Aqualung's war with Online Consumers

[Gen San Chris]

I am not a fan of Al as I have been asking for an answer to a problem on Sea Quest BCD's for years now! I have now repaired over 50 BCD's when the threded bits that hold the inflator and dump valves have simply broken up! I contacted AL several times and they said that they did not understand what I was talking about even after I sent pictures of the problem to them! My shop, in General Santos City is very small but I have had to repair so many AL BCD's seems wierd to me especially as they refuse to accept responsibility for the problem! Other companies, Aquatech and IST had a similar problem but they exchanged the damaged BCD's with no questions asked! Why cannot a big company get some balls and own up to bad manufacturing of parts like the smaller companies!
How many of you out there had their BCD's break on them!
I did not want any compensation from AQ, just repair kits so I could fix the problem but they would not even supply them!
Will I buy AL products again, not likeley!

 

[oly5050user]

I am not a fan of Al as I have been asking for an answer to a problem on Sea Quest BCD's for years now! I have now repaired over 50 BCD's when the threded bits that hold the inflator and dump valves have simply broken up! I contacted AL several times and they said that they did not understand what I was talking about even after I sent pictures of the problem to them! My shop, in General Santos City is very small but I have had to repair so many AL BCD's seems wierd to me especially as they refuse to accept responsibility for the problem! Other companies, Aquatech and IST had a similar problem but they exchanged the damaged BCD's with no questions asked! Why cannot a big company get some balls and own up to bad manufacturing of parts like the smaller companies!
How many of you out there had their BCD's break on them!
I did not want any compensation from AQ, just repair kits so I could fix the problem but they would not even supply them!
Will I buy AL products again, not likeley!

All these bcd's that you repaired,they had all been purchased from an authorized source,correct?? If purchased via unauthorized means then how is the manufacturer responsible for this? Your problem sounds exactly like an issue I had with a customer who purchased a sherwood bcd from online source.Same part broke off.Brand new,had not even been wet yet. I took the same exact model off the wall at the lds and parts from the one in the store and the one from online store were different.The one from online had thinner plastic and a different inflator on it.I replaced entire inflator assembly and charged appropriately for it..If it had been from an local authorized dealer it would have been a no charge item.

 

[Nemrod]

I don't believe the "online" products are any different than the "brick store products, that is just not the case. Products change, parts change, possibly product from different markets meets different specifications. Nothing I have bought on line has been any different from what is on the store racks except the price.

Companies do not have two manufacturing lines where they put trick defective parts on one and the "good" parts on another and sell the good ones to brick and mortar stores and then sell trick exploding product out the back door and in lunch boxes and secret tunnels to online retailers.

N

 

[mike_s]

For those of you wondering, Aqualung does have someone from their company reading threads on Scubaboard. (There has been proof of that in the past).

For what it's worth, nothing we have said in the past has changed their narrow-minded stance..... I doubt it will now.

so, don't buy their product. Let them whither away.


I used to be an Aqualung customer. But I quit buying Aqualung several years ago when they pulled some crap on a dealer... Besides maybe a maintenace item, they haven't gotten a dollar from me, or a lot of other people since. Read that Aqualung....

 

[Couv]

Well, you know, if we don't buy from an authorized dealer we could be taking our lives in our hands. Isn't your life worth paying $800 for a regulator and $100/year to have a shop rat, oops I mean highly trained technician, service your reg?

Hey Matt, I just learned this from another post. I thought you might find it helpful.

LP gets their regs from the same place that all the other dealers do... it's not rocket science here...

folks aren't going to buy that "It's Life Support" and "You'll Die" line for ever... smell the coffee

 

[diver 85]

I visited a local AL dealer yesterday and he was telling me that AL is encouraging dealers to deny any service to customers whose gear comes up in the Aqualung database as not purchased from an authorized dealer. That struck me as quite extreme. The kind of anti-consumer tactic used by a few bad shops looks like it is being endorsed and adopted by the USA distributor. I guess they have decided they can't control the AL distribution network and gray market retailers so they are going to take their fight to the consumer.

This may have an interesting impact on the value of used AL gear. I just don't see this working out to AL's advantage in the long run.

If this is truely the case, AL may become a 'something of the past'....like the Edsel or the Olds'.......

 

[drdaddy]

DA - while the 21st century argument is old (agreed), it is a sign of the times.

Everything that was once a form of expression or a pastime or fun has been commoditised thus de-valued. It doesn't matter if it is a regulator, dvd or pair of shoes. While it is unfortunate, it is the way things are. This is the end result of a disposable society. It was only a matter of time before it affected the dive industry.

SP, AL are trying to hold out and maintain their victorian era business methodology so I say let em fail, just like the banks and auto dealers. When they do the companies/businesses that rise in their places will be stronger and more open to customer needs not customer bleeds.

Besides, their gear is no better than any other, I'll put my Sherwoods up against any offering from those 2. But like all things scuba, it is a personal choice. (chevy - ford = no difference.)

Except Chevy (GMC) is about ready to go bankrupt and Ford is not.

Oh, by the way, I love my older Sherwood Oasis and my son loves his older AquaLung Conshelf - both can be serviced anywhere in the world, unlike many other brands.

drdaddy

 

[drdaddy]

All these bcd's that you repaired,they had all been purchased from an authorized source,correct?? If purchased via unauthorized means then how is the manufacturer responsible for this? Your problem sounds exactly like an issue I had with a customer who purchased a sherwood bcd from online source.Same part broke off.Brand new,had not even been wet yet. I took the same exact model off the wall at the lds and parts from the one in the store and the one from online store were different.The one from online had thinner plastic and a different inflator on it.I replaced entire inflator assembly and charged appropriately for it..If it had been from an local authorized dealer it would have been a no charge item.

Wow, how do you explain this? Maybe some defective BCDs went out the door, but were found to be defective, and Sherwood lost track of them and could not recall them. I guess that would be one justification for only authorized dealers. I don't know this. I'm just wondering how this could happen?

drdaddy

 

[redacted]

Wow, how do you explain this? Maybe some defective BCDs went out the door, but were found to be defective, and Sherwood lost track of them and could not recall them. I guess that would be one justification for only authorized dealers. I don't know this. I'm just wondering how this could happen?

drdaddy

Years ago, there was an incident with Scubapro BCDs where their manufacturing sub continued to run the SP production line (with some changes but not the name/label) and apparently sold them directly. I believe some made it through the Leisurepro network. I was one on ebay (a Ladyhawk I believe) and it got pulled when I asked the seller where the right shoulder dump valve was (it was missing).

I believe this one went through our courts system for resolution. But this seems to be a very rare occurrence of actual counterfeit good. I suspect faulty batches of parts on authentic products is much more common.

Unless faults are life threatening, corrections of many such problems are usually done during periodic service through authorized dealers rather than through recall. And, if there is a CPSC recall, the correction will be made regardless of age, warranty status, or source of the product.

 

[beanojones]

Does AL and SP really cost less over seas? Just wondering. In my limited travels I have never set foot in a shop outside the US.

Here's the situation I know about. Japanese dive shops in the US buy a ton of gear and ship it to Japan, where it is truly astronomically priced.

They get the huge volume discount here, and then sell it for the Japanese retail price there. It also helps them because then they do not have to pay tax on most sales, because most sales in Japan are cash.

I am sure the same sort of situation goes for American companies buying in other countries and bringing it here.

(So why do the Japanese buy it in America and not in the cheaper places? Because they want to live in Hawaii, of course. It's born into Japanese folks, the desire to live in Hawaii is.)