The OMER basher from SB

There was recently a thread on SB by a guy with the user name Bubbafishing, where he accused omer of bad customer service, you can read it here This thread initially made omer look bad. Having read it after recently becoming a dealer for some omer products I became concerned about warranty issues, and contacted Mark Labocceta, the omer distributor in the US. I was informed of omer's 2 year warranty, and as I mentioned the SB thread I also got the following information. Looks like there's another side to this story.

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Here’s what people don’t know about that case:

That guy bought them from Divers Direct in West Palm Beach in 2007. He used them not as he described, “a few times”, tricking all these people out of the loop from the truth, but for 3 years using them for commercial scuba and spearfishing with tanks. Imagine how many giant stride entries with tanks on his back the fins went through.

Anyway, the story is I met him in 2008 at the Blue Wild Expo while the fins were still under warranty. He asked me if, considering the fins were only 1 year old, if he could send them back. I agreed.

He then sent an email in February 2009 stating that he bought them “about ten months ago” and wanted to send them back now. I replied on an email the same day that it was fine. He never sent them back. It was a year and a half at this point from date of purchase.

I then get an email in February of 2010 from him again. He said he had been “out of the country for a year” so that was why he was sending them back so late…After we saw the fins in February (2.5 years from date of purchase) not only were they out of warranty, they were TRASHED. Used and they had not failed at the breaking point where the legitimate warranty fins were breaking. These were a single run of defective fins in 2008 and only in one size, not the size that B******** aka. Bubba sent back!

At some point we have to draw the line somewhere.

It gets worse: In June of this year he sends me an email claiming warranty issue for a second pair of fins (mind you these are the same fins) not a second pair because he could not prove proof of purchase of a second pair and if you want to make a warranty claim you should be able to prove where and when they were purchased. I call Divers Direct in WPB and they confirm the only pair of fins they sold them are the ORIGINAL pair in 2007 that he tried unsuccessfully to claim under warranty after 2.5 years that had been trashed.

He sends back just the pockets this time thinking that we’re dumb enough not to recognize these are the same foot pockets from the same old fins. Warranty claim denied. He gets upset and unloads on Spearboard. If people only knew the real truth….See the attached invoice and the price he paid (30% below 2007 retail price of $155.00 for the Millenium Black fins). I have his emails and my replied documenting everything I just told you.

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Here's the invoice, I edited out Bubbafishing's last name and address.

If I was in omer's shoes I would have posted this information on the SB thread, but they chose the high road. Not really my business and I would've left it that, except for something that happened today that prompted me to post this. I have a couple of used spearfishing items advertised for sale on another board. From two months ago when I first posted them I started getting pms from this very same Bubbafishing. This guy would make me ridiculous offers to buy the stuff, which was already at a fair price, for less than half what I was asking for it, at the same time telling me BS stories that he's getting it for someone else :blahblah2: After politely replying a couple of times that the price is firm I stopped responding to his pms. I really really dislike people who low ball like that without any leverage, they have no class. It's been a while since the last pm and I was surprised to get another one today, this time with a slightly higher offer. But now the user name clicked! I have no problem believing that this cheap individual tried to scam omer based on my experience with him.

Quote from Marco

I personally had problems with the following Jomer gear: Alluminum speargun, Ice fins (twice), wetsuits (twice), footpockets, minilazer knife (twice), Minimicra flashlight (twice), T20 speargun (twice), shafts, snorkel, abiss mask, marsellaise weight belt, pelagic reel, floatline,America float, rubber bands, whisbones, etc...

That's a phenomenal compilation of malfunctioning gear all from one company. What was wrong with the snorkel?

I currently use an omer Abyss mask which I've had for 4 years, there are no signs of it deteriorating. I also bought an omer alien mask 3 years ago and it didn't fit me well so I sold it to Davie, I believe he's still using it without problems. Having examined many masks myself for the purpose of adding them to the Pursuit line, I've learned something about what makes a good mask. I believe omer masks to be good as far as quality of materials and workmanship.

I think omer footpockets are an industry standard, I can't say for sure which came first but it's obvious the old Sporasub footpockets, the new H Dessault footpockets, and the Captn Nemo footpockets, are all based on the same mold, they all fit in a similar way. Out of all of them the omer footpockets consistently come with the best finish, I'm very aware of this when I'm putting together fins. I've owned a pair of omer footpockets 5 years ago and now Monster slayer is using the very same footpockets in Mexico, they're still going strong. Back then I got rid of the omer footpockets to explore other options, but today after experimenting with the aforementioned similarly fitting footpockets I'm going back to omer.

These are only my personal experiences with omer products, and why I choose to add those particular products to the Pursuit store. I'm also looking forward to the new omer enclosed track speargun.

It's better to have you as a friend Marco

Here are some words from Mark about omer's reputation.
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1st. Omer has been making spearfishing equipment since 1968, and while Mares and Cressi are older companies, Omer is the longest standing spearfishing and freediving equipment only manufacturer since 1968. We’re very proud of this.

