LDS owners, rejoice

[100days-a-year]

Try getting any help from a local shop after they find you buy online.You'll get no deals on fills ,gear or trips.And buying a compressor with the value of my time is asinine.There is an unused compressor in my garage.The only time I get gas elsewhere is mix at my buddies house.I get fills @$3 for nitrox by not being a know-it-all jerk in the shop when I'm there.They give me locations,vis&temp reports,freebie promos and discounts on everything.A few years ago when I was buying new stuff the sold me 2 MK20G250's and 2 MK2R380's for $150 total over LP.They put the cuts into the package of other gear.There is camaraderie that cannot be bought or sold and you don't get in the club trying to nickel&dime an owner out of his livlihood.I don't buy everything there and they don't expect me to.They hope their service will induce me to buy the things they carry rather than try to undercut them.BTW I have recieved far more contracts in buisness from contacts and family at the shop than I'll ever spend diving.Mebbe I'm just lucky to always run into good shopowners,but so far I've found these principles to work every place I dive.

 

[Drewpy]

After reading some of Seajays posts about driveing two hours to his LDS I count my blessing that I have 2 decent shops within a mile of my house that I support. I have bought almost all my gear there and have no qualms paying a little more $$ for their advise and svc!They even have a monthly pizza party/slide and or video show to showcase some local dives or tropical trips-nice to see and meet other divers and shoot the sheet!
I do shop for other things online but feel the need to support the local buisness her in town.

 

[saying]

Drewpy once bubbled...
I count my blessing that I have 2 decent shops within a mile of my house that I support.

I've got two decent shops within about two miles from my house.

But the one I'm talking about, the one that's converted me is worth the 15 mile drive. I'm so psyched about this particular shop that I even bought the slap strap with their name on it. It is the single article of "clothing" I own with advertisement on it.

jviehe: I sincerely doubt I'll be going back online for gear. That's just my point on this thread. For a great many reasons I prefer buying dive stuff in person. As I said, I'm sure I will be buying somethings online. There are, in fact, some things I know I'll be buying online. But it's so much more fun to be in the dive shop.

Oh, and another cool thing about them... they never make me feel like the dick of the universe for having bought anything online. One of the divemasters, in fact, once told me "You can get this much cheaper on LP." Obviously I don't go rubbing online purchases in their face because there is an obvious discomfort with the subject, but they aren't ever ****s about it.

 

[BILLB]

I made the mistake of not buying as much as I should from my LDS. I have been a member of their dive club for several years and it was not until this year that I started gradually to go back and actually buy stuff from them.

The prices are not great but the people there have been doing this for many years more than I have been a diver. All the banter I use to hear when I was a new diver now makes sense. These guy are really pretty good!

I agree that On Line buying makes a BIG difference on the type and quality of gear you can get. I purchased some really top of the line stuff on line. I guess I am feeling guilty, knowing how hards the LDS I frequent works that I actually do not mind paying more. They always greet me by my first name and are willing to just talk diving anytime I am around.

Now if I can only can a discount for being a nice guy....?

 

[Corregidor]

I got a package deal on the expensive items from my LDS: BC, reg, gauges, air source. With 20% off his listed prices and no shipping cost the total price was only about $70 higher than LP.

But I did buy some particular items from LP that the LDS didn't have: mask, fins, computer. The warranty isn't much of an issue for mask and fins, and for the Suunto Vyper Computer I don't believe there is a warranty card anyway (the Suunto gauges at the LDS didn't have them), so buying the computer at LP doesn't have warranty implications - I hope .

Jim

 

[rab]

I bought a Suunto Mosquito a few weeks ago (right before my OW cert) and the warranty card has a place to fill in where you got it and Suunto doesn't honor a warranty for on-line purchases of life-support equipment. Now a computer's not a reg, but it's certainly in the "life-support" arena to me.

-Rob

 

[learn-scuba]

Corregidor once bubbled...
<snip>

The warranty isn't much of an issue for mask and fins, and for the Suunto Vyper Computer I don't believe there is a warranty card anyway (the Suunto gauges at the LDS didn't have them), so buying the computer at LP doesn't have warranty implications - I hope .

Jim

Jim --

I just bought new Suunto computers for my Son and I both a few months ago -- I bought at the LDS and both did have warranty cards. Just a heads up so you know.

 

[jviehe]

When you buy from LP, they send you a warranty card from them, and they will match the manufacturers warranty. If it breaks, they'll replace it. Of course, you dont get free parts in service from the LDS, but then for the difference in price, you can buy 2 of the item.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I am probably a little biased, but I like shopping at the LDs and I like hanging out there.

I do a fair amount of solo diving but oddly enough I regard diving as a very social sport. The LDS probably costs me a little more per year in terms of money spent on equipment purchases, but I am a local, a good customer, I help out from time to time and they throw me some really good discounts so the price advantage offerred by LP is pretty small.

A good LDS more than just a store, it is also a focal point for local divers and there really is no way LP can ever do that.

When I first started diving I was about 50 miles from the nearest dive shop and about 150 from a good dive shop, so Central Skin Divers got a lot of mail order business from me. It worked, but a LDS is much more enjoyable and it is worth the extra buck now and then to keep them in business.

 

[zeN||]

Another sucker born every minute! zeN