Chicago LDS purchasing WOES revisited

[StreetDoctor]

No other hobby I've ever been involved in is as stressful as making large purchases as the scuba industry is. I'm currently re-living my regulator buying experience this time in search of the best price on a drysuit.

I was told about a sale on the DUI TLS350 signature series suit for $2189.98 at an authorized dealer in california. They currently are in the process of enrolling in DUI's finance program which as I was explained takes about a week to complete.

I figured I'd call around to the local shops to keep my money local. Painful mistake! (should have learned from buying regulators)

Underseas in Villa Park, IL:

Advertises on there website that they guarantee the lowest price and will match any price from an authorized dealer. GREAT! So I call them up and they are enrolled in the financing, etc. everythings good. Allison tells me she can match the price on the HP130 I want for $399 (that was originally between $550-$600 as she told me, depending on what I'm not sure?) but she can't do the drysuit price even though they are an authorized dealer and there website says they guarantee the lowest price. She didn't give me a reason why other than I'd have to send the suit to california if anything ever went wrong with it and how troublesome that would be. Best price $2400 + options

Scuba Emporium:

Herald told me they wouldn't match the price and that measurements are so important I don't want to risk getting measured wrong. After I told him I was confident in the measurements taken by a local instructor he kinda laughed and told me "I'll measure you RIGHT" but the best price he can do is knock $100 off from $24xx and do $2365 and not a penny lower (I tried for $2300). Funny I looked on there website and they are listed for $2357! While the guy is haggling with me on the phone about $2365 and no lower!

I'd love to keep my money local but you have to be competitive with other shops. I shouldn't have to suffer just because I don't live near this shop in california. So I recommend buying from the lowest authorized dealer price whether it's local or not. The LDS' will either jump on board with there pricing or go out of business. I mean seriously... trying to charge me $600 for a tank I can get online for $399 with free shipping?! UGH If anyone works at this shops on here I apologize if you take this personally but I just don't see ripping people off as a means to run a successful business. Hopefully I'll have my drysuit ordered from california by the end of the week.

All the other shops I tried either don't do financing or don't carry DUI.

 

[luckydays]

You could wait until the DUI days at pearl lake at the beginning of june. Rumor has it they will give you a deal of you can buy that day. June 6 and 7th I think.

I dont know about the financing but maybe you could do it directly with DUI at the event.

 

[SDAnderson]

yadda, yadda, yadda...

Sheesh. You're right - the stress is getting to you. This much sturm und drang is bad for your blood pressure, my suggestion would be to buy the thing from the California store. Or take up golf. At any rate, as torqued up as you are, I suspect that everyone local you've talked to is crossing their fingers and hoping you'll buy from someone else. Or take up golf.

Full disclosure: I don't take your comments personally, though I am an ex-employee of one of the retailers you're hacked at. Mostly, I'm grateful to no longer have to deal with vitriolic, foaming-at-the-mouth price warriors like you. From a transactional viewpoint, folks like you demand more and are willing to pay less which can knock the cost/benefit equation into a negative result. Simply put, I suspect you aren't worth doing business with.

You could wait until the DUI days at pearl lake at the beginning of june. Rumor has it they will give you a deal of you can buy that day.

DUI won't sell you a suit - not that day, not the next day, not the next week. They'll give you a list of local dealers and, if you'd like, measure you.

 

[Busdiver]

DUI Days allows you to the opportunity to try on all the suits you may like. They will provide you with a coupon for an upgrade and some discounted prices. Even if you get measured at DUI days I would suggest double checking those measurements at a shop.

 

[ComputerJoe]

Reefraff may have been a bit blunt but when shopping for anything you do not get something for nothing. Do not minimize the presence of staff on hand to answer your questions 5 to 7 days a week, or the stability of a store that will be there 5 years down the road when your seals start falling apart. A store HAS to make a fair profit to employ knowlegable staff at a fair wage.

Walk a mile in anothers shoes...
Last year I spent 2.5 hours fitting a couple with fins, masks, and snorkel's. I can't tell you how many pairs of fins I went through and the dozens of questions I answered. In the end I was asked to put the items aside for them as the couple was driving to another shop 150 miles away to see what they had before buying. They never returned or even called, I was rode hard and put away wet.

It seems that for someone to feel they are getting a "deal" someone else has to take a screwing.

 

[cerich]

Sheesh. You're right - the stress is getting to you. This much sturm und drang is bad for your blood pressure, my suggestion would be to buy the thing from the California store. Or take up golf. At any rate, as torqued up as you are, I suspect that everyone local you've talked to is crossing their fingers and hoping you'll buy from someone else. Or take up golf.

