4ocean Reviews 277

Gee, I was really hoping to help CLEAN the ocean NOT line others' pockets with our hard earned money! The puny bracelet came from 4ocean. (The beads are dirt cheap! You would think that they could be larger for a $23.00 donation! On the wrist they are hardly noticeable.) Anyway, I tried to put the wimpy thing on and had trouble. (I'm 5'4" tall, 135 lbs.) I wrote to them about it. They wrote back and explained how to adjust it. So, I followed their instructions and the bracelet FELL APART! I wrote to them about this asking for some compensation or at least a reply. If they did NOT do this, I said that I would give them a bad (but honest) review.They never answered back. THIS IS IT!

I am very happy to see how my money is being spent: 40% on plastic clean up; 10% on other projects to clean the environment. 50% goes to employees: people in Bali who make the bracelets, ship owners who lead the clean ups, etc. I would hope that every other donation I make is used so carefully. And the owners are only paid $50,000 a year -- that means that they are probably still roommates as $4000 a month doesnt go very far, especially when they have to feed themselves @24 yo athletic men. And I am happy to support a company that supports employment in a developing county.

I am a swimmer, so I love the idea of keeping the ocean clean. These braclets look great and make you feel even better. My first bracelet, the shark edition, lasted me half a year and braved through non-stop wear and chlorine. However, I ordered a new one to replace the broken bracelet about a month ago, and almost immediatly I could see signs of wear. It unravelled quite a bit, but maybe it was just a bad batch. Still recommend!

I am a monthly subscription to 4ocean. Absolutely love this company and what they represent. I have a lot of their bracelets and wear them every minute of every day and never had 1 problem. Best part is people always ask about them and I get others addicted to them. I order them for my friends who don't do internet. I totally disagree with the post about them falling apart. I work hard and never 1 problem.

You will be very unhappy with their product. Customer service is the worst I've ever had to deal with and the BRACKETS are CHEAP. The beads shatter EASILY and the plastic unravels. DON'T ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY.

Love their mission! I live on the beach on the Gulf of Mexico, and I see plastic and trash every day being left behind by visitors to my area. So, in addition to walking the beach and picking up trash myself, I purchased a monthly subscription to help with the 4ocean cause.

Btw, for those complaining about how they spend their money"
"More than 40 percent of the profits 4Ocean sees from selling bracelets (which are now made in Bali) is spent on the company’s cleanup operations, with another roughly 10 percent going to 4Ocean’s various charity partners, including non-profit organizations focused on marine life like the Coral Restoration Foundation and Project Aware, according to Cooper and Schulze. The two co-founders take salaries of $50,000 per year apiece, with the rest of 4Ocean’s profits getting invested back in the business to continue expanding the cleanup operations."

50k a year for CEOs is nothing. Their mission, cleaning the oceans, as well as donating to other marine-focused charities, is a great place for me to put my money!

Love this company!!
I am not affiliated with 4Ocean in any way, except to say that I love their mission and have purchased 2 bracelets with plans to buy more down the road for myself and as gifts.
I have read some of the reviews with people asking for financials from the company to ask what percentage of profits go towards pulling plastic and waste from the ocean and how much the co founders pocket as profit.
Personally, they are doing more on a daily basis to clean our oceans than I have done in the past 10 years.
The company was started by two college graduates in south Florida who loved to surf and 2 years after graduating from college, went on vacation to Bali.
They found fisherman wading through plastic waste littering the ocean and came up with a plan to create a way to remove litter from the ocean, recycle it, sell that recycled product and sustain a business that now employs 250 people world wide to clean the ocean as a full time job.
As long as they continue to clean the waters, I will continue to support their cause happily!
Keep up the great work!!
Annetta :)

I am receiving bracelets once a month, I'll soon be getting my 5th bracelet. I believe in the work they're doing.....and for those that complain it's a private company and the execs get big pay and la de da crap.....what do you think businesses that have filed as charities do, first they pay their execs a ton of money to run the business and then they advertise either on tv through the mail or on social websites, nothing unusual. If these guys are really getting the message out about global awareness and cleaning the oceans then I'm for it. They will never completely relieve our oceans of all the trash but they're trying.....just like animal rescue's cannot possibly rescue and adopt out all the animals in the world, at least they're trying and I appreciate that.

