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AlphaDeep wetsuits - stay FAR away!

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
R

ramjet

Guest
Hello to all. My name is Roger Amorim and my purpose, with this, is only to send a warning to everyone interested about Alpha, the wetsuit company from Siracusa, Italy, just like Nostres has done. So here's my episode:

Last August, after became a Alpha "beta tester", i ordered a Alpha Camoflex 5.5mm model, made by measuring, and paid for it 129€ (plus shipping), about 50% bellow normal price. In exchange for that, i did the suit's review, plus some pics with it. The deal was very good, the suit was and still is quite good and Alpha acted quite well (production time and shipping all as planned). I only had a small appointment to little measure mistakes (quite normal and also often in other brands), that you can easily corrected in the next order.

So, after this first good experience and some mail exchange, i became a kind of Alpha agent for Portugal. And in November i ordered 2 Xero suits (smooth skin) and a jacket, all made by measure. It took about 5 weeks to arrive (4 weeks for production + 1 for shipping). All nice until now.
When the package arrived, it was visible (even before put it on) that 1 of them had many (and some huge) defects:
-it has fitting fails (due to wrong cutting)
- there are lacks of glue in some points and the joints are porrly done
- the groin linning is asymmetric (despite isn't critical, but don't look well...)
- the side pannels of the hood are also asymmetric (one is too large).
Due to this, and expecting to call Alpha about it, this suit was never used.

Besides this (that was more than enough), the other suit, after 8 times use, has the glue joints as you can see in the pictures.

So, with the 2 problems in my hands, on Jan 9th i wrote to Alpha, explaining all with details and photos attached. On 12th, Sonia Cassia (Junior Marketing Manager, Alpha Wetsuits Division - with who i always talked before) said this:

"Dear Roger
Thank you for your e-mail.
In this case the customer must to ship the product back to our Company.
a. He must to pay the ship Portugal-Italy and the return Italy -Portugal.
Thank you for your attention
Best regards"


Obviously amazed and indignant with Alpha reply, i quicky wrote back:

"Sonia,
This is what i was afraid of...
That's not right for the customer or me (who sell it) to pay due to production mistakes. If that's Alpha policy, i'm will not even argue. I will pay it myself but it is, of course, the last suit you sold to me. So, i'm expecting your final call, in order to send it back. Because i must assume my responsability with my who bought it, don't i?????
With desappointment,
Roger Amorim"


Well... here's Alpha responsable position:

Here the address for the ship.Servizio assistenza
MAIL BOXES ETC
MBE 624
Via Filisto n°47
96100 Siracusa
0931417536


And my desperate reply was:

oh really? That’s it? Is this the respect you have with customers that trusted Alpha?
I will not send the suit back, spending MY money, because of Alpha own mistakes and faults.
By the way, this is how Ricardo’s suit is already, after 8 times use: https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/30814123/1/xero black?h=20c7a4
And this is what is happening with others:
Problemas con Alpha Deep
PROBLEMAS CON ALPHADEEP 2

So, i will give you 2 options:
1) send 2 new Xero suits to replace these that are defective and badly made;
2) full return of amount paid.

Despite Sonia’s poor attempt of damage control (quoting bellow),

“Dear Roger
Your order will be despached on 17/12/2011.

I informed about that post,are all fake,to denigrate porposelly us.
Thank you for your attention.
Best regards

Sonia Cassia
Junior Marketing Manager
Alpha Wetsuits Division”

i must explain to Alpha’s Administration Board or the Manager (or whatever) that denigrate ou defame someone or a company is when you do it WITHOUT proofs of the facts. The ones above (with pictures and statments) are quite enough. So feel free to take legal action. I can’t wait for it.

Unlike yours usual delay of days to reply to e-mails, i will be waiting 24h for your decision: option 1 or 2.
Because i realise i can end with my customers suits like they are now, but i’m also sure Alpha will not sell 1 more suit in Portugal, and i will do the same among Spain and Greece. SO, DO YOU WANT TO KEEP THE BUSINESS OR NOT?


After this one, all i got from Alpha was silence and a 540€ loss...

These are the facts:



















 
Thanks for the warning.

Including the photo's.
I find it strange that a company does not negotiate with customers from an expectation of good intent.
It makes me wonder about the company's owner(s).
It looks like the company could use a change of mentality.
Better to ask E20,- more and have good quality and service.
What is a suit worth when it doesn't fit and is not durable? - Not even the material it's made out of because it's just waisted.

I like the camo print though :)
 
Everyone - please bear in mind that individuals and this forum have been threatened with legal action by the company in question. If for any reason things escalate we will need to lock or remove threads.
 
Stephan,

Knowing Nostres's post development, i sure understand your caution.
But i believe we all live in free and democratic countries (Italy included, especilly now without Berlusconi) and i sure have freedom of speech. All i wrote is the true and the partials emails i transcribed are here to prove that - the facts! (instead of claims or my version of it). I asked Alpha 3 times to be reasonable and fair and all i got was that PO Box address...!!!
The main function (and power) of web is communication and i think i have the duty to warning others, as others decided to done before. Regardless this i took my risk, thinking that were some isolated problems, perhaps because of bad communication, etc. Which company does this consciously and wants to keep running??? So, despite other's warnings, i do stay with the loss. And Alpha wants to take legal action on it? AH! AH! AH! I lost the cash but i can laugh.

Good dives to the DB community.
Roger
 
  • Like
Reactions: octopus and Kars
I just stumbled across this thread by accident. But I would agree with Roger. Don't get intimidated by them. Deleting threads will just destroy valuable information which is one of the most thought after goods these days.
In any case if worst comes to worst and you have to take down this thread, announce it on the main page, that you had to do this due to legal reasons. They can't fight against that and people will be informed of the oppressive nature of this company.
 
