Most small dive shops are mom and pop run and it's a tough competitive world. And some in that world think the best way to get themselves business is to talk bad about others.
The shop I got my OW (and my daughters) I liked the employees. They seemed honest and pretty laid back. My last 2 or 3 trips there, I ended up being waited on by the owner. He was obviously anti-other shop but also liked to talk down about my gear. I have a transpac from dive-rite, not quite a bp/w but pretty close. It's minimalist, it's comfy. I like it a lot. And I got it as an absolute steal. It looked brand new, had an air2 on it, accessory weight pouches etc. I took it in to get serviced when I first got it.
But "You're never going to get peak performance out of that, it's old tech". IIRC, a BC is basically a balloon strapped to my back. I don't think tech has advanced much beyond that stage. I know what I DON'T WANT is a jacket style BC, dislike those quite a bit. I don't care how 'new tech' they are and being a little more comfy on the surface isn't a big deal compared to being comfy down below IMO.
As I was building my daughters gear we were given an older SP reg set. Looked used, but good. I took it in for servicing. "You're never going to..." she's 12. We're diving OW at 60ish feet on air. In florida. She's not doing tech diving on trimix under an ice sheet. While an F1 car may be really awesome in the right hands, those hands don't belong to my 12 year old.
The final straw was tank fills though. I was diving on 72's with J valves( bought from them). They're neat, I like them. The owner did the last 2 fills, doesn't know what a J valve is. He gives me "I don't know if I can fill them, Besides, you're never..." even though they sold them to me with fresh hydro and vip... 5 months ago. But he fills them. I get home, check (fortunately) my air before a trip, they're at around 800lbs. He did the same when I took them back. His tank monkeys had no issues, but he insisted on doing them himself. So even though I liked their guys, I changed shops. The owner killed my business.
So new shop I take in the same gear and they say.... "What do you want done?" I show up to fill and they say.... "just air?" So they get my fills now, I've bought 4 new tanks from them (2 used and 2 brand spanking new) and I'll be buying 2 more once the last of my 72's sell.
