First time shopping at the LDS. I didn't do well, lesson learned.

[cmburch]

Rainer may be a Southern California Troll that is only on this forum for self entertainment not information exchange. Check out his other posts. His posts contradict themselves and make some possibly exaggerated claims.

For Example, he is a Spearfisherman, but has never speared a fish; he is a PhD Psychologist, but has never practiced or published.

[spectrum]

I agree on that and that's not what I did. I didn't use the shop as a fitting room. That's just not me.

I don't see how you can deny it even if was not your intent going into it.

Almost everything you bought was a fit intensive item. If bought initially online the chances of getting the right fit through size and model selection are an educated guess at best. You went into the shop and tried the items with the attention of the clerk no less. That was value that no online seller can provide. They may be very good at guiding you over the phone and liberal on returns but they cannot put you in the rubber and have you know how you fit on the spot. An online seller also cannot insulate you from the inevitable delays and costs of size exchanges. Divetank tried the guaranteed fit deal and they went kaput though I don't know those 2 fact to be related.

For me and it is for me that I speak the answer is simple. I do my homework and if I go into the LDS I will look at the price. If it reasonable I will pick it up, examine the item and try it on as needed. If the price is something I cannot live with I will only look with my eyes. There is value in local service and don't let yourself think otherwise.

Online is great for repurchasing an item you know or understand or for other clearly defined and understood items. I have also taken my chances on other items online either for very attractive prices or for lack of a local source. Sometimes in the end you find yourself eating all of the shipping costs and before long the LDS doesn't look so bad.

Pete

[Scott M]

I have been following this thread since it starte and really have mixed feelings about this. Should someone go into a dive shop to try something on then turn around and buy online? I say no, at least not intentionally. I have bought a good majority of my gear online mainly because I like very specific gear and no one carries what I want so I have little choice but I also do not go try soemthing on and then go buy online.

Now if you go into the LDS and try something on and just don't have the funds at that point, go home and look online and see you can afford it online, thats a grey area. I can buy it now online or save for while and get it at the LDS?

One other point and this applies especially to newly certified divers. Some LDS's are very good at putting on the pressure to buy from them and a new diver is excited about the sport and seeing all the gear can sometimes get caught up right then and there. In my opinion some LDS's take advantage of that. To only find out they way over paid and for gear they really did not want. Is that acceptable? We can sit here and pass judgement but many if not all us have gone through this.

As for Rainer; Read his posts, do some research here and on thedecostop and then just ignor he will argue for sake of arguement and he is ALWAYS right. Most of his posts end in him calling someone a moron, tool, idiot etc etc.

[shoturtle]

I have been following this thread since it starte and really have mixed feelings about this. Should someone go into a dive shop to try something on then turn around and buy online? I say no, at least not intentionally. I have bought a good majority of my gear online mainly because I like very specific gear and no one carries what I want so I have little choice but I also do not go try soemthing on and then go buy online.

Now if you go into the LDS and try something on and just don't have the funds at that point, go home and look online and see you can afford it online, thats a grey area. I can buy it now online or save for while and get it at the LDS?

One other point and this applies especially to newly certified divers. Some LDS's are very good at putting on the pressure to buy from them and a new diver is excited about the sport and seeing all the gear can sometimes get caught up right then and there. In my opinion some LDS's take advantage of that. To only find out they way over paid and for gear they really did not want. Is that acceptable? We can sit here and pass judgement but many if not all us have gone through this.

As for Rainer; Read his posts, do some research here and on thedecostop and then just ignor he will argue for sake of arguement and he is ALWAYS right. Most of his posts end in him calling someone a moron, tool, idiot etc etc.

Go for private lesson with a instructor that has his own pool not affiliated with a diveshop. That what I did for my cert. Spent alot of time on the course material and time on what type of gear to get and best places to get them. well worth the little extra for the private lesson.

That way you get the knowledge and not have to fall into the time spent argument that lds wasted manpower educating the customer and get nothing in return.

[=C=]

jet fins ... the only thing I originally started off with that I still use.

yep. I love those fins...


And as for LDS, My first one was great. They were helpful... only occasionally tried to sell me silly dooo dads... and cut me nice discount for doing my OWD there... which led be to buy my equipment at the store. Santa Barbara Aquatics, thanks for the great start . When I moved south there are a couple of LDSs that have a really gimmicky, latest doo dad, feel and wouldnt be comfortable buying there. So much of our sport is about trust.

Whats odd in this thread is that no one mentiond the pratice of Student discounts. My LDS gave 15% then when I did rescue I think The S Challet gave 10?

[ReefHound]

Whats odd in this thread is that no one mentiond the pratice of Student discounts. My LDS gave 15% then when I did rescue I think The S Challet gave 10?

In theory many places offer student "discounts", problem is in practice they are often actually student "surcharges".

[GYANNI]

I don't see how you can deny it even if was not your intent going into it.

