- Messages
- 681
- Reaction score
- 3
- # of dives
- 200 - 499
3 years ago my wife and I were going to Cozumel with friends and my wife's gear needed annual service. I brought it to Extreme Sports in Joplin for the service. They sent it out and it came back in a timely fashion. Then, at 100 feet at the entrance to Devil's Throat, my wife's first stage fails and she could not breath. She made it up safe, but it was scary. On return to the US I brought the regulator to another shop in town to have it serviced and they said the previous service had NEVER OPENED the first stage. That is why it failed. I called Extreme Sport just to tell them what had happened and about the work they were getting from the send away place. They seemed concerned that I wanted money back, but not about the safety of the service until I said I do not want money back, I just wanted to tell them what the send out place was doing with the gear they send it. They did not seem to care and as far as I know they send gear to the same place.
Last year was bad enough with my doubles. I brought my newly assembled AL 80 doubles into Extreme Sports in Joplin to be filled. I had carefully assembled them by putting on the valves, laying them on my bench parallel, and carefully threading the manifold while keeping the tanks parallel. Like this: doubles
They then refused to fill them because the valve had been off and they had to do a vis. Fine, I let them take my work apart and do the vis. The owner of the shop then reassembled them by standing them up on end with the valves in, threaded in the manifold uneven and turned the manifold, picked the tanks up and wiggled them and repeated until it was "close enough". The whole time he did nothing but badmouth my gear configuration right to my face. They stayed this way until the other people filling these tanks said mine cracked and popped during filling when others peoples doubles didn't. This place fills A LOT of doubles.
I took them home and measured them and the top was 1/2" wider than the bottom. I fixed it and the popping stopped. I should have known to not go back. But I did this week. Dark Wolf and I were going to dive Saturday and I wanted them done to go this weekend. Captain John was at DEMA until Tuesday and I could not get time to drop the tanks by. What a mistake.
I have BRAND NEW 120 cf 3442 psi steel tanks to double. I dropped them off Tuesday to get a vis on them because they are 2 years past manufacture, but have never been out of the box. I said not to put the boots on because I was doubling them and needed to put on bands when I got the manifold off my AL 80s. They filled the tanks after vis. How the heck am I supposed to get the new valves on when the tanks are full?
They drained the tanks (after bitching about it) and I brought the manifold in to assemble the doubles. First the shop owner's wife does not think my one year old 300 bar manifold from my 2 year old AL 80s will fit in the thread of my new, made 2 years ago, steel tanks. She was wrong, of course.
Then the shop own and his son appear out of nowhere start to assemble the 120s as doubles. It was a terrible thing to watch. They also took the time to bad mouth my choice of gear configuration to my face, again. They said I need a new wing because the tanks are so "heavy" and will "drag me right to the bottom". Apparently Mr. Shop owner does not understand the concept of buoyancy vs. weight. According to tank specs, I will have practically the same buoyancy with these tanks as my AL 80s, except I will not be wearing 16 pounds of lead on my waist every dive. I will wear zero lead now.
Mr. Shop owner wanted to screw the manifold into both valves and "estimate the distance between tanks" and screw the tanks onto the valves. I asked how they were gonna tighten the valve and they said with a 2" strap wrench . I suggested this might bend the manifold or stress the threads, but they kept on. They then laid my BRAND NEW steel tanks on their CEMENT FLOOR and spun them on the floor to try to get them on the valves. They now are scratches in the paint at the top and bottom from their spinning.
I had finally seen enough and stepped around the counter to try to help the guys who obviously hardly ever assemble doubles. They ignored everything until I finally said "I know they will get some scratches with wear, but you are scratching up the new paint on my steel tanks. Why don't you just let me do it before you screw up the manifold and scratch them more?"
Mr. Shop owner then steps in my face, puffs out his chest, raises his voice and says "Listen, I have been doing this 20 years..."
