C4 carbon fibre blades

[mellieha]

I am not quite sure of the full UK  regulations but on various catalogues it is clearly stated that there is a one yearb warranty

[baghira]

   

   
    Also i would to know, Have any of those posting on this particular subject have mentioned that if in the unlikely event that your fin would break (or maybe just get a cramp during your ascent - you know.... anything that can cause difficulty to reach the surface) the first thing to go off must be the weights? I guess not..... anyway i think you get the point - drop off the weights and get as buoyant as possible. That is why you should always have one hand on your weight buckle during ascents at all times. 



    Guys - be safe and think with your brains not your balls ;-)

Just to point out that, apart from being a freeediver, I am also a certified first aider, rescue diver etc This meaning that I fully agree with the statement made to release the weight belt, but since the discussion was about carbon, and did not concern any rescue, I did not mention this fact, which I also beleive it is quite obvious, and also beleive that here, many of the members are not so stupid. If there is something that is holding you from being positively buoyant, that is the thing that you have to let go first.
Having said this, I still do not wish to make an ascent with a broken fin. (which until today never happened to me)
I also hope that this comment was not directed to me, since that I have cleared out certain issues, and indeed bought a pair of such carbon fins from yourself. I also have to say that I did not comment negatively, but indeed I said, that i also saw a pair well repaired, and these were the same brand of my fins. I am still making use of my carbon blades, and never said that I am not happy with them.
As regards price, gurantee, value for money, everyone has his right to agree or not.

This was just to make myself clear. Nothing more to add, and no 'hard feelings'  

Hope I spelled the last one right, since the last time I did mention such a saying, someone if I remember well (robby01), pulled my ear

[mellieha]

what I can say of an ascent with a broken fin is whilst diving (scuba) and I lost a fin due to a broken belt clip.  This complicated by ascent highly but as was pointed out releasing the weight belt helped alot.  But then the issue to to much ascent became a factor.  Also not that even surface swiming with one fin is problematic.

I tried it a couple of times especially when I practised taking my girlfrend snorkeling.  It is highly energy consuming.

Guys, especially us newbies to the sector, although it has nothing to do with this thread, please try out certain basic safety features.

Like quick weight release.  Surfacing without a mask.  geting entangled under water.  This is my greatest fear.

[baghira]

Mellieha pls do not confuse. Be really carefull....!!!!!!!!
Whilst removing the belt is ideal for emergency cases whilst freediving, this is not the case during diving. Please try not to remove weight whilst diving.

Whilst some practices can be trained like buckle release, surfacing without mask etc, which is a great idea to practice, do not attempt to get entagled underwater for training freediving, so better practice is relaxation and attention, and examination of the area that surrounds you. A must is a good knife, or maybe even more than one.

[mellieha]

infact I tried to start a topic on knives

[Aquatica]

Mellieha pls do not confuse. Be really carefull....!!!!!!!!
Whilst removing the belt is ideal for emergency cases whilst freediving, this is not the case during diving. Please try not to remove weight whilst diving.

Whilst some practices can be trained like buckle release, surfacing without mask etc, which is a great idea to practice, do not attempt to get entagled underwater for training freediving, so better practice is relaxation and attention, and examination of the area that surrounds you. A must is a good knife, or maybe even more than one.

Thanks Baghira, you just saved me from posting the same exact words.......

As long as i understand that there are allot of guys that want to help, suggest and comment on certain topics please be sure that you write is accurate and correct - especially on delicate topics as this case of the weight release - so i repeat "check and confirm your sources" because you can give the wrong advise to somebody who has just started diving or freediving.... or any other activity.

Also Baghira..... no, our post was i no way directed to you, we have tried to keep the post as general as possible so please put your mind at rest ;-)

And regarding the consumer/supplier responsibilities - i will state the same thing - If anyone has a different version i am all ears, but when we last checked that is what we were told.

Bottom line is that if it would be possible for us to accommodate a customer with a product under warranty we will do so, but we don't want to give the impression that what ever the client does there is the law backing him because that is an illusion.

I'm glad to see how many persons have shown interest on this topic and hope that we can all use this information for the better and educate ourselves.

