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weaverd

Check out Freefall Suits

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I bought a jumpsuit from them and had A LOT of problems. The owner has been doing a lot to make up for their mistakes and fix everything. When everything is all said and done I am going to write up a review of them and their suits but I want to wait until everything is done so I give an honest review of them, but the short story so far is.

-Got the suit months later then I was promised and had really bad customer service. Not getting a hold of anybody, not getting answers, ect..
-Suit finally came and it did not fit and non of the options I paid for was on it (3 options) and I had ordered it with purple thread and it came with black. Sounds kind of dumb but when you are spending $350+ on a custom suit you want what you ordered.
-The owner Chris (Awesome guy and really would love to see his company do well) came, IN PERSON, to the DZ I work at to pick up the suit. He was driving from FL to Eloy and drove a few hours out of the way to come see me.
-He took the suit and fixed the sizing issues but somehow forgot to add the options on it. Leg zipper, vents on the booties, and a cargo pocket. Also used pretty weak thread when he resized it and the knee ripped open after two jumps.
-To make up for everything he is giving me a pretty good discount on a tunnel suit and is going to put the options on it if I send it out or bring it to him.

Freefall suits are TANKS and I have had a lot of people say how good my suit looks and for the price you cant beat them but... they do have a lot of things to improve. They are not out there just to take peoples money but they are going though a lot of growing pains right now. I talked to Chris for a few hours when he was here and he really wants to provide a good product but knows he has a lot of problems right now. Needs more space, more workers, ect.. They are also in the middle of a move from Canada to Eloy so if you order something from them have patience. I promise you will get a nice suit for a good price but you might have a few hiccups a log the way.

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I ordered and paid in September and have gotten nothing but emails -- and I even had to fight to get those.

My four delivery dates:

  • As of September 21: about 8 weeks
  • As of December 12: "week of 13 January"
  • As of February 7: "later next week"
  • As of February 24: "The order WILL be completed and delivered before the season"

  • As of March 19, 2014, I have received nothing. My season starts next Friday.

    I posted the whole story at http://www.willglynn.com/2014/03/19/free-fall-suits-malice-or-incompetence/

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    You aren't the only one.

    I find it funny that he can have a "Stock Sale", but can't fill orders that were taken and paid for last summer.

    Post about stock sale:

    http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4612129#4612129
    "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

    "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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    willglynn

    I ordered and paid in September and have gotten nothing but emails -- and I even had to fight to get those.

    My four delivery dates:

  • As of September 21: about 8 weeks
  • As of December 12: "week of 13 January"
  • As of February 7: "later next week"
  • As of February 24: "The order WILL be completed and delivered before the season"

  • As of March 19, 2014, I have received nothing. My season starts next Friday.

    I posted the whole story at http://www.willglynn.com/2014/03/19/free-fall-suits-malice-or-incompetence/



    Wow, I had heard rumors about the summer fest things but your blog is an eye opener. I, like many others I assume are in the same boat as you. I have been trying to get a hold of them for over a month now with no success at all, the best I got was a response from Chris saying he would check things out on Monday when he gets to the office and he doesn't know why he is not getting emails but will find out. That's it! That's all the info I have on my order after 5 emails and only one response. After reading your blog yesterday (March 20th) I decided to send a message to the facebook page and I actually got a response. I was told that he had talked to Chris who was out of town right now but that Chris would call me later on that evening. Of course no call came but I did get an email from him at 4 this morning asking what he could help me with? So back to square one with these guys, no answers, no updates, nothing. It has now been 12 weeks, 4 past the quoted delivery date and I can't get any answers, at least you have gotten emails with excuses, I have gotten nothing! I can barely get a reply back at all and when I do it's "I will check it out" or "what can I help you with"? B|

    I wanted to add my name to this thread so that anyone thinking of ordering a custom suit from them know what to expect. Chris was very helpful in Florida and showed us a great product. He was very friendly and easy to talk to and appeared to have things under control. His sales ability is top notch, and he was very confident in his product and company. I hope that he cares enough to fix these issues with customer service because if he can't then it doesn't matter how good his product is, people would rather pay more and get great service than the other way around.

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    I too am in the same boat. Paid in full almost 6 months ago and nothing has shown up since :(

    I did eventually get hold of Chris and eventually he agreed to a refund but that was over 4 weeks ago and I am still waiting.

    I hope he's at the next boogie I attend.

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    markbdaniels


    If you look, it's obvious they copied & pasted the graphic directly from Jedi's website to theirs, and then simply changed the color of the stitching on "their" suit to yellow.

    LOL, now I understand why this "advertising" thread was left up: public service.

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    Well, this thread has generated some activity.

    This thread was started on Feb 21. My reply about the non-delivery was that day.

    In the interim, I made a couple more posts about it.