LOVE LOVE LOVE these guys. I now have 3 bracelets and plan to get more. I’ve been obsessed with sharks for over 30 years and would still one day love to dive with them (if I can work our how to pressurise a dodgy ear!! Lol) but seeing a company run so well for the benefit of the ocean makes my heart grow a few sizes!!! I order direct too and they always arrive super quickly!!

Keep up the good work guys!

I would like to report a great and kind reaction of the 4Ocean back office when I told them I had to interrupt my subscription temporarily because of issues with my VISA card. In fact they let me have the bracelet already in the pipeline to me without charge, instead of demanding that I send it back. They rightly know that I will soon be back subscribing again.

Regarding packaging and the bracelets themselves - why complain? Your donation is only $20!!!

Regarding the advertising, especially the clueless comment below from Shan David, of course people who already buy 4Ocean bracelets will see more advertising for the bracelets - that's how the Google and Facebook advertising bots work : they find out what you buy and advertise same or similar products. Simple.

I like the way that jobs are created by 4Ocean upstream and downstream:- from the making and packing of the bracelets in Bali, to the payment of fishermen and boat captains around many coasts, the correct treatment of the refuse collected, and the magnificent extra visibility of otherwise little-known NGOs who are dedicated to saving marine life and preserving the coral etc.

I simply cannot understand the smallminded people who attack the fact that this system is not run by unpaid volunteers but by a properly run company

Living 80 miles away from the nearest sea coast, I hold virtual hands with every purchaser of bracelets that have paid for over 4 million pounds of plastic to be extracted permanently from the ocean.I like the fact that by buying a bracelet I can contribute in a minuscule way towards saving sea turtles and other creatures. It's better than hugs, far better than ranting on social media.

Small actions do accrete to a gigantic whole. 4Ocean is a living demonstration of this. I hope everybody will ignore the trolls and give this company their continuing support.

I had the best customer service from Brian today. He was very nice and helpful...I allready felt like a bad person complaining about a bracelet that helps so much :) I appreciate the replacement bracelet...and if you had a video on how to tie the knots I would have totally tried to fix it myself! Thank you!

I am doing a review on 4Ocean and if they are effective or not I think they are the most effective company out there for ocean clean up. And your progress has just been amazing with how you are working to clean up the ocean and save it from plastic poulution.

My wife was considering buying one of the bracelets and asked if I thought it was a good idea.
I reached out to the company because I saw a comment from a company representative indicating:
“for our 2018 causes, we donated 10% of the net profits for that month to the cause designated for that month. In 2019 we're donating even more to the 12 great causes we'll be working with.”
I reached out and asked the company "where does the other 90% of -net profits- go? Employees and operations would come out of gross proceeds.
It would appear the other 90% would go to the company owners."

The owners only responded with information about employees and other gross expenses. They ignored my request for information about their "profits".
This leads me to believe profits for the top people in their company are their highest interest.
I advised my wife and I'd advise anyone else that there are probably more effective ways to help the cause of cleaning up the oceans with donations that go more directly to the work and not to the profit of others.

Dan in Boston

In response to Shane Davis "Donate to a real NGO - not this!" While I share your concern about being tracked by advertisements and continuously pressured to donate or to join or for any other reasons surrounding continued or further funding of a project, I hesitate to blame the organization's intent to do so. True there are those organizations who intentionally utilize the digital age, advertisement functions for this very purpose. However, it may be more a case that in today's world of connectivity it could simply be just a part of the platforms set up and not the intentional fault of the organizations themselves. Just a thought.
Edmond G Wiggins Jr

I was initially really happy to purchase my bracelet, thinking it would help fund the projects listed on your website aimed at cleaning oceans. Then the targeted online marketing started, everywhere I went online, may it be YouTube, Facebook or general websites, I see 4Ocean ads. I must have watched your ads about 250 times in the last month. If I had known that every dollar I paid for my bracelet would be used to show me ads and not be used like those ads actually say, I would have never sent any money to you. I really feel I was scammed. Your organization is simply green washing very expensive little trinkets. There is no real intention of cleaning anything, its a marketing play using people who actually care about the environment. I understand that you are a private company and not an NGO, that your intention is to make a profit and that is okay. I initially had the intention of putting your sticker on my scuba fins and being a great promoter of your business. Your business plan seems to be to hassle your customers until they want nothing to do with you anymore. On top of being bad at your ''mission'' you guys are terrible at marketing. You wasted a ton of money targeting me and never thinking that at some point it's too much. I initially had no issue with you being a private company, but your actions show me that donations should be reserved to NGOs and that your company is an immature get rich quick marketing ploy.

