We’re so accustomed to bad news when it comes to customer service, it becomes imperative to spread the word when we have a great customer service experience. That’s been our experience with DryFob, and we want you to know it. DryFob is meant for shore divers like us who by necessity have to take their car’s key fob on the dive with them. No more plastic baggies and Tupperware solutions! DryFob does what is promised and more.
Inventor Nathalie Martel and her entrepreneur husband Jann Leemet were “doing a lot of shore dives during the pandemic, and like a lot of divers we didn’t know what to do with our expensive car key fob,” Leemet said. “We didn’t want to hide it in the bushes like we saw other divers doing, and we tried using a float container on a string but ran into problems.”
He recounted “one time at Blue Heron Bridge the string broke and the float started to drift into the boat channel.” Luckily he was able to retrieve it, but the problem sparked Martel’s inventive side and an invention was born.
“Nathalie began by taking the battery out of an expensive dive light and using it to store the key fob in,” he said. “And that worked, but eventually she needed to use that light!”
They began the search with research, of course. They had their building’s valet measuring key fobs for them and still get a notice when the valet finds a key fob that is a different size than the average key fob. Even with the research, “we have had to make larger sizes of DryFob as the (auto manufacturers) change the size of their fobs.”
“We had the design and prototypes tested successfully to recreational dive limits in early 2021 and we started using these first devices ourselves with growing confidence,” Martel said. “Other divers would see us using them and ask us what they were and where they could get one.”
“We then knew we had something that we could share with the dive community and DryFob® was created,” she said.
“We had Dive Lab, a Florida based scuba diving equipment Navy test facility, test DryFob to 200 fsw (feet of sea water),” Leemet said. “We even created our own pressure chamber where we left DryFob at a simulated 260ft depth for 24hrs successfully with no leaks. We were now taking it on every dive with us and no longer worried about leaks or stressed about our car keys,” Martel added.
“Nathalie received a patent for her invention last year,” Leemet said. “And we test every batch from the factory to be sure they meet our standards.”
There are currently four sizes of DryFobs, and you can find which one fits your vehicle by visiting the product information page. One of the things we have come to love about Leemet and Martel is how responsive they are. If you’re not certain which size to order, just measure your fob (height, depth and length) and email them to find out. You can purchase DryFob through Amazon or by going directly to the DryFob website. Many local retailers carry DryFob, including Force-E, where Out Scuba members can receive a 15% discount.
The problem and the solution
We mentioned at the beginning of this article that we were most impressed by the customer service we received from Leemet and Martel. And that, of course, implies that we ran into a problem. “I used the DryFob many times, and never had any problems,” said Christopher Duncan, Out Scuba co-founder. “But then suddenly one day I couldn’t get the cap off.” Luckily, the car fob was not inside the container.
He thinks that he may have taken the DryFob on an airplane trip with the object closed, and somehow it became vacuum sealed. Regardless, no amount of sweat or trickery would get the DryFob open. Since then, Leemet has added a note to their FAQ page saying don’t travel with the DryFob closed as a precaution.
“I actually purchased another one for use on an upcoming shore drive,” Duncan said, “that’s how much I believe in the product.” But thanks to a suggestion by Out Scuba co-founder Andre Saade, “I sent an email asking if the manufacturer had any tools that could open it, or any suggestions.”
“I received a phone call within an hour of sending the email,” Duncan continued, “and Leemet immediately asked me to send it to him to see if he could do anything. He wrote back ‘Man, I huffed and I puffed, even heat and cold didn’t help. Here’s a new one.”
“I was floored,” Duncan said, “and I cannot recommend the product enough to friends and family.”
Quality product, quality people, quality service
When asked about the swiftness and positivity of the response, Leemet said:
“It comes down to the fact that we’re really proud of the product and we’re thrilled just to be part of the diving business. We’re avid divers ourselves; we love diving but have had careers in other areas. We built a business through this need that we fulfilled, and it’s a dream come true. We’re very proud of DryFob. We’re looking at each one we make, and each batch is tested. We’re both smiling ear to ear. We love the feedback.
“It’s important to us that the quality of the service and the reply matches the quality of the product. It’s a part of our reputation, and a lot of divers are excited, and we want people to think we are nice, too,” he chuckled. “We want divers to know ‘These people will answer the phone, and they will talk to you,’” Martel added. “We treat people the way we want to be treated.”
Local business with a connection to our community
DryFob is based out of Aventura, Florida, roughly halfway between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. And Martel and Leemet have been “citizen scientists with the University of Miami “Rescue a Reef” program, as well as participants in local reef cleanups and working with other universities like Cornell (whenever we get a chance),” said Leemet. They have friends and family who are members of the LGBTQIA+ community and were excited to hear about Out Scuba’s formation. They’ve even agreed to donate a DryFob as a door prize for Out Scuba’s upcoming Pizza and Pool Party on March 30th.
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