Anyone else been ripped off by POLYORG?

[Tbird]

I'm sorry to use this forum for moaning and whining but I wanted to warn freedivers out there to avoid POLYORG. I paid M. HUNNIGER AT POLYORG over Euros 450 for an 'Andronov' monofin and the dude ripped me right off! I ordered a fin with footsize 44 and received some tattered shard of carbon left lying around the showroom in terrible condition and (obviously) the wrong size (38 I would guess). So I spent another Euros 60 shipping it back to be altered with promises of reimbursement and now it is 5 months later and nothing has arrived!!!! M. Hunniger has gone silent on me after a few vague promises of "it's with UPS on monday, no joke"!!?? Yeah right.

I just wanted to warn you all out there because I know some freedivers talk about the site and are perhaps thinking of spending some money on it. BEWARE.

On the other hand, if anyone out there has the telephone number (curiously missing from the website) please post it here so I can chase up this person.

Theo Ivanovic.

 

[Adrian]

Here's the phone number, it was in the "Impressum" section (under the "Conditions of Use" link).

POLYORG
Holzplatz 7a
06110 Halle
Germany
Teax 0049 345 2906862

 

[jome]

A friend of mine did order from Polyorg. He did eventually get the fin, but it did take a long time and a lot of emails exhchanged back and forth. In the end, he would have been able to buy the same fin from Finland cheaper. Anyway, it's a good fin and he's happy...

The russian fins can be tricky. Sometimes you get the perfect fin, sometimes the foot pocket is off by several measures, like it seems with Theo. One thing common to all is that they never look very pretty or finished, but they work rather well.

It's quite a shame there is not a good chain of importing these things, because clearly there is a market and demand. The best method for getting a good fin I currently know is to "know a guy, who knows a guy"...

But yeah, be aware that with polyorg, you might sometimes be in for ride...

 

[perow1]

I have received a great fin from polyorg BUT it was hard work getting it and I guess i was lucky. I was told that the fin was ready and shipped several times and that the fin had returned since there was a problem with my adress, but i did not see a trace of a fin. Finally i was given a date on wich it was supposed to be sent, and when i asked him for a tracking number for the parclet it took a very long time before I got an answer (weeks). Looking at the shipment information one could see that it was sent only hours before he answered. I had to put up with lots of lies before I was able to get my fin from the postal sevices sorting department just hours before my plane was leaving for the WC.

I am also certain that I got smaller footpockets than I ordered, but luckily, for me there is no footpockets that are to small, only to big. I can squeeze my feet into anything.

I spoke to Timo Jattu this weekend and he said that he had received two defect fins from polyorg without getting his money back when returning them. He said that one should advice people against oredering from polyorg. I can honestly agree, since you really have to work to get your shipment and when you get it the chance is that you will receive something different from what you ordered.

 

[Berthking]

There's terrible! I got worst experiences to buy from Polyorg twice, last year I took over six months to wait. After seeking assistance from Leaderfins.com, helped me to urge that guy of Polyorg, finally he shipped me things, that I recieved a defected fake copy of Andronov monofin. All other stuffs I recieved were different to my order, it wasted me around 998 Euro and half year.

 

[PoseidonSv]

strange that he does this, its ok if the manufacturers takes time to build the fins but they should be equal to what you pay for and order, I am klucky to have seller of Waterway fins in my town so i could buy exactly what i wanted and >Waterway bogdan made sure i got exactly what i asked for!

 

[Tbird]

well FINALLY after many threats of suing POLYORG I received my fin over 1/2 year late and it is a total joke - the worst fake 'Andronov' I have ever seen. Anyway, I think anyone who reads this forum will get the idea to avoid the company at all costs.

Theo.

 

[JPPLAY]

well FINALLY after many threats of suing POLYORG I received my fin over 1/2 year late and it is a total joke - the worst fake 'Andronov' I have ever seen. Anyway, I think anyone who reads this forum will get the idea to avoid the company at all costs.

Theo.

Sounds like you should sue him. Germany probably has agreements with your country so you could probably sue him in your courts. Talk to a lawyer they won't cost you anything just a percentage if you win. We shouldn't let people get away with fraud.

 

[jome]

That just plain sucks.

I don't know why, but against all my better knowledge I actually ordered a basic monofin for training a few weeks back. Not much money invested, but it will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[rafacuatic]

A friend of mine ordered a basic 100 euros WW from Polyorg.He waited more than 7 months for it with the wrong size.....
For me the best service was from Leaderfins,no more than 3 weeks,and now i have a Chen-bin,it lasted 20 days.Very good fin and good service also.
Rafa

 

[hunlee]

Unbelievable that it can be so difficult!
I got a Glide Fin from Waterway recently, 7 days shipping all the way
from Kiev to Cape Town, highly recommended!

 

[trux]

That just plain sucks.

I don't know why, but against all my better knowledge I actually ordered a basic monofin for training a few weeks back. Not much money invested, but it will be interesting to see what happens.

