Poor Quality Hollis Drysuit

[frederico]

These suits are a Hollis brand suit sold, distributed and supported solely by Hollis UK. If your contacting Hollis USA, they won't be able to help you. If your shop you bought it from can't help you, I recommend calling Hollis UK. Their contact info is:

UNITED KINGDOM
HOLLIS UK
Pelagic House
Flightway Dunkeswell
Honiton, Devon EX14 4RB
United Kingdom
Ph: (44) 1404-891819
Fax: +44 (0) 1404-891909
E-mail: uk@hollisgear.com

I hope you find this useful.

Already done that, Hollis don't trade as Hollis in the UK they trade as Oceanic. Or I should say Oceanic make drysuits and put the Hollis logo on them

---------- Post Merged at 12:13 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 12:06 PM ----------

Start with the shop you bought it from. They should be the one chasing down answers. Coming to ScubaBoard to complain is counter-productive at this point. Talk directly with the shop, then if that fails, call Hollis UK with the name of the shop that has proven useless and go from there. It has been said by several.....talk to the shop you bought it from.

Already done that, the store said they would refund (eventually) but blame the problem on Hollis and their Chinese manufacturer, but the store keeps selling them knowing the problems. I'm here on Scuabboard to let other potential buyers know that Hollis don't care about their customers who have just spent £1000 on one of their drysuits. A simple acknowledgement of my emails would have done.

 

[Hollis Gear Nick]

I am located in the UK. I first tried the UK distributor Oceanic and got no reply from them, I then came accross a website for Hollis UK and again no reply. I then sent 3 or 4 messages via the online form at the .com main Hollis site and again no reply at all. Eventually I did call Hollis in the US and was told It's nothiong to do with them as I purchased in the UK
I have been told since that the Hollis dx300 drysuit wich I had a problem with is only available via Oceanic in the UK and is manufactured in China, they just use the Hollis badge and logo and Hollis in the US despite putting their name on it don't want anything to do with aftersales.
The suit is an absolute load of rubbish, the seals split when just trying it on and overall the suit was of poor quality. The most annoying thing is that the dealers know there are problems but they just keep selling them.

Hi Frederico,

Unfortunately it seems you may have received incorrect information regarding aftersales support of our products and information about the DX300 suit. Not your fault, and we are happy to clear this up.

This suit is manufactured in UK at our facility in Devon. Material is purchased locally and produced in house, which allows our servicing and custom drysuit program to exist. Same type of operation in the states to support our USA dealer base. If you have had trouble getting a response from our offices in the US, we apologize. However the appropriate contact would be your local dealer or the manufacturer for this suit which again is in the UK, and yes the suit does carry a full manufactures warranty if purchased from a Hollis dealer. Contact information for this office is posted below.

UNITED KINGDOM
HOLLIS UK
Pelagic House
Flightway Dunkeswell
Honiton, Devon EX14 4RB
United Kingdom
Ph: (44) 1404-891819
Fax: +44 (0) 1404-891909
E-mail: uk@hollisgear.com


Please let us know if you have any further troubles. Despite this incident, we are confident once the suit is repaired you will be satisfied with the quality. It is a suit I personally use and has been solid.

Best Regards,

 

[Doppler]

... I'm here on Scuabboard to let other potential buyers know that Hollis don't care about their customers who have just spent £1000 on one of their drysuits. A simple acknowledgement of my emails would have done.

Man, I am sure we all feel empathetic and understand how annoying this is; however, it has taken several of us a LOT of teasing to arrive at something approaching the FACTS.. which would have been of interest at the beginning of this mini-saga.

Your first post on ScubaBoard was to tell us that customer service at Hollis sucked. A few of us have had different experiences with the company and asked for more details. (I should declare a slight conflict of interest here since I have done a little consulting work for HOLLIS here in the US in the past, and regard Nick Hollis as a friend... but for the record, I do choose to buy their products as well.)

Anyway, guess what, it was not that simple... good job we asked, because:

You purchased from a UK dealer
Who refunded your money
You contacted Hollis US and were redirected to Oceanic UK

Now, with respect, I don't think Hollis or its customer service is the issue... sounds like you bought a suit that was a lemon. That's the issue.

I suggest you find an actual contact for customer relations at Oceanic UK, write a letter (a real letter) outlining the issues you have had WITH THE SUIT. Suggest how they might fix it. Mention the issues you had getting your concerns addressed (but briefly), AND Copy Nick Hollis (who is a subscriber here and who may at some point contact you himself...). I offered to supply you with his email address before. PM me and I will let you have his mailing address just in case he is busy getting ready for DEMA... which is a big show over here... sort of like the Birmingham or LIDS shows but for the trade only.


