This is a thread for those that are frustrated with Oakley either in design, service or whatever.

Here is the place to say "Oakley Sucks!" and vent your frustrations.

Oakley - in all it's glory - still makes mistakes. Let's vent our frustrations - and in turn, debate those if necessary - here.

Or, help each other resolve the issues that we may have through experience, knowledge or whatever.

Terry - I give you the floor to begin.

LOL

My name's not TERRY!

Ah, nice ! This is the kind of topic I've been looking for, lately, for one particular reason :
B-1B Grips 2010

I understand the fact that Oakley wants to use the the love of old school/vintage stuff and particularly when it comes to re-edition of products who built the reputation of the brand.
I admit that getting the original molds out of the box to produce a re-edition of the grips to promote a complete line of Grips themed products is well thought out.
I respect that producing a limited quantity and let it go to specific and selected stores/events and then talk about the grips on their twitter and facebook page increase the buzz about the whole product line.

BUT, WHY IN THE HELL aren't they clear about the release or not of the grips.
Is is so complicated to communicate and simply say : "These are only for promotional purpose, they won't be sold" or "Yeah, we are going to sell them, but wait untill you are all nervous about the release so as we ensure a huge rush on the grips".

YES, I'm frustrated and disappointed because :
- I really wanted to buy some of those grips and not for the ridiculous price seen on eBay,
- I contacted Oakley Europe about the grips and I got three different answers to my questions ( "Don't know about the grips"; " No they won't be for sale";"Yes, they are for sell in the same stores that have eyeshade"),
- I tried them and they are awesome but I still won't be able to get some with a simple clic on "Buy" button on Oakley.com

Oh men, what a relief to finally express the disappointement.
Thank you, B. for this thread ^_^

All in all, I have no problem with the offerings currently. There are many I would never wear, but there are still some great styles mostly in the sports frames that are perfect. I'm sure had I been into Oakley in the early-mid 90's and been a fan of the crazy Zeros, then a few years later saw things like the Ten, Five, Straight Jacket, I would have felt that the brand was becoming generic. Then the 2000's hit and gave us the Splice, Scar, OTT, etc... With every wave there are mainstream ones that pay the bills and provide the revenue to gamble on a less than perfect seller that we jump at.

That said, the limited market frustrates me to no end. Both because they aren't learning from the 90's comic/card bust, and also when something really cool comes out, I immediately feel like I have little chance of getting it. Only a few like the woodgrains, or the Rasta Fatcat felt like truly accessible special items.

Combining the last two frustrations about communication and limited editions, it's a shame there isn't a better avenue of communication about limited editions that are available for purchase. I don't even think most hardcore collectors know about the exclusive hand-painted frames that are out right now or other athlete exclusives (such as KVD).

I can say that the thing that is really becoming generic about Oakley is it appears they keep running out of cool ideas for the day to day stuff. I mean really, how many frames can they keep morphing out of multiple others that are dying off?? Now keep in mind I was hugely vocal about the Rigs and hating on them, but now I really like the fit and all, but still. Why not be Oakley and be original??? Bat Wolf is another that I like, but taking a newer pair and doing the same seems like they have just lost direction or something...I don't know, maybe buying up tanks, prepping the company for one of the Italian hierarchy to come in and take CEO reigns, and so forth is just taking away from design??? Who knows.

As for the collector thing, I agree 100% with Dann...I am watching them do exactly what Disney did and is still doing now with things of this nature. I collected Disney back in the mid-late 1990's and stopped because they just got out of control with pumping the stuff out. Not so much making it all accessible, but just pushing out so many "collectibles" back to back to back...It just got too costly.

Oakley has done the same. Flores really kicked it off, but doing a nice piece quarterly was a cool idea. Now, it's a frogskin, an artist piece, a signature this, and a hand painted that...All within weeks rather than months. Why not let the market settle a bit before dumping the "next big thing" on us?? I just think they saw opportunity and ran with it, but it over saturates the marketplace with all these so called desirables rather than really making something worth collecting.

Customer service for Oakley here in Europe just plain old-fashioned sucks. I have about ten pairs of Juliets which need a tune up (some very badly indeed). Despite sending numerous emails to Oakley Europe and Oakley UK, I can not find anybody who can even tell me what address to send my glasses to or what it will cost me to get this done.

Harry, aren't the addresses found on the 'O' website: I thought they were.

infoeurope@oakley.com or customercare-europe@oakley.com should work

Or try this:

http://uk.oakley.com/customer-care/customer-care-info

I feel the same way that Dann does. They are not learning from the comic book or sports card market. They are starting to over produce limited this or limited that. Then when you find something you like, the scalpers get their grubby hands on them and just jack up the prices. It makes it hard to stay motivated to collect. I find now that most of my stuff comes from steep and cheap or when I find a good deal on eBay. I am also focusing more on the old stuff. Right now some of it is still reasonable, but even that stuff is starting to get out of hand. Just look at the Subzeros for example.

infoeurope@oakley.com or customercare-europe@oakley.com

Pretty sure I've tried both of those with no luck. I think that the problem is that I'm in Poland and there's still no real Oakley presence here.

Harry,do you want me to try to send a message here in Blighty?

