Exceptional Service

[francousteau]

Personally, I've had good service from most places that I give my business too. TDL (Joel & crew) have treated me good on my buys. The LDS's that I go to are pretty much OK too.

On the other hand, my regular dive buddy, (who's computer challenged or he'd be chiming in here himself) is in the midst of a horrible experience with Oxycheq. He ordered a Signature Series wing and BP w/harness from the Oxycheq guys at Beneath the Sea this spring. After 10 dives the harness, at the upper slots in the BP, had frayed through about 1/3 of the way and the inflator hose fitting had stuck in the open position. After speaking with Oxycheq they admitted that a bad batch of BP's had been shipped out. He sent the BP w/harness and inflator hose back to Oxycheq (Patrick) in Florida about 3-4 wks ago along with a note asking for a quick turn around because he's in the middle of the diving season. To date, he's heard nothing back from Oxycheq even after repeated phone messages and I even sent this guy an email on my friends behalf and haven't received a reply. How's that for bad customer service?

 

[DennisS]

I had the corrugated inflator hose collar crack on a wing BC. I took it apart and saw that the platic retainer inside the BC bladder had broken. I dropped it off at my local dive shop (Coastal Divers, Dania Beach), when I went to pick it up, the charge was $10. This is the same shop that would order the battery replacement kit for a Suunto Cobra if I wanted ( approx $30 uninstalled) but told me I could get the same thing installed for $17 at another dive shop. Which reminds me, I have about 5 tanks and 2 regulators to drop off.

 

[TSandM]

I've had almost nothing but good customer service.

1) Bought a Nite Rider HID light. A couple months later it wouldn't strike. Sent it back to Nite Rider -- the battery was flooded (something I would generally assume is operator error) and they replaced it at no charge.

2) Had a latch fail on my dearly beloved Salvo light Wednesday night. I'm leaving for Indonesia on Monday. Salvo is overnighting a new latch to me (to arrive today) and, although I offered to pay for the shipping (the latch failing is a warranty issue, but the urgency is not) they refused.

3) Had the owner of one of our LDS's give me his cell phone number so I could call him directly if there were a time I had to have a Nitrox fill and he wasn't there to do it. (Nobody at that shop pumps Nitrox but him.)

I think my all-time favorite customer service story, though, is one not diving related. I lusted after a jacket in our local tack shop for over a year, but the price was just higher than I was willing to pay. I ran into the same jacket at a horse show on the East Coast for 50% off and bought it. About six months later, the belt buckle failed irreparably. I was in another local tack shop (one I sometimes shopped at -- but subsequently spent much more time and money in!) and told the owner about the issue, and how sad I was about it. He told me to bring the belt in, and as he was a dealer for that brand, he would send it back and get it replaced. And he did! THAT's amazing customer service in my book.

My biggest kvetches have had to do with items supposedly being ordered and then never coming in (were they ever actually ordered?), and things being sent back for repair repeatedly before the problem is solved.

Edited: Forgot to mention my DSS story, which is not mine, but a friend's. I had advised her to buy a BP/W from Tobin, and she tried. But he wouldn't sell it to her until she carried out some tests and got him the data he wanted to make sure she was buying the right wing. I love it -- refused to sell the product until he was sure the customer was going to be happy with it!

 

[Scuba Brad]

Great comments one and all. And Mike even though ST's is a competitor I would say amen to your comment they are the template we all shoot for.

Once again my hat is off to them.

Happy Diving

 

[aushealer]

Although not a dive shop.... Lee Valley Tools has to be one of the best places I have ever shopped at! The staff are warm, friendly, knowledgeable and there for the customers whether your simply purchasing ten dollars or thousands of dollars worth of product.

They have simple policies, if it breaks ~ we exchange it. If we don't have the item in stock ~ we ship it to you free of charge. They are also ready to recommend a different/better product for you, even sending you to a competitor. This is all normal behavior for them, and they refuse to open their stores on Boxing Day in order to let their staff have time off with their families.