Aqualung's war with Online Consumers

[mike_s]

LeisurePro can do better than that! Try $399.95 with a 'Limited Lifetime Warranty'
AquaLung Legend LX ACD Regulator

Sure, the lifetime warranty probably only applies if you send the reg to LeisurePro for service or maybe it doesn't include free parts. But the overseas version only comes with a CE warranty if you ask for it. There is no mention of a US warranty.

Richard

True... LP has it cheaper, but I was just showing the overseas "authorized" dealers were selling it cheaper than "US Authorized Dealers".


The only thing I have against the way LP sells AL products is that you can't buy an AL reg from them in DIN. They sell it in yoke only. to goto DIN you have to purchase and additional DIN conversion kit.

where in a regular full stocking shop, the DIN and Yoke are the same price.
But if I Buy a Legend LX from LP, I have to pay an extra $99 to go DIN wih the conversion kit

so my base price with LP for the Legend LX w/ DIN goes up to $500 bucks.

still cheaper than LDS MSRP, but if I can get a LDS to come down in price and give it to me with warranty for about the same price, then that would be prefered.

But if you use that grey market Life Support equipment with the inferior parts you will die, thus getting a "Lifetime Warranty."

LP gets their regs from the same place that all the other dealers do... it's not rocket science here...

folks aren't going to buy that "It's Life Support" and "You'll Die" line for ever... smell the coffee

 

[Wayward Son]

in the early 1970's, pretty much every major brand that I was aware of except scubapro was readily available via mail order. damn good thing, too, or I would not have been able to learn to dive. I was living on a USAF base in Turkey, the nearest dive shop was somewhere in europe. Greece, maybe, couldn't say for sure. That was nearest recompression chamber.

Most of my gear at the time was US Divers (Aqualung) & mostly, it came from New England Divers.

The only scubapro gear I saw during those years was what ever someone had bought before being stationed there & brought with them.

It is a different world now, but the more it changes the more it remains the same.

 

[scubafritz]

I used to own a bicycle shop. Warranty labor was lost but the parts were replaced by the manufacturer.
If AL doesn't want to give free parts to those who purchased online or from a "gray market source",
that's up to them. They should also not sell their products to distributors who will sell to online sources.
Many manufacturers try convince their outlets that they (the manufacturer) are trying to protect the dealer and then turn around and sell to whoever will pay for the product.
If I get the understanding that someone doesn't want to service my equipment, I let them know that I will go elsewhere in the future. Then I will price shop them and let them know what I am looking for, then buy it elsewhere.
In retail, service is everything, people will pay more for products if it comes with great service.

 

[motohooligan]

I still don't understand why it's only the USA where internet sales aren't allowed for AL and SP. Over here in Japan I can order them online. Same in the EU. Are US regultaions the only one that allow the no online sales loop hole? In Japan the AL legend MSRP is over $1300US:w-t-f:, but can be had online for about $800.

 

[halocline]

Well, you know, if we don't buy from an authorized dealer we could be taking our lives in our hands. Isn't your life worth paying $800 for a regulator and $100/year to have a shop rat, oops I mean highly trained technician, service your reg?

 

[Nemrod]

Well, you know, if we don't buy from an authorized dealer we could be taking our lives in our hands. Isn't your life worth paying $800 for a regulator and $100/year to have a shop rat, oops I mean highly trained technician, service your reg?

No and I am fatigued at being taken advantage of because I live in the US and am perceived to be wealthy. If this really were a free country, which it most certainly is not, we would not have this different price scheme and anti-internet scheme in the USA. Some of it probably traces back to the need to free ourselves from the lieyers and insist upon tort reform.

N

 

[NudeDiver]

No and I am fatigued at being taken advantage of because I live in the US and am perceived to be wealthy. If this really were a free country, which it most certainly is not, we would not have this different price scheme and anti-internet scheme in the USA. Some of it probably traces back to the need to free ourselves from the lieyers and insist upon tort reform.

Well, hey, if we dissolved all national borders and had a single world-wide currency, and all the wealth were uniformly distributed, that would solve this problem for sure.

 

[jswantek]

Well, hey, if we dissolved all national borders and had a single world-wide currency, and all the wealth were uniformly distributed, that would solve this problem for sure.

Would that mean that I'd be able to get a job, get off unemployment and make enough money to go diving this season? Hmm, I'll have to weigh the pros and cons of that...

To stay on-topic, it really doesn't make much sense to me to NOT want someone to sell a product online for me. Regardless of who's selling it, as long as they're paying the wholesale price for it, the OEM is making money on it. I guess it's just a question of how much money.

Something else I would like to know is that if AL is so adamant on controlling the prices of their equipment sold in America, how much of it is MADE in America? Maybe somebody should put a little bit of thought into that...

 

[Diveralan]

No and I am fatigued at being taken advantage of because I live in the US and am perceived to be wealthy. If this really were a free country, which it most certainly is not, we would not have this different price scheme and anti-internet scheme in the USA. Some of it probably traces back to the need to free ourselves from the lieyers and insist upon tort reform.

N

Unfortunately every time we purchase a product in this country a portion of the price we pay is to pay for of all the lawsuits filed by idiots. Any time a diver dies while diving you can bet a lawsuit will be files naming the manufacture of every product they are wearing. Like it or not the company's don't pay to defend themselves against these lawsuits, we do. AL or any other manufacturer tries to maximize profits by selling as many units as possible. The cost of selling a product is not the same in every country.

Can you blame companies for charging more for items sold in the US. A company has to sell a lot of regulators to recover the cost of defending it's self against one lawsuit, even it they win. As much as I think it sucks I understand why manufacturers have to do this, and I understand why they don't want items imported through improper channels when the grey market products don't have that charge built into the price.

 

[jswantek]

Unfortunately every time we purchase a product in this country a portion of the price we pay is to pay for of all the lawsuits filed by idiots. Any time a diver dies while diving you can bet a lawsuit will be files naming the manufacture of every product they are wearing.

Perhaps it's time to 'teach' the lawyers how to *um* 'dive'...?