LDS VS Internet Sale!!!

[redacted]

I guess you won't drink at a bar because they card you AWAP. I do not have to show C-cards to those who know me but when I go away and they ask I am very happy to show my divemaster or nitrox card just as my friends filling heliox. There is pride in the training. You have hundreds of dives but what about the kid who has just completed his open water and thinks he can dive decompression? Shouldn't the industry protect these people or other thrill seeking weirdos who give the industry and sport a bad name STING? This will make insurance, equipment and training costs go up in the long run LDS or online.

Government regulations vs dive industry myth - two very different things. Your shop may choose to "card" customers but that seemed to pretty much disappear in the '90 when internet retailers demonstrated that it was unnecessary. All shops I know of stopped that nonsense quite a while ago so I suspect they learned quickly it was costing them $$$ rather than saving them anything. If the industry is suffering from a bad name, it's probably because of some of the overpriced shady merchandising that occurs with new, unsuspecting customers.

 

[psychocabbage]

Psychocabbage, people have different notions of what is expensive so you should be more considerate of that.

hahah why? They can earn more if they wanted to. I certainly did.

For someone who states they don't care about other people's opinions you spend an awful lot of time on these forums defending your point of view from their opinions. If you don't care then stop posting please, I am getting tired of it.

then stop reading.. Im not holding a knife to you making you read am I?

To be honest, I think you have a terrible attitude towards diving (I mean, you are prepared to pull a knife out on an OOA diver for starters) but I will never dive with you so that doesn't bother me. I hope you do only stick to diving with your wife as it sounds like you will take care of her at least and vice versa.

Terrible? Why? Because it differs from yours? Hardly.

But in regards to steel v aluminium, you are right, you can pick what you like but the shop is not required to sell it to you if they think it is a bad/stupid idea. I run my own business and I try to advise people on what is right for them, not what they want, though usually most people are sensible enough that they are the same thing. The customer is not always right you know! I have avoided customers who have no idea what they are on about and ask for ridiculous things and I still make more than enough money to get by in life. Anyway, so yes, if you are so insistent on aluminium get it from another shop but don't slag off the other LDS who was just trying to do you a favour. Your wife should not have bought a steel tank given how much you don't want one - but she's an adult and should be able to stick up for herself in a shop that is pushing her to buy something other than what she wants! I HATE when people blame others for their own decisions.

Actually, its not easy to tell friends they are losing a sale. Its much easier to leave the store and buy elsewhere. Next time we run into them at a dive, they will see our gear and put 2 and 2 together and realize how much $ they lost out on.
For those who read well, you will realize this was during the holidays.. I have since located an AL100 at a large retailer. $239 I think the tag said.. Guess the color? Have not pulled the trigger mainly for the fact that I dive 20-30 times a year.. When I go to Cozumel though I will be sure to use the AL100 again. maybe even get you all pics of me goofing off under water and wasting air as if it were free!
I am such a scofflaw! How inconsiderate of me! There are people OOA all over the place and there I go just wasting it.. pffft.



I will say this. I am so glad I did not run into any of you before becoming certified.. I would most certainly of not of done it. You people take all the fun out of something..


Im off to sharpen my knife of doom.. who knows who is going to try and take my air these days..

 

[Sas]

hahah why? They can earn more if they wanted to. I certainly did.

Don't be ridiculous. Many people do not have the opportunities to earn more money. Women for one thing. Many industries (including IT which I am a part of) pay women less on average for the same work. But that is a whole other story.

then stop reading.. Im not holding a knife to you making you read am I?

No but you are posting in a thread I was quite interested in reading with constant bragging about your l33t CS skillz and loads of money to buy BMX stuff and modded cases. Geez you sound like most of the 11 year old boys that play on the public CS servers.

Terrible? Why? Because it differs from yours? Hardly.

No, I don't care that you have poor trim and high air consumption like others here - my trim is terrible and my SAC high as I am a new diver too. I think it is terrible because you won't listen to anybody else and you are prepared to assault a diver that has run out of air with a knife and will probably die without assistance. That is messed up, mate.

Actually, its not easy to tell friends they are losing a sale. Its much easier to leave the store and buy elsewhere.

Sure. The cowardly way is always the easiest. If my friends were ripping me off I'd have the guts to tell them so.

I will say this. I am so glad I did not run into any of you before becoming certified.. I would most certainly of not of done it. You people take all the fun out of something..

I'd say a lot of people here feel the same about you! It is a shame you would let other people have such an impact on your diving. But I guess that is no surprise given your reaction to your "friends" at the LDS.

Im off to sharpen my knife of doom.. who knows who is going to try and take my air these days..

Hmm, I smell a troll.

P.S. I do agree that colour is important though I got purple fins for that reason as I love purple. However when I found a great wetsuit in my least favourite colour I didn't go buy the crap one just because of it, I did the sensible thing and bought the good wetsuit.

 

[Splitlip]

I did not see the post about the knife. It's a little disturbing.

 

[TheWetRookie]

First, let me start by saying I am a supporter of a couple of Internet Dive Shops that are authorized dealers. I also work at a LDS that I buy very little if anything from because the prices are too high even with my employee "discount". I also send my regs to Scubatoys to be serviced because 1) we currently send our regs to another store for service and 2) it typically costs $250-$275 to get them serviced through our store, and 3) ScubaToys has great service.

