Fourth Element Reviews 8

Bought the Xerotherm undersuit. Professional and timely handling from order to delivery. Fits perfectly, great material, light, comfortable, and warm. Exactly what I was looking for to wear under my neoprene drysuit

Very poor (amateur) customer service….

I recently purchased a Fourth Element Proteus Two 5mm semi-dry wetsuit, it has been used ONCE.

ONE single check dive (upon me arriving at Red Sea where it was bought to use),

in writing I am still here,

In its very first use it FAILED on the right hand cuff, the neoprene split almost right through, certainly right through to the outer surface material and right 100% through the neoprene cuff for maybe 50mm to 75mm in length,

By the time I finish this trip it’ll certainly have torn through to the edge of the cuff, goodness knows to what state…. It’ll be in ribbons I reckon.

I emailed Fourth Element with pictures and receipt, I asked their view….

They replied and told me I must have torn it with long nails or jewellery (I’m a 16st biggish bloke - not some sort of trans and no surprise I don’t have long nails or wear jewellery) and in spite it let go right by a seam, near a stitch line….

Their advise was for me to glue it!!!!….

It’s brand new FFS!!

I replied to suggest I expected a more “professional” response fitting of a premium supplier such as Fourth Element (which really should have been “sorry Mr Johns, use it whilst you’re away and we’ll sort it for you when you get back”) but noo….

They’ve now gone on to waste my time with a few nonsense emails back and forth since, utter waffle and diversionary tactics, including that as the local dive shop I’m using has glued the suit - following their advise that I have somehow now accepted a repair (for the purposes of meeting my statutory rights under Consumer Rights Act, which has provision for an authorised repair to be available as a warranty resolution) then advising me that as so my statutory rights aren’t affected and they’re not interested,

Right now, like the dive school who just glued it for me I’m not impressed at all….

The shame of it is the local dive shop will now inherit this when I leave to use as a hire suit (apparently, dive shops love knackered rubbish wetsuits)….

Me, I’m gonna make my first Fourth Element purchase my last and get something decent instead.

(And by the way, the five star “Andark” review here is a shop / retailer who are an authorised stockist for Fourth Element with vested interests…..Beware the bias and read the consumer reviews for an honest assessment of Fourth Element).

Highly impressed with customer support after we raised an issue concerning a mask we bought from them. Very responsive, friendly and exemplary service. Would highly recommend Fourth Element following this experience and will certainly now wish to purchase from them again.

Fourth Elements Argonaut 2.0 Hybrid drysuit becomes porous and lets water in

I had a water leak issue with my Fourth Elements Argonaut 2.0 Hybrid drysuit, after approx. 90 dives it began letting large amounts of seawater into the suit. At first, I thought it was user error, but it kept happening so I checked for leaks and couldn’t find any. My drysuit is in excellent condition, I use it approx. 12 times a year as Queensland, Australia only has a few cold months. The lower half of the drysuit is trilaminate, in perfect condition and does NOT leak.

Hmmm, so I contacted Fourth Elements, and they advised me to see one of their Australian Drysuit repair agents, which of course I did, and it turns out that the Fourth Elements Argonaut 2.0 Hybrid drysuit has a known issue ….. after a while the upper torso fabric becomes porous and lets water in.

Nice, but it gets worse, Fourth Elements are aware of this issue and have stopped using this faulty fabric, however there is no customer support or recall on these suits, the customer is simply told that the drysuit is nearing the end of its expected lifespan and they cannot assist in this regard.

Below is an exert from the Fourth Elements email reply to me:

“To be transparent, I haven’t encountered reports of the Stealth or Flex fabric becoming porous over time. However, there were known issues with the original Kevlar fabric in the first Argonaut models, which is why we redesigned the material to be more durable and robust.”

And the final goodbye email reply from Fourth Element was:

“We know from experience that the Kevlar fabric was very sensitive, that is to say, if not rinsed fully after each and every dive, and/or exposed to direct sunlight for prolonged periods, the material could delaminate and cause leaks. Whilst the fabric itself was not inherently faulty, the level of care required made it an unviable fabric and it was discontinued. Given the age of the suit, it falls outside of any warranty we are able to offer.”

Nice one Fourth Elements, use a faulty product, do NOT advise your customers or issue a recall notice when you discover the fabric becomes porous and then do not offer any support to your loyal unsuspecting customers. Rest assured, I will never purchase another Fourth Elements product and will take this to the ACCC, the ACCC is Australia's competition regulator and national consumer law champion.

Initially had a very bad experience with fourth element but they have turned it around making sure my needs were met. They’ve given me hope for returning products especially with fourth elements unusual sizing basically go up two sizes.

Yet again, more poor and disgusting customer service from fourth element, five months after bringing a dispute over, not receiving my Argonaut dry suit, the suit finally arrived but items did ie dry gloves, nine months now with a merry-go-round of lies. I am now taking it to the customer Ombudsman for advice and action against them.
I recommend, nobody buys anything directly from fourth element as I repeatedly fob you off and lie to you.

I placed an order with this company on 10th April 2021. I had the order confirmed, with an order number, and confirmation that payment had been made.
I waited. And waited.
Eventually I checked my account on their website, only to find that the order had been cancelled. I emailed their customer service because this was really odd, and payment was authorised (luckily I took a screenshot of the confirmation). No reply. As a result I have to keep checking my bank account to make sure no money is taken.
In case you read this Fourth Element, my order no. is 39626. I would love to hear your explanation.