    Last week, on the 20th (a month later), I got a message from Chris (not "weaverd", the OP) asking who hadn't gotten a suit that was ordered at Summerfest. He said his info showed all but one had been delivered. I sent back the name and contact info for my friend who ordered and paid for 3 items, but hasn't received anything but empty promises and had to work pretty hard to get even those. Chris responded that he'd get on it.

    I got a text from my friend the other day that Chris had e-mailed him and promised delivery in 2 weeks.

    We shall have to wait and see what happens.
    "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

    "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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    The company was started with the goal of creating suits or a very durable construction and selling them at a very low price point as the current market is grossly overpriced for what you get. Paying $800, $900 and even over $1000 for a jumpsuit seemed excessive.

    This plan relied on volume sales as our margins are very small in order to bring this low price.



    Unfortunately we did encounter issues along the way as everything is a learning experience. All of the suit companies had different issues when they started up. We learn from each issue and find a way to build redundancies to prevent them from happening in the future. Issues such as supply and labor unfortunately cause issues.



    The implication of having small margins as I’ve discovered is that you do not have the same flexibility to react when issues arise. If we were making the $400 in profit per suit then it would be easy to hire more people to address any issues that come up.



    For us keeping the price low was a priority. We have the durable product; if you’ve ever visited our booth and done the ‘tug of war’ you know how durable these things are. We are working on and will continue to improve on our communication. Low margins mean we cannot simply hire more people to answer phones and emails. One of the posters above suggested that we increase our prices to be able to cover the salary of someone whose sole job it is to answer phones and emails.



    We did get delayed by 3 different fairly major issues, all of which were externally caused. These issues were: material supplier decided we were too small or an order to provide for (We hunted for alternate suppliers and now have redundancy). Our sizing software was maliciously manipulated and it was not discovered until some suits had sent out. While we verified the code we had to switch to manual pattern creation. This takes a lot longer to produce a suit. The last one was a personal issue that forced Chris to have to leave the company temporarily; during that period without oversight other delays occurred. These issues did cause delays in delivery as the cue built up.



    The good news is that we are catching up quickly on all the backorders and are setting up to be able to deliver very quickly this summer. In essence we ran into growth issues, we fought, working 15+hrs virtually every day and are making our processes fast and adding lots of redundancy.



    To address a few of the specific issues in this thread:



    The gentlemen who ordered at summer fest are happy with our solution as he is getting his third item free as an apology. His order unfortunately didn’t follow our normal tracking process and that is why the delay. We are currently processing the orders from the very end of Dec. Within the next 5 weeks we will be caught up on all the orders from January, February and March bringing us back to a 6.5 week delivery time. For perspective other suit companies have had a 24 week delivery time before when they were newer and learning lessons. No they are the brand name that people will buy just because of the name. We had our major growing pains; we got through it and are now ready to fly.



    The gentlemen who posted about the refund is on the other side of the world. Our normal process was to write a cheque and mail it. In his case that did not work so we initiated an electronic refund. It took a bit of time to get another method of refund in place as we had not encountered this inability to receive a cheque before. The money was debited from our account and he should have that reflected on his card.



    We have learnt a lot along the way. The common thread from those who have had these issues affect them is that we will go above and beyond once an issue is discovered to make them happy.



    As mentioned above the goal of the company is to provide a very well built suit for a fraction of the industry average. We could raise our prices to meet the standard, but that is not our goal. We want you to save money so you can spend more time actually skydiving with the money that you save. We are skydivers first.

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    So more cheap excuses and glib promises?

    My friend's order "didn't follow normal tracking procedures?"
    How come the numerous e-mails he sent (most of which generated zero reply) didn't alert you to the fact that you had lost track of an order?

    I think your responses here (or lack of them) are far more indicative.

    You posted the original ad on Feb 21.
    I responded that day about the non-delivery.

    A month later (and with a couple of additional posts), I get a PM from Chris.

    A week after that you pop back into the thread.

    Five weeks after the OP.
    I don't expect someone to sit here on Dizzydot all day, every day.

    But five weeks to respond to a thread that YOU started?
    "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

    "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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    "We are currently processing the orders from the very end of Dec. Within the next 5 weeks we will be caught up on all the orders from January, February and March bringing us back to a 6.5 week delivery time."

    Oh really?

    I ordered my suit on September 29th and know I'm not the only one still waiting.
    I did receive an email back on March 21 saying that its expected to be completed within the next 2-3 weeks.

    I'm not here to bash. New companies will experience learning and growing pains. I just hope everything gets taken care of soon and we end up with a great product in the end.

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    I had a similar experience, I ordered in September and I only got sporadic messages from Chris. The suit finally arrived in December and it was 2" too long and the colours were incorrect.

    I sent him a message and he responded immediately. He paid for the rigger at my DZ to fix the length and offered to remake the suit in the correct colours.

    From my experience I think Chris really cares but is just overwhelmed on a number of fronts. He has a great product and I hope he can go the distance.

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    weaverd

    We are currently processing the orders from the very end of Dec. Within the next 5 weeks we will be caught up on all the orders from January, February and March bringing us back to a 6.5 week delivery time.


