My story about a dive shop

[ZoCrowes255]

Juls64 once bubbled...
'cause you've got a good thing going.

I was at my shop yesterday. This year we bought BCD's, regs, & weights & wetsuits for my husband and myself. We've both taken AOW & Nitrox there. My kids are finishing their certification this weekend through the same shop. Last weekend I spent over $500 on a computer and compass.

Well we were reserving 4 tanks for this weekend and the counter lady asked the owner if we could just pay for 2 since we returned 2 full tanks a couple of weeks ago. He said no, they don't give credit for that.

I'm a little irked. We've dropped over $5000 bucks there since February and he quibbles over a couple of air fills.

You are really, really fortunate.

Julie

It seems like some people have no idea what "customer service" means. :sigh:

 

[boomx5]

Your lucky to have such a good shop that you can do buisiness with.

 

[chrpai]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
...they are here O2 cleaning and inspecting their own tanks and valves getting ready for a cave diving trip next week. I could have saved them a bunch more by showing them a better way all together.

Several things come to mind here. First, what kind of cave diver is using computers instead of tables? Second, what would make you think you could convince a cave diver a better way? ( DIR jab lol ) And lastly I think people are so afraid to negotiate that they assume the asking price is the asking price so they just look for the lowest asking price. Sorry they did you that way.

 

[Fly N Dive]

I have THE BEST LDS 30 min from my house. my dad and i did our ow with them, but did the refural dives in key west. i am 15 so there isn't much money in my pocket. i decided to get a computer after seeing how cool my dads is, and i wanted one i could grow with. i chose the suunto cobra. anyway as said before i dont have much $$ so instead of buying it for like $850 at the store i got it on LP for $500. we wentwith on a trip with the LDS to cozumel in feb, and i bought the cobra in jan. we went to the pre-trip meeting, and i brought my regs and the comp. when the leader of the group saw them he asked if i wanted to swap out my gauges and put it in their place, i said yes and filled out a equipment form with my name and address. a while before the trip i went by and got my regs back. NO CHARGE even though they had to put a QD in. no questions asked about where i got it or why i didn't get it from them, nothing.
We went on a lead shore dive in RI when we got there there was no vis, we drove back to the store and got a full refund for 4 steel tanks, lots of weights, a 7 mm full wetsuit, and the cost of the trip. we had already geared up, and gotten chest high in water when the dive was called. ( people got there early and were coming from their dive when we were heading out no vis and aborted their dive)
SO if you are in the Boston are and need dive gear or advice go to Mass Diving

 

[scuubaadoo]

... sorry you got treated that way, but you got what you asked for. You teach your customers how to treat you. I work part time for a shop, if some one needs service we do our best for them but we charge, there is nothing wrong with charging. We don't feel used at the end of the night, it is called BUSSINESS. This is why the scuba bussiness is the way it is, shop owners giving stuff away for free. Why would the shopper want to go any where else? What would you lose if they don't come by any more, noncustomers who don't even ask if you can match a price. Now the other shops in the area are competing with some one giving the service away, they can't beat free. And the shopper EXPECTS every shop to to give them MORE.

 

[PhotoTJ]

I worked for a while at our LDC, (Local dive chain), and there are reasons, on both sides, for the various treatments that people get.

A good customer should get treated with respect, and given top-notch service.

An LDS who gives good customer service should get your business.

(Now for the controversial part!)

A bad customer should be given up as a lost cause, and no hand wringing done over it.

What's a bad customer? Someone who brings in an item you carry, no receipt, says they bought it '2 or 3 years ago', in obviously 'well-used' condition, nothing wrong with it, it's just 'used', and has a fit because you won't hand them a new item, on the spot. I dealt with 5 or 6 'regulars', who were the return kings. (And queens.) We had customers who bought gear, dove it, and returned it, saying 'Diving wasn't for them.' We had customers who bought gear and returned it, saying they'd never used it, and it was still damp, with salt stains.

The manager always took it in, saying, 'We don't want to lose a customer.'

Another guy tried on every piece of gear we had, then told me 'thanks, and would I write down everything he liked so he could buy it online.'

I politely refused, and recommended that he go try everything on online if that's where he wanted to shop. Of course he got offended and stomped out.

The manager always took it in, saying, 'We don't want to lose a customer.'

There are "customers" that you want to lose.

Remember, there are always two sides to every 'LDS horror story.'

 

[Juls64]

If we were a little closer to each other it would be a great match. I'd be a great customer and you sound like a terrific LDS owner.

