gentlegiant
Contributor
Does anyone have a suggestion on a good Pensacola dive operator? My wife and I are wanting to give this area a try and need to find a boat to go out on.
Dive operators in Pensacola
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Y-Knot, captain Dave Mucci. Runs an excellent 6 pack. fast boat 
. I dont have his number handy, but you can get it from Dive Pros (also the shop I would recommend) 850- 456-8845.
. I dont have his number handy, but you can get it from Dive Pros (also the shop I would recommend) 850- 456-8845.
gentlegiant:
I'd talk to MBT Divers - good people.
Dive Pros has come off as quite snooty to me more than once; I won't shop there any more. I'm not alone in this assessment either - they have lost TWO drysuit sales to local people here in the last three months among people I know, not including myself (I'd be #3) due to their attitude. They may consider this "just fine", but two $1500 sales is a lot to have people walk off on simply due to the way to handle yourself around your potential customers!
Genesis:
Ya gottalove differences in opinion. I (personally) wouldn't let the morons at MBT feed my dog. Regardless, Dave Mucci is a great captain, and works independantly of any local shop.
Hey Karl- did you try talking with the owner, Kevin Freeland? I've worked for DP for over 10 years now, and I have yet to see a situation where Keven wouldn't do his utmost to make the customer happy; unless, that is, the customer was asking for something completely unreasonable.
I don't know if Kevin was one of the people I talked to or not. I don't make a policy of asking for the owner unless I've got some reason to try to run things down - most of the time if I run into attitude I simply go somewhere else, especially on a major purchase. I didn't know you worked there; I've always spoke with guys there, no "chicks"
I've had zero trouble with MBT. I've bought several things there and the experience has always been positive. Several people I know use them regularly to arrange charters, and two of my friends have certified OW there without incident.
I can relate that one of the other folks who they lost a DS sale to was turned off by their "absolutely full list price, no discounts, no discussion" attitude (which they expressed to me as well), and I DO know that they had no suits in the building to try on for size - at all - because I asked. IMO if you're going to charge "full list" that's fine, but by God you ought to be providing Mercedes-Benz style service to go with that price - not just be a glorified order-taker. I did call them before I bought my DUI (at DUI's recommendation) but bought the suit from Diver's Den in Dothan - not only did I get a better deal, but the folks at DD had rental program suits and a deep pool in their building - they had no problem with me coming up there with my kit and playing in the pool for a couple of hours to figure out if a stock size would be ok for me or if I had to go custom. As it turned out a stock large fits me just fine; there was no reason to spend the extra in my case. Susan Long had told me that already, but by God, for that kind of money I want to put the thing on and get it wet and make my OWN decision! Price wasn't the big factor - service was, and DD up in Dothan bent over backwards to provide what the "S" should mean - service. They were rewarded with a nice big dent on my plastic.
DP did nothing to try to win the business for either my suit or his; I gave up quickly and so did he. When you're writing $1500 checks it doesn't take much attitude to send the customer out the door and to your competitor's place of business.
YMMV of course... different $trokes! (the net-nanny filter bans the "S" word now)
BTW GG if you're down in this area and its a nice day I'll probably be out off Destin. I'm not a commercial guy, and SB folks are always welcome on board.
I've had zero trouble with MBT. I've bought several things there and the experience has always been positive. Several people I know use them regularly to arrange charters, and two of my friends have certified OW there without incident.
I can relate that one of the other folks who they lost a DS sale to was turned off by their "absolutely full list price, no discounts, no discussion" attitude (which they expressed to me as well), and I DO know that they had no suits in the building to try on for size - at all - because I asked. IMO if you're going to charge "full list" that's fine, but by God you ought to be providing Mercedes-Benz style service to go with that price - not just be a glorified order-taker. I did call them before I bought my DUI (at DUI's recommendation) but bought the suit from Diver's Den in Dothan - not only did I get a better deal, but the folks at DD had rental program suits and a deep pool in their building - they had no problem with me coming up there with my kit and playing in the pool for a couple of hours to figure out if a stock size would be ok for me or if I had to go custom. As it turned out a stock large fits me just fine; there was no reason to spend the extra in my case. Susan Long had told me that already, but by God, for that kind of money I want to put the thing on and get it wet and make my OWN decision! Price wasn't the big factor - service was, and DD up in Dothan bent over backwards to provide what the "S" should mean - service. They were rewarded with a nice big dent on my plastic.
DP did nothing to try to win the business for either my suit or his; I gave up quickly and so did he. When you're writing $1500 checks it doesn't take much attitude to send the customer out the door and to your competitor's place of business.
YMMV of course... different $trokes! (the net-nanny filter bans the "S" word now
)BTW GG if you're down in this area and its a nice day I'll probably be out off Destin. I'm not a commercial guy, and SB folks are always welcome on board.
Well, thats your opinion, and you are certainly entitled to it. I know where my business goes and why- and it won't go elsewhere.
Well I'd hope that would be the case CD, since you work there. Beyond the obvious discount that "keyman" employees get, there's just the general issue of loyalty - you obviously like them or you wouldn't be working there, so I'd assume that as an employee you'd buy there.
However, I do think that employees posting stuff like this is at least borderline in terms of being considered "unbiased" advice.... and might be considered commercial use of the system here...
However, I do think that employees posting stuff like this is at least borderline in terms of being considered "unbiased" advice.... and might be considered commercial use of the system here...
Dude...the first post was about a captain who works independtly of any shop...then she mentioned a shop where they have a contact for said captain. There is no bias in pointing to a boat that runs charters independent of a shop.Genesis:
Genesis:
I'm not an EMPLOYEE Karl, I'm a contract instructor. I can sell my servics to any shop I want, or none at all should I so choose. I choose Dive Pros exclusively since I think they are the best in the area.
Oh, and FYI- DP prefers NOT to book charters, we put our customers in touch with the boat captain and let them deal directly, thus eliminating the "commission".
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