Koi fish latex review
Rated: 3 out of 5
I ordered a Koi fish colored latex mermaid tail on September 7/2011, I received the tail on February 1/2012. The whole process took roughly 6 months due to several reasons that will be explained later. I bought the tail for both recreational and professional purposes with high hopes in mind. They were mostly fulfilled. The ordering process was fairly easy, I had a friend help me with my measurements and sent them off. Unfortunately Finis ran out of Monofins during my order which set everything back until November 26/2011 when Eric had messaged me to let me know that the monofins had arrived. Although I had recieved a message from him stating that myself and a few other tails were going to be upgraded similar to the silicone tails with custom monofins. This to my knowledge never happened.
I was ecstatic and couldn't wait until I had gotten it. 3 days later I had contacted Eric about my measurements, although my belly button to floor was correct, being plus sized I was worried about the back end of my tail. He agreed to lengthen the back of my tail. After roughly a months wait I was very disappointed to hear that my tail had been painted Aqua instead of Koi (On december 14, 2011). However I was promised it would be fixed as soon as possible and sent off in a few weeks. January 16 I asked for an update on how things were going and received a message that My tail was once again painted the wrong color (green). I was extremely disappointed but figured good things come to those who wait, so I did. I would also like to point out that during this period of time every time I emailed him I waited 4-5 days, then to get a response I had to ask a question about my tail on facebook. He would promptly delete it and email me back.
My tail came on February 1/2012 and I was ecstatic when I opened the package, I couldn't wait to open it, after sifting through the packing peanuts I eagerly laid it out on the floor and tried it on. After a few moments struggling with the monofin I was able to pull it on. The coloring on the tail was very good, although the paint from the previous mis-paintings showed through the silver a lot. I don't mind though because I think it gives it a neat dimension. I did notice however that in some spots where the seams pull you can see a green stripe plainly as the tail was not taken apart to repaint.
The tail was too short, and didn't cover my back end very well, and the thigh part was very baggy. I contacted Eric and he was happy to make me a scale swatch and instructed me how to fix the issues since I couldn't afford to ship it back for him to fix it himself. The ankles also wrinkle a lot, though Eric told me that I needed to point my toes out like a ballerina to fix this. It helps some but not totally. The scales themselves do have some imperfections, though when something is hand made this is to be expected and they weren't too bad at all. I was able to take it for a swim on February 10/2012 and was surprised at the ease of swimming. The colors were brighter and more vivid in the water, and it looked amazing. I enjoyed 2 days of swimming in a pool at a hotel immensely, however on the second day I was dismayed to see that the paint was peeling off in large chunks as I was rinsing it out. Again I messaged Eric with my concerns and he told me how to fix it. However after doing a dry event I've also noticed that after wearing it for a grand total of 3 days the neoprene is already pulling away from the latex at the top edge of the tail. There are also large drips of latex on the inside of the tail which rub my legs and chaff them.
He offered to make me a brand new tail, and the scale swatch, which after waiting 5 months and still not getting it I questioned when it would be ready. He then told me that he would not give me an estimated time of shipping and it would basically get done when it got done. He also stated that he felt NONE of this was his fault. That even though I contact him about extending the back to 43 inches 'it wouldn't have made any difference in fit'(belly button to floor is 39"). At this point I let him know that I was going to talk to a lawyer about what can be done. Within minutes I had a full refund.
I then ordered a scale addition from another source, and while it hasn't arrived yet I was getting my tail ready for when it would arrive, as I rolled the tail down to mark where I"m going to fix the thigh part I noticed something that seemed rather odd to me. There are marks where the tail had been sewn before, but bigger. Like the tail had been made for someone else, then in a hurry he took it in to fit my measurements. I had suspected that with it being painted the WRONG color TWO times that it might not have been 'my' tail, but this has confirmed it in my mind.
Also after swimming for some time in it this summer I've also noticed that the fluke gets so heavy my big toes near the joint gets badly bruised after using it.
Bookmarks