Umbrella question

[Jimbo]

Ok, I bought a strobist kit - I ordered it about 3 weeks ago, and asked the vendor to upgrade the 32" shoot-thru in the kit to a 42" 2in1 (ie shoot-thru/reflective).

About 8 days later, the package finally made it to me, but instead of my 42" 2in1, I'd been sent a 42" shoot-thru. Not happy, but when I rang, they said they'd send me the right brolly right away. 2 days later, a different guy rings me to say they don't have any 42" 2in1s in stock, but he was going to send me a "skin" (ie the removable cover to make a shoot-thru reflective), since it was the same thing anyway. Fair enough.

Aaanyway, the skins arrived today, but I can't work out how to attach them. They've got the same plastic things at the corners that the umbrella arms slot into. However:

(1) I can't take off the shoot-thru, it's stitched onto the arms, and fixed at the tip of the brolly by a metal cap; and
(2) I can't attach it over the shoot-thru, since the shoot thru's corner "pegs" are already on the umbrella arms.

It seems I can only drape the cover over the shoot-thru without actually attaching it. This, to my mind, is not satisfactory.

Am I missing something here? Or have I been sent the wrong product? After nearly 3 weeks of frigging around (delivery seems to take aaaaages), I'm getting a little sick of not having what I paid for. However, if I'm being technically-challenged, I don't really want to ring the guys who sent the covers and give them an unjustified serve.

Anyone else have experience of these brolly skins/covers?

[wanelad]

Hi I am not sure why you feel you might need to give an unjustified serve when they responded to the dilemma in a reasonable time frame. I would just ring them and ask how it is done there is probably a simple solution. Then if this is not satisfactory then your options are to ask for a refund I guess or bite the bullet and make it work somehow

[N*A*M]

it almost sounds like they sent you another brolly skin? i'd take photos and email them asking what you're supposed to do.

if you can't sort it out, i would just stick to using it as a shoot through. you can put a brolly in shoot through position much closer to the subject without getting into the frame. any power loss it well compensated by reduced distance. i don't think bounce back is that efficient if it has to go through the shoot through material, then bounce off the backing, and exit through the shoot through material again.

[Bunyip]

I have a 2-in-1 umbrella. The caps on the skin fit over the metal ends of the shoot-through's spines. Let us know if that works for you.

[ehor]

The umbrella you have is not designed for that skin.
I'd ask them to get you the right one ASAP and return both brolly + skin.