The Custom program is both pretty awesome and really lame. The intent is very cool. But the ability (or lake thereof) to deliver on orders may be killing the program. I think it took 10 weeks to deliver a custom Dispatch for me. I just have a hard time understanding how they can't program in a 'this component on backorder' function as you are building your eyewear - so you set expectations up front. In my case, there was no communication on the delay until I called 4 weeks after ordering.

I ran into the same problem with my USA Fuel Cell...Ordered as soon as they were up on O.com and took over 3 months!! Just absurd to think they couldn't stick in an Ice lens, pop on the Flag Icons, and the flag bag...Very bad service, and no call or email to boot. Just leaves people hanging...Bad Bad service :( Shame on you Oakley Shame...

My biggest complaint is the same old lenses they keep force feeding us. Grey and Warm Grey are played out to the MAX!!! I spend $180.00 on the PENDLETON FC and get Warm Grey lenses with it...WTF. Another $55.00 gets me a set of emerald lenses and VOILA! A little variety would be nice...just sayin!!!

a warm grey polar would be nice...but yeah, something has got to give there. So many pairs look leaps and bounds better with a simple lens option

Too many HUGE lenses lately. While adequate coverage is essential, there comes a point where it's simply overdone. Jawbone is a great example. Awesome pair of glasses, but only if you have a LARGE head. Split Jacket, too, is a little big (although I might actually be able to get away with wearing that pair).

I think Oakley would do well to release more pairs featuring "mid-sized" lenses and appeal to a much greater demographic.

I can say that the thing that is really becoming generic about Oakley is it appears they keep running out of cool ideas for the day to day stuff. I mean really, how many frames can they keep morphing out of multiple others that are dying off?? Now keep in mind I was hugely vocal about the Rigs and hating on them, but now I really like the fit and all, but still. Why not be Oakley and be original??? Bat Wolf is another that I like, but taking a newer pair and doing the same seems like they have just lost direction or something.

That seems to be Oakley's design MO for a long time now. When they design something they like, they run with it for as long as they can. The derivative nature of the Oil Drum/Oil Rig, Fuel Cell/Batwolf, Hijinx/Antix stuff can be compared to the Twenty/Minute, Eye Jacket/Trenchcoat, XX/Juliet, Water Jacket/Racing Jacket, etc. styles of the past.

that they can't fix my time bomb !

One of my gripes with the Custom program is that it is not uniform. X-Squared is available for custom online, but not in store. I learned this when I went to HQ in August. I was looking to customoze two items and was told that I couldn't do X-Squared and that the other one couldn't be etched in the lobby, even though it can be online. Small gripe.

prepping the company for one of the Italian hierarchy to come in and take CEO reigns

Are you just assuming, or do you know something?

As for the OCP turnaround time, I 100% agree with the complaints but do want to say that as of late I have notice the delivery times have been much improved. (at least in the US) I have seen them go form 3 to 4 weeks to more like 1.5 to 2 weeks on most items.

Word is they have finally pumped more resources to the OCP program in both production units and manpower.

The derivative nature of the Oil Drum/Oil Rig, Fuel Cell/Batwolf, Hijinx/Antix stuff can be compared to the Twenty/Minute, Eye Jacket/Trenchcoat, XX/Juliet, Water Jacket/Racing Jacket, etc. styles of the past.

Except that those were smaller and more appropriate for other fitments, where as the new stuff is all large and shield design. There isn't a lot of variance for facial profiles with the new. I can wear every single unisex/men's piece being it BatWolf, Fuel Cell, Antix, Gascan, Hijinx, Oil Rig, Oil Drum, etc....I couldn't wear a minute of any variant ever, and XX was a very small fitment on me. So there are major differences in that area, but I agree they do tend to over saturate with one look or style...

As for OCP, unless I get some smoking deal, I am DONE!!! Too many times that not, I have had several weeks of wait time, and to me that is just unacceptable. Especially when I call weekly or even bi-weekly to get an update and just get told, "we are currently filling orders as they have come in" which translated means "I am a CSR and have no idea WTF is up with production and you are probably the 50th person today with the same complaint, have a nice day :)" response....It has just not been worth the headache. I have so badly wanted to order a custom holeshot, but waiting 3 months for a $125 pair of shades is beyond the limits, can't imagine waiting for almost $800!!! I will wait to test the waters as others share good info rather than the norm we have now...Maybe next year sometime...I hope with fingers crossed..

Except that those were smaller and more appropriate for other fitments, where as the new stuff is all large and shield design. There isn't a lot of variance for facial profiles with the new. I can wear every single unisex/men's piece being it BatWolf, Fuel Cell, Antix, Gascan, Hijinx, Oil Rig, Oil Drum, etc....I couldn't wear a minute of any variant ever, and XX was a very small fitment on me. So there are major differences in that area, but I agree they do tend to over saturate with one look or style...

I hear that. I suppose it depends where you put your emphasis. Some would say that though the older styles differed in sizes, they were really still the same design, whereas some would argue today's styles differ comparatively more because it's actually a two-lens system vs. a shield. It's all which angle you're coming from (size vs. lens style). Ultimately, Oakley will continue to put out styles that were "inspired" by a previous one. I think all successful companies do that; gotta cash in on the success.