Two trips and wheels are done...

[stano]

I bought a brand new Akona bag in November of 2010. I took it to Cozumel loaded with less than 50 lbs of dive gear as that's is all that is allowed. The wheels were not working great on the return trip. I then went to the Dominican in march and by the time I got back to Toronto the wheels were done! I dragged it through Pearson pissed beyond belief.

Two trips within four months and the bag is finished. Throw it away and buy something else.

No big deal it's brand new right? I took it to my LDS and they were very happy to contact Akona rep (who btw is a distributor for many brands) and likely does not work for Akona directly.

He looked at it and told me the airlines dropped it and I was out of luck! This bag was over two hundred dollars made two trips and is finished.

The rep was a complete ------- and I ended up getting into an argument with him. I am pissed with the quality but more pissed with the customer service! I bought this "dive bag" for travel. I can promise you I will wear my gear on the plane before I buy another Akona product. If you know your product is going to go through the airport then design it for the conditions it will see. That is what Engineering is about. Foresee the worst and design against it...

The worst part is my LDS is the one that loses as they are tied to this company...

Stano

 

[Sherwood SCUBA rep.]

Stano,
Sorry to hear about your bag. What dive store did you go to? Do you remember the reps name? We will see if there is anything we can do for you. Let us look into the situation. We agree the product could be made more bulletproof for the mechanical machines that eat up the luggage. If it were made of titanium, carbon fiber and steel it would be heavy and very very expensive, but yes, it would hold up better. We must balance out weight, cost, durability, features etc. to design a quality bag and even then, the airlines still manage to destroy them. All luggage gets eaten by these machines, not just Akona. Akona sells quality products and stands behind them with a strong warranty against defect, but not damage. If the airlines damaged the product, the airlines should compensate you when you file a claim with that airline. This damage is not Akona's fault. Let us know what your LDS name is and we will see what we can do.
Safe diving,
Team Akona

 

[stano]

I don't remember the reps name but in my opinion he did a huge disservice to Akona as far as I am concerned. He treated me very disrespectfully to the point I got very upset and words were exchanged. Once I got very mad he offered to ship it in. At that point I told him to stick it and that I would eat the 220$ and buy a bag from somebody else. It was never about the money. I really thought this was a good bag and it just did not stand up. The worst part was that my two year warranty meant nothing. I was not looking for something to last me a life time but at least say 5 years. The dive shop is Sault Scuba in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The owner is Colleen. She treated me very well and tried to do right by me, unfortunately the rep handled it very poorly.

Frankly I am not interested in anything you can do for me. I am in the market to replace it and it sounds like i have some viable options out there. I just wanted to make sure that you knew how Akona was being represented. By the way how about putting out a phone number for complaints? I looked all over to try and find a phone number to talk to an actual Akona employee, as far as I can tell that is not an option.

Thanks
Stan

 

[SoCalRich]

I have had an Akona travel dive bag for about twelve years. At least a dozen airline trips and weekend trips as well.
On my last dive there were at least 6 or 7 of the same bag on board. It's too bad that you are not pleased with the product or the Rep. And I understand if you choose another brand. It sounds like the airline jacked you. but you could have gotten a defective product.
Good Divin
SoCalRich

 

[stano]

Stano,
Sorry to hear about your bag. What dive store did you go to? Do you remember the reps name? We will see if there is anything we can do for you. Let us look into the situation. We agree the product could be made more bulletproof for the mechanical machines that eat up the luggage. If it were made of titanium, carbon fiber and steel it would be heavy and very very expensive, but yes, it would hold up better. We must balance out weight, cost, durability, features etc. to design a quality bag and even then, the airlines still manage to destroy them. All luggage gets eaten by these machines, not just Akona. Akona sells quality products and stands behind them with a strong warranty against defect, but not damage. If the airlines damaged the product, the airlines should compensate you when you file a claim with that airline. This damage is not Akona's fault. Let us know what your LDS name is and we will see what we can do.
Safe diving,
Team Akona

UPDATE!

Well I am heading to the Dominican Republic in the morning. I had not bought a new bag yet so I decided to see if I could somehow make my broken bag work. So I ground out the three rivets on each side, I took out the two screws on each side and pulled off the wheel housings.

Well to my surprise the axle was not broken at all. The axle is a hollow tube with a bolt in the end of it to hold it in the housing. The bolts on both sides had came out after only two trips and the axles therefore looked like they were broken. So I cleaned them up on the wire wheel, retapped the axles, lubricated them, drilled an access hole on each side, put in new allen head bolts and washers. The bag now works, although it has two holes in it that it didn't have before.

I went to the dive shop and talked to the owner. She took pictures and is forwarding them to the rep. In the mean time I have spent about $2500 elsewhere due to being pissed off at the rep for Akona. This hurt my shop, and it hurt Akona. I know I am a small fish but it all matters.

So in summary:

1) The Akona rep immediately told me the bag had been dropped and it was my fault not theirs.
2) The bolts in the axle were clearly not loctited in place or they never would have come out.
3) The bolts were not broken, the plastic was not broken.
4) I was very angry during my last trip as I had to drag the bag through the airport.
5) My LDS had no options for me as their supplier would not back them up. I wouldn't expect her to eat the cost as its a small shop and its not her fault.
6) A two year warranty means nothing from Akona.
7) The bag could not be fixed without some mechanical skills and tools. So other people may just get screwed as it was not really easy to fix.
8) Manufacturers defect. Damn right it was.

Comments welcome from Akona... LDS is Sault Scuba, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Owner is Colleen.

Stan Elliott

 

[stano]

Pin drop.

 

[nfarrar]

Wow. Im glad to have read this post. I was about to go for an Akona travel bag myself. I think I will keep looking. Keep us posted if there are any more updates. Sorry you had trouble but thank you for sharing your store so others may not have the same problem!

Later Mon,
Nick

 

[stano]

Are you guys gonna do anything about this bag? You can see now it is not an airline issue. I sent you a pm a while ago with no response. I know you are on this forum as you answered a post above this one. Are you just going to ignore me until I give up or are you going to step up an honor your warranty?

 

[Gunrock0811]

Pin drop.

Crickets chirping, bullfrogs bellowing..

I guess no response cuz its fixed..By Stano.:support:

:rtfm:Warranty voided cuz you ground the rivets, put an access hole, different screws in place and lubricant....shame shame shame ..ya, it was your fault:blinking: j/k

 

[stano]

Talked to Sault Scuba today. Looks like Akona may possibly do something. Will keep y'all posted...