Zeagle Warrenty question

[Miami_Diver]

Ive bought a bc ,regulator , knife pressure gage , compass, mesh bag, and other small accesories and not once have I gotten screwd by LP why should I change now??; not just me but most of my buddies order from them.Ive read of people here in this board getting a bad product from LP but Ive never personally met one .

the zeagle flat head xp that In going to get on LP is $369 in scuba toys its $444. If they match it Ill go with Scuba Toys.

 

[Humuhumunukunukuapua'a]

Is this ALWAYS True? I'm not sure ScubaToys would make that statement as they are in this to make a profit, and I'm not sure that they always can match LP prices.

They make the statement in the ad I'm currently looking at at the top of the page. And they make the claim on the website. And every time I've asked them to honor it, they do. So, yeah, I think that they claim they will not be beat pricewise. I think they'd rather have a customer and a sale than necessarily make a lot of money on said sale. I can tell you their tactic works. Their service is incredible, and once you use ScubaToys, most folks don't go anywhere else.

LP carries more selection than ScubaToys.

Yep, to some extent, because they are willing to illegally sell gear they are not authorized to sell. ScubaToys sells a lot of lines that aren't on their website (like Atomic), but they honor the agreement with the manufacturer and don't sell them online. You always want to give them a call anyway because they can cut better deals over the phone than online.

As for serial numbers removed and older models, IMO you stories maybe just that...stories. I have NOT purchased a Reg or BC from LP, but I, and other divers I know have purchased a LOT of gear from LP, and I've never seen or heard first hand of things like you mention.

Well, read this board and you'll find stories. But, hey, you're going to believe what you want. Ever wonder *how* they can sell goods so cheaply? Or why they would want to deal grey market instead of being authorized dealer. I have personally gotten crappy knockoff stuff from them. I've never bought anything from them that had a serial number, but I personally don't doubt that they would ship you last year's reg or a BC with the serial number removed based on my experiences with them. And why would I want to rely on the "warranty" from LP, a store run by people who do not dive?

I do agree however the ScubaToys is your FIRST choice when it comes to purchasing. If they don't carry what you are looking for, or are unwilling to come close to the LP price THEN consider other options.

Yeah, well, I just can't understand why someone would purchase something like a Zeagle BC and choose not to get their great warranty by purchasing from LP. But we agree on that, so there ya go

Threadjacking over...sorry to enter into this old debate again. I just hate to see people buying un-warranteed gear when they don't have to. Cheers!

Gregg

 

[Humuhumunukunukuapua'a]

Ive bought a bc ,regulator , knife pressure gage , compass, mesh bag, and other small accesories and not once have I gotten screwd by LP. why should I change now??

Because when that mesh bag fails, you won't have the manufacturer's warranty and you'll be screwed!

Seriously...do what you want. Some folks don't like warranties I suppose...It takes all types...

 

[Bicster]

Scubatoys rocks. It's worth calling them to save a little money, vs. ordering online. Their service is great.

What I don't understand is, why doesn't LP become an authorized Zeagle dealer? Zeagle allows Internet sales. What's the hold-up? Does LP have no desire to be authorized for any of the lines they sell? Or does Zeagle have some reason to keep them unauthorized?

 

[tarheeldiver]

I agree Scubatoy's can't be beat for service and they will explain things till you almost think you're in the shop! I havn't dove the stilleto but I have the Brigade and I love it.

 

[Humuhumunukunukuapua'a]

the zeagle flat head xp that In going to get on LP is $369 in scuba toys its $444. If they match it Ill go with Scuba Toys.

Let us know if they do/don't. I really have no doubt that they will. And when you buy regs from them, you can get the annual servicing done cheap if you have time to mail it off to them. I just bought a set for my wife and they told me about their servicing deal...something like $40 plus parts (unless your reg has a parts warranty). I just paid $125 to get my regs serviced, so I think next year I may mail them off to ScubaToys.

