The difference between "Cheap" and "Value"

[dmoore19]

"Value" is self determined. Things that add value to some might not hold the same for others.

"Cheap" is arguably obvious. I am not sure cheap is the right term, maybe lowest price is better?

Either way it is and should be the buyers choice to assign the value of low price, quality, service, or quality of service.

 

[TSandM]

As I know from when my husband owned his company, there is a cost to a company of return policies and warranty work, and that gets reflected in the purchase price. I will confess to shopping on occasion purely for price, and when I do that, I don't usually expect a lot of service. For very expensive items, I expect excellent product support from SOMEBODY, and I usually get it. (Look at Light Monkey's customer service, for example!)

 

[Quero]

It isn't just "goods" that this applies to.

Have a look around this forum and you will see plenty of "Where is the cheapest IDC", "I want a cheap DM Course" threads.

Value is one thing, and we all like value for money, cheap doesn't always get you that value

I agree, and it's not just the pro-level courses this happens to. It starts with the Open Water courses and snowballs all the way through the curriculum. Here in Asia there are hundreds of dive students signing up for classes every week who select their training exclusively on the basis of price.

That is a very short-sighted approach to making a decsion, though. The expression "value for money" does not mean the same thing as "cheap"; it means "high quality at a fair price." Too many scuba students look for the cheapest course rather than finding the one that offers the best value for money. It's a kind of a mindset that doesn't cultivate excellence, but rather only corner-cutting.

For example, a school that only allows instructors to spend three or four hours in a pool with up to 8 students in a group, or that races through classroom sessions with the instructor reading the powerpoint slides aloud to a nearly comatose group, or that takes students on the minimum dive profile for a dive to count as an open water training dive (5 meters, 20 minutes) for each of the four open water dives isn't conducive to providing a quality course. But those are all ways to cut costs in order to reduce the course fees....

While it's possible to pay premium prices and get a crappy course, it's virtually impossible to pay bargain basement prices and get anything but a crappy course. In other words, a product is worth no more than what you paid for it--if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

 

[theduckguru]

To me:

A well manufactured product that is unlikely to require post purchase service has more value that a poorly manufactured product with a great warranty.

At age 55, parts for life isn't a deal maker since I dont know how long I will live or dive.

A trip to a new dive location trumps new gear in the closet every time.