'K, I give up.

[MikeFerrara]

Genesis once bubbled...


... which is why I find it incomprehensible that DUI, or any other "serious" drysuit maker, does not INSIST that their dealers carry the darn things IN STOCK and have a rental program.

Yeah, yeah, that's extra cost. Ok, and? We're already paying a 100% markup, and the dealer gets to make rental fees off the suits!

Actually that's exactly what DUI demanded of us. The requirement for becomming a dealer was that we purchase six rental suits.

Of course they don't give you much of a deal on those suits so DUI and the rep do ok even if you never sell a single suit.


Keep in mind that the market for dry suit rentals is pretty limited in some places so this just represents a cost to get in the door and yields NO direct return. It's like being required to have a compressor when you're in a place where you won't sell any air. LOL

Oh, and by the way you're not supposed to sell the rental suits for like a year. That's just what a small inland shop need is a bunch of dry suits rotting on the wall.

Our dry suit market was limited to the very small percentage of divers who are active locally year round. As far as students that came to an average of about two per year.

It's another part of the business where the cost of entry can't be justified when limited to a local and very small market (at least with a company like DUI)

We don't sell suits for MSRP either though.

 

[Genesis]

then that's a separate problem.

Yet again we're back to the diver getting screwed. How can a diver reasonably determine if something like this will fit if they are ordering "blind"?

They can't.

So what is DUI really asking people to do here - buy TWO or THREE suits to get ONE that fits right?

They're kidding, right?

 

[Waterlover]

Go to Divers supply check them out and then tell us what you found out. Their suits are good quaility Typhoon suits.

 

[Genesis]

...I think.....

They're in Macon, which is somewhat of a PITA, but not TOO far.

Plus, their "list price" at the store is under $900. A hell of a lot cheaper than the DUIs, and if the material and construction is comparable, and most importantly, if it fits, then why not?

 

[scubasean]

Genesis once bubbled...


Setting price restraints but NOT requiring any kind of rental program or stocking leads to exactly what we have now.

I'm not sure whether you are broadening your drysuit argument here, or making a general statement about the dive industry and other goods that might be for sale...

For example, although I am aware that you didn't state that DUI had constraints, I would say that they must not...I found many variations in my search for the best price...Many shops seemed quite willing to negotiate(some only after a crowbar was applied).

And several dive shops in my area rent the darn things...but charged $60/day for them...I ended up buying a custom TLS350 without having previously dived a drysuit, and got a decent price to boot(at least, a price *I* am happy with...).

 

[Genesis]

as of a year or so ago (I happen to have a copy of their "policy" and "dealer agreement") but they may have dropped it. I know that Susan Long and I had a very long conversation on the topic back in the early part of the year.

Recently a couple of their dealers have started selling online, and they're obvious enough about it (and claiming authorized dealer status) that were they NOT doing so with DUI's blessing I suspect they wouldn't survive long as dealers. They are also discounting beyond the percentages claimed "allowed" in the documents I have.

Of course things change over time - perhaps DUI decided it was best for the market (and them!) to drop the restrictions. My copies of their stuff is a year or so old.

I don't mind paying for a rental, provided that it gives me real information. What I do object to is buying sight-unseen and fit-untested. This is not a "one size fits all" kind of product, and IMHO you simply can't possibly know if a particular suit and "size" will fit you properly without getting into it and, if its questionable, you're gonna have to get it wet to know for sure.

Its reasonable to make that a rental since getting a new suit wet makes it not "new" any more from a legal sales perspective - so that's cool by me.

What makes no sense is these dealers thinking that you'll spend this kind of money with no idea if the suit is going to actually fit properly. What do you do if it doesn? Put it on eBAY and eat half the cost? Its one thing to run that risk with an inexpensive suit where you're not likely to eat much - its another to have it happen with a $1500+ suit where you'er likely to end up eating half of the original purchase price when all is said and done, and not due to anything that is ultimately your fault - there is simply no way to know up front if it will fit right or not.

 

[timhernandez]

I know they are across the world from you but Huron Scuba in Ann Arbor Michigan rents the DUI suits. They have a bunch of them.

This is where I tried on every DUI suit made until I found the one (size and type) that I liked.

Here is their website. They are a good bunch of people and you may be able to work something out with them.


http://www.huronscuba.com/


Good Luck.

 

[trymixdiver]

Being that i wasnt a stock size, and frankly who is, i ended up getting the SS CLX450.

Why, I wanted a better fiiting suit than my old Viking, that was like swiming in a ziplock bag. I wasnt going to fit perfectly in a stock size according to DUI.

Also, Even with a custom i still wont know how it fits until i get and try it on, and by then its too late. I trusted the people i was dealing with to do me right.

So the bottom line is you need to find a Dealer you who sells DUI and you need to place some trust in them. They should measure you and send those #s to DUI, DUI then confirms your sizing and then reccomends a suit size. This is how my deal went and all turned out fine. Infact they told me the Large was going to fit good in the torso but was going to be a little baggy in the legs due to my height. I was informed by DUI and the shop about a stock suit and the way it would fit, they gave me all the options.

i never tried on a stock suit, my measurements where sent to DUI and they made the sizing desicion. If you have to dive one first then go to a demo days like mentioned earlier. If no Dealers stock rentable DUIs then demo days is your only option IMHO.

Andy

It will all work out!