Must gear be purchased from the LDS you are getting Open Water certified at?

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Diver's Direct offers classes, but based on your location and their locations, I'm not sure how close "the other side of town" is for you. To me, it looks like you either went to West Palm Beach or Orlando.
 
Something certainly sounds wrong in the excuse for purchasing from the store. Did you try any of the other stores in the area when shopping for the class? I know with the store I dive through they go over the course and equipment needs before accepting payment for the course, at the same time the cheat sheet they use to ensure everything is covered is given to the student when they sign up with any notes, ie weight requirements, dates etc. Then in the first class they review the sheet again to make sure the store, instructor, and student are all on the same page.

The policy they have for equipment purchases is simple, they dont require you purchase it from them however are appreciative if you do, however if you do not purchase it from them you must bring it into the store prior to any inwater training for inspection. All surface related gear must be of scuba quality and fit, all BCD's and regulators must have been purchased from an authorised dealer within the first maintenence cycle or have been serviced within the maintence cycle to ensure its workability. The reason for the inspections of equipment not purchased from them is simple, many times students show up with equipment that doesnt fit them or is just broken and if an accident were to occur where the student was trained in ill-fittting equipment or broken equipment then there is substantal increase of liability, and alot of wasting of other students time in the class sorting out equipment details that should be sorted out prior to the confined / open water training.

As for the wording in the insurance requiring of the equipment being purchased there, well thats been beat to death already, but insurance is about not paying claims, they increase the odds of paying claims if they direct the consumer to a specific source (specific LDS) for anything.

Next time shop around and consider the merits each shop presents themselves, not just the shop your familiar and comfortable with and assuming they will treat you fair.
 
Personally though I think BCDs are one of the last items to buy. Quality mask, fins, wetsuit/vest (to use under rented wetsuit), reg, computer, and BCD last. They're pigs to travel with.

Like the OPs wife I bought the BCD first. The only reason I did this was simple - none of rentals at all fit me well. I'm rather tall and I can tell you that in general the sizing charts used in clothing has not really been updated. She is rather small and as such needs a specialty BCD to fit comfortably. I see the issue with people buying BCD's more and more as the population continues to get taller and the size charts not changing to reflect this. I am not just talking about 'fat' people needing special clothing, I'm talking about normal people where the 'traditional' XL is just to small.
 
Bec ause shops lose so much money to the internet, you should buy where you shop. To many people look at gear in shops and then purchase on line. But LDS loyalty needs to be earned, lying to make a sale is wrong.
 
Has anyone called the shop to verify this story? I find it hard to believe. My wife got certified there, maybe 30 yrs ago.


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Bec ause shops lose so much money to the internet, you should buy where you shop. To many people look at gear in shops and then purchase on line. But LDS loyalty needs to be earned, lying to make a sale is wrong.

The reason shops lose so much money to the internet is because they are not competitive. An LDS should have a general idea of what items are going for. What is an online shop anyway? Most are real dive shops.
 
I can believe some LDS owners think they can get away with a scam of "buy my gear or there is no way I can get insurance" however in the longer term with the internet, forums and the speed of good news travelling fast but bad news travelling faster (due to internet), they are dooming themselves to failure. If you haven't already, go to someone else who is honest, fair and caring even if it is a bit of a pain. In the long term you will be much happier and it will be a more enjoyable experience. I was conned once when I trusted a dive shop and failed to ask a price, and they charged me $300 for the hire of a wing for 6 dives to do a tech course, could have bought one for that price. I now refuse to buy anything from them.

My not so local tech dive shop is smart enough to recognise that the internet is here to stay regardless of his shop and cash flow needs. His comment to me and all his students is, we are competitive and all we ask is you allow us to quote before you buy. We have spent in the order of $3000 in tech gear there due to this attitude and his willingness to understand and be reasonable. He may not always be the cheapest, but he is fair and tries to be competitive and gives good service and advice. On that basis we usually buy from him even if he is a little dearer. He is IDC in Portsea Victoria Australia, my tech dive shop of choice. I believe in mentioning shops who give good service and not just those who suck.
 
Where do I get these buttons? Do I have to buy them my LDS?

No, you have to buy them from me.

The buttons on the internet and at all the other dive shops are dangerous and will kill you.

---------- Post added June 29th, 2013 at 12:03 PM ----------

The reason shops lose so much money to the internet is because they are not competitive. An LDS should have a general idea of what items are going for. What is an online shop anyway? Most are real dive shops.

It's really pretty stupid to try to compete on price on internet, since you're literally competing with every shop in the world that has any interest in selling online.

If shop owners were smart, they would stop for a moment and take this in, and reprice everything so that they make money on things that can't be sold over the internet

If they were really smart, they would make the equipment the loss leader, make the training, service and air fills the profit center and run the internet dealers out of business.

The last time I looked, scuba.com didn't have any way to send a pool and an instructor via UPS and SCUBAToy's internet air fill adapter is still not working right and even with Fedex, shipping out a reg for service is still nowhere near as fast as walking into a good service facility.

flots.
 
I do think more and more LDS's are realizing that they don't have to beat an online price but get in the general ballpark and they got a good chance of bringing home the deal. They can add value to the deal such as Tanks (some free air fills or if its a tank for nitrox a discount on some nitrox fills). Regs maybe for the 1st servicing either free or 1/2 off labor + parts. Wetsuits could have a small discount on a lycra (and at the time show why something like a lycra suit is helpful on putting on the wetsuit. Go the extra mile, my local Diver's Supply has a pool at its new location and allows you to try before you buy in the pool to make sure the new gear works for you (know its for some BCDs but not sure what else).
 

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