Don't be afraid...COMPLAIN about your LDS

[jsado]

all in good fun I guess.......does it really matter?

 

[Doc]

all in good fun I guess.......does it really matter?

Yes and no.

Look at my reply, post #2. That pretty well says it all.

What you propose is a great idea. It will never happen. The internet is a source of information. About 7 percent is valuable. The other 93 percent is either vitriol or confusing due to the ineptitude of the poster's English abilities.

In short, Sparky, it was a waste of bandwidth.

 

[jsado]

Well, then I thank you for partcipating in my waste of precious bandwidth. We all know what short supply that's in!!

 

[TheMotrCty]

Welcome to ScubaBoard. Good first post.

Thanks for breaking new ground.

Phil Ellis

Every forum needs a sarcastic smartass!!

Just sayin'...

Ron

 

[GTRio]

I'm just glad I didnt jump in as the second post, lol. Soo tempted to spill the beans.

What I will say, is that I contacted Ocean Quest Dive Centre in Burnaby BC and was blown away by a half hour long conversation I had with the owner Greg. Greg is a Padi course director. Even after telling him I just sent my regs to Alabama for servicing and that I already have all my own gear he gladly took the time to answer my questions and ask ME questions to better figure out what direction I should take for training and equipment configuration. I never felt hurried off the phone even though I heard stuff happening in the background. I was quite impressed with the information I recieved and look forward to meeting him face to face.

Cheers,
Brandon.

 

[bottomfeeder22]

Forgot the name of the shop but it's on the right as you get into Key Largo, gravel parking lot. THE best experience I"ve had with a LDS, EVER! Very accomodating to last minute Charlies like my friend and I.


Let me set the stage: first of all, my buddy and I are both professional procrastinators. We have been doing this for years, I do not recommend you try this at home unless you have your Procrastinator's Underwater Certificate of Keeping Everything Reallylastminute(P.U.C.K.E.R.).

I needed to buy my last piece of "essential" equipment, the computer, the day before our deep dives during our AOW, the Duane and the Grove. Tried getting a computer in Ft. Lauderdale, to no avail(there were surprisingly few dive shops in FL, at least where i went, by the beach). Not surprisingly, the ones I did find were ridiculously expensive. Ok, that's Fort Lauderdale for ya, I'll get one in the morning(dive was at 8 and we had an hour-hour and a half drive from Pembroke Pines, not counting dive shop time). We leave the house at about 0645, dock time is 0800.

We race into the parking lot at 740, I scoot on in, look at the wall o' computers, and ask the guy if the one that caught my eye does nitrox. He replies, "yes", I said, "I'll take it". To my surprise, he asks if I have my reg with me, he'd be more than happy to put it on for me. I grab my reg, and as I'm coming back into the store, the sales guy is just finishing up putting the date and time in. Out comes the wrench, he puts that baby right on, and we are on our way. I kid you not, the entire process took about 7 minutes! The dock was just up the road, we arrived at 0753. Lazily we strolled to the dock and had an awesome day of diving. If that's not awesome service, I dunno what is!

 

[RadRob]

I always look for hot chicks when choosing the lds I will support. Who cares about prices, customer service, or selection. I'm likely to overlook rude comments, salesmen ignoring me, all the snips about being a creepy old guy, etc if she's hot. Once I bought a complete new setup from a nice looking young lady who was trying to get through school while being a single mom and she was going to start working in adult entertainment if she didn't make a sale that day. Couldn't let that happen.

 

[gnwes]

The truth is, most experienced divers have already taken the time to find a good LDS and cultivate a positive relationship with them, so they won't have a complaint. Most of the negative things I hear about dives shops on ScubaBoard come from the less experienced who have not put in the time to find one that suits them.

I went through two of them when I first got back into diving before I found one that works for me. I guess I just forgot to start a big thread about it all.

not exactly true, in my case at least .. and I am one of those less experienced but I have tried 3 different LDS's in my area... all of them suck with customer service. I may be very new to this game but I do know what good or at least decent customer service should be and come on, 3 different LDS???? Thats more than most have in there entire town. Am I unlucky or is it just my area?? One would think that with all the competion in Jacksonville that they would be on top of their game. And Im not afraid to name the ones i will not buy gear from... scubatiger, atlanticprodivers and the brick & morter divers-supply, there are a few other LDS's in my area within a 30 min drive that i suppose i will try because i cant stand crappy service and will not patronize those who provide it and hopefully this 'time' you speak of will pay off because i guess its too much to ask for someone to acknowledge you when you walk in the door.

 

[divingmedic]

I'm lucky enough to have found a really good LDS actually. Out of all the local shops I found, most were super small... like in a guys garage. Little mom and pop places that had good intentions but didn't do it as a living so weren't very good. I googled for a local dive shop and hit gold. Their rental gear is the same high quality gear they sell in the shop. Integrated weight systems and everything. The thinking behind this was that you rent the gear from them, get comfortable with it, like it, and will buy it from him. Instead of some crappy base model with a weight belt, you got good stuff. Same with the regs. All rental gear is replaced every year with brand new equipment and the old rental is sold as used gear. Air fills are cheap, equipment isn't cheap but average for the shops I've visited. The owner is a very down to earth guy who is more than happy to stop whatever he's doin and just BS with you. Classes are reasonably priced and well done. He has a decent amount of gear in stock and can get most everything you need. My only complaints are his hours and lack of help around the shop. He runs it with help from his son, who also works another job. So there's usually just him there. If he's doing a class he has to stop it to help customers or if he's doin checkout dives he closes the shop early. He's not open on weekends at all. And the shop is closed whenever he and his son go on a dive charter. Other than that its a great shop and I like it a lot.

Sounds like this might be a good chance for a part time job! Work your way to getting a little bit of nice gear.

 

[porsche060]

Then you might have other shops posting complaints bout their competitor. how can you verify