The Worst Surf Camera Ever - UPDATE

Back in February I bought a Kodak PlaySport waterproof video camera. Do yourself a favor - don't buy it!

I've got to send it back for the THIRD TIME NOW!

When I first got it, I was super excited, got a housing to put it on my surf vest, and went out in the water. The minute it hit the water it died. We sent it back. We had to pay for postage. About a month later it came back.

I took it out a second time. Again, the minute it hit the water it was dead. This time it took on a bunch of water.

We had read the directions both times and put it in water mode. I was only surfing so it wasn't submerged very much at all.

We sent it back. A month later, they sent us another.

I finally took it out today. Guess what? IT DIED AGAIN!

This time I'm hoping to talk to someone and get something resolved. This thing is the biggest piece of crap ever. We're out $150 plus the cost to ship it back once (they paid for the second one).

Seriously? It's not like I was doing anything wild with it. The video above was allegedly taken with the same type of camera.

Anyone have a good surf camera reco?

**UPDATE**

I first tried to contact Kodak on Facebook but had no luck. Next I found @KodakCameras on Twitter. Luckily, Mary-Irene Marek was incredibly helpful and got someone to contact me in a matter of days. They had me ship my 3x refurbished camera do a different location and sent me a NEW camera just in time for the 4th of July holiday! Now that's service! It's a shame that it took so much effort but it was nice to get the personalized service from Mary-Irene and Ricky (the rep who gave me a call).

This is a great example of using social media for customer service. Twitter is a great medium for this and having dedicated staff that listens to consumer concerns is really the way to go! Brands should take notice and follow this example (I know many have and I say "good job" to that!)

Phone calls didn't work and neither did email messages. The only gripe I have is that the didn't send me the color I had originally and one of my purchased-separately storage cards was destroyed in the earlier attempts.

I plan to upload some of my cool vids soon. The picture is really quite nice. I've just got to get the mounting on my vest right and then I'll be sharing away.

Thanks Mary-Irene & Ricky, you two exemplify what customer service should be.