    If that's true then you're not processing orders chronologically. I ordered on September 21, and as of my fifth delivery date (today), I haven't received anything.

    weaverd

    For perspective other suit companies have had a 24 week delivery time before when they were newer and learning lessons


    Maybe so, but I'd guess those other companies don't make a habit of promising and failing to deliver. Again, I'm at five delivery dates blown -- delivery dates set by Freefall Suits. If you had quoted me a 24-week lead time, I probably would have been okay with that, but instead I was told I'd have my order in 8 weeks, 4 weeks, next week, 4 weeks, and 2 weeks.

    As of now, my order is 27 weeks old and I don't even have an ETA.

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    weaverd


    The gentlemen who posted about the refund is on the other side of the world. Our normal process was to write a cheque and mail it. In his case that did not work so we initiated an electronic refund. It took a bit of time to get another method of refund in place as we had not encountered this inability to receive a cheque before. The money was debited from our account and he should have that reflected on his card.



    You forgot the bit where I had to continually chase you down and ask for a refund over and over. Also your story misaligns a little with what you told me (you said you send a cheque, but that didn't attive)

    weaverd


    The implication of having small margins as I’ve discovered is that you do not have the same flexibility to react when issues arise. If we were making the $400 in profit per suit then it would be easy to hire more people to address any issues that come up.



    I get that your a newish company, and you have lower profit margins. But your 'issues' that come up are of your own making. If you cant handle the load stop taking peoples money, or put up prices to slow demand. Either way its easy, just stop screwing people around.

    I gave you my money in good faith you would send my pants. 8 months later I still have nothing to show for it or my money back. Please explain to me how this is fair?

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    I want to start by saying that FreeFall Suits are top notch.

    I jump in eloy and Chris was out there at the Halloween Boogie. He measured every part of my body just to make sure that it was custom fitted to me. My suit came in February. It was a perfect fit.

    I found out the suit was way to fast for belly work. (140mph-145mph) That is with me trying to slow down. I am a very fast faller naturally. I have to wear a suit that is 8 inches longer that is supost to be to stay with groups Chris came into Skydive AZ That day and asked what I thought about the new suit. so I told him what it was doing.
    He took the suit that day and reenginered it . 2 Weeks later I had my suit back. It came back with the modifactions done to the suit.

    Holy cow is what i can say. The suit looks, fits and performs like it should. I can slow myself down to 105mph and I can speed myself up to 175 mph (belly to earth). Skydivers that had jumped with me the first time could not believe it was the same suit with modifactions on the second time.

    I run my own business and understand that every new company has bumps to smooth out and not everything is perfect. But Freefall Suit makes unbelievable skydiving suits. They will be around for a long time.

    Thank you Chris for an awesome suit. FreeFall Suits has my future business.

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    Quote

    I jump in eloy and Chris was out there at the Halloween Boogie. … My suit came in February. … He took the suit that day and reenginered it . 2 Weeks later I had my suit back.


    I ordered in September -- 29 weeks ago tomorrow -- and still have received nothing. According to Chris, my freefly suit was completed at least 8 days ago, but I haven't received a shipment or a shipment notification. Maybe he's waiting to finish my camera jacket too in order to save on postage...

    Quote

    But Freefall Suit makes unbelievable skydiving suits.

    I hope so.

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    Well, my friend was promised delivery in 2 weeks.

    That was 3 weeks ago.

    And nothing has shown up.

    More empty promises.

    Edit to add for clarity: Order was originally placed and paid for (2 of 3 items paid in full) on Aug 3 last year. the "2 week delivery" was a promise made 3 weeks ago.
    "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

    "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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    I bought a pair of freefly pants from these guys. My order somehow got missed and not processed, but Chris was quick to make up for it. I understand the troubles that can be involved in starting a new business. I'll most likely buy from these guys again and give them the benefit of the doubt. They make a great product.

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    weaverd



    This plan relied on volume sales as our margins are very small in order to bring this low price.



    Do I read this correctly?! The margins are so small, that you need the money from the new orders to fix the problems with the previous ones?!
    What happens when you need more money, but there are no new orders?

    There was a guy in Australia who started his business "just to help my fellow skydivers" by selling gear on his dealer price. Long story-short....he disappeared from the face of the Earth,stealing thousands of dollars from his "fellow skydivers".

    I don't have a dog in this fight, I just hate seeing people being ripped off
    "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

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    Deyan

    What happens when you need more money, but there are no new orders?


    Apparently you do a stock sale, solicit more new orders, and delete any negative feedback.

    Chris indicated that my freefly suit was done a week and a half ago. I asked him to ship it on Monday even if the camera jacket I ordered is still outstanding. Let's see what happens next.

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    I read through the blog you linked (first link, didn't go back from where you started it).

    Something that caught my eye is how everything isn't his fault.
    It's always an 'external problem' or "someone else's fault."


    Riiiiight.
    "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

    "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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