Service goofs. Sink or swim?

My wife's BC/regs just came back from service. The hose fitting was finger tight where it connects to the manifold. We discovered it after hooking up a tank and checking the air. It was loose enough that the o-ring was bulging out. We valved it out and inspected the o-ring, no damage, tightened everything up and re-checked and found no problems.

How common is it for little things to get missed during re-assembly of gear that has been serviced by a shop? Should this be reason to seek out another place? Do you try to work through these "minor" problems figuring that nobody's perfect, or should we find someone else to trust with our lives?

Over-all, we have had one shop ruin a mask while putting in the prescription lenses-which we didn't discover until after using it several times (the mask always leaked a little and my wife thought that it was all due to her hailine until it finally got so bad that she started missing dives). The current shop we are using has put in lenses on her new mask, all seems to be OK, and has now serviced her BC/regs. That makes 2/3.

I think I would go cor call the shop and tell them what you found and by their reaction decide what to do. If they deny that it could happen or that it was there fault I would find somewhere else.

If they accept responsibility and offer to fix/refund/kiss *** I would give them another shot. Accepting responsibly is key in my book.

stevenq99:

I think I would go cor call the shop and tell them what you found and by their reaction decide what to do. If they deny that it could happen or that it was there fault I would find somewhere else.

If they accept responsibility and offer to fix/refund/kiss *** I would give them another shot. Accepting responsibly is key in my book.

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Sounds like good advice to me!

Service goofs unfortunately happen way more often than they should. This board is full of yarns on this very topic. In short, a good lds is hard to find. If you find one, stick with them. Nonetheless, small mistakes do happen. Perhaps bringing it up in a friendly manner may make them feel that much more obligated to give you extra good service in the future. Good luck and welcome to the board!

overandover:

My wife's BC/regs just came back from service. The hose fitting was finger tight where it connects to the manifold. We discovered it after hooking up a tank and checking the air. It was loose enough that the o-ring was bulging out. We valved it out and inspected the o-ring, no damage, tightened everything up and re-checked and found no problems.

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It is a good idea to check the tightness of all the fittings on your regulator assembly before each dive. It is not unusual for them to come loose in storage, handling and travel. A hose can be twisted in such a way that it puts constant torque on a fitting. With handling and vibration this can cause the fitting to become unscrewed.

I have had connections come loose twice on me after service -- one we found before getting in the water, and the other came undone underwater on our last trip. The shop owner says that the techs are being too careful not to overtighten, and the torque settings prescribed in the service manuals aren't tight enough. I don't know the answer, but I've learned to check the security of the connections before diving.