Morf999
Registered
So, I figured I needed to share this story, as Pinnacle has been nothing but a disappointment to me, and apparently every local shop within 100 miles of my area.
I am a big fat guy, fairly new to diving(20 dives, 1 year or so) and have been in the market for a 3mm wetsuit for a while.
It has been a difficult journey, as I am short and fat(5'10", 320). The journey started last November or so.
Around the turn of the year, I stumbled upon the Pinnacle Aquatics site, and checked out their size chart.
There it was... the blessed King 1. Seems like it could be the perfect size for me.
I was ecstatic, overjoyed.. I even did a cartwheel across my living room. All 320 lbs, doing the ugliest cartwheel in the history of man-kind.
I immediately found a website selling the new Tempo 3mm in King 1 and placed my order, as fast as my little sausage fingers could click and type.
Then, about a week later, I got the message... "Sorry, but your order is on back-order.... till APRIL."
I was like... APRIL!?!?!?! Are they serious. So.. I called around to a few shops... no one actually had any of these sizes in stock... every shop said.. April.
So, I left my order in place, and figured that I would get the suit eventually, and it would be worth the wait.
So... April rolls around, and 2 days before my order is supposed to be on the way to me... I get another e-mail... Backordered again... until June.
So, of course, I am starting to get bewildered. How can something be on a 6 month backorder.
I start investigating, by asking about Pinnacle at my local dive shops.
It doesn't take long to get a good picture of the story.
I live in the Florida Panhandle, and have access to a large number of stores, from Panama City Beach, to Pensacola and beyond.
Almost all of them tell the same story: "Pinnacle? No, sorry, we don't carry them anymore, we can never get any shipments from them on time."
Everywhere I went, same story. No one will work with them anymore.
So, I decided to call Pinnacle Aquatics directly. They immediately told me that this is a new size and suit(been posted online on their own website since January, at least)(their distributors have been listing them as IN STOCK since January as well). A Pinnacle associate let me know that a new container of the suits just arrive in Port in San Francisco, and they are going through customs now, so if I place my order, I should get it in a week or so.
Of course, I was excited all over again.. Maybe I actually WILL get me a fat boy wetsuit!! Hurray!!
I immediately called the only local store that is still listed as a Pinnacle distributor. They were more than happy to invite me down to their store to discuss ordering a Pinnacle suit in King 1.
Of course, when I got there, the truth came out. That King 1 suits are now on back-order until August, but they had "plenty of other suits that will fit". None did. Grrrr....
When I told the store owner that I had called Pinnacle Aquatics, and they told me that the suits would be deliverable within a week or two.... he just laughed.
He even said "Let me guess, they 'JUST arrived from wherever and are sitting in port, going through customs??' Yeah, that's what they tell everyone. We don't deal with them anymore, unless we have to....
So... "Pinnacle" has become a big, running joke here, in the Panhandle of Florida....
There are two parts that irks me, is why are distributors still listing these suits as IN STOCK, when they are indefinitely back-ordered?
Why are online distributors like Leisure Pro, etc. still carrying this companies products, if they cannot actually GET any of these products to distribute?
I just don't deal well with a company selling me a product they don't have and cannot get.
I am a big fat guy, fairly new to diving(20 dives, 1 year or so) and have been in the market for a 3mm wetsuit for a while.
It has been a difficult journey, as I am short and fat(5'10", 320). The journey started last November or so.
Around the turn of the year, I stumbled upon the Pinnacle Aquatics site, and checked out their size chart.
There it was... the blessed King 1. Seems like it could be the perfect size for me.
I was ecstatic, overjoyed.. I even did a cartwheel across my living room. All 320 lbs, doing the ugliest cartwheel in the history of man-kind.
I immediately found a website selling the new Tempo 3mm in King 1 and placed my order, as fast as my little sausage fingers could click and type.
Then, about a week later, I got the message... "Sorry, but your order is on back-order.... till APRIL."
I was like... APRIL!?!?!?! Are they serious. So.. I called around to a few shops... no one actually had any of these sizes in stock... every shop said.. April.
So, I left my order in place, and figured that I would get the suit eventually, and it would be worth the wait.
So... April rolls around, and 2 days before my order is supposed to be on the way to me... I get another e-mail... Backordered again... until June.
So, of course, I am starting to get bewildered. How can something be on a 6 month backorder.
I start investigating, by asking about Pinnacle at my local dive shops.
It doesn't take long to get a good picture of the story.
I live in the Florida Panhandle, and have access to a large number of stores, from Panama City Beach, to Pensacola and beyond.
Almost all of them tell the same story: "Pinnacle? No, sorry, we don't carry them anymore, we can never get any shipments from them on time."
Everywhere I went, same story. No one will work with them anymore.
So, I decided to call Pinnacle Aquatics directly. They immediately told me that this is a new size and suit(been posted online on their own website since January, at least)(their distributors have been listing them as IN STOCK since January as well). A Pinnacle associate let me know that a new container of the suits just arrive in Port in San Francisco, and they are going through customs now, so if I place my order, I should get it in a week or so.
Of course, I was excited all over again.. Maybe I actually WILL get me a fat boy wetsuit!! Hurray!!
I immediately called the only local store that is still listed as a Pinnacle distributor. They were more than happy to invite me down to their store to discuss ordering a Pinnacle suit in King 1.
Of course, when I got there, the truth came out. That King 1 suits are now on back-order until August, but they had "plenty of other suits that will fit". None did. Grrrr....
When I told the store owner that I had called Pinnacle Aquatics, and they told me that the suits would be deliverable within a week or two.... he just laughed.
He even said "Let me guess, they 'JUST arrived from wherever and are sitting in port, going through customs??' Yeah, that's what they tell everyone. We don't deal with them anymore, unless we have to....
So... "Pinnacle" has become a big, running joke here, in the Panhandle of Florida....
There are two parts that irks me, is why are distributors still listing these suits as IN STOCK, when they are indefinitely back-ordered?
Why are online distributors like Leisure Pro, etc. still carrying this companies products, if they cannot actually GET any of these products to distribute?
I just don't deal well with a company selling me a product they don't have and cannot get.
