The Aqualung Discussion [ Moved ]

[scubaaaronh]

After reading all this really makes me glad that i decided to buy a bare suit instead of the aqualung product, and i will make sure that i naver purchase their or any sister companies products again.

 

[Codyjp]

if i hadn't bought my aqualung reg/octo at $300 below retail on closeout i would feel guilty. seems like they are headed down the road of demise...

 

[aquaoren]

After reading all this really makes me glad that i decided to buy a bare suit instead of the aqualung product, and i will make sure that i naver purchase their or any sister companies products again.

Bare belongs to Suunto. Didn't Suunto belong to AL?
I may be wrong, please correct me if so.

 

[scubaaaronh]

Bare belongs to Suunto. Didn't Suunto belong to AL?
I may be wrong, please correct me if so.

Not sure. I thought they were seperate from aqualung. I could be wrong and if so dammit to late. I will not buy any other products from them.

 

[hdtran]

Bare belongs to Suunto. Didn't Suunto belong to AL?
I may be wrong, please correct me if so.

Suunto does not belong to Aqualung; however, Aqualung is the authorized importer/distributor of Suunto diving products into the US.

 

[scubapro50]

I'll say one thing for Aqualung ... they still make parts and support most of their older products unlike some scuba manfuctures ....... been diving all over the world and I have always found service for U.S. Divers products (Aqualung).

 

[H20Bubbles]

I filed my complaint tonight. What I don't like about all of this is...

1) Aqualung has been paid its money up front when the LDS buys the inventory. So they are making their money.

2) In setting a minimum sales price for its authorized dealers, not only is it causing the consumer to pay higher prices - but it completely limits the LDS's ability to compete in a free market economy.

Aqualung is basically saying "We already have got our money - so who the hell cares what happens to you the LDS or the consumer. Your buy our product - LeisurePro sells our product. We are moving tons of product".

The greed of corporate America is truly disheartening.

 

[mike_s]

Suunto does not belong to Aqualung; however, Aqualung is the authorized importer/distributor of Suunto diving products into the US.

Well. Aqualung profits from being the US distributator of Sunnto. I'm not supporting Aqualung anymore, so that means no more Sunnto purchases either.

Sunnto, are you reading this also? Aqualung is costing you money also

 

[serambin]

I didn't read the thread that was eliminated and I haven't read all of this one. However as a former dive shop owner here's what I think.

Divers would be better off if the people who sold them their equipment were NOT the people they relyed on for training because the training sucks and is given away, along with it's integrity in order to sell equipment.

In the dive shop owner defence, the agencies and the manufacturers work to keep them in a place where the their labor in teaching is what sells the equipment. So...a dive shop owner, teaches, fills tanks, baby sits, wipes noses and lies to their customers (only sometimes they actually believe what they say) and after those hundreds of hours of work and risk, they sell a bc which so many accuse them of over pricing. I don't know who is taken advantage more. The consumer gets ripped off even if they buy on the net cheap because they still can't dive worth dog doodoo....they got an almost free class that was worth every cent they paid and the dive shop owner spent a thousand dollars in labor or sweat to make $100 on a bc while if he had just went to work he would have gotten the whole $1000 and the manufacturer don't even give him a kiss.

The whole thing is like amway or something.

Now. You all can do what you want and money certainly isn't what's most important to me or even very high on the list. If it was I'd have to work toward seeing an end to some of these schlock outfits. But...I know what's in the dealer agreements. I know what crap the manufacturers reps (what do they really do for a living anyway?) pull and I know what kind of garbage the agencies are peddling. I'd also carve a regulator out of wood before I'd purchased anything from aqualung or scubapro. Oh, and I know very well and first hand how they do business.

It's no accident that the co-founder of the largest recreational agency was also VP of one of the largest manufacturers for all those years and things turned out this way. Only the agencies, manufacturers and a few internet dealers win. The divers and most of the dive shops get bent over a table and not even offered a jar of vasaline and they certainly aren't given a kiss.

All I can add is WOW.

Stan

 

[nyprrthd]

I know that this thread is the result of how Aqualung has dealt with Phil Ellis (unfairly IMO, but you decide for yourself), but let's not forget that Aqualung is not the only culprit in the price fixing game. The entire industry needs to be put under a microscope to ferret out all of the price fixing and collusion. Price wars are unhealthy for any industry, but the market should be allowed to decide a "fair" price for equipment. The fact that LP can sell for so much less indicates that there is room between their price, and the minimum prices dictated by Aqualung and others. As it's been pointed out, Aqualung already has their money, so they should keep their noses out of the dealers' negotiations with their customers.