Mark Vlahos
Contributor
Greetings friends,
I have been looking for a dry suit for a while. My search has been rather low key as I have not been in a particular rush (renting), and I have been looking mostly on eBay, TheDecoStop, and ScubaBoard. Since this will be my first owned dry suit I wanted to take a different approach than I have with much of my other dive gear. It has been my experience with other purchases that my initial choices are not usually awful, but they are often not the best ones I have ever made either.
I wanted to get a DUI suit specifically because I eventually wanted ZipSeals; at least on the wrists and possibly on the neck seal as well. I did not expect that a used suit would have them from the beginning, but rather I would have them put on when the seals on the suit eventually needed replacing. I also wanted things like pockets, but could not decide on zipper or Velcro flap closures. I knew I did not want a neoprene suit because of the drying times and bulk that would present problems with my traveling, this was about the only thing I was completely set on. I came to the conclusion that it really boiled down to the TLS 350 or the CLx 450. I chose to keep my eye out for both suits with an emphasis on the 450. This choice was because I like the thicker more abrasion resistant fabrics on the Zeagle suits, and the 450 came closer to meeting this desire than the 350 did. It also helps that I am quite nearly an exact fit for a stock XL suit form DUI.
Well, I have kept my eyes open and looking for a few months, and low and behold a while ago I came home from work and checked eBay and there was the perfect suit; a Stock CLx 450 size XL, the suit was described as nearly perfect with only 2 dives. The owner had purchased the wrong size and needed to replace it with a Large. I checked the guys rating and he had 35 positive reports and no negative, and the price at around $650 was low, but I figured his description was possibly a bit on the optimistic side. Frankly I was expecting a suit that may have been in the water only twice but both of those dives were at least a few years ago and the seals would need replacing, and there would be some other minor problems with the suit. I bought the suit with the buy it now option and paid my money. I gave a shipping address and made initial communications with the seller, and then waited for it to arrive. There were some unexpected shipping delays, which got me nervous, but the suit eventually arrived.
I opened the box and was surprised to see it was the wrong suit. The suit that was in the box was a TLS 350 with kneepads and a zippered pocket on the right outer thigh. The only thing that could have confused the seller was that the suit was all black in color somewhat similar to the stock colors on the 450. I began to think about it and since there is a label right on the suit that clearly states the model of the suit I figured either the seller is an idiot or something could be wrong. Another key factor about the suit that made me nervous was that the suit was absolutely pristine, not a mark on it anywhere. As I had planned on doing even before I ever knew about this specific suit I contacted DUI directly to see if there was any history on file with them about the suit
The person I spoke with at DUI seemed to take a while with some of the answers but she reported a clean bill of health on the suit. The next morning I received an e-mail form a dive shop owner, the message made reference to the serial number on the suit and he asked me to contact him as soon as possible. I gave the dive shop owner a call and he informed me that to his surprise the suit had been stolen from his store having never been sold. It was apparently the fact that DUI had no record of the initial sale to any customer that caused the employee at DUI to look a little further after I spoke with her. Apparently the shop that purchased the suit is real good about getting warranty information at the time of sale and turning in warranty cards for their customers
I dont want to get into too many specific details but I was provided with sufficient proof that the suit was indeed stolen. I was informed that all of the principals in this family owned and operated store had been made aware of the theft, and that the thief had been confronted and had admitted his actions.
When confronted with this reality I could reach no conclusion other than to return the suit to its rightful owner. The owner of the shop graciously decided to give me back the money that I had paid the thief for the purchase of the suit. He did not have a legal obligation to do this but he felt that he would have an easier time getting the money from the thief than I might. I secured appropriate documents to indicate the return of the dry suit to the shop owner and that he had given me the amount of money from my purchase in effect assuming my debt.
The end result is that I still dont have a dry suit, but I got all of my money back with the small exception of that spent on a few phone calls, and of course some lost time. Will I buy on eBay again, yes. I might be a little more careful, but I did check this guy out before I purchased and he came up smelling like a rose, so I would not be able to prevent this exact thing from happening again.
