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Are you ready for my tale of woe? Get ready with a box of tissues!
Slimwear of America produces latex (rubber) garments for those who are into that sort of thing for fetish or other purposes. Their specialty is supposed to be custom garments made from sheet latex.
I ordered a custom sized catsuit from them for several reasons:
When researching who to go to for my catsuit I asked specific questions about what I wanted. I was assured that there would be no problem, "We do custom suits all the time." I figured there would be no problems getting the catsuit I had in mind made for me. Little did I know.
I ordered by catsuit in Mid-September. I send a fax with pictures and measurements along with a couple of pages of description to make sure I would get what I wanted.
In Mid-October I received a catsuit. It was a mess, in my opinion. Here is a list of the things that were wrong:
Needless to say I was very disapppointed. I immediately called SOA and told them of the problems. I was told to return the catsuit along with information about what was wrong. I sent a three page letter and more pictures, and a silicone breast form that the bust cups could be made to fit.
Now this is where the story really gets sad. I spent the next six (6) months trying to get the catsuit fixed. I said that I would be willing to pay for the catsuit to be completely redone, which they said they would do at cost. I had already paid $400 for the suit I got and I would have to pay over $200 to get it fixed. I was told that they would fix any actual problems that they were responsible for for free.
I found out that Slimwear does no manufacturing. They broker for a company in Europe (I think England). So much for dealing with an American Company to make it easier.
Though I repeatedly called and sent email about the suit I got few replies to my email and seldom actually found someone to talk to on the phone. When I did get a chance to communicate with Karen Sneed (the person that answers the phone and seems to run things), I was told things like "I don't know why it is taking so long" and "they should be sending it soon", to "They didn't do any alteration work before Christmas, only new orders" and "Their sending it in the next shipment". I still saw no results. I then begged Karen to contact the manufacturer directly to find out what was going on. She promised to do so. After the third time of asking her to contact them I finally got her to say that they had done nothing at all (this was in late February). It was then told to me that they didn't think that it had been done wrong and that they felt the catsuit had been made to within their tolerances. I would then have to pay for the new suit (over $200) and it would take 4 weeks.
I was patient.
Almost six weeks later I finally got my catsuit. But, wait. NOT my new catsuit that would fix the problems, but the same catsuit that I had already sent back. I called SOA. "They had fixed the waist because they decided that it was their fault." But what about the new suit that I was expecting to get? "They didn't think that they could satisfy you, so they aren't going to do a new suit for you. We're sorry that it didn't work out, but we only broker for them and we can't make them do it for you." I asked why it took 6 months for them to tell me that, and why a month before they hadn't bothered to tell me that. "I don't know. I'm sorry that it didn't work out. We feel badly, but there is nothing we can do."
So now I have a horrible catsuit that I don't want and doesn't fit me. It took seven (7) months, plenty of phone calls, email, faxes, frustration, patience of Job, to finally get nothing and it cost me $400.
Now here is another twist to the knife. At the time I ordered the catsuit I also ordered a mask. I was told that if it wasn't right that I could return it. When I got it with the catsuit it wasn't right. It was too tight for my head and I was unable to breath properly in it (it only had nose holes and a very small hole at the mouth). I returned it. I asked about possible replacements for the mask ($85). I discussed possibliities with Karen on the phone. She said that I needed to send her my questions in email because she was too busy to deal with me on the phone (looking up sizing of articles that I was interested in). I sent a list of possible alternatives, but the most interesting item that I spoke to her on the phone about was not on the top of my list in the email, because there were some other things that I was more interested in. A couple of weeks later I received a package in the mail, though I had never received a reply from Karen and we had not agreed upon the item that I wanted to have as a replacement. What I got in the package was not what I wanted. I called Karen about the package and she told me that it had been sent, but that she could not accept it back because it was a non-returnable item. I had not even ordered it and I was being charged for something that I didn't want! I just let it go at that point because the catsuit I had ordered was still in England (this was in the middle of the 6 month wait after I returned the catsuit). I didn't want to rock the boat.
So I paid over $500 to SOA and I have nothing that I ordered. Pretty sad.
The day after I got the bad catsuit back from SOA I ordered a catsuit from my second choice for the catsuit. I couldn't afford the custom suit price ($700), but I did order an off-the-rack suit from them. It arrived the next day and I could hardly be any happier with it. It is fabulous. The company that I got the good catsuit from is Demask. I highly recommend them to anyone wanting a latex catsuit!!!
I asked SOA to refund $400 for the bad catsuit. I would be willing to return everything to them, so that they would be able to see that I had derived nothing from the items. They said no. I have submitted a complaint to the BBB in Washington where SOA is located. I'm creating this site to warn people about doing business with SOA, since I had such a horrible experience with them. I will never again do business with SOA, though I have done business with them several times over the years.
If you wish to ask me any questions about this story, which is true, send email to soa_sucks@yahoo.com.
One visitor writes:
Several years ago I to ordered a custom suit from SOA, and it too was all wrong or I measured wrong, not likely because I measured very carefully, several times. After all this was my first catsuit, American company, etc. thought it would be OK. It came in 6-7 weeks as agreeded but not very good for a custom suit. So I sent it back, and this is when the real time developed say like another 3-4 weeks with numerous phone calls to Karen the owner. She finally called England I believe, and I got the suit in 1-2 weeks, they had not done a thing to it, it was untouched. I gave up and wrote it off to experience, or my inability to measure correctly (not likely). I then ordered from Cocoon, Demask, and Remawear without any problems what so ever and these were very custom orders of suits, hoods and the like!
I was prompted to write this letter only after hitting your site and reading your account. I have ordered additional items mags, masks, and sheet latex without any concerns from SOA. My conclusion would be her source for custom suits sucks!
Another person writes:
Yet another person writes:
latex fan of yours - Mike
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