Whether the 'free' parts for life program is a scam or not is a matter of opinion. IMO it's a scam.
It doesn't meet any legal criteria of being a scam and I dare you to prove it differently. Instead of discussing things amiably, you want to start trash talking things you don't like or agree with. It's disingenuous to call something a scam that isn't. It's ironic that you are accusing ScubaPro of lying by resorting to telling a lie. That's libelous and hypocrisy at it's finest. Unfortunately, in this industry we have a pervasive attitude that if we don't sell it, teach it or dive it, then it must be junk. It's time we broke away from that sophomoric baditude and start to approach things reasonably.
It is a fact that SP has recently changed their policy on free parts for life
Oh, so now it's "changed" and not "abandoned". You either don't communicate clearly or you're set on distorting the facts to bolster your unsubstantiated rant. The former is unfortunate and the latter is libelous and again: just another lie.
If most of the old regs you are asked to service get relegated to the 'Old Reg bin' then you're not probably much of a service tech, are you?
Not one that you'll get to use. Let's be realistic, it's obvious to me from this that your standards are a lot lower than mine when it comes to regulators. That's OK. You can take the beat up ol' Chevy route and I'll take the Cadillac route. I won't hate or disparage you for settling for less and I certainly don't understand your need to vilify me for wanting the best and not wasting my time on gear that has past it's prime. It's why you don't see me in the vintage divers group very often.
And this whole business of 'keeping a regulator up to date vs 'trying to rehab' an old one is nonsense.
So, just how many regulators have you rebuilt or rehabbed? Anyone who has serviced regs for a living can tell horror stories about abused and neglected regs. Everyone wants the technician to take out their magic wand and make that old pitted thing work like new! It's unreasonable to think that a reg with two or more years of crud, corrosion and pitting will be easier to rejuvenate than one only a year old. Do you think vipping tanks every year is a scam as well? Maybe you think that you should only service a tank when it's absolutely needed... like right after it explodes. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I didn't invent that saying, but I certainly believe it.
The only difference between rebuilding new and old regs is that old ones might be dirtier,
and pitted, and corroded, and stripped, and dented, and flooded, and put together backwards, and the list can go on. Again, you might want to do a little research. It's obvious you haven't seen many regs that come in for service or repair.
I understand you own this website and you want to protect your sponsors. But the whole idea of this forum is free exchange and open dialogue so that some of the mis-truths and disguised sales-pitches can be exposed for what they are. Unlike a dealer posting on this forum, I have zero economic interest in whether someone buys a new reg, keeps an old one, goes for one brand over another, etc.. When a dealer uses his posts on this forum for nothing more than sales pitches, those posts ought to be criticized.
Wow... now my integrity is being questioned by someone who has admittedly distorted the truth and defending that distortion. If I was truly as diabolical as you make out, I would have simply deleted the thread or any harsh comments. But, as you so clearly pointed out, this is a FREE exchange and OPEN dialogue which means my opinion counts just as much as yours. No more and certainly no less. While you might have "zero economic interest" it seems to me that you are trying to save face and defend the indefensible comments you just made. It's my opinion that you have a very naive view of regulator repair and what's entailed. That's your right and you also have the right to find the very cheapest route to have yours serviced at the intervals you want them to be serviced at. That doesn't make another approach a scam or even ill advised. Moreover, when I point out obvious inaccuracies in your posting, it doesn't make me some evil guy motivated by greed and trying to protect someone at all costs. I don't think the guy I am defending even advertises here: go figure. I just hate to see anyone needlessly bashed out of ignorance and spite.
To clarify, I don't spend a lot of time courting advertisers and I take great pride in not knowing everyone who is advertising with us. I have others do that. I spend my time on the community as well as teaching various aspects of Scuba.
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