service, so I sent an email. (Searching suggests it was @Darnold9999 and I was thinking of this thread.)
Not quite 12 hours later, I had heard back from what sounded like a front line CS rep, with an apology and some fairly form-letter questions (number of dives on the housing, housing s/n, did I always use assistive touch, etc.). They also inquired what it cost/would cost to repair the phone. (At the time, I told them there didn't seem to be any phone issues -- I later figured out the gel had penetrated the microphone, speaker, and a little bit in one of the cameras, although all the messaging, etc. phone functions were fine.)
All reasonable questions, but it didn't feel as though it was jumping directly to a solution. I was wrong.
Perhaps not "directly", but to make a long story short: a few hours after I had responded with the requested info, the rep thanked me for my response and mentioned she was bumping the email to a colleague. At this point, I figured there wasn't going to be a solution and I was thinking about alternatives. Again, I was wrong.
Thirteen minutes later I had an email from the new colleague asking for an address in Jakarta where they could courier a replacement. No mention of cost, no "maybe it was your fault", just "Where can we send it?"
Well done, Divevolk.
From the liveaboard, taken with the de-gooed iPhone in the new housing:
(*Divevolk did not ask for the dead housing to be returned, so I'm going to see if I can disassemble it for any more clues about the original issue. If I learn anything useful, I plan to document and post.)
I've had a Divevolk Seatouch 4 MAX PLUS for about 6 months, and have used it on a liveaboard trip and a couple of short trips; a total of 26 dives so far.
(I'll note here that my practice has been to bring an old phone along on trips as a just-in-case fallback; I'd still recommend this.)
On the very first dive of a multi-destination Indonesia trip, something went wrong*; the membrane ruptured on the inside, oozing the membrane liquid into the phone compartment. I chose to continue the dive, on the theory that there didn't seem to be seawater intrusion and otherwise the damage was likely done.
Upon surfacing: yes, the membrane liquid had thoroughly flowed into the phone compartment. (Tangent kudos to the fellow divers at my first couple of locations, who were willing to forward their photos to me to help capture the memories.)
Once back at the room and thinking about the many dives ahead, I remembered at least one person on SB mentioning a good experience with Divevolk's customer service, so I sent an email. (Searching suggests it was @Darnold9999 and I was thinking of this thread.)
Hello — I’m hoping you can think of a way to help me. I got one of the very first available Max 4 Plus, and it has been great for several trips.
Today, on the first dive of this trip, the membrane broke and the goo came out into the phone area. The phone seems okay, but the membrane is dead.
I am in Indonesia, near Manado, for a few days, and then overnight in Jakarta before getting on a liveaboard for another week. Can you think of a way I can get a replacement before the liveaboard? Are there any stocking dealers in Manado, or that could ship to my hotel in Jakarta within a few days?
[...]
Not quite 12 hours later, I had heard back from what sounded like a front line CS rep, with an apology and some fairly form-letter questions (number of dives on the housing, housing s/n, did I always use assistive touch, etc.). They also inquired what it cost/would cost to repair the phone. (At the time, I told them there didn't seem to be any phone issues -- I later figured out the gel had penetrated the microphone, speaker, and a little bit in one of the cameras, although all the messaging, etc. phone functions were fine.)
All reasonable questions, but it didn't feel as though it was jumping directly to a solution. I was wrong.
Perhaps not "directly", but to make a long story short: a few hours after I had responded with the requested info, the rep thanked me for my response and mentioned she was bumping the email to a colleague. At this point, I figured there wasn't going to be a solution and I was thinking about alternatives. Again, I was wrong.
Thirteen minutes later I had an email from the new colleague asking for an address in Jakarta where they could courier a replacement. No mention of cost, no "maybe it was your fault", just "Where can we send it?"
Well done, Divevolk.
From the liveaboard, taken with the de-gooed iPhone in the new housing:
(*Divevolk did not ask for the dead housing to be returned, so I'm going to see if I can disassemble it for any more clues about the original issue. If I learn anything useful, I plan to document and post.)