I think you'll dig having a warranty on your ~$370 regulator

 

[ProfessorAronnax]

Alway a good idea to purchase from authorized dealers when dealing with life support equipment! When are we going to start hearing about people dying using cheap knock-offs? It's incredibly easy to duplicate products that look like the original but were actually made in a different country.

I like finding the best price on the internet as well, but there is definitley a "to good to be true" point. e.g. I recently priced a Canon Digital Rebel camera online. All the online prices were around $700.00 except for one that was $499.00 As enticing as that price is-something just ain't right!

It would be very interesting for LP to have a representitive on Scubaboard to answer the plethora of questions about their business practices

DISCLAIMER: Rapidiver.com is an authorized ZEAGLE Dealer

 

[hdiaz]

LeisurePro is not an authorized Zeagle dealer. They offer their "own" warranty, from what I understand....

If you do a search, you may find where the whole LP thing has been covered quite a few times!!!

Thanks,

Scott

Help me understand something: why do you let this happen?

Assuming
-Zeagle only sells their products to their authorized dealers
-LP is not selling counterfeits

Then one (or more) of your dealers is selling excess inventory to LP. This should be trivial to track down if
-your products have serial numbers, and
-you track which serial numbers go to which dealers.
-you buy one of your own products back from LP

The re-selling of your products to LP might be in contravention of your contractual agreement with your dealers. None-the-less, revoking your dealership agreement with any dealer engaging in such practices would ultimately result in lower sales for Zeagle - at least temporarily.

If there is a gray market for your products, is Zeagle not tacitly benefiting from the same? Your total orders include any inventory sold through "grey market" vendors. None-the-less, given the potential for counterfeit items showing up, would it not be in your best interest to actually shut down this grey market? There are some brands that seem to have successfully shut down "grey market" sources for their products. (Rolex comes to mind.) From a marketing standpoint it would be easy to spread FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) over the origin and authenticity of "life support equipment" not purchased through authorized channels.

Regarding counterfeiting and also potential Trade Mark infringement practices, I've seen sellers on E-bay advertise their product with the brand name "Eagle" and stating their product is "Zeagle Ranger Style". I'd encourage your lawyers to aggressively deal with any trade mark infringement issues as it makes no sense for a reputable company to let someone else get a free ride on your good hard earned reputation for excellence.

 

[hdiaz]

Additional thoughts on shutting down "gray market" suppliers:

Let's say (as has been reported) that a grey market dealer is erasing or defacing the manufacturer's Serial Number. How do you follow the supply chain? This should be a fairly easy exercise for someone trained in statistical analysis.

Start by profiling your dealers by all sorts of measures: sales for a typical shop in the same geography, sales for shops in the same size range (retail area in ft2), sales for shops with similar average incomes in the area surrounding store, sales for shops that sell via internet, % of product registration cards for products sold to a given dealer returned to manufacturer, and so on.

Then look for outliers in the distribution curves for the above data. This exercise would yield a list of suspect dealers. A manufacturer could then secretly encode a “distributor ID” to all products sold to suspect dealers and then ID the same when they show up in the “grey market”.

I could be totally naïve about this but I would venture to guess most “grey market” items must come from one or two dealers who are placing orders on behalf of stores like LP. I cannot imagine LP being able to get good prices for the goods they sell if they have to spread orders across multiple distributors. In most industries the highest order volumes get the best discounts. By augmenting their own orders with items ordered for “gray market” outlets, a dealer gets higher volume discounts or perhaps meets “minimum order” requirements from manufacturers. None-the-less, if they are in violation of their contracts with their suppliers I would encourage their suppliers to shut them off.

 

[mdb]

I could be totally naïve about this but I would venture to guess most “grey market” items must come from one or two dealers who are placing orders on behalf of stores like LP. I cannot imagine LP being able to get good prices for the goods they sell if they have to spread orders across multiple distributors. In most industries the highest order volumes get the best discounts. By augmenting their own orders with items ordered for “gray market” outlets, a dealer gets higher volume discounts or perhaps meets “minimum order” requirements from manufacturers. .

You are not naive. You have it exactly right.