Does Peggy work at your LDS?

[The Chairman]

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It was Friday, Sept 2nd of this year, when I went into a Central Florida LDS to get a couple of fills and I dropped one off for hydro. Later that day, I realized that I had missed a call from them. It seems that one of the tanks was out of VIP, and that BOTH tanks had rust in them. They wouldn't fill my tanks and I had refresher students on Sunday. So they sent a couple of steel tanks with my students so I would have something to dive with. YAY!!!

That Tuesday, I called one of the owners to discuss options. They had tumbled the tanks not even 8 months ago, but I asked them to do it again. Heck, I live in Key Largo now, and I really don't know what shop to use for this yet. I told them I would be back in town in about three weeks when my best friend was getting married... "No problem! They'll be ready for you." Kewl!

So, Saturday, October 2 I go in to get my tanks. I hate diving aluminum tanks and am looking forward to getting my steels back. Yay! I pull in and... the tanks weren't ready yet? WHAT??? No Yay! Crap! The principle owner told me that they must have slipped between the cracks and that he would make SURE that they would get handled properly. Yes, I was very disappointed. To be sure, I consider these guys to be friends, so being more patient than is good for me, I left the tanks there. I told them I would be back in town in about three weeks to pick them up. The owner personally assured me again that they would get done. I left disappointed but hopeful that I would get my steels back by the end of the month.

Given the fact that things didn't seem to be getting done in a timely manner, I called the owner last week on his cell phone. He didn't answer so I left a pleasant reminder that I was going to be picking up those tanks this week. PlEASE CALL ME BACK.

Life can get busy, and I had students over the weekend and on Monday. Great group of guys and I would dive with them just about anywhere. Monday slipped by with no return call, so I called his partner on Tuesday. Wednesday, I called the owner and his partner again. My messages were getting a bit more terse. I even called the wife and the store. I was getting rather upset by this time so my message to the shops phone was on the order of "Hey Peggy! I want my tanks back. I hope they are ready when I come by to pick them up tomorrow! Please call me at______" The partner finally called me later that evening, and could not tell me the status of the tanks. However, he was going to the shop so I asked him to call me back and let me know. Did you guess that I didn't get the courtesy of a return call?

So, today I called the shop, the owner and the partner on my way up to Central Florida. Nope, no answer and no return phone calls. Do you want to place bets at where I am going? I get there to find that rather than being tumbled, they simply filled the two tanks and put new stickers on them. The one that needed hydro never made it out of the shop either. It has been sitting without a valve for almost TWO MONTHS. Wow. So, things started to get a bit testy when one of the employees suggested that it was my fault FOR NOT CALLING THEM. My reply was immediate and not very nice. He walked away from me after that. The partner came over and sincerely apologized. Actually, I had misread the tank that needed hydro. It could go almost another year. He filled it, rust and all. I was trying to not be upset when I asked the owner why he didn't follow through. WOW. The excuses he kept making made my blood simply boil and that's hard to do. It was Mexico's fault, it was this guy's fault or it was that guy's fault. I stopped him and said we needed to talk this out as I had a few other issues over missing tanks. Nope, he just kept up with his excuses and passing the buck. I was so upset I was shaking as I left the place. I was talking to a real live Peggy and he worked at an LDS.

Now, I purposely did not identify this shop. Sure, its a bit of a vent, but I really want your input. How patient should I have been? What could I have done to avoid this situation? You can be sure that I won't be darkening their door again, so I don't care if they ID themselves here. If they are brave enough, they might even try to justify themselves here. No, I couldn't go to sleep without writing this down. Give me your thoughts.


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[g2]

I hear you.

I recently went through a similar situation with a local dive shop. They lost one of my tanks (in for a vis), we later found it lurking under their work bench. That took three weeks. I decided to give them another chance, and they took another three weeks to do another vis, despite my calls. Each time the price was higher and the service was not what I expected. There's much more that I won't go into here, but it convinced me that they weren't serious about professionalism.

With all the competition in dive shops, you'd think that they'd be tripping over themselves to help us... Alas, it is not always the case.

I kept going back to the incompetent shop because they were convenient. But no more. My safety is at stake, not to mention my sanity.
That was 4 months ago. Since then I have bought about $3000 worth of training and dive gear. They got none of that.

Vote with your pocketbook. Go elsewhere.

 

[gcarter]

Freinds or not, is not relevent when it comes to a) business and b) (more important) life support.

I have never abandoned a product or service business just because there was an issue with the product or service.

The test is what they do about it when a problem occurs. Sometimes sh*t happens. To all of us, personally and professionally, sooner or later. Maybe the first miss was in that category, maybe not. Benefit of the doubt.

What did they do about it?

Big miss. Big enough to count as several. Drop 'em. Spend no further money at their shop. At this point, trust nothing that they DID do. Get your tanks properly checked and serviced elsewhere.

 

[DiveNav]

you are a VERY patient man.

A beer on me next week.

 

[Paladin]

Wow. The shop I go to inspects my tanks while I wait. Heck, I'm usually standing right there and get a looksee into the tanks myself during the inspection. When I drop off tanks for hydro, I know I'll get 'em back in less than a week. Usually in a couple of days. I can't imagine how I'd react if I was given the kind of runaround the OP experienced!

 

[Bob DBF]

Over the years I've gotten quite philosophical when dealing with the vagaries of life, but in this situation I'd look like a lunatic in comparison.

I've been dealing directly with a Hydro shop since I owned my own tanks, give it some thought.


Bob
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There is no problem that can't be solved with a liberal application of sex, tequila, money, duct tape, or high explosives, not necessarily in that order.

 

[Dive-aholic]

This is actually pretty common, Pete. Not necessarily with VIPs and hydros, but anything. I had someone recently push a meet up time back an hour because he was getting new tanks for that dive and knew they wouldnMt be ready when he got to the shop. He told me he knew he would have to be there to make sure the tanks and valves were put together and the tanks filled. He's a regular customer there and usually runs a tab so payment wasn't the issue. That same shop also would put regs to be serviced in no particular location and then blame the service tech when the customer called about the regs. You're not alone.

 

[ucfdiver]

I think most of us can logically deduct which shop you're talking about, Pete. If not naming the shop was a true goal, this post is a failure.

 

[knowone]

I pay someone to mow the lawn when the majority is at work
This courtesy satisfies what will never be reciprocated

 

[gcarter]

This is actually pretty common, Pete. Not necessarily with VIPs and hydros, but anything. I had someone recently push a meet up time back an hour because he was getting new tanks for that dive and knew they wouldnMt be ready when he got to the shop. He told me he knew he would have to be there to make sure the tanks and valves were put together and the tanks filled. He's a regular customer there and usually runs a tab so payment wasn't the issue. That same shop also would put regs to be serviced in no particular location and then blame the service tech when the customer called about the regs. You're not alone.

But why do people put up with this level of service? Why is your friend still a regular customer there?

I hear all this BS about supporting your local LDS, but come on, they need to provide a reasonable level of service. I'll support a LDS because they give good service, not because they are a LDS.

Bad businesses of all sorts need to be abandoned by their customers and allowed to fail. Even LDSs.