My story about a dive shop

Several years ago I fell into scuba by accident. I was in Jamaica ready for a free resort dive when I decided to just spend the money and get certified. It was a compulsive move based on my assumption that once I tried it, I wouldn't want to stop. Damn I'm smart sometimes.... LOL

Well 6 mos later I was in Jamaica again so I did my advanced. Then when I came home I started buying all my own gear. BCD from one shop, reg from another, some stuff down in Miami, FL while I was on vacation. A couple things from online but not much frankly.

A couple years goes by and now there is one particular dive shop that I like. I own all my own gear so all I ever buy when I go in there is a quarry pass and a couple of nitrox fills. The guy knows me by name and never asks where I bought by gear. We've talked about it casually a couple of times but he never cares.

Two months ago my mosquito flooded while diving. I came by the shop to get some fills and a quarry pass and he asked me how my dive went. I told him about it and the mosquito came up. He says, "Hey Chris, you got that mosquito on you?". I go out to the car and get it and tell him I bought it at a dive shop in FL, that I don't think I ever registered it and I have no idea where the reciept is. He says no problem, we'll send it off to California and let them look at it.

Two weeks later I get a phone call that its back. I go to the shop and what do I find? A brand new mosquito.... no questions asked.

Now it didn't cost him anything other then the time he sent mailing it and maybe postage, but I appreciate what he did for me.

Now I only feel bad that I bought all my gear before ever visiting his shop. Dos that mean I'll blindly buy from only my LDS in the future? No. But when I do want something local, he's definatly going to be the one.

'cause you've got a good thing going.

I was at my shop yesterday. This year we bought BCD's, regs, & weights & wetsuits for my husband and myself. We've both taken AOW & Nitrox there. My kids are finishing their certification this weekend through the same shop. Last weekend I spent over $500 on a computer and compass.

Well we were reserving 4 tanks for this weekend and the counter lady asked the owner if we could just pay for 2 since we returned 2 full tanks a couple of weeks ago. He said no, they don't give credit for that.

I'm a little irked. We've dropped over $5000 bucks there since February and he quibbles over a couple of air fills.

You are really, really fortunate.

Julie

Juls64, you've got to be kidding.

Shops like that are a pain to deal with. I'm only a flunkie at our shop but I can do most anything within reason for our regular customers. I'll throw in the first year service, give them a free fill, sneak them some sink the stink. The whole time I convince the customer not to make a big deal out of it so I won't get in trouble. The whole time the owner is in back laughing his head off at my acting. The ones that irk me come in once in a blue moon, buy some defog, mask and ask for a good customer discount. Find you a good shop that will "sneak" you some goodies occasionally, it's worth the effort.

I usually go in on Sundays because the owner is not in and the other guy that works that day will cut us slack on things. I still will be looking to buy tanks, drysuits, more classes, plus I'll be outfitting my 2 kids over time. You'd think the owner would appreciate us a little more. Unfortunately, this shop is about 25 minutes from home and the next closest is 45-60 minutes. I do buy a lot online, fins, lights, etc, but regs, and bcd's i like a LDS.

Juls

Juls64

Sorry to hear about your experience with your LDS. There are some really great ones out there and when you find them stick with them. I was in your same position about a year ago. When to the local “big boys” in town and they pulled the same garbage with me. The place I deal with now is about 35 miles away and the other place I NO longer use was 15 miles away. I am more than happy to spend an extra 20 minutes in the car daydreaming about what I want to buy and know that I am going to be treated so well. I can’t remember the last time I paid for air, or the last time my family was in town and got charged for a few tank rentals. My LDS that I use is just that…. my shop. I really feel like I belong and look forward to spending lots of time down there. Sometimes that means spending money, but mostly I am just hanging at MY shop.

Yesterday they had on the movie “Snatch, with Brad Pitt”, good flick. There were4 of us that watched the movie, talked shop, laughed, went and bought snacks and just hung out.