[baghira]

Oki aquatica.

Hope we meet sometime or the other in the water, and hope you still left some of the fish around for me us to catch.

Good night guys, I am going to sleep for tomorrow, for a good fishing day, let's hope. Cya tomorrow SimonG..

[EmicMalta]

does anyone know what is the warranty law in malta since we are in the eu and we always hear that now we are in one big market that has the same rules. so i think that if i buy something from england and i have an international warranty that warranty should be good for malta because both malta and england are in the eu. maybe the local shops want us to beleive that they have a right to not respect the warranty. Does anyone knows what is the truth?

I believe that if you have a shop and sell a product under international guarantee this goes not only as customer rights but much more under customer service. If the mother company states that, this will fall on the mother company to keep her name at her standard. Even if foreigners buy an item from Malta and need to use the guarantee in their country they can do the same, and that s why they call it INTERNATIONAL GRANTEE.

As for buying it at half price that s doesn t change the guarantee duration or system. Cannot buy an item in sale at 70% and have 70% guarantee on it 

I m sure that everyone tries to buy locally and pay money to a Maltese agents, but like skip said, there is a limit of how much we can afford paying extra money for the same products. This is not as for only diving staff but for any kind of needs. My job is in the same situation and I have to stand for that too. In case of my fins I know that I paid 1/2 price and thats why I contact the mother company first asking how the guarantee works

[ggantno1]

Naqbel 100% ma dak li qal Emic u nixtieq nzied xi haga ohra . Il ligi ta sentejn  garanzija li suppost jinataw fuq l prodotti li jinxtraw fl EU tezisti hawn Malta ?? u jekk tezizti fuq lima prodotti ?? Ghax jien  qatt ma inatajt garanzija fuq xejn li ghandu x jaqsam ma SPEARFISHING . L unika oggetti li xtrajt u gejt moghti 2 year warranty kienu diving computer u Maskla. It tnejn xtrajtom minghand l istess persuna ,  l bqija qatt hadd ma taghni garanzija fuq xejn !!!!! u kull hadd jaf l ogetti ta free diving kemm jiswew ghax ilum tixtri harpoon sew trid ma Lm90 jew iktar ma tejdx bhal qabel Lm20 tixtri wihed . kullhadd jejd li ghandu l aqwa prodott u  hadd ma jaghti garanzija !! u meta tmur b xi problema l bicca l kbira risposta tkun ghax l owner uzah hazin u tibqa biz zalzetta f halqek  

[EmicMalta]

il garanzija ma certu agenti tezisti u nhoss li jkun zbaljat jekk najd li le. Pero dejjem issib min jiprova jbieh u wara  tarah jahrab mil problema. Personalment nhoss li qatt ma nati parir fuq haga li ma nkunx uzajt jien u kull prodott andu il limit tijaw.

Bhala garanzija haga biss ma taqax taht il ligi, jekk hija mnizla taht Toys. Il kumplament kollox jaqa taht il garanzija kemm tal ligi u iktar u iktar taht is servizz tal venditur. Personali nhoss li persuna li jiprova jahrabli mil garanzija l ahjar haga hu li ma nixtri xejn min ghanda ax kif jajdu, qasqus taqtalu denbu qasqus jibqa .....

ggant: int bhali tidhol go forums ohra u bhali taqra kif jatu il garanzija gewwa l italja. Ma nafx ghaliex certu hwienet li andom dak il backup kollu mis suppliers jirreagixxu hekk. Mhux persuna wahda tikteb imma hemm mijjiet li kellom il problemi u solvewom bejnietom. Illum id dinja inbidlet u ma adux zmien li il klijent joqod halqu miftuh u jballawlu bil kuccarina.

Fuq kollox il garanzija qeda hemm mhux al klijent pero al mother company`s name fejn il kumpanija taghmel tajjeb biss jekk il prodott johroglu difett f inqas mis sentejn mil uzu.