I interrupted, stood up straight, looked Mr. Shop Owner in the eye and said "That is fine, but you are not diving these tanks. I AM." I did not get into the pissing contest that I have been diving 13 years and I defy him to tell me how that 7 years makes him better at the task at hand.
Mr. Shop owner then said "They are not leaving this shop with the sticker on them unless I put them together!"
I said "Fine. Take your stickers off."
They took the stickers off and piled up my gear pieces by the counter (including laying steel 120 tanks with valves in them in on the uneven counter 4 feet off the floor). The owners wife was O2 cleaning one of my AL 80s and Mr. Shop Owner went in back to get the tank and I heard him tell her that he was "Kicking me out of his shop!". But he never could say it to my face. So if I am "Kicked out of his shop" I can tell you all the whole story and it does not matter in my life.
I really had some things I wanted to say. But it was just easier to take my gear out to the truck and get out to never return. As I was carrying my gear out Mr. Shop Owner's son pipes up that "I came into his work space uninvited and that was a big part of the problem". I said "it was because you were working on screwing up $1000 worth of my gear". He said "how many thousands of dollars worth of other peoples gear are we trusted with?" I just said "I don't dive their gear, I dive MINE."
I should have just known better. This is a shop that is tied to an electrical work business and is making it on certing new divers, selling them a $1500-$3000 set of gear. They then ferry them down to the lake to hold their hands on 40 foot dives while feeding them hot dogs and chips and telling them what great divers they are and then take them back and forth to Cozumel. That is fine. I like Cozumel too! But this shop is NOT the place to take any tech gear.
Mr. Shop Owner also regularly badmouths cave divers. That is a great thing to do in the state with the second highest number of divable caves. He told me more than once that a single steel 120 was better than double AL 80s without even considering why I was making my choices. Maybe it is because he sells steel 120s to the airhogs that traffic his shop, instead of working on their air consumption.
I am a dive and let dive diver. If all you want to do is go to 20 feet on vacation looking at pretty fish, fine. If you want to go to 1000+ feet to get the body of a dead diver using 100 tanks, fine. If you want to be DIR, fine. If I don't want to go, I won't. But I will not put you down for it either (except ribbing THG). However, I will not be talked to by a shop owner like that. I am also done with letting recreational instructors think about touching tech gear. It is just stupid and should blame myself more for thinking I could go there than blaming this hack for his inability. If he were not such an arrogant a$$, things could have been better.
Last year was bad enough with my doubles. I brought my newly assembled AL 80 doubles into Extreme Sports in Joplin to be filled. I had carefully assembled them by putting on the valves, laying them on my bench parallel, and carefully threading the manifold while keeping the tanks parallel. Like this: doubles
They then refused to fill them because the valve had been off and they had to do a vis. Fine, I let them take my work apart and do the vis. The owner of the shop then reassembled them by standing them up on end with the valves in, threaded in the manifold uneven and turned the manifold, picked the tanks up and wiggled them and repeated until it was "close enough". The whole time he did nothing but badmouth my gear configuration right to my face. They stayed this way until the other people filling these tanks said mine cracked and popped during filling when others peoples doubles didn't. This place fills A LOT of doubles.
I took them home and measured them and the top was 1/2" wider than the bottom. I fixed it and the popping stopped. I should have known to not go back. But I did this week. Dark Wolf and I were going to dive Saturday and I wanted them done to go this weekend. Captain John was at DEMA until Tuesday and I could not get time to drop the tanks by. What a mistake.
I have BRAND NEW 120 cf 3442 psi steel tanks to double. I dropped them off Tuesday to get a vis on them because they are 2 years past manufacture, but have never been out of the box. I said not to put the boots on because I was doubling them and needed to put on bands when I got the manifold off my AL 80s. They filled the tanks after vis. How the heck am I supposed to get the new valves on when the tanks are full?