2nd. Omer has three mechanical engineers that work in their technical department full time. Not one of them is an architect. Marco Mariani, head of the technical department has a degree in engineering and trained in Switzerland. Claudio Ciceri, one of the 4 brothers who own Omer has a degree in engineering from Columbia University. Davide Villa has a degree from a politechnical insitute of a province of Milan. To say they are qualified is an understatement, Claudio and Marco Mariani have been working in Omer since 1995. The region of Italy where Omer has it’s roots is Valtrompia in Lombardy which has the longest tradition of gunsmiths in the world. Omer was started by a man who prior to making shafts and parts for spearguns from his machine shop machined parts for Beretta firearms. He sold the company to the Ciceri because he was not a business man and it would have gone bankrupt otherwise. Benelli and other widely recognized firearm manufacturers are traditionally from this area and the owners of Omer come from generations of hunters. All the brothers are avid hunters, mostly duck and pheasant and geese, rabbits and fox. I’ve hunted with them and they like to kill animals great and small because it is in their blood. They use dogs and hunt the old fascioned way. One of the consultants of Omer who adds design input to their product is Marco Pisello, an architect. Marco Pisello designed the Cobra, the Sporasub Flashlight, a float board and a few other products. Prior to his association with Omer he worked for Antonio Cressi of CressiSub. I would say if anything there are more engineers at Omer than any other Speargun Mfg.

3. What perplexes me is we have been distributing Omer in the US and thoughout North America since 1997. When a customer has suffered a warranty issue there are only two people that handle those, me and my father Eddie. We make decisions based on a case by case basis and our track record speaks for itself or we wouldn’t be in business after 13 years. One product issue is bad enough and two is unheard of from one consumer. I personally would write a letter of apology if a customer had multiple gear failures because I have 11 IUSA world records and would not use Omer equipment if I didn’t believe it was the best and neither would my customers. We’ve never been contacted by the customer above and I assume he bought his equipment overseas. AS US distributors we could have handled any of these issues without costly returns back to Europe, appointed by Omer as American distributors that’s our job. There is also a selection process of products we decide to import and a rigorous quality control that comes from our end here and from our service department. We have always offered a Technosport customer, be it the dealer or the consumer, a solution, an upgrade, a replacement or an exchange. I have never heard of anyone with this kind of track record and I’m very sorry to hear their impression of the Omer brand.

4. It should be noted that for the last 6 years our product offering has expanded to a 70 page product catalog of spearfishing and freediving specific items and a 60 page accessories catalog. It covers all basis with a broad range of products for spearfishing from the beginner enthusiast to the experienced fanatic. That being said and the price of innovation being considered, innovation can have it’s downsides. Omer innnovates spearfishing products more than most. If we didn’t want to take risks we would never create new products, it’s the best way to make sure you never have a problem in your production! Omer (Sporasub is part of Omer now as the rights to the brand were acquired from Mares group) manufacturers and designs all of its own products. Many of our competitors rebrand theirs and only make a few of their own. Each product that Omer makes is deseigned and tested by Omer, just like Apple does. Some of the products and parts of these are produced in factories where they have partnerships overseas in Asia like Taiwan and the neoprene is manufactured in China (all manufacturers use Chinese factories for their production neoprenes). We have Japanese neoprenes shipped to those countries for our productions, US materials shipped to our factories, injection high density plastic and fiberglass reinforced from Sweden etc. That does not mean the products are conceived and designed there or even sourced there. Omer ships materials from Europe (thermoplastics from Germany for example) and fiberglass loaded nylon (our speargun handles and other parts are 35% fiberglass loaded) from Europe. The labor is less expensive than Italy or the US for example for the button pushers and so we make our products where we don’t have to fight unions and pay for laziness. Stainless steel parts like shafts and tips and carbon fiber fins are all ofItalian provenance because Italian artizans are still the best producers and machinists of these articles. Final assemblies and checks of our products are done in Italy, at Omer.

Well I have to get back to work now as I’m anctious to try out the 2nd generation Enclosed Track 130cm model I just received from Italy before I send it to Hawaii to one of my divers for final input, evaluation and photos. The longer guns are coming down the line later than the first three sizes in that we had to retool for a larger bore enclosed track ($12,000 fix) so we can guarantee better results in the event of slightly bent shafts and larger diameter shafts. These days we are also trying a new ICE fin prototype (yes the Achilles heel in Omer production history) but after ten years of working on the ICE project we are still confident we can make a dependable perfectly clear freediving fin that our market has never stopped asking us for. Right now California spearfishing champion Richard Balta is busy trying out a prototype. We are currently injecting the material in a Millenium mold until we understand more about it and eventually will invest into new molds to make the material for our Stingray fins which is our future. Clear waters Dan to you and your fellow hunters!

Ps- I really enjoyed reading Don’s pneumatic modification on your forum and I plan to contact him soon to do a customized revamp of my personal Airbalete. What a beautiful job he did.

Mark Laboccetta