[skip]

I think the misunderstanding is the terms of the warranty which have to be read clearly. Even EU warranty, min 2 years and all that may require you the individual to send the product somewhere in the EU to be repaired. The warranty terms will state whether you have to pay for shipping out/in because at the end of the day the warranty is on the product and not on logistics.

When an individual gets free logistics it should be considered as a value added exception and not the norm....Sames goes for the fact that there could be a brand on sale here through company X but the service center is in the UK for example. Unless when you buy the product the warranty clearly states that in the event of any problems you won't have to pay a penny, don't just take it as your automatic right because it isn't.

If your car breaks under warranty and you take it in for repair, even if you were 3 months without it waiting for it be to fixed there would be no breach of the warranty conditions....because nowhere does it state advanced replacement or hire car provided during warranty repairs!!! Anything that you are given in terms of a courtesy car is done so out of goodwill by the local company.

If I come with a product that has an EU warranty, bought from say Italy and it breaks whilst in Malta where there is a local agent......that agent is not legally obliged to fix or replace the product, it all boils down to how that brand chooses to operate. The local agent might give you contact details, and the brand owner (mother company) might choose to channel everything through the local agent, but the law has nothing to do with this.

Just because something say European warranty, doesn't mean squat without further quantification.

[Buddhagrass]

Good info guys

[EmicMalta]

Skip: thats why i think if bought from outside Malta it s better first consult with the sales department. Every one should respect others but if then the company says that there should be no problems, I could nt see why they couldn't give the grantee. After all this would be a better service

[Aquatica]

I see that this warranty issue has really attracted some interest and it's actually a very hot and debatable topic.

However even though there have been various points of views and opinions no one yet has stepped forward and took my invitation to supply official and attendable information to support the various "theories" about warranty responsibilities, particularly referring to any local representative of a brand.

Please do not misunderstand - i am not saying that items produced and sold within the EU do not have a 2 year warranty but i am saying (also as Skip mentioned) that the brand company is solely responsible for the product it has decided to produce and distribute.

Again as stated in my previous quote - it is a false pretension to think you are going to your local dive store and he will change the item for you under warranty just because you have the law backing you. This decision is left solely to the local trader discretion nothing else. Obviously if you have a good relationship and you're a regular customer it's quite obvious that the local trader will do his best to accommodate you but again he also should do the same even if you purchased the item from another place because the trader is a representative of that brand and it's in his own interest to represent the brand in the best way, however (and be careful to the words) he is "not responsible" or obliged by anyway to replace items under warranty.

Simply if you don't like the conditions under which you are being offered the warranty you can always send it back to the mother company for it to be replaced. As some other members mentioned the world is getting smaller and communication much easier. Even more if today's clients are not anymore being "jballawlu bil kuccarina" they should smarten up and know where they stand - know what are the regulations (not just pretend to know) and act with a certain proper behaviour code, but unfortunately there are still persons that are misinformed or even worse try to bend rules and circumstances to their own advantage.

Skip also mentioned a very good point which is that the items have a warranty on the product not also on shipping and extra costs involved in the case it needs to be changed / repaired and i think that this concept is still not fully understood by some shoppers.

[skip]

We have all gotten used to a certain level of service and now that has become the norm in our minds. When we don't get what we got used to, we get annoyed.......I can speak for myself here and it's only when I stand back as if I'm a 3rd party that one realises.

At the same time some vendors are misleading with their warranty representation in the sales pitch telling you that you have no problem, 2 years warranty etc and when you go to use it you encounter restrictions. This is also not proper behaviour from the vendors side but something that during the sale process we forget to enquire about.

Nowadays if I'm buying an expensive or bulky product locally I spend alot of time discussing the terms of the warranty being offered and the level of backup support, spares, qualified service technicians etc before I buy.

Otherwise I may as well save sometimes a considerable amount of money and buy online and then it's my problem with either the online seller or the mother company to sort out if the product fails. Simply put if I'm paying a premium for buying it locally then I do 'expect' however right or wrong a full no quibbles warranty. Unfortunately with the limited volume that local vendors purchase sometimes their selling price is so high when compared to online because their purchase price was high due to low volumes. When you're a small country and therefore a small vendor, manufacturers don't give you much price support.