Divers Reef ?

[Waterskier1]

No one can satisfy everyone all the time.

My personal experience goes back nearly 20 years when I shopped the three dive stores then open in Colorado Springs. The attitude in Underwater Connection seemed more like a dive club than a commercial enterprise. I chose them to certify my wife, went on several trips with them, and later went through the professional ranks with them. A telling example of attitude is that at UWC, all staff are admonished not to criticize other shops.

I no longer teach at UWC simply because I moved. I taught there as long as I did because the owner made certain that everyone on staff sincerely cared about students/customers' safety and success. .

I too was certified by them (UWC), took several subsequent classes from them, and went on trips with them. I have meet at least 10 or 12 instructors employed by them, and without hesitation can say they ALL were right at the top of all the instructors I have had through my advancement through the professional ranks. I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone, for recreational dive instruction (I don't believe they teach any technical classes, unless it's the new Tec-Rec PADI classes). I really liked the fact that you had the same set of instructors/assistant instructors/divemasters from the first class through open water certification. Many shops hand off their students from instructor to instructor. I also enjoyed the non-local dive trips (I'm not sure if UWC sponsors local dive trips where any divers are invited, whether students or previous students or not, even supplying free tanks of air), and miss the fellowship I encountered on those trips.

I am not employed by any shop, nor have I ever been. I consider the admonishment not to criticized other shops an attitude all professionals should undertake. I never heard DR criticize other shops either.

Underwater Connection’s version of Waterskier1’s experience differs from his..

I suspect this is true. As any reader should recognize, there are two sides to every disagreement. I was truly astonished by the aggressive-defensive attitude the owner took when I returned the reg after paying the second time for the same repair and it still wasn't fixed. He hardly let me explain, before becoming loud and defensive, which I'm sure I reacted to. All I wanted to do was see if they may have unintentionally missed a step in the rebuild, but I think the owner was expecting me to want more, or even sue. In any case, I would not recommend UWC for equipment repair because of this, and the fact that they never acknowledged that they didn't perform steps required by the Manufacture's documentation.

Is Underwater Connection perfect? Of course not, but neither were their competitors. Only one of the three is still in business.
UWC has had the same owners from the beginning, and some of the current staff were there when I first entered the door as a customer.

I like Josh and am saddened that his business has gone under. There are some great people who worked there.

Knotical is correct, no one is perfect. But to be unwilling to listen to customers' complaints, and check to see if a mistake was made, before becoming unnecessarily defensive, isn't going to put this owner on a course to achieve near perfection.

To be fair, every shop I have dove with has turned out items from service that didn't work. Whether it was a reg improperly adjusted, an inflator that was inoperative, or a dry suit repair that still leaked. (The quantity of bad service jobs is astounding to me!) The difference was the other shops took the item back, apologized for the error, and made it good. A much more palliative approach than to tell the customer if he isn't satisfied with the work as performed, to take his business elsewhere.

Bottom-line: since the OP's question regarded repair/service, I don't recommend UWC. Had he asked about instructors or instruction, my recommendation would have been much different.

[knotical]

That's good to hear. We liked the folks at DR and they were always good to us. And since we don't get to the ocean very often, we liked their policy of allowing customers free use of their pool (so long as a class wasn't using it, of course...).
We've been to UWC a couple times; they changed the battery in my Stinger this summer. With the exception of one person, the people there have impressed me too. I'll have to ask about using their pool. And it's nice to hear that we're not going to have to drive from Pueblo West to Denver just to get our regs serviced.

Students who train at UWC are offered free use of the pool (and rental equipment and air while in the pool) for life. Logical caveats are that it be during store hours and the pool not in use for a class. If the class were small, we often allowed others to practice at the same time. I'm not sure, but assume the offer was extended to at least some other customers (I wasn't retail). I do not know if there was a threshhold purchase requirement. As you suggest, asking them is the smart move. Worst case is a nominal fee for total strangers (c-card required).

[Dirty-Dog]

Well, we didn't train locally, so that's out. But we're only talking about a few times a year, so a nominal fee would be no big deal. Hell, I could probably drop by and rent a tank on my way home from work and then go jump in the pool at the Y, for that matter.