Juls64…I guess I am trying to say there are some LDS that appreciate your business a lot more than others. It all boils down to having a give and take relationship. Maybe the LDS further away is the place for you and your family....

Well, what the hey? A liitle personal sob story. At this moment I have a shop full of people. For those who don't know me I own the place. Anyway for the second night in a row they are here. They have my place torn apart. All my tools are laying all over the place. You see...they are here O2 cleaning and inspecting their own tanks and valves getting ready for a cave diving trip next week. I'm not charging anything except for the supplies their using. They have enough tanks that if I got the going rate to clean this stuff for them it would pay my rent for a good portion of the year. LOL. I was here to 1 pm last night cleaning up the place (they left about 12). Toward the end of the night I came to hear that two of the guys just recieved their new VR3 computers in the mail at $1000 each. I never even knew they were shoping for computers. I could have not only got them for them but I could have saved them a bunch of money. I could have saved them a bunch more by showing them a better way all together. Anyway...I guess I'm good enough to stay here all night letting them using my **** for free but it's not worth checking to see if I can get them what they want. I sold them most of their stuff at only a slight margin over cost! I got them in a trimix class at 1/3 the going rate! I even went on the trip with and assisted with the class to make sure things went well. At my expense by the way. Moral of the story...I guess you need to make it while you can.

I drive a little over an hour to my LDS,
There are three shops within fifteen minutes of my house.
For me, it's worth the drive!!
They treat me very well there!!

You need to find a diff shop, that is rediculous.

I spent about $800 at my LDS and they have yet to charge me for an air fill on my double 112s and its been over 13 months. I dont just walk out with my tanks, i ask them "so what do i owe you' and they have yet to charge me.

last week i took my doubles in for VIPs and they only charged me $10 total.

I am pretty damn happy with them right now. I think your getting screwed considering the bank you spent there.

Andy

if I am coming near lunch time... I call and ask what he wants (on me of course). IF he is OBVIOUSLY backed up, I will pitch in and help. Maybe it's filling a few tanks for a waiting customer, maybe it's helping a customer out with a mask. It could possibly just a friendly comment that puts his prospective customer at ease.

Are they a perfect LDS??? By no means! Am I a perfect customer? I think I get the same marks as them. Point is, I try and give a little to the relationship, and so far they have done the same!

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
For those who don't know me I own the place. Anyway for the second night in a row they are here. They have my place torn apart. All my tools are laying all over the place. You see...they are here O2 cleaning and inspecting their own tanks and valves getting ready for a cave diving trip next week. I'm not charging anything except for the supplies their using... Toward the end of the night I came to hear that two of the guys just recieved their new VR3 computers in the mail at $1000 each. I never even knew they were shoping for computers. I could have not only got them for them but I could have saved them a bunch of money. I could have saved them a bunch more by showing them a better way all together. Anyway...I guess I'm good enough to stay here all night letting them using my **** for free but it's not worth checking to see if I can get them what they want.

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That is just $hitty, no matter how you slice it.

I'll be the first to agree that mail order is putting heavy pressure on a lot of smaller businesses. It's predictable. The large online companies can buy in enormous volume, offer incredible variety, be open 24/7 from the comfort of anybody's easy chair, often omit the necessity of sales tax, and offer huge savings to boot. And when the pricetag of what you're buying is exponential, anyway, those become pretty incentivizing considerations.

But when my LDS is bending over backwards for me when I need something - like this example - don't I at least owe them the courtesy to ask if they can get me what I need? After all, if the price turns out to be the same, it's a no-brainer. In fact, IMHO, it's even a no brainer if it costs me a little bit more at my LDS - because I'm getting something else with my purchase. Something that you can't really put a pricetag on.

For example, somehow I have a feeling that when Mike was cleaning up at midnight after everybody used his shop, most of the online vendors were already comfortably snuggled away in their beds, while their servers kept logging orders for them to peruse in the morning.

Strange world.