So, I'm a supporter of the best business model and not a support your LDS at any cost type of person. If we had a dive shop in town that was fair, I would definitey spend my money there...but we don't.

Anyway, we (the LDS where I work) recently received this letter from Aqua Lung and I found it interesting and thought I might share it just for the gee whiz factor and not in support of the internet or LDS. I couldn't figure out how to post the original PDF file, so I retyped the body...I apologize for any spelling errors or grammatical mistakes I may have made. The content and gist of the letter remain accurate.

"Dear Valued Aqua Lung Retailers,

Recently we have received a number of inquiries regarding LeisurePro and how they obtain Aqualung Diving Products. For the record, LeisurePro is not an authorized Aqua Lung dealer nor do we sell Aqua Lung, Sea Quest, Suunto or Apeks branded products to them.

In the past, Aqua Lung has taken an aggressive stance in trying to eliminate sales of equipment by unauthorized resellers obtained through gray market channels. Through our serial number tracking system, we have virtually eliminated the gray market acquisition of products through U.S. dealers. We reently terminated a distributer for selling our products to a third party (Leisurepro) for the purposes of resale. We will continue to be diligent tracing products sold by unauthorized resellers for the purpose of terminated or eliminating the source.

We would like to ask that if a retail customer comes to your store with Aqual Lung, Sea Quest, Apeks or Suunto equipment acquired through an unauthorized retailer, please try to acquire the product's serial number. Call us with the number and we will track the prduct and take the necessary action in dealing with the violation.

Since we cannot determine the product's condition, whether new or used, from unauthorized resellers, we do not provide warranty or support for products purchased from sources other than our authorized dealer network. This is important for you, our retailer, as well as for your customers to know. As further protection for customers, we will be posting new information regaurding Leisurepro on our website shortly. We encourage you to remind customers of the value they receive purchasing from an authorized Aqua Lung retailer."

The letter was signed by Don Rockwell, the President of Aqua Lung America.

Take it for what it's worth. I still find it hard to believe that LeisurePro finds enough "gray market" suppliers to fill their stocks. I'm not saying Aqua Lung is telling a lie, it's just a lot of stock to find in bits and peices.

I worked in a tire shop when I was younger and I got a good laugh out of the competitions sales rep that would come to our shop and ask us to sell their tires for them. I guess he did not care who sold them as long as they were making money.

 

[ZzzKing]

We are not into diving for the social aspect...

That's good. Otherwise you may be in for disappointment.

 

[divewithjay]

Most shops will sell you just about any gear that you want without checking certs. They just shouldn't fill your tanks without proper certification.

True. Most places around here(including ours) won't fill a tank without a card. It's actually a requirement on the insurance policy. Anyways 99% of the time we know who is buying gear or who they are buying it for and lots of gear like masks, fins, snorkels, etc pose very little danger to the buyer.

BTW, if you like aluminum tanks have a look at the Compact+ tanks, they have better buoyancy characteristics. I have a couple of the older 100 cu ft AL tanks and they are monsters, heavy on land and very buoyant at the end of the dive.

 

[String]

Luckily sanity prevails here and no qualification is needed to buy anything and anyone will fill your tanks with whatever you want provided the tank is in test .
Just the way it should be.

 

[Splitlip]

Actually, its not easy to tell friends they are losing a sale. Its much easier to leave the store and buy elsewhere. Next time we run into them at a dive, they will see our gear and put 2 and 2 together and realize how much $ they lost out on.
For those who read well, you will realize this was during the holidays.. I have since located an AL100 at a large retailer. $239 I think the tag said.. Guess the color? Have not pulled the trigger mainly for the fact that I dive 20-30 times a year.. When I go to Cozumel though I will be sure to use the AL100 again. maybe even get you all pics of me goofing off under water and wasting air as if it were free!I am such a scofflaw! How inconsiderate of me! There are people OOA all over the place and there I go just wasting it.. pffft.

please don't take this the wrong way.
I watched your video, and maybe your friends at the dive shop have seen it too.

You are severely over weighted and way out of trim. You are swimming in an almost upright position. 2 things are happening. When you over inflate the BC to compensate for the ballast, the BC is picking up your shoulders forcing you into that inefficient position causing you to struggle to move forward as your lower body cannot move through the hole in the water created by your head and shoulders. This causes you to use more gas. Also the over inflated BC acts like a sail causing more resistance and causing more gas to be wasted.
Getting rid of the excess ballast will help considerably. The other thing which might help WOULD be steel tank. A steel tank moves ballast over your lungs which will further help you trim out. I still suspect your friends in the dive shop gave good advise.

Why should I care? In the video, your diving position is causing your fins to ravage the bottom. Corals are not like vegetation. They are fragile and very slow to grow. Just touching some corals will kill them.

 

[perdidochas]

I like it stirred up! LP has been on the scene almost 20 years. I wasn't diving before that so I don't know what the glory days were like. My point is that I've been hearing these scare tactic "where ya gonna get air fills" lines since 1994 when I got certified and I've yet to actually see it come to pass. Yes I'm sure there are remote areas where the only shop has closed and now it's hundreds of miles but one might question if such areas have the demand to support a shop in the first place.

I see both sides. Before the internet, there was mail order. And it did hurt local shops. Local shops barely break even with classes. Equipment sales and trip sales are what keep them in business. If you want a shop around that has good classes, you need to sometimes pay a little extra for equipment.