Very disappointing.

I'm happy with what the company stands for, happy to contribute to the cause and was excited to get the bracelets. However, they are made so that the cording extends about 2 inches once the bracelet is made to fit on your wrist. It's sloppy, especially if you are wearing more than one. Even home crafters know to use a sliding knot which would alleviate the mess. But to be honest, the company rep did reply to my concerns and offered to send me a water bottle instead. I want the bracelets, I just want comfortable ones.

Hello future customers,

I do very rare reviews on products, but in this case i feel very disappointed. First of all i want to tell you that i like the idea of selling things and helping earth with it. I like it very much. The thing i am disappointed with is the bad quality of the products. I ordered my first shark band last year and i had it for about one and a half months after it just ripped apart and fell off. The second one i ordered in December, my white ice bear band, which started to break under the glas balls and fell of after one month. Now i bought two plastic bands for 52$ which had the quality of 2$ bracelets.
My intention was to wear a bracelet and tell everyone that anybody can help to save parts of our environment. But i was left disappointed with no bracelet to wear.

****Additional Information****

At the evening of the review day, i recieved a message, which you can see below. The customer care person was very friendly and helped me out with my proble. I changed from 1 to 4 Star, because this week i received the replacement bracelets.
From now on i will check if the bracelet stays intact after a few months of wearing it. If it does so i will change to five stars.

I am still leery to support a company that sells products and use volunteers without disclosing their finances. It seems to me that if it is all on the up and up, they would have no problem offering an earnings and spending statement. For the scientist who said he cannot get an answer o the making of the bracelets, and I agree that making and shipping is just adding to the environmental issues, here is the response I received on Facebook from 4Oceans:

Hey, all of our bracelets are hand assembled in Bali and made from recycled glass and recycled plastic water bottles. We do use the sales of our bracelets to fund our mission to help clean the oceans. We hire locals in Bali and Haiti to help clean the areas. We also host volunteer cleanup events all over the world to help raise awareness and help as many locations as possible. If there are any questions, we're always here to help.

As an employee of a non-profit organization it is not all you apparently think it's cracked up to be. When we're hit with something we don't always have the funds to immediately take care of it and instead have to wait for funding from donations and such to come in to take care of it. Getting paid above minimum wage, or a "livable wage" is far less likely when you work for a non-profit who can't afford to both do what has to be done AND pay the employees what they deserve, give them the benefits and retirement packages they should have, allow for pto and leave/accommodations for other things that happen in life. Non profit does not make a company good, and being privately owned does not make a company bad. When you're private you can use your revenue to do research and make sure your employees have the best quality, most efficient tools to get their jobs done in an easier and quicker fashion. I don't think I need to go into anymore detail on how a company having money is better than a company that can hardly get by. Your donation helps more than just the ocean, it helps those who spend their days getting the cleaning done. An employee who feels appreciated and valued is more efficient and also has better mental health, you're helping them to be able to get the treatment they deserve and not the bare minimum because they can't afford anything else, helping them be able to get their kid that new game, helping them be able to afford healthy foods instead of junk, and so much more. This is a good company with a good cause getting REAL work done. Before pointing your fingers please take the time to look up some of the biggest "charity foundations" and see how their money is actually spent and maybe you'll realize that there's a difference between claiming to do good and actually doing good, and 4O is the latter.

I’m surprised by many of these reviews regarding disappointment with any quality issues of the bracelets. I saw a commercial on the work 4 Oceans is doing to help our planet through helping our world’s natural cleanser, our oceans. I purchased several to give out of town family members During a recent visit, including teen and pre-teen kids. Great way to bring awareness to this cause and get people talking. The bracelets are a nice “thank you” for contributing monies towards this urgent need to address polution of our oceans as well as a means to help spread the word on the work being done by this company. Come on...if I wanted a piece of jewelry that met certain standards, I would shop in a department store. This is donating money to a cause, not purchasing a bracelet to last the millennium.
Hoping 2019 breaks all records for clean-up records!!