Groupon Deal - is this course recommended?

[beaverdivers]

Please understand that if the supplier sells $100,000 of classes at a 50% discount through Groupon. The net to the supplier is $25,000. Groupon get $25,000. Yet, the supplier is meant to provide $100,000 dollars worth of service!

At some point economics will rule and something will give.

 

[bracko]

as a point of reference, there are certain dive stores doing this in Sydney and most peoples' experiences have been quite negative.

disorganised, poor instructors, poor quality hire gear (e.g. non functioning low pressure inflation hose, then being told to just orally inflate... on your OW course!)

The stores that have done them in the past have been smaller stores who don't really have the capacity to cope with the influx of students. some (most?) who would normally never consider diving, but bought the course because it was cheap. this brings about a nightmare on the course when you have 50% of the course who have not considered the reality of what's involved in scuba diving.

I personally know 3 people who've bought these things, 2 have ended up throwing the vouchers away either before or part way through the course and one went through the course and wouldn't dive without an instructor or DM guide (i.e. with a normal buddy) until she'd done her AOW with a reputable dive school.

 

[captjohnr]

Please understand that if the supplier sells $100,000 of classes at a 50% discount through Groupon. The net to the supplier is $25,000. Groupon get $25,000. Yet, the supplier is meant to provide $100,000 dollars worth of service!

At some point economics will rule and something will give.

Groupon is not a Deal....It is the Old Flim Flam.

We will not accept:
Florida C cards without a Log Book to backup training/experience.

 

[nimoh]

Groupon is not a Deal....It is the Old Flim Flam.

We will not accept:
Florida C cards without a Log Book to backup training/experience.

not sure I understand your post (and not familiar with Flim Flam). Are you saying a diver certified through a groupon deal wouldn't have log book?

 

[t-mac]

I'm curious whether there are any shop owners monitoring this and what you think. I'm not in the business, but it seems to me that O/W courses are kind of like the gateway drug -- the thing you can afford to heavily discount in order to sell equipment, trips and additional training. While I do not dispute that people are having bad experiences with the classes found on groupon, it does seem to me to be really bad business to offer an inferior product to those people. If they have a bad experience, they will not come back. I suspect the problem is that they get a much greater response than expected and then perhaps do not have the means or discipline to control it such that they get consistent quality. Maybe they have to bring in their "B team" instructors and dig down to the bottom of the rental equipment pile. I'm not really sure of the scenarios, but my point is that I find it hard to believe that it is a strategy to cut corners on the groupon classes. Having had quality educational experiences with my LDS, I can tell you personally that they have profited much more from the annuity of my coming back for rentals, buying equipment, further training, etc. than they did from my O/W course. Anyway, I'd love to hear from shop owners, though I guess no matter which side you fall on with this it probably does not benefit you to chime in.

 

[beaverdivers]

As a dive shop owner, I feel Groupon is tempting. A potential big money pay off up front, for example $25,000 as in my previous post.

However, the reality of $100,000 of service for $25,000 is problematic for both the training facility and the consumer.

 

[nimoh]

not a bad idea though if it is common (as other have suggested) for a few divers to not show up, although you would need to be prepared to bump some people if everyone showed up. Airlines have been doing this for years.

I don't have a problem with this as long as the students are getting quality instruction.

 

[captjohnr]

[h=2]¹flim·flam[/h] noun \ˈflim-ˌflam\
[h=2]Definition of FLIMFLAM[/h]1
: deceptive nonsense

2
: deception, fraud
3
: Groupon

 

[beaverdivers]

Do you really want your first SCUBA course to be similar to the current " Airline experience "?

 

[nimoh]

¹flim·flam

noun \ˈflim-ˌflam\
Definition of FLIMFLAM

1
: deceptive nonsense

2
: deception, fraud
3
: Groupon

so, are you saying Groupon is a fraud? I have never done anything scuba related through Groupon, but have done concert tickets, and it seems legit.

---------- Post added April 17th, 2012 at 12:39 PM ----------

Do you really want your first SCUBA course to be similar to the current " Airline experience "?

In theory, I don't have a problem with it, since the airline system works (in theory). In practicality, there are some bad experiences, which is why I added "as long as the students are getting quality instruction".