animalpharm

I have a 3 year old, 6 person Zodiac valise due for it's first inspection/re-pack. I dropped my raft off in February for inspection/re-pack. The marine safety company who does the service noticed the small metal collar by the inflation area had some minor corrosion on it. It has been a ROYAL PITA trying to get the part. It is literally taking months and months, many e-mails (25+) from Zodiac in France to the warehouse in Maryland to the safety company doing the service-and still no part. After we finally got Zodiac in France to send the part, they said it was sent but there is still no part, and the tracking # does not work.

Yes, I am bitching and have lost patience, but this is just horrendous customer service. Anybody have similar experience? Anybody recommend a company that has better customer service and can send parts when I buy a new raft?

life-raft-man

Perhaps you should contact their people on this side of the Atlantic. Try Mark Hansen in British Columbia, Canada Ph: 604-214-4282. He is their life raft sales manager for North America. I would relate your experience to him and see what results you can get. His email is mhansen at zodiac.com

Mark is usually pretty responsive to things like that.

Regards,

Tom A.

animalpharm

life-raft-man

Thanks for info. I'll try it.

-Andrew

animalpharm

Life-raft-man

Apparently he is head of commercial life rafts and not recreational, so I was told .

life-raft-man

They didn't give you the recreational raft POC or offer any other assistance with your problem? Dang!

Zodiac usually is better at responding to these kind of issues.

Practical Sailor (April 2007) rated the Elliot 6-SOLAS as their "best choice". Elliot, Crewsaver, RFD/Surviva are all made by the same company, RDF-Beaufort in Ohio.

The US Navy (USCG and Army too) use MK-7 25-person and Mk-8 50-person life rafts made by RFD-Beaufort. Approximately 7500 life rafts total. These life rafts are maintained on a 5-year certification interval. Currently the successful inflation rate after 5 years at sea is around 99.6% with many of the failures actually being successful inflations which are above the quality threshold. The experience in working with RFD has been a positive one.

The Navy rafts differ from USCG/SOLAS version rafts in that they use a breathable air inflation system and a special survival gear pack, and have a 5-year service interval instead of an annual one.

The Practical Sailor article is a good one to read as it compares eight different 6-person rafts.

I hope you have better luck with Zodiac.

Regards,

Tom A.

animalpharm

So, finally after finding the right person to talk to at Zodiac, they determined the raft was unfixable and I had been through enough BS, that they said they sent me a brand new replacement at no cost! It's nice to know that customer service was still alive (at least with one person there) and they stepped up to the plate.