Buying on line?

[dweeb]

the mrs and i have bought all of our gear from local dive shops and the last item on the list is a dive computer.

i understand the advantage to buying gear i'll have serviced locally and have done so. But, with these dive computers, i can order them from a site like leisure pro and save over 40% but lose the warranty. I'm not terribly concerned with warranty coverage for a computer costing $900, when i can get it for $600. I'm fine self insuring to save $300 - any of you smarter than me have a comment as to why i shouldn't?

You need to consider what sort of consumer you are, for the product in question. The LDS offers a certain level of service, including time and expertise in helping you select a product, all of which has a cost. LP offers the informed, self-sufficient consumer an opportunity to leverage their knowledge to save money. If you can research computers on your own, and know, for instance, what an RGBM is, and are well versed in the theory, then don't pay for service you don't need. However, if you need a certain level of pre- and/or post-sale support, then have the basic integrity to pay for it. If you need to ask your LDS questions about computers, then pay the piper and buy from them. If you by from LP, then don't go running to your LDS with a question about how to set or use it.

Some people here will go on about how evil LP, and other online dealers, are. Realistically, though, everybody has an area where they don't need help, and shouldn't have to pay for it, and diving equipment can be one of those areas.
There are plenty of divers who need the help, advice, and hand holding the LDS offers on equipment purchases (particularly with the way PADI markets diving to the devotees of learned helplessness these days) to keep the LDS in business. The problem is when people try to save a little money by shopping beyond their limitations. Know your limitations, and don't dive, or shop, beyond them.

The warranty issue is moot. There is plentiful customer testimony that LP honors the manufacturer's warranty. Either they eat the cost of warranty replacements, or they ship them back to the manufacturer as defective upon arrival. If it's the former, then the fact that they carry a product would seem to be a good indicator that it isn't often defective.

 

[MildlyDamp]

dweeb's comments sum up the situation well. You have to decide what you need and value, and make your decision based on that. What things are important to you - local service, advice, or price?

We have a free market economy. People will vote with their pocketbooks, and the business models that provide what customers want will survive; the others will go Jurassic.

The internet has its successes, like Ebay and Amazon, and its failures; remember Webvan? The same thing with traditional business; Home Depot drove out all the local hardware stores. But now that they own the market, their selection has decreased and their prices have gone up. I find myself shopping at OSH sometimes to avoid them. If others do the same, they'll either respond to it, or face new competition.

You're free to shop where you want, and that is great. I love the internet and buy tons of stuff off it. I also just spent over $2000 at my LDS. My guess is that there will always be room for both.

 

[Rob_Robscott]

Thats funny I seem to see some one of these guys giving DIR advice, but at the same time claim that he is not DIR. I dont know why that came up, maybe to flush him out.