Another Thing that bugs me about dive shops

[fairybasslet]

LOL. That's a great story. I did wind up buying a t-shirt from the guy. I didn't want to leave empty handed, especially after I got a little hot with him about the bp/w thing. LOL

 

[NudeDiver]

I wish I had a dive shop ):

As for the sales.... it sounds to me like the key to making money then is on training, service and "small items" rather than on major dive equipment (although I have bought my major equipment from the local shops). I know that everyone says that training is the loss leader - there to just sell equipment, but that doesn't sound viable based on what people say.

On the other hand - maybe shops could bundle training with low end stuff. Basically, mask, fins, snorkel, knife, BCD, regulator set, SPG - the lowest of the low end, plus the training class, all for one price. It would have to be marketed and positioned correctly though, esp. if there are competing shops in town that will offer just the training for a lower price.

As for the air fills - there is money to be made on air fills. The price may go up, but there if there demand, there will always be someone ready to "fill" that demand.

 

[Sas]

I agree with almity - I see LDS as places to pop in and have a coffee or beer, chat and arrange dives. They are the nerve centres of any local diving community. Complaining that they dared to make a profit on a sale is being unpatriotic to your local diving community. Rather than whining on the internet about how much you can save on the internet why not go out and dive with them and other dive shops and clubs in the region.

Tassie, I agree with you that [some] LDSs are great places to pop in and have a chat and arrange dives. I am prepared to pay a little bit more to support shops like this. The problem is though, that so many stores are so incredibly dishonest about price, appropriate gear, and so on. I am quite sick of the politics involved between many of the LDSs and am sick of hearing stores bag out other stores, stores bag out other customers for using other stores/the net, stores bagging out me for using others stores than them. It's petty and uncomfortable to be dragged into. I have gotten unsolicited emails from one store telling me another store has ripped me off when I *dared* to purchase gear elsewhere. Funnily enough he'd heard the wrong price for what I purchased the gear for, told me he could do it a few hundred dollars cheaper, which was still more expensive than what I paid for at the other store. Same thing happened when I decided to get my gear serviced at another place, I got emails saying the other store wasn't qualified to service regs, blah blah blah. I have also been given completely incorrect advice from a few stores, and the only motive I can attribute this to is profit seeking. I have no issue with people doing whatever they want (within the law) to make a profit but I personally won't shop at a store again that has given me stupid advice. It's their loss.

I have bought stuff online once (a weight pocket) only so am very supportive of the local diving industry but ONLY stores that are competitive and who are honest with me. My favourite store will tell me if other places are more appropriate to buy gear from, for example, and as a result I will spend a hell of a lot more money there than I will at a few other stores that have been completely dishonest with me. There are *awesome* LDSs around but it certainly took me a while to find a few.

I can certainly see why people get fed up with their LDSs and go online. The politics are crap and the used-caresalesman attitude of staff is very off-putting in many places. I have never found such attitudes as common in other industries as I have in the dive industry!

 

[Sas]

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[NudeDiver]

I have gotten unsolicited emails from one store telling me another store has ripped me off when I *dared* to purchase gear elsewhere. Funnily enough he'd heard the wrong price for what I purchased the gear for...Same thing happened when I decided to get my gear serviced at another place, I got emails saying the other store wasn't qualified to service regs, blah blah blah.

Sounds like your shops have quite the spy network going on

 

[Wayward Son]

the more I read, the more I appreciate my LDS.

 

[Dockmaster]

The once was a LDS owner who would mail out a regular newsletter. This "newsletter" was typed up on a typewriter and had hand drawn pictures, as well as those he had cut out and pasted to the pages. He would openly bash other dive shops, instructors, the State of Maine, as well as the manufacturers of the products he sold in his own shop! He had done it all, seen it all, and as far as I could tell, was the only person who knew anything about scuba in the whole world. It would be a safe bet that he turned more people off to scuba in one year than he had taught in his entire lifetime. I only went in to get air fills. I met one of the sales reps from his major gear supplier at a show and we started talking about the shop. When I asked if he had ever seen a copy of the newsletter, he said he hadn't, so I faxed one to him; the next newsletter was much thinner.

A few years back, he sold the shop which has done well under the new ownership.

 

[NudeDiver]

He would openly bash...the State of Maine...

Well gezz - if you can't bash government, what's left???