(By the way, O'Three is a UK brand of drysuit, and is what I wear... and I put a lot of stress on my suits. O'Three are among the very best, right up there with Santi... both of which I would recommend as a replacement.)

---------- Post Merged at 01:50 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 01:44 PM ----------

Nick replied while I was writing.

 

[Shftrdog]

Start with the shop you bought it from and then call Hollis directly emails dont work.

 

[frederico]

Hi Frederico,

UNITED KINGDOM
HOLLIS UK
Pelagic House
Flightway Dunkeswell
Honiton, Devon EX14 4RB
United Kingdom
Ph: (44) 1404-891819
Fax: +44 (0) 1404-891909
E-mail: uk@hollisgear.com


Please let us know if you have any further troubles. Despite this incident, we are confident once the suit is repaired you will be satisfied with the quality. It is a suit I personally use and has been solid.

Best Regards,

Your facility in Devon is Oceanic who farm out manufacturing to China.

Hollis UK and Oceanic are one and the same in the UK and like I have already said I did contact Oceanic by email and got no response from them.

I hope you are not serious about me having the suit repaired? I don't want it, it's gone back for a refund. It fell apart after 2 days of being delivered, before it went anywhere near water too. The suit was rubbish, poor quality and Hollis in the US are not keeping tabs on what they are putting their name on in the UK

 

[ScubaSteve]

Your facility in Devon is Oceanic who farm out manufacturing to China.

Hollis UK and Oceanic are one and the same in the UK and like I have already said I did contact Oceanic by email and got no response from them.

I hope you are not serious about me having the suit repaired? I don't want it, it's gone back for a refund. It fell apart after 2 days of being delivered, before it went anywhere near water too. The suit was rubbish, poor quality and Hollis in the US are not keeping tabs on what they are putting their name on in the UK

Perhaps it is time to get off your butt and do something to help your situation rather than just whine. Call!

 

[Capt. Pete]

The other side of the coin. I have sold a handful of these suits to customers that I dive with on a regular basis and I know that they dive much more than the average diver. I have not heard of or seen any problems with any of the suits. All of my customers seem very pleased with their purchase. Sorry to hear that you are not pleased with your purchase but it seems as though you have a one off lemon on your hands. As a dive center owner dealing with Hollis, Oceanic, etc.. I can say that my conversations with the service department have always left me satisfied.

 

[frederico]

The other side of the coin. I have sold a handful of these suits to customers that I dive with on a regular basis and I know that they dive much more than the average diver. I have not heard of or seen any problems with any of the suits. All of my customers seem very pleased with their purchase. Sorry to hear that you are not pleased with your purchase but it seems as though you have a one off lemon on your hands. As a dive center owner dealing with Hollis, Oceanic, etc.. I can say that my conversations with the service department have always left me satisfied.

So you are located in Arizona US and are selling a suit that has been manufactured in the China for exclusive sale in the UK? According to Nick Hollis this suit is not for sale in the US and you will not get any backup from Hollis in the US. So when your suits do fall apart you will need to return them to the UK.

I have not bought a lemon, this is not a one off, I have heard of many copmplaints. This is not just a complaint about the suit, it's a complaint about a manufacturer, distributor and store who knows they have a problem and just ignore their customers.

---------- Post Merged at 02:24 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 02:20 AM ----------

Perhaps it is time to get off your butt and do something to help your situation rather than just whine. Call!

If you read my messages you will find I have already called, BEFORE posting on here. I'm now getting off my butt and having a whine.

 

[illFisch]

Regardless of whether the OP called first or if Hollis is/was gearing up for DEMA it is poor form to have a web based complaints/contact system that is not monitored.

The comment that because the customer emailed 3 times it may have been seen as spam. Are you kidding? Someone doesn't get a response and your solution is to do nothing?

Hollis may be great gear and the issue may be a one off (silicone seals tearing are not uncommon) but I'd question the response to blame the customer for not understanding the complaint resolution process.

Any manufacturer knows that keeping customers happy is important. I can't understand why they would offer a feedback system that isn't constantly monitored. In other words if you don't monitor email/web based complaints systems then don't offer them.

 

[ScubaSteve]

I apologize but somehow I missed this. You got your money back and yet you are still seeking vengeance???? Why the heck does Hollis have to acknowledge anything? You have your money back. The transaction is done. There is nothing left for them to do. Maybe the dealer told them not to bother replying because the deal was done. Yet you are still attacking them. Get over it. 1 hiccup and this is what you do.....some customers are just not worth the original profit margin.

Already done that, the store refunded (eventually) but blame the problem on Hollis and their Chinese manufacturer, but the store keeps selling them knowing the problems. I'm here on Scuabboard to let other potential buyers know that Hollis don't care about their customers who have just spent £1000 on one of their drysuits. A simple acknowledgement of my emails would have done.