I don’t normally bother to complain when a product or company disappoints me, but I have had enough with Roka.
I bought one of their top end suits about nine years ago. The armpit seams quickly detached, but to Roma’s credit, they replaced it. That suit had a reasonable life to it, although I had to patch the little tears about twenty times and ultimately the armpits detached again.
Next purchase was a swim skin. After one use, the elasticity at the bottom of the suit frayed. Again, had to replaced.
The full tri suit I bought lasted a couple races before the glue holding the sleeve elastics in place fell off.
This past week in a pre-race swim at LP, I was about to use the sleeveless Maverick Pro II that I bought for warm races. About two feet of seam on the right leg just separated. This left me without a suit two days before the race.
I inquired with customer service. Despite this being the third time I used the sleeveless suit, it was outside the warranty period. They offered me a 25% off coupon. I wasn’t trying to get a freebie—maybe just an offer to repair. Last thing I want is to buy another product from them at 25% off.
I suspect Roka has moved on to eyeware and aren’t prioritizing the quality control and customer service of their gear. It feels good out of the box, but durability of their products disappoints.
Meanwhile, I have multiple BlueSeventy suits and those are bulletproof.
I don’t normally bother to complain when a product or company disappoints me, but I have had enough with Roka.
I bought one of their top end suits about nine years ago. The armpit seams quickly detached, but to Roma’s credit, they replaced it. That suit had a reasonable life to it, although I had to patch the little tears about twenty times and ultimately the armpits detached again.
Next purchase was a swim skin. After one use, the elasticity at the bottom of the suit frayed. Again, had to replaced.
The full tri suit I bought lasted a couple races before the glue holding the sleeve elastics in place fell off.
This past week in a pre-race swim at LP, I was about to use the sleeveless Maverick Pro II that I bought for warm races. About two feet of seam on the right leg just separated. This left me without a suit two days before the race.
I inquired with customer service. Despite this being the third time I used the sleeveless suit, it was outside the warranty period. They offered me a 25% off coupon. I wasn’t trying to get a freebie—maybe just an offer to repair. Last thing I want is to buy another product from them at 25% off.
I suspect Roka has moved on to eyeware and aren’t prioritizing the quality control and customer service of their gear. It feels good out of the box, but durability of their products disappoints.
Meanwhile, I have multiple BlueSeventy suits and those are bulletproof.
I had the same problem with the Roka trisuit with the sleeve elastics coming off. Still works fine but I wouldn’t recommend
That’s because B70 are bulletproof. It’s just a better quality suit than ROKA. The return rate of ROKA is high. A friend in the biz told me ROKA was trying to get out of the wetsuit market and focus on shades/eyeglasses, it’s just a higher ROI. Cheaper to make and warranty.