Being Forced to Buy Equipment AT LDS for Class
- Thread starter Northwoodfrisbee
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" thread was a waste of time too.
Who cares how much profit the LDS gets? It's not the customer's responsibility to worry about a business' profit margin.
If the shop wants to make more on classes, they can charge more. If they want to actually get customers in the door and treat them like indentured servants then the shop deserves to fail. Good customer service isn't hard. Most shops accomplish the same thing by giving a "discount" of 10 or 15 percent to active students on any gear they purchase.
The suggestion of buying other gear at the shop is good but it won't solve the initial problem of bad customer service that will be a trend in the future as well.
That's an interesting perspective, since 3 of 3 dive shops I spoke to about getting my gear serviced (scubapro) all have to send it out anyway. It took me almost a month to get my rig back from servicing. I didn't get to use it on my OW dives as a result. Add to that the fact that it was almost double the price I was quoted and I see no real reason to support that particular shop any more. I've tried to support them. They don't carry a good selection of accessory gear but a have a huge selection of wetsuits. I already own 7 wetsuits, but I don't have a safety sausage. I did buy a z-knife from them, but they didn't have shears big enough for me to use while wearing gloves so I ended up buying shears from another shop.
There's also a difference in requiring "personal gear" for an OW class and requiring the students get that gear from your shop to take a class with you. Almost all shops require students to provide their own fins, mask, snorkel for an OW class. Some also require a reg mouthpiece, booties, and a whistle. None of the 8 shops I checked with for my OW required that I buy that gear from them, though. They did all offer discounts on the gear price if I took classes with them. It's not a big difference on paper, but it makes a big difference in how much business the shop ultimately gets.
Herk_Man
Contributor
ScubaSteve
Wow.....what a DB
very rarely (I've never seen it) do shops outright refuse to teach a student who has bought gear elsewhere, what they will do is say that the class is $500 instead of $99. "if you buy your snorkeling gear here, your class will cost X, if not, it costs Y" If you are a super pain in the ass about it, they may look in the book and find that the current class is full, but that's not a "where you bought your gear" issue...
Does anybody know what became of Northwoodfrisbee? Did he follow through with diving? His profile states "twins on the way", and that's not diving cylinders.
Hopefully this guy is diving, or has the ability to get diving sometime soon.
Hopefully this guy is diving, or has the ability to get diving sometime soon.
Herk_Man
Contributor
It makes me want to open a dive shop nearby them......blind ignorance like this makes for a lot of money in the LDS' pocket
Amen brother, except I know how hard it is to turn a profit in this biz. You really need to have a business model nailed down that limits overhead and maximizes volume in everything you do. Or you're going to be eating a lot of beans. (but you will be diving so it's all good!)
Okay, here's my prices in US dollars.
OW course =$540
This includes:
all learning materials,
classroom instruction,
pool instruction(not limited),
use of bc, regs, weights, tanks, and air,
4 OW dives over two days (boat dives), on boat soft drinks, water, and snacks
I do make them have their own mask, fins, and snorkel(I show them how to fit them and explain fins, then tell them not to break the bank because they don' know what they really want yet.)
What do you all think?
OW course =$540
This includes:
all learning materials,
classroom instruction,
pool instruction(not limited),
use of bc, regs, weights, tanks, and air,
4 OW dives over two days (boat dives), on boat soft drinks, water, and snacks
I do make them have their own mask, fins, and snorkel(I show them how to fit them and explain fins, then tell them not to break the bank because they don' know what they really want yet.)
What do you all think?
Including the boat dives that is one sweet deal. No limits on pool and you feed em on the boat? I shoulda gone to Kuwait for my cert!
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