Zeagle help needed

[Wayward Son]

Scott, I'm curious as to the real desirablity of the long-standing "authorized dealer" model for sales, anyway?

Why not take the basic free market approach? Let anyone who wants to sell them do so? Require servicing at an authorized service center in order to keep the warranty in effect, don't restrict sales?

That way, any LDS that wanted to sell them could do so as aggressively as they felt like it. If one wanted to go for large profit margins per unit, he could try that, while the next guy could choose to compete by having a lower margin but trying for higher volume?

You have, I'm sure, read many of the negative comments of the current model in general & LDS's in particular.

Back in the dark ages when I started diving (early 1970's) I was a kid living on an Air Force base in Turkey. The notion of a "dive shop" was as ludicrous to us as getting ice cream that was not vanilla, chocolate or strawberry. There wasn't one, wasn't going to be one. We bought ALL of our gear mail order. New England Divers was my favorite, as they had many brands & great pricing. As I recall, Sear's had dive gear in the catalog, or maybe it was Penny's? We lived out of catalogs over there for everything, as the BX was small & limited.

We didn't even have service available for our gear. We did our own -untrained- VIP's, and tumbling was accomplished by getting a few cake pans of sand from the beach, baking it dry in the oven at the dive club, and rolling the tank on the floor.

We dove. We didn't die. With no BC's, with SPG's being a luxury item that some had, others didn't, no LDS, no authorized dealers, no annual service, and new or replacement gear a minimum of 6 weeks away by mail, we quite dove & lived to tell about it.

So, keeping in mind that I do like my LDS and do like to buy there, in the year 2005, with the internet, affordable global shipping, instant, cheap communications most everywhere, why in the 5 billion names of God whould we be stuck with this old model that clearly has problems and large numbers of people both do not like and are finding ways to get around anyway?

My LDS is run by a sharp lady who can wheel & deal with the best of them. Why not just dump this nonsense & let her have the freedom to do so?

 

[crpntr133]

Scott may not be in. He was flying someplace Monday.

I just wish this horse would die.

 

[jetfixer]

Can we please keep this discussion focused on what it started as? IMHO it is beneficial to us all to have the manufacturers on this board to answer our GEAR RELATED QUESTIONS. Not to beat to death economics or their business model. Go to some consumer advocate website for that. Thanks.

 

[Wayward Son]

jetfixer, based on earlier posts, the starting problem is already being handled. By Scott. And he DID jump in here and discuss the issue as well.

If he doesn't want to answer my question, he doesn't have to and no hard feelings. But the subject has come up, Scott did indicate that Zeagle was doing this mysterious something, which seems to indicate that they may be open to ideas. So I tossed mine out.

Sorry if you don't like the question, but ya know what? You really don't have to read it.

 

[ScottZeagle]

Sorry, I have been swamped at work. Being gone for 5 days is tough, as it seems like 10 days of work piles up...

Anyway...

Wayward, we have chosen to stick with the traditional dealer network. We feel that they are still the backbone of the industry, and their support is the sole reason that Zeagle has survived for 25+ years. There was no internet when the company started, and very few - if any - back inflation BCs - not to mention weight integrated! UNHEARD OF!!!!!!

Maybe it has to do with the fact that we are a family owned business, so we have a soft spot for the "mom and pop" dive shops, and are unwilling to help kill them off. One could argue that by allowing internet sales, we are already doing so, but we use the MAP (minimum advertised pricing) to try and help level the playing field a little.

I have covered all of this a few times on this board, and to be quite honest, I am tired of rehashing the issue...

Hopefully I will remember this thread the next time it comes up, so I can post a link. I am too tired to search for the other times...

Best regards,

Scott

 

[Wayward Son]

Thanks for the reply, Scott. Well, that's a reason, any way. I'll be interested to see what it is you guys are cooking up on this, bc clearly what's done now isn't really working that well.

 

[H2Andy]

well, Zeagle is a business. it's there to make a profit.

they seem to be doing quite well to me, but what do i know

 

[jetfixer]

I have covered all of this a few times on this board, and to be quite honest, I am tired of rehashing the issue...
Best regards,

Scott

Wayward,

Don't take offense. You have a good question and make a good point. All I'm sayin' is this is a gear forum. Let's not burn out our Manufacturing friends. And btw, great story about tumbling tanks with sand. Glad to hear you guys all survived the early days of diving!

 

[Wayward Son]

Gotcha. I'm really not trying to burn him out, I actually think highly of Scott. I give Zeagle credit for at least looking at doing something, whatever it is.

The sand deal is gonna stick with me a loooonnngg time. Too cold to dive there in winter, we spent those months hanging out at the dive club. This consisted of an old, beat-up single wide mobile home that had been scrounged up some years before I got there in 71 & placed down at the bad marina. I went down one saturday morning & there's SSgt Brown baking "sand cakes". After they were done, I got recruited to sit on one chair while he took another & we spent a while rolling that tank between us. I just figured that's how it was done, LOL. He always was a DIY kind of guy

Club policy was tanks could be filled there until the hydro expired. I guess we'd have to shipp them back to the states for hydro, dunno. Most people didn't stay there long enough, a normal tour was 18 months for a single person, 2 years for married. We ended up staying almost 5 years, but I didn't get my own tank until I was 12 , so it was only about 2.5 years old when we left.

 

[joeg]

Hey Mart,
What was the out come on your Regulator ?
I have an Envoy Deluxe with a ZX Octo. They have been great.