Groupons, the good, the bad and the ugly

[wedivebc]

I am curious to hear from SB members who have been involved in any way with Groupon diving packages.
My limited experience was diving with a shop that I was friends with the owner and they had recently offered Groupon packages. They were having nothing but headaches with them and I am sorry to say they seemed to be treating the Groupon customers with less care than their regular customers.
I have seen examples on SB of really bad customer service, training and below industry standard levels of service with Groupon patrons. I am wondering what people's experiences are, do they benefit the shop, are the customers happy with the deal they received?
Let's hear it.

 

[scubadiver888]

I work for a shop which uses Groupons for Discover Scuba Diving. They typically lose money on the DSD because Groupon requires you to have at least a 50% discount. After cost of pool, staff (me), gear (amortized over time), air, etc. they lose money. They would never do it for Open Water certification. The money they'd lose there would be very difficult to recover. Many students buy gear off eBay or from an online store. The most valuable thing the shop I work for has is its training. They have some incredibly good instructors and their students get what they pay for.

Bottom line, my shop would never treat any customer badly. They are business people who happen to scuba dive. They are not scuba divers who opened a business. They know that treating one customer badly (or differently) can result in multiple lost customers because they are going to talk to their friends and family. They recognize that profit margins on gear are too small to sustain the business and their training is the most valuable thing they have. So they aren't going to give it away for 50% off.

 

[Heatheroe]

wedivebc, I think you know my story already but I'll just re-iterate. We had a horrible experience. We paid $600 for my husband and I and when we finally started the class, we realized the whole class had purchased the groupon at half price. The instructor/shop owner was short-handed. We never missed any of the 3 classes he scheduled for us in the month leading up to our vacation. There was not enough time/ sessions available for us to get our pool and OW dives in so we didn't get to dive on vacation. I feel like we did not get what we paid for and I feel he was trying to cut costs in different areas because of the groupons he offered. And of course, he was really pushing merchandise. Thankfully all we bought from him was a stupid regulator necklace that he required and a dry bag!

 

[beaverdivers]

scubadiver888,

Question: How much was the discover SCUBA deal on Groupon?

 

[BrianUNC1]

I purchased my Open Water training through Groupon, and had a great experience (Gypsy Divers, Raleigh NC). In fact, I think the majority of their Open Water classes for about a 4 month period were filled with Groupon customers. I did purchase mask, fin, and snorkel from the shop, so I'm confident they made a little profit on the whole exchange, though I'm guessing the training portion didn't do better than break even. At no time did anyone in the class feel short-changed, I actually thought we got more class and pool time than I was expecting.

My neighbor also purchased a Groupon for his Open Water training (Carolina Dive Center, also in Raleigh) and had only good things to say.

 

[scubadiver888]

scubadiver888,

Question: How much was the discover SCUBA deal on Groupon?

They normally charge $60 for Discover Scuba Diving. With Groupon it is half price or $30.

 

[bigaboy]

Something to remember about Groupons. You buy it for 50% off and the Dive Shop gets half and Groupon gets half, effectively they are discounting 75% from their normal fee. That is a money losing business model for most shops for OW classes(as pointed out earlier in the thread...loaner equipment, pool rental etc.). That being said, my introduction to this wonderful activity was via Groupon -- a Discover Scuba class. I loved it and promptly signed up for OW. I am now taking Peak Performance, Nitrox and AOW later this summer. I also bought all my gear from the shop. I talked with the shop owner about the Groupon and he indicated he has done 4 DS classes through Groupon. For the most part he gets very few people that pursue scuba, but continues to offer the classes expecting that slowly he will gain a few customers and he genuinely wants the public to have an opportunity to experience it. If the dive shop treats you differently because you enrolled with a Groupon, I would look for another dive shop. If there is a double standard for Groupons, what else do they lower the bar for?

 

[scubadiver888]

Thanks bigaboy. It has been a while since the Course Director explained to me how Groupon worked. I forgot that Groupon keeps 50% of the fee. So if my shop charges $60 for DSD they have to advertise it for $30 through Groupon and they only get to keep $15. Wow! After they pay me and the pool fee they are really making pennies. That goes towards gear, air fills, servicing the regulators, etc. So it is definitely a money loser for them. Groupon just gives them advertising. They are reaching a market they might not through other channels. Plus the cost of advertising can be quite high.

 

[boulderjohn]

The dive shop with which I work only charges $25 for Discover Scuba classes. That's full price--no discount. I know several shops that do them for free. The thinking is that enough DSD students will go on to take OW and purchase equipment to make it all worth while.

 

[Scuba_Noob]

I paid $25 for a Discover Scuba Diving course off of Groupon. It was good, and the divemaster was adequate/safe. However, the instructors and DM did try to push further courses on us, emphasizing that it really wasn't that expensive (a huge, big lie)...and that led to my starting the Open Water course when I moved to Victoria. Overall, a good experience.