Thanks for your time,
Mark Vlahos
I have been looking for a dry suit for a while. My search has been rather low key as I have not been in a particular rush (renting), and I have been looking mostly on eBay, TheDecoStop, and ScubaBoard. Since this will be my first owned dry suit I wanted to take a different approach than I have with much of my other dive gear. It has been my experience with other purchases that my initial choices are not usually awful, but they are often not the best ones I have ever made either.
I wanted to get a DUI suit specifically because I eventually wanted ZipSeals; at least on the wrists and possibly on the neck seal as well. I did not expect that a used suit would have them from the beginning, but rather I would have them put on when the seals on the suit eventually needed replacing. I also wanted things like pockets, but could not decide on zipper or Velcro flap closures. I knew I did not want a neoprene suit because of the drying times and bulk that would present problems with my traveling, this was about the only thing I was completely set on. I came to the conclusion that it really boiled down to the TLS 350 or the CLx 450. I chose to keep my eye out for both suits with an emphasis on the 450. This choice was because I like the thicker more abrasion resistant fabrics on the Zeagle suits, and the 450 came closer to meeting this desire than the 350 did. It also helps that I am quite nearly an exact fit for a stock XL suit form DUI.
Well, I have kept my eyes open and looking for a few months, and low and behold a while ago I came home from work and checked eBay and there was the perfect suit; a Stock CLx 450 size XL, the suit was described as nearly perfect with only 2 dives. The owner had purchased the wrong size and needed to replace it with a Large. I checked the guys rating and he had 35 positive reports and no negative, and the price at around $650 was low, but I figured his description was possibly a bit on the optimistic side. Frankly I was expecting a suit that may have been in the water only twice but both of those dives were at least a few years ago and the seals would need replacing, and there would be some other minor problems with the suit. I bought the suit with the buy it now option and paid my money. I gave a shipping address and made initial communications with the seller, and then waited for it to arrive. There were some unexpected shipping delays, which got me nervous, but the suit eventually arrived.
I opened the box and was surprised to see it was the wrong suit. The suit that was in the box was a TLS 350 with kneepads and a zippered pocket on the right outer thigh. The only thing that could have confused the seller was that the suit was all black in color somewhat similar to the stock colors on the 450. I began to think about it and since there is a label right on the suit that clearly states the model of the suit I figured either the seller is an idiot or something could be wrong. Another key factor about the suit that made me nervous was that the suit was absolutely pristine, not a mark on it anywhere. As I had planned on doing even before I ever knew about this specific suit I contacted DUI directly to see if there was any history on file with them about the suit
The person I spoke with at DUI seemed to take a while with some of the answers but she reported a clean bill of health on the suit. The next morning I received an e-mail form a dive shop owner, the message made reference to the serial number on the suit and he asked me to contact him as soon as possible. I gave the dive shop owner a call and he informed me that to his surprise the suit had been stolen from his store having never been sold. It was apparently the fact that DUI had no record of the initial sale to any customer that caused the employee at DUI to look a little further after I spoke with her. Apparently the shop that purchased the suit is real good about getting warranty information at the time of sale and turning in warranty cards for their customers
I dont want to get into too many specific details but I was provided with sufficient proof that the suit was indeed stolen. I was informed that all of the principals in this family owned and operated store had been made aware of the theft, and that the thief had been confronted and had admitted his actions.
When confronted with this reality I could reach no conclusion other than to return the suit to its rightful owner. The owner of the shop graciously decided to give me back the money that I had paid the thief for the purchase of the suit. He did not have a legal obligation to do this but he felt that he would have an easier time getting the money from the thief than I might. I secured appropriate documents to indicate the return of the dry suit to the shop owner and that he had given me the amount of money from my purchase in effect assuming my debt.
The end result is that I still dont have a dry suit, but I got all of my money back with the small exception of that spent on a few phone calls, and of course some lost time. Will I buy on eBay again, yes. I might be a little more careful, but I did check this guy out before I purchased and he came up smelling like a rose, so I would not be able to prevent this exact thing from happening again.
Thanks for your time,
Mark Vlahos