Julie

 

[Kosh]

Chris, I’m curious to see if your shop is the same one I go to. If you don’t mind, PM me and tell me which shop you like. If it’s not the one I go to, maybe I’ll check it out.

Here’s my story about the LDS I patronize. When it came time to purchase my own equipment, I did some online research and got rough estimates on prices. Went to the LDS and found the equipment I wanted. They gave me their “package” price (which was still somewhat more expensive) than online, but I thought I should support the LDS. The package price was around $1500.

They had everything in stock but my compass. Also, the shop guy told me that they were out of BC hangers, but to check back again and they would give me one to go with my BC. So I bought my stuff, and the guy gets me into the local pool the next day to let me try out the gear. That was nice. Since the compass I wanted was not in stock (and I had a trip coming up) he let me take his compass on my trip. I really appreciated that!

I go back in a few weeks later to buy some accessories (gloves, dry bag, etc), and the shop manager won’t give me the BC hanger. He says that’s not part of the package. Unfortunately, the guy who sold me the stuff wasn’t there that day. BUT, the shop manager was there the day I bought the “package.” He knew how much money I’d dropped at the store, but he wouldn’t give me an $8 hanger! So I refused to buy the hanger. I guess I shouldn’t be concerned over $8, but hopefully you can understand my frustration.

Anyway, that’s my good and bad experience with a LDS. Sorry for such a long post, but thanks for letting me vent.

Daryl

 

[domino22]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
Well, what the hey? A liitle personal sob story. At this moment I have a shop full of people. For those who don't know me I own the place. Anyway for the second night in a row they are here. They have my place torn apart. All my tools are laying all over the place. You see...they are here O2 cleaning and inspecting their own tanks and valves getting ready for a cave diving trip next week. I'm not charging anything except for the supplies their using. They have enough tanks that if I got the going rate to clean this stuff for them it would pay my rent for a good portion of the year. LOL. I was here to 1 pm last night cleaning up the place (they left about 12). Toward the end of the night I came to hear that two of the guys just recieved their new VR3 computers in the mail at $1000 each. I never even knew they were shoping for computers. I could have not only got them for them but I could have saved them a bunch of money. I could have saved them a bunch more by showing them a better way all together. Anyway...I guess I'm good enough to stay here all night letting them using my **** for free but it's not worth checking to see if I can get them what they want. I sold them most of their stuff at only a slight margin over cost! I got them in a trimix class at 1/3 the going rate! I even went on the trip with and assisted with the class to make sure things went well. At my expense by the way. Moral of the story...I guess you need to make it while you can.

you provide a service and it seems you are a good ole boy. Hey they camped out in your store I read your posts all the time yes you are in a different market now you sometimes say close all dive shops but I feel for your situation and you are not alone. You have read my posts and others about price and other things I feel bad about the situation at local shops but we shop at Sams and Walmart and leisure pro. I have gone tru a roller coaster ride for buying from LP and getting kicked out of a class when that was revieled that I bought on line.Tell every one on this board what has to happen to keep you and other LDS open and make a plea that this has to happen or email this person or that person to make the change. I made one post and have had 170+ posts not to mention 10 fold responces from people I never met from this post by pm this board has more power than anyone could understand use it! I was venting my story when I posted a day later I needed to think before I spoke. But I was not alone and folks came out of the "Wood Work" so to speak.Mike lifes sucks then you die or?domino22

 

[domino22]

Vixyswillie once bubbled...


That is just $hitty, no matter how you slice it.

I'll be the first to agree that mail order is putting heavy pressure on a lot of smaller businesses. It's predictable. The large online companies can buy in enormous volume, offer incredible variety, be open 24/7 from the comfort of anybody's easy chair, often omit the necessity of sales tax, and offer huge savings to boot. And when the pricetag of what you're buying is exponential, anyway, those become pretty incentivizing considerations.

But when my LDS is bending over backwards for me when I need something - like this example - don't I at least owe them the courtesy to ask if they can get me what I need? After all, if the price turns out to be the same, it's a no-brainer. In fact, IMHO, it's even a no brainer if it costs me a little bit more at my LDS - because I'm getting something else with my purchase. Something that you can't really put a pricetag on.

For example, somehow I have a feeling that when Mike was cleaning up at midnight after everybody used his shop, most of the online vendors were already comfortably snuggled away in their beds, while their servers kept logging orders for them to peruse in the morning.

Strange world.

ya he got screwed and he was not along.