They drained the tanks (after bitching about it) and I brought the manifold in to assemble the doubles. First the shop owner's wife does not think my one year old 300 bar manifold from my 2 year old AL 80s will fit in the thread of my new, made 2 years ago, steel tanks. She was wrong, of course.
Then the shop own and his son appear out of nowhere start to assemble the 120s as doubles. It was a terrible thing to watch. They also took the time to bad mouth my choice of gear configuration to my face, again. They said I need a new wing because the tanks are so "heavy" and will "drag me right to the bottom". Apparently Mr. Shop owner does not understand the concept of buoyancy vs. weight. According to tank specs, I will have practically the same buoyancy with these tanks as my AL 80s, except I will not be wearing 16 pounds of lead on my waist every dive. I will wear zero lead now.
Mr. Shop owner wanted to screw the manifold into both valves and "estimate the distance between tanks" and screw the tanks onto the valves. I asked how they were gonna tighten the valve and they said with a 2" strap wrench . I suggested this might bend the manifold or stress the threads, but they kept on. They then laid my BRAND NEW steel tanks on their CEMENT FLOOR and spun them on the floor to try to get them on the valves. They now are scratches in the paint at the top and bottom from their spinning.
I had finally seen enough and stepped around the counter to try to help the guys who obviously hardly ever assemble doubles. They ignored everything until I finally said "I know they will get some scratches with wear, but you are scratching up the new paint on my steel tanks. Why don't you just let me do it before you screw up the manifold and scratch them more?"
Mr. Shop owner then steps in my face, puffs out his chest, raises his voice and says "Listen, I have been doing this 20 years..."
I interrupted, stood up straight, looked Mr. Shop Owner in the eye and said "That is fine, but you are not diving these tanks. I AM." I did not get into the pissing contest that I have been diving 13 years and I defy him to tell me how that 7 years makes him better at the task at hand.
Mr. Shop owner then said "They are not leaving this shop with the sticker on them unless I put them together!"
I said "Fine. Take your stickers off."
They took the stickers off and piled up my gear pieces by the counter (including laying steel 120 tanks with valves in them in on the uneven counter 4 feet off the floor). The owners wife was O2 cleaning one of my AL 80s and Mr. Shop Owner went in back to get the tank and I heard him tell her that he was "Kicking me out of his shop!". But he never could say it to my face. So if I am "Kicked out of his shop" I can tell you all the whole story and it does not matter in my life.
I really had some things I wanted to say. But it was just easier to take my gear out to the truck and get out to never return. As I was carrying my gear out Mr. Shop Owner's son pipes up that "I came into his work space uninvited and that was a big part of the problem". I said "it was because you were working on screwing up $1000 worth of my gear". He said "how many thousands of dollars worth of other peoples gear are we trusted with?" I just said "I don't dive their gear, I dive MINE."
I should have just known better. This is a shop that is tied to an electrical work business and is making it on certing new divers, selling them a $1500-$3000 set of gear. They then ferry them down to the lake to hold their hands on 40 foot dives while feeding them hot dogs and chips and telling them what great divers they are and then take them back and forth to Cozumel. That is fine. I like Cozumel too! But this shop is NOT the place to take any tech gear.
Mr. Shop Owner also regularly badmouths cave divers. That is a great thing to do in the state with the second highest number of divable caves. He told me more than once that a single steel 120 was better than double AL 80s without even considering why I was making my choices. Maybe it is because he sells steel 120s to the airhogs that traffic his shop, instead of working on their air consumption.
I am a dive and let dive diver. If all you want to do is go to 20 feet on vacation looking at pretty fish, fine. If you want to go to 1000+ feet to get the body of a dead diver using 100 tanks, fine. If you want to be DIR, fine. If I don't want to go, I won't. But I will not put you down for it either (except ribbing THG). However, I will not be talked to by a shop owner like that. I am also done with letting recreational instructors think about touching tech gear. It is just stupid and should blame myself more for thinking I could go there than blaming this hack for his inability. If he were not such an arrogant a$$, things could have been better.