Well I'm no lawyer, but I'm avoiding lying, but I cannot see why DB cannot have writing on criticism on a product? Otherwise all the internet, and for that manner any written word should be cleaned of any negative review and or criticism.

The conversation to Roger are given words and I think there was NO agreement (contract) not to publish. And I cannot see why Roger cannot share his review, and quoting them, just as the company can post a rebuttal to Roger's claims. From the writing I get that Roger was civil and well intended. And providing verifiable, rational pieces of proof.

If we're not allowed to write about products and companies service on a public accessible internet forum, what is next on the 'forbidden' list?

So until then I'm happy that I can express here: I think Microsoft products have a lot of errors. Therefore I encourage people using alternatives.


I think to avoid tyranny, we have guard our morals and freedoms by ignoring and breaking immoral demands.

Oh and today I was touched by the idea that in order to have a democratic free and independent thinking society, we have offer our children this at home and at school.

So when we encounter a tyrant (at any level) we'll think of his ways as alien and shake this old skin off and become the courageous butterfly. Free and colourful.

Love, Courage and Water,

Kars

Thank you Alfie Kohn.
 
Thank you Stephan, Azrael3000 and Kars for supporting.
This really feals unworthy because i sure know wetsuits are handmade, so mistakes and failures happen (to ALL brands).
After late summer vacations in Azores, my friend's wood gun (Andre Platinum 160) was having trigger problems (releasing the shaft). It was purshased in Indonesia from Andre himself. After 1 email back there telling the problem, does anyone here guess what happened? 3 days later i got - here in Portugal - a package with 2 (that's right, two) brand new model mechanisms. THIS is quality service... and Andre Wickasana really knows how to do guns.

ALL I WANT FROM ALPHA IS RESPONSABILITY. NOT LESS, NOT MORE.

Thanks.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I personally feel its fine to name and shame, in this case it is not unfounded and there is proof of the issues.

It's a shame that a company has such poor customer service in an economic like we all have at the moment, you'd think they would be bending over backwards to gain trust and boot thier reputation...

Either that or I'm just old fashioned.
 
Roger, maybe you can rewrite your piece into a review piece. This way DB can post it on their front page, in case this piece from the forum needs to be pulled.

I don't know of no country that would not allow to write a review of products and services.
But maybe I'm wrong and in practice we are already living in a totalitarian one world state?

Isn't it already getting absurd that we need to even consider this?

ps.
I'm reading Gulag Archipelago at the moment, just to get an idea how tyranny works and feels like. Surely I would be on some list scheduled for some indefinite camp time.

Love, Courage and water,

Kars
 
Actually publishing a review on the editorial side isn't going to help. If they go after this thread for legal reasons, publishing an article isn't going to help :(
 
Would it be different if I just said, without any proof, that I deem brand X bad?

Would it be better to just publish the photo's and an opinion here, and cut out the quotes?

Would it be better to cut the challenged post now and instead put an review on the main page?

Maybe You Stephan as having the right to free speech acknowledged in YOUR constitution write up an interview with Roger where you hear his experience and tell the world about it?

I'm just sickened by this whole affair. And in hindsight I must thank Roger, Alfa Wetsuits and Stephan for exposing to me the amount of tyranny we are enduring.

It seems to me like another motivation to move to remote places like Dean's Blue hole, a little bit further from the capital of Europe and the International Criminal Court (created by the biggest criminals some say).

Well I think hardly anybody cares, until they don't have any food and have no strength to organise and resist. Excuses for doing nothing have never been in short supply.
 
The easiest thing to do here is to do nothing as far as this thread is concerned. Just bear in mind that anything that could be considered as slander could cause trouble. Nothing in my mind has reached that point but that is the domain of lawyers. In the meantime this thread serves as a good warning to people to the quality and customer service of the company in question.
 
Hi there.

This is already in others 3 forums (Spain, Portugal and the mediterranean Medfish). In the spanish are 2 more threads exactly like this, from another "lucky" guys. As i don't want to bring problems of any kind to DB, feel free - if trouble coming - to act for the best of all.

Thanks.
 
Kars as somebody on another forum wrote today: technology is one of the last things that we have to fight back.

Also it seems "funny" to me that there are still people who believe that information that once was public can be hidden. Thanks to the current state of the internet this is not possible. And it is our duty to preserve the freedom of information that we have reached today and further expand it.

Enough of the slight off-topic.

Edit: Roger, why not post these links?
 
We would like also warn customers about Alpha Deep wet suits.
We tried to start work with them, and order 2 wet suits, 1 was fine, because it was first suit they made SV Black SCS.

The second suit was completely crap, it calling Velox.
Suit was ordered 6 size. But helm was from 4 size.
1 wrist size is 7 cm, other wrist is 8 cm size

We asked Alpha Deep, why is that?

Answer was very simple:
The suits are standard size,the best thing is alwaise try the suit to find the best fit.

So i believe Alpha Deep workers head is twice less then body. And they got 2 different hands.
After that answer they stopped answer on all questions.

So think twice if you really would like to get into trouble before ordering suit from them.
 
We would like also warn customers about Alpha Deep wet suits.
We tried to start work with them, and order 2 wet suits, 1 was fine, because it was first suit they made SV Black SCS.

The second suit was completely crap, it calling Velox.
Suit was ordered 6 size. But helm was from 4 size.
1 wrist size is 7 cm, other wrist is 8 cm size

We asked Alpha Deep, why is that?

Answer was very simple:
The suits are standard size,the best thing is alwaise try the suit to find the best fit.

So i believe Alpha Deep workers head is twice less then body. And they got 2 different hands.
After that answer they stopped answer on all questions.

So think twice if you really would like to get into trouble before ordering suit from them.

Pandeo, couldn´t agree more... :rcard
 
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