Info Aqualung Financial Troubles

[Sevenrider860]

This past April, I wanted to get back into diving after a 7 year hiatus. I took my Aqualung Balance BCD and Titan LX regulators to the local shop where I originally purchased them. I was told they would be ready in a month. This seemed like a long period of time, but I was still okay with it. Post-COVID, I know a lot of people are itching to get out on the water again. I figured it was reasonable to assume that my LDS had a backlog of service work.

A month later, I never heard anything from the LDS so I called to follow up. I was told they haven't started work on my gear since they were waiting for parts. Parts shortages aren't unheard of, so I let it go and let them hold onto my gear. But the warning bells were going off in my head.

Fast forward 2.5 months later, I haven't heard a word from the shop about my gear. I followed up with the shop again this morning. They still haven't started work on my gear. I asked some pointed questions about what the problem was. The guy I spoke to told me that there were supply chain issues with Aqualung because of COVID and they have been waiting upwards of a year for parts. Blaming COVID for supply chain issues seemed like a flimsy excuse to me. So I decided to do a deep dive (pun intended) to find out the root of the issue. It didn't take long for me to find this thread

I'm not sure what I'm more pissed about...the prospect of my practically new $3000 set of scuba gear (with only 30 or so dives on it) becoming paper weights...or the LDS feeding me BS this whole time, knowing full well that they can't service my gear.

I would give the LDS the benefit of the doubt. Parts have been completely hit or miss for over a year. We are told they will be shipped and the parts needed are not in the shipment. AL has been an utter disaster on parts availability and they continue to claim a COVID impact on their supply chain. I think that it was likely lack of capital...the supply chain likes to be paid.

 

[lexvil]

No, my real name

AND, please don't try to pronounce it, you are going to ruin it for me. I want to go to bed remembering HER way of saying it not yours

Booorrrrrun

 

[BoltSnap]

Booorrrrrun

I didn't see that, I am going to bed now.

 

[Sevenrider860]

Not a fan of SP, just the things I've seen about how they treat their dealers.

Interesting. SP treats our dive center very well and stands by the products if ever there is an issue. Our rep is exceptionally responsive to texts, emails or phone calls. There is likely more to the story.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Booorrrrrun

Now for some reason I keep hearing Natasha say to Boris "Moose and squirrel!"

It's on a loop and I can't get it out of my noggin.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Not a fan of SP, just the things I've seen about how they treat their dealers.

There's a local dive shop chain who have a massive competitive advantage due to the discounts they can negotiate due to their volume. They had at their peak 8 shops. Due to the crash of 2008 and Covid, they are now at 5. It is amusing to see equipment manufacturers follow the owner around at DEMA.

Anywho, there was some sort of disagreement between the owner of that chain and ScubaPro (I honestly don't know the details). Anywho, SP made some demands and threatened to cut off the owner. You don't threaten this guy. Period. So he told SP to pound sand. As a result, SP sales in the Seattle area dropped dramatically, so SP came back to make up with their tail between their legs. It was actually pretty funny as SP does set rather strict terms of minimum sales. For new shops that can be hard, and often in one example, they will push the inferior products in the SP product line: dry suits, as that is such a big ticket item. That SP dry suit (Evertec) is hands down the worst scuba product I've owned. Scratch that. Second worse. Worst was a leaking SiTech p-valve. I think it says a lot when the only way a product is worse is that it leaks urine.

 

[scubadada]

Aqualung financial troubles have not kept scuba.com from having a big Aqualung sale, maybe it's clearance

 

[GearheadExplorer85]

Do you know what parts they are waiting on? If it's standard service kits, that shouldn't be an issue. AL still has stock on those, especially a common model like the Titan. A decent shop should have plenty on hand too.

If it's something else that needs replacing -- say one of those purge covers that tended to deteriorate from UV -- that might be another matter. Some odd parts were hard to come by even before the pandemic.

I would find out from the shop what parts they need -- get the part numbers -- and then call another AL dealer and see what they say. Perhaps you'll get lucky and find a dealer with stock on hand. Your reg isn't obselete and I think you have waited long enough.

I took your advice and called the LDS back to find out what parts were needed. They changed their story and said that my computer and BCD were done. They didn't do any work to the regs. Not sure how they miraculously found parts in a few hours. Anyways, I went to the shop and got everything back. They gave me a list of parts #s for the regs and only billed me for servicing the computer and BCD. They also gave me the old parts.

Everyone has their opinions and that’s mine.
I like the old stuff but am not fond of the new stuff. It’s not a brand I would pick if I was buying all new gear, even if the business was healthy.
I’m sorry you can’t get your Aqualung gear serviced. It’s horrible to be in that position and I don’t wish it on anybody. Especially since you thought you were doing the right thing buying a big name brand only to have it collapse out from under you.
Does it need to be serviced or are you just going by the shops standard recommendations? I have some Aqualung regs myself and run those things sometines for 10 years before I begin to worry about them. I just check the IP and if they work they work.

That's fair, and thanks for elaborating. You hit the nail on the head about trusting a bigger brand name. Knowing what I know now, I wish I didn't buy AL either. To answer your question, yes my gear did need service. Life got in the way and it's been sitting for 7 years. If I was using them all the time, I wouldn't be so worried about it.

I would give the LDS the benefit of the doubt. Parts have been completely hit or miss for over a year. We are told they will be shipped and the parts needed are not in the shipment. AL has been an utter disaster on parts availability and they continue to claim a COVID impact on their supply chain. I think that it was likely lack of capital...the supply chain likes to be paid.

I'm on the fence about it.

Going back to the shop where I purchased my gear was a good experience initially. Even though they moved the shop to a new location, the technician remembered me after all those years of being inactive. That was an unexpected but pleasant surprise. He also informed me that the shop changed ownership since I was there last.

I understand what you're saying about giving them the benefit of the doubt. In a way, I feel that I've been giving them that for the last 3 months. When the shop was running smoothly, a complete overhaul was a 2 week job max, not 3 months plus. I believe what you are saying about AL dropping the ball on shipments. I'm going to continue monitoring the situation with AL for the next little while.

 

[OTF]

Aqualung financial troubles have not kept scuba.com from having a big Aqualung sale, maybe it's clearance
View attachment 792755

"if we put the word technical in our ad it sounds like tech divers love our stuff"

(Though to be fair they did make great products for most of that 80 year run)

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I took your advice and called the LDS back to find out what parts were needed. They changed their story and said that my computer and BCD were done.

What exactly did they do to your BCD and dive computer? I didn't catch what BCD and DC you have.