Almost everything you bought was a fit intensive item. If bought initially online the chances of getting the right fit through size and model selection are an educated guess at best. You went into the shop and tried the items with the attention of the clerk no less. That was value that no online seller can provide. They may be very good at guiding you over the phone and liberal on returns but they cannot put you in the rubber and have you know how you fit on the spot. An online seller also cannot insulate you from the inevitable delays and costs of size exchanges. Divetank tried the guaranteed fit deal and they went kaput though I don't know those 2 fact to be related.

For me and it is for me that I speak the answer is simple. I do my homework and if I go into the LDS I will look at the price. If it reasonable I will pick it up, examine the item and try it on as needed. If the price is something I cannot live with I will only look with my eyes. There is value in local service and don't let yourself think otherwise.

Online is great for repurchasing an item you know or understand or for other clearly defined and understood items. I have also taken my chances on other items online either for very attractive prices or for lack of a local source. Sometimes in the end you find yourself eating all of the shipping costs and before long the LDS doesn't look so bad.

Pete

I eagerly sipped at your words of wisdom that certainly came from the much longer experience in the sport of diving underwater with the technological aid of breathing by other means. Hopefully, with time and practice, one day I'll not longer be charged ABOVE retail price for a pair of fins and 200% the market price for a mask.
Not almost....everything I tried and purchased was a fit intensive item. The bag is a fit intensive item. The gear has to fit inside the bag, the bag has to fit somewhere inside my car and eventually inside a suitcase when I travel. So even for the bag I had the touch and feel privilege at the LDS. I can hardly think of any item sold at at the LDS that cannot be too small or too big if not seen, touched and tried. I didn't check the prices prior to visiting the LDS, I don't deny it and I tell you why. I had no clue of what I was going to buy beside the wetsuit. After the LDS got my trust I bought more items. Naive? Of course I was, not to use a stronger word. Hopefully the items that I purchased and kept will repay the LDS for the time spent assisting this newbie.

I do my homework and if I go into the LDS I will look at the price. If it reasonable I will pick it up, examine the item and try it on as needed. If the price is something I cannot live with I will only look with my eyes.

Thanks for sharing I never thought about that. Now I only need to know how to find out if the price is reasonable with my sub-zero experience. Maybe I'll run from the LDS to the computer at home, back and forth.

There is value in local service and don't let yourself think otherwise.

I'll never think otherwise. Air, a strap broken one minute before packing for a trip, other items immediately available, assistance, suggestions, the online retailer cannot provide them. LDS are important and need somehow to be supported. Not to mention , to cheer me up, that the LDS sold me this wonderful bottle of Mask Scrub that I alway keep in my hands and never leave for one minute. Still I don't have a mask, who cares. My mask scrub...my precious.

[cmburch]

Some SB Staff members like to spout off about LDS and competing LDS internet purchases. There is a specific way it must be done. One should do this or that so that it is ethical and not to put ones LSD out of business. Well it is none of SB Staff member's business about how retailer's run their shops (store only or both internet and store) or how the consumer makes their buying decisions. It is like some of the self proclaimed "I am ethical but you are not" or "you are wrong and I am right" have an interest in an LDS and it is hurting their profit margin. Do they continue this in all purchases in their life? Only if they have a good amount of disposal income. Do they stay with the same real estate agent or lawyer when hours of time has been given, but are not meeting needs? Probably not. I have decided to look at the number of posts to get a rough idea on the credibility of what the poster is saying. If it is high then maybe this forum member is posting for their self entertainment and not for information exchange.

Look at what happened to Aloha Airlines. I may never have used the inter-Island $49 competitors if I had known.

[TSandM]

I have no interest in any dive shop, and I do not even try to make other people's ethical decisions for them. I make them for me, and I express my feelings.

Gyanni, I think you'll probably end up where most of us are . . . Deciding you want to buy a regulator, reading reviews of regs on line, looking up prices on regs at places like ScubaToys, and then going in to your LDS and telling them which regs you are interested in and what you can get them for elsewhere, and asking if they will match or nearly match the price. For things where fit isn't important, you can read about all the pertinent features (eg. regulator performance) and even check if durable items are readily available used (classified, e-bay). This is what I do, and what many of my friends do. But when I buy a new wetsuit, I trot down to the LDS and buy it, knowing I'll pay a premium. It's just how things go.

[shotthebreeze]

Gyanni,

No need to apologize for anything. We all get a little caught up when we buy scuba gear. You went to the LDS FIRST and spent quite a bit of money before returning some SMALL ticket items. Personally, you gave them a shot instead of just purchasing from the internet, which is killing LDSs left and right. No big deal. The LDS probably made more profit on your purchase of the wetsuit, boots, etc than Leisure Pro or any other online dealer will for the fins and the mask. Slipping the bottle of mask clear in there and making you pay for it was a bit out of line if you ask me.

Lesson learned, right? No hard feelings here my friend...welcome to the world of Scuba. Enjoy yourself and don't get caught up with what other people think about your money saving decisions. We all cut corners somewhere...