Full disclosure: I don't take your comments personally, though I am an ex-employee of one of the retailers you're hacked at. Mostly, I'm grateful to no longer have to deal with vitriolic, foaming-at-the-mouth price warriors like you. From a transactional viewpoint, folks like you demand more and are willing to pay less which can knock the cost/benefit equation into a negative result. Simply put, I suspect you aren't worth doing business with.


DUI won't sell you a suit - not that day, not the next day, not the next week. They'll give you a list of local dealers and, if you'd like, measure you.

in this economy virtually everybody is a "price warrior" , the problem is that every month less and less price warriors have jobs so they get even more "vitriolic".

I suspect shops that don't see that aren't worth doing business with, all the advantages of doing business with a local business disappears when the shop goes out of business.

 

[kjvander]

Then again....you can always find other manufacturers of drysuits. I have a Pinnacle and a few other people dive BARE drysuits that I know as well as a few people that dive White's. Dive Right In Scuba in Plainfield has done me well and are very helpful from the little that I have used them as well as my main dive shop Advance Scuba in Holland, MI. Try looking out side the box a little bit and you might find some other shops and some other manufacturers that might be able to get you a pretty decent suit at a really good price.

 

[SDAnderson]

in this economy virtually everybody is a "price warrior" , the problem is that every month less and less price warriors have jobs so they get even more "vitriolic".

I suspect shops that don't see that aren't worth doing business with, all the advantages of doing business with a local business disappears when the shop goes out of business.

If you're a buyer and a vendor won't provide you the product/service/price you want you have three effective responses to choose from: lower your expectations, buy from someone else or go without. Getting so hopped up that your eyes pop out of your head isn't a rational response.

Whichever option someone chooses, they should remember the Golden Rule. Never mind that having a hissy fit and peeing all over the carpet because you didn't get your way is childish, bad behavior probably doesn't improve your chances of making the deal happen.

Nobody likes an overbearing cram-artist salesman but remember that he has an equally unpleasant counterpart: the bitchy endlessly-haggling customer. Both suck. The retail sales floor doesn't work well if either of the participants view it as an arena and themselves as gladiators - instead, both buyers and sellers should try and think of it as a two-way street and themselves as a courteous and cautious drivers. Nobody will get their way all the time but it improves the chances that you will get where you want to be with fewer collisions and less blood.

 

[jepuskar]

I never understood walking into a retail store and trying to ask for a discount...unless there is a sale...it is what it is. Do you go grocery shopping and try to finagle a price with a checkout clerk?

 

[luckydays]

I never understood walking into a retail store and trying to ask for a discount...unless there is a sale...it is what it is. Do you go grocery shopping and try to finagle a price with a checkout clerk?

Agreed but I see nothing wrong with asking as you never know what may happen. I would never get mad at a store if they can't make it the price I would be most happy with though. If I think that a deal is possible, I will try to get it as I see it as being a wise consumer. If I am told no, I will not storm off in a pout though. I also don't ask for a deal on every purchase either.

In my business, I get people who ask me to reduce my fees unreasonably low all the time. I will consider a discount sometimes or in certain circumstances but when people call me on the phone and their first question is "what is the fee?" and question to is "can you do better than that?" I ask them if their employer asked for them to take a pay cut for no good reason, would they agree? Not one person has ever told me that they willingly reduced their paycheck from their company for no reason and was happy about it. If you cant reduce your paycheck, you should not get mad when a retailer wont discount their products either.

To the original poster, as a Scuba Emporium customer, I think that you need to reconsider your objections. For the difference of essentially $175 (not taking in to consideration the shipping charges) you are putting yourself through enough turmoil. I think that for the $175 difference you could not ask for a better retailer of scuba gear. The staff at SE are extremely knowledgeable and helpful plus nice people to deal with. When I bought my gear earlier this year I paid a little more ($150) than I would have if I bought it online but with that, I was able to try on every thing they had, use the gear in the pool (repeatedly on several occasions at no charge) until I was comfortable with it, plus they allowed my entire family to do a discover scuba at no charge. They assembled my reg and octo and installed my computer (that I did not purchase from them) for free. Better yet, if I have any problems with anything, I can call the store and know that I will get the help I need. I have bought a few things online but for the most part, Scuba Emporium gets my scuba dollars. You might want to go to the store to see what they have, get a feel for the people there, and then see what sort of pricing can be done instead of going online and disparaging a company who already has great pricing and excellent customer service.

I only suggested the DUI days previously as I had heard about the coupon/discount offered for participating in the event. I still think you need to go back and talk to Harold again. You cant ask for a nicer person to work with.