I'm writing here because I have had the absolute worst experience with scuba.com. This is in relation to an international order I made, so all dates are stated in my time zone.
Brief details below (I actually left out several minor annoyances because that would have made this post way too long). The fun really starts at around 7 December, so if you're short on time you should just skip to that.
29 November: Placed an order with scuba.com, paid through Amazon Payments
30 November: scuba.com emails me to tell me that an item in my order has been discontinued, and suggests that I order another item instead
30 November: I reply and ask what models they have in stock
1 December: scuba.com emails to suggest a replacement model that costs more
1 December: Despite being rather unhappy about the bait and switch, I reply and say that's fine
2 December: scuba.com emails and says their customer service side has refunded me for the discontinued item, and says that they cannot add the new suit to my order because I paid by Amazon Payments and "Amazon's information security [means] we cannot access your information to re-charge the order"
2 December: several emails exchanged to ask how I am supposed to go about adding the new item to my existing order - they wanted me to send my credit card details over email which I was very uncomfortable with.
3 December: scuba.com emails and says that the replacement item I wanted (and they had suggested I get) is also out of stock
3 December: After liaising with them again, I finally get a replacement that is in stock, and make the payment of $23.95 through Amazon Payments. I duly forward the receipt from Amazon Payments to scuba.com immediately after making payment.
4 December: Did not hear back from scuba.com. I then went to check the "My Account" page on scuba.com. To my surprise, 2 items had been added to my order instead of the 1 I had ordered. The 2nd item was something I had never added to my cart at any point in time.
4 December: Immediately after, I emailed them to clarify, seeking an updated total amount.
5 December: scuba.com emails with an incorrect order tally (inclusive of the mystery 2nd item). I immediately email them back to inform them that I had never ordered such an item. I also enquired how the item managed to somehow get added to my total because (a) they had told me that this was impossible due to Amazon's information security and (b) I had never even added the item to my cart while browsing, let alone made payment for it. I am 100% certain that I never authorised such payment, and have the Amazon receipt to prove it.
5 December: scuba.com replies, stating "There is no way for us to add the order, so there is but one source the order could have originated from." I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions about that.
Anyway, at this point, I am already pretty annoyed but still trying to be polite. I tell them to cancel my order and let me make a fresh order to avoid any mix-ups.
7 December: I place my new order. This time I did not use Amazon Payments but instead used scuba.com's checkout. At the time I placed my order, I checked my shipping charges using Amazon Payments. Amazon's shipping charges were $117.49, which tallied with the scuba.com shipping charges. I receive a receipt for my order.
8 December: Because this is my first time ordering from scuba.com, they request a copy of my credit card statement. I send it over as requested.
11 December: I send an email to customer service (customerservice@scuba.com) asking if they have received my credit card statement and for an update on my order. No response.
12 December: I send an email to their instructors (info@scuba.com) asking for an update on my order. No response.
12 December: I check my "My Account" page on scuba.com. To my surprise, shipping charges were listed there as being around $15.
14 December: I receive a call from my bank, asking me to authorise a charge of $xxx to my credit card from scuba.com.
After deducting the cost of my order, I realised that this meant that I had been charged shipping fees of around $40.
14 December: Shortly after authorising the credit card charge above, I receive an email from scuba.com:
"Thank you very much for the kind help you have provided in processing your order. As a courtesy, we have calculated your shipping fees to be $257.28 USD." (emphasis added)
Remember, this is after my credit card had been charged.
14 December: I go back to my "My Account" page on scuba.com. Shipping is now reflected as $120.21.
If you're actually still reading this, let me summarise the several different shipping totals I have received for the exact same order:
(a) Shipping at the time I made the order: $117.49
(b) Shipping reflected on My Account page on website on 12 December: $15 (approx)
(c) Shipping charged to my credit card: $40 (approx)
(d) Shipping reflected on My Account page on website on 14 December: $120.21
(e) NEW (and apparently final) shipping costs that were only told to me after my credit card had been charged: $257.28
After receiving the email with the new and increased shipping costs, I then asked repeatedly for them to call me to clarify the matter - why should I have to incur international call charges because of something that was caused through no fault of my own? Scuba.com finally replied TELLING ME TO GIVE THEM A CALL TOMORROW. This may not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, but really that was just the last straw for me.
Believe it or not this is all in relation to just one order. This is my first time ordering from them and I am never doing it again. In my opinion, this is at worst one heck of a bait and switch scam, and at best an extremely shoddily-run operation.
