Recently Certified and looking for advice!

[emmaboo]

Bonjour Everyone!

I've recently completed my open water certification through my LDS and absolutely love it! I look forward to learning tons on this site.

Now I wanted a bit of advice about a situation I'm in...


So I just bought a few main peices of dive gear the other day off a website. This may seem a little silly but I am actually scared to use any of this equipment in front of the owner of the LDS I was certified with. He had given me a "talk" about the benefits of staying loyal to your LDS and offers an unlimited warranty on all products sold. This is a great incentive but... he quoted me $3300.00 for four peices; regs, bc and dc. I just got the EXACT same equipment off a website for $830.00(sale) including a 2 year warranty. I still would like to get my equipment serviced by him but I'm curious if this loyalty business is normal for LDS's? What made me go for the online deal was that I could buy some of the peices 3x over for the same price he quoted me for just one, so essentially if repairing was required I could just buy a brand new one and still pay less.

I shouldn't be worried I know but this sport is new to me and I'm beginning to wonder if I made a mistake ordering online.
thanks!

 

[fisheater]

Unless that's the only LDS within a few hours' drive time, don't sweat it. If they become unreasonable, go to another one.

 

[Hoomi]

If you're anything like we are, you're probably already dumping buckets of money in your LDS for other things that you haven't bought online. At some point or another, you're going to need to have that equipment serviced - either a regular checkout or a needed repair - and you're going to need to take it somewhere. It will probably be there, so your LDS owner is going to find out you bought elsewhere.

You can make something up, or just be honest and tell him you were able to buy it online for 25% of the local price. He'll likely be a bit disappointed, and may even grumble a bit, but if you've been a loyal customer otherwise, he's not very likely to alienate your business.

 

[k ellis]

LOL Had the same thing happen to me. I shopped around a bit and found exactly what I wanted at the price id pay. I brought the gear in and he asked me why I did not buy from him. I just told the truth. It was not that I did not want his gear its just that I was very perticular in what I wanted. Ive bought tanks and brought them in and he gave me the run down but he still inspected them. I love my LDS though because the guys there are astronaumical.

I would not sweat it because like say he will still make money off of you because if your loyal youll bring the gear in for repair inspections ETC. I think I paid for so many courses and gear from mine I financed him a 2 week trip to the most expensive resort in Hawaii LOL.

Like I said though the LDS here is awesome and knows that people buy what they are comfortable with and will work with us and I am sure yours will too!

 

[zeagle911]

Its no different here in the U.K, all LDS are expensive and charge a premium, My LDS charged me twice the price for a Cressi wetsuit but he did put a lot of effort into finding the right size, special ordered 3 different sizes for my partner to try on, so its some times better to pay the extra for the service you just do not get on mail ordered equipment. But more often than not I buy from online shops.
The way I see it, the more money I save the more dive trips I can afford withg my LDS.

Keep on diving theres a whole new world out there.

 

[Akeezy04]

Bonjour Everyone!

I've recently completed my open water certification through my LDS and absolutely love it! I look forward to learning tons on this site.

Now I wanted a bit of advice about a situation I'm in...


So I just bought a few main peices of dive gear the other day off a website. This may seem a little silly but I am actually scared to use any of this equipment in front of the owner of the LDS I was certified with. He had given me a "talk" about the benefits of staying loyal to your LDS and offers an unlimited warranty on all products sold. This is a great incentive but... he quoted me $3300.00 for four peices; regs, bc and dc. I just got the EXACT same equipment off a website for $830.00(sale) including a 2 year warranty. I still would like to get my equipment serviced by him but I'm curious if this loyalty business is normal for LDS's? What made me go for the online deal was that I could buy some of the peices 3x over for the same price he quoted me for just one, so essentially if repairing was required I could just buy a brand new one and still pay less.

I shouldn't be worried I know but this sport is new to me and I'm beginning to wonder if I made a mistake ordering online.
thanks!

If your dive shop gets upset at you for saving that much money I would tell them to piss off. Just cause you got trained there doesn't mean you are commited there.

 

[spectrum]

I don't know what you got but $830 for a BC, DC and Regulator set is pretty amazing. Unless it's really top shelf stuff so is $3300!

A lifetime warranty provided by a dive shop is only good for the life of the dive shop and might even end with a management change

Sure there is a chance the shop will be twisted with you and you will be behind his dedicated customers at service time but they are not likely to assault you or anything. Expect to pay for any service and if you don't feel like you are being treated like a paying customer go elsewhere.

Assuming you really did get same for same I don't see how you could have done otherwise. Meanwhile you saved almost enough to buy your own compressor!

Pete

 

[danthemanj]

What ticks me off is when an LDS expects you to be loyal but charges you the max they can without working with you on prices. Loyalty works both ways. If an LDS cannot take care of their customers, somebody else will. I think several Dive shops are really not run as Businesses and we are partially to blame for that. We pay a very high price for loyalty and expect too little in return. It's time we start demanding more.

I'm in a similar situation where I just completed my OW dives and got certified though an LDS. I've already bought my fins, mask, etc. from them at MSRP and paid hundreds more than I could have gotten it through some other dealers but now that its time to buy my main gear, I am going to demand a price break and if I don't get it, I will take my business to some other LDS that will work with me on prices.

I know several manufacturers control pricing in the dive equipment business similar to what DeBeers does with diamonds. This in itself is a questionable practice and does not promote free trade.

For certain things such as critical life support, I think its important to buy from an authorized dealer (primarily because it will be assembled by a trained technician) but if an authorized dealer refuses to service an item I did not purchase from them but instead from another authorized dealer, I'd be damn sure to take that dealership to task with all the legal processes I can get my hands on so that they cannot do the same thing with some one else in the future.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Did you go back to the LDS and offer him the chance to match the price? I have spent a lot of money with my LDS as well as a lot of money elsewhere. On the major purchases, I will typically ask him to quote me a price and let him know that I am having others quote as well. Once I have them all, if he is the best deal (not always cheapest), he gets the business no negotiating. If he is not, he gets the opportunity to improve his deal and if the difference was a great as you say yours was, he is told dollar for dollar what is happening to make sure he has not made a miscalculation. He DOES NOT however, get told where the deal is coming from. If he wants the business bad enough, he will drop. If not, he is told that although I would like to give the business to him, I cannot afford to pass it up and that I do not expect him to lose money on my business. He knows however that he will be getting the service business and every opportunity on the next object.

I believe this is the best and fairest approach and tends to usually keep everyone happy (or as happy as possible).


I also know (as does he) that I have the immediate option of going to one of the other shops in the area if he steps out of line. He has, but I still go to him because we have a history. Although sometimes a challenge to deal with, he means well all the time.

 

[danthemanj]

The amazing thing is that some LDS' seem offended that you even considered getting a quote from someone else.