Normally, online merchants are not allowed to charge your credit card before they ship the goods. If they did so (or any other online merchant you buy at), and you do not get shipping tracking number within two weeks, I'd strongly recommend asking them for refund, and if they refuse or do not answer within a week, ask immediately your bank for back-charge (back-charge is expensive for them, and their bank account may be terminated if there are repeated cases). At online sales, the bank is obliged doing so without any conditions, but it may be more complicated if you wait more than 30 days after the purchase (that's why I am telling doing it at the end of the 3rd week). At apparently fraudulent companies, or at companies evading customer support, lying to you about shipment, overcharging, etc, send complaints to their local Chamber of Commerce or their national equivalent of BBB. Usually you will be able to look up the right office easily in Google. You can have a look for example at the German Vebraucherschutzzentrale. Filing a complaint with BBB may be worth of the effort, even for non-US companies.

 

[jome]

Hmm, it's been 2 weeks. I'll send them an inquiry and if nothing happens within a few days, I think I might do just that...

 

[Scorp]

I ordered 2 pairs of simple rubber fins from polyorg - took over 2 month and a lot of email complaining to finally get them. What really makes me explode is if someone repeatedly tells you "i'll ship tomorrow" and of course nothing happens.
The trainer of the local monofin club told me a much worse story: he had ordered russian monofins and other training stuff for the club for more than 2000 € at Polyorg. Well, just a small part of the shipment (for which he had to wait months) contained actually ordered items, the rest was wrong sizes, wrong stiffness and broken fins, just thrown in the cardboard like this without protective wrapping. So he sent back all the wrong and broken stuff. That was last november. And got no money back and no other equipment since than.
So I also recommend: avoid this company! For many of the brands Polyorg sells there is the possibility of a direct contact with the manufacturer (waterway, leaderfins, specialfins, hyperfins...) and from what I read in DB and know from my own experience (waterway) you get very good service from these companies when dealing with them personally.
So no reason to let Polyorg mess around with you

Ivo

 

[jome]

Incidentally, I just got a "ready for shipment tomorrow" reply...

 

[trux]

Incidentally, I just got a "ready for shipment tomorrow" reply...

Just show them clearly that you have no intention to be ripped off and that you know well how to protect yourself. Avoid emotions and invectives, but stay firm and clear. Tell them if you do not receive the goods into your hands within 25 days after the initial order, you will immediately file a charge-back process with your bank. If they charged your CC immediately at the ordering time, then you can also let them aware that they are acting illegally and that you will report them to the Credit Card institute because it clearly violates the merchant policies set by these institutes (VISA, Amex, ...). Should the CC company receive such complaints, they will pay quite hefty fines, and at repeated cases their contract will be terminated.

I am e-commerce professional (e-commerce and security software design), so if you have any doubts, do not hesitate to ask.

 

[DRW]

>I ordered 2 pairs of simple rubber fins from polyorg <

I've also ordered two pairs of rubber fins this year from Polyorg, a pair of Greek-made Balco Sprints and Russian-made Delfins. Both pairs arrived on schedule, so I've been fortunate, although I have occasionally received automated messages from the firm warning that a further order, which I hadn't made, was either unpaid or due for delivery. I've simply emailed back to point out the error and received an apology.

I've found the following company an excellent alternative source of Russian Delfin fins and Ukrainian rubber fins:

http://www.finswimming.net/rubberfins.html

Good communications, fast delivery and fins that are comfortable and inexpensive.

The way I see it from an e-commerce point of view - I'm no expert, just a consumer - the traditional manufacturer/distributor divide is still intact despite technological change. Manufacturers still seem very reluctant to deal directly with the public, even when they have no distributors in the prospective purchaser's own country, in my case the UK. My atttempts to buy products from Mexican and Japanese diving equipment manufacturers have been met with silence. A few individuals have spotted the absurdity of this "stand-off", however, and used media such as eBay to sell otherwise unavailable goods. It seems ludicrous in this day and age to be able to see something one likes on a manufacturer's site and then not be able to buy such an item unless a minimum order of 100 is submitted. Until this situation is remedied, we're at the mercy of the distributors.

 

[Bogdan Waterway]

Hello Guys
we ship to Markus some orders time to time, for about 1000-1500euro.
we ship only after 100% prepayment, because Markus has supermarket and I believe - it's impossibly to control all fins from all directlions.
One I can promise that if you will pay for Waterway fins then you will get our fins for 100% in 2-3 weeks. Just asked Markus is he already paid to Waterway account)
or you can get fins from Berlin SPEEDSWIM
Volko Kucher will answer YES or NOT and WHEN.

Best wishes
Bogdan Waterway
WaterWay company

 

[Shark 1980]

Hello Guys,
I have read about your experiences and I´m very scared. A few days ago I have ordered 2 monofins Nemo Wing waterway with 2 mono-bags from AQUASPHERE Schwimm- und Wassersportshop aqua sphere and I already paid 410 EUR for that by my paypay account. Is that shop the same as you are talking about??? Is that "Polyorg" or not? Should I suppose the same probles as you had?

 

[Erik]

Brutal.
I 2nd the opinion that Waterway direct is a great way to go, with good prices and service!