Are the majority of dive shops bad?
- Thread starter PalmettoDiver0215
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CAPTAIN SINBAD
Contributor
This is very typical in dive business. I have been subjected to worse customer service. I tend to agree with the perspective that we can not expect the same customer service from a dive shop that have gotten used to over the years. Anyone harboring that expectation will be tragically disappointed. It is normally the best of the worst that gets the business in diving industry. I have learnt that best of the worst will vary in terms of the service that is being offered. In my case, one shop that exceeds everyone else in training may not be the best place to purchase gear from. They carry limited inventory. For gas fills, I go to a shop from where I may never train with. My regulators are serviced by a totally different shop that I neither buy anything from not use them for gas fills.
GrafCanuck
Contributor
Have been diving for 4 years and even worked part time at an LDS. I agree that LDSs is a retail business. Plain and simple. By contract with the manufacturers they are not able to advertise lower prices. Not certain how the online retailers get a way with it. If you find a real good LDS or several within a reasonable drive think of them as priceless. I would prefer to buy from my local LDSs (there are 2 within a 15 minute drive and 10 within a 30 minute drive) but I know that I would be paying retail - 100% markup. There is really no online dive retailer in Canada. The US retailers when you add in customs and shipping are more expensive than from the Canadian LDSs. So much for free trade between the 2 countries. It is all rigged and not in the consumers favour. In fact companies like ScubaPro won't even allow LeisurePro for instance to ship to Canada.
The moral of this long and winded story is to search for that diamond in the rough LDS and consider yourself fortunate. PS - the dive shops in the Caribbean are even worst. At least this has been my experience over the past 4 years.
The moral of this long and winded story is to search for that diamond in the rough LDS and consider yourself fortunate. PS - the dive shops in the Caribbean are even worst. At least this has been my experience over the past 4 years.
OP
PalmettoDiver0215
Registered
Trust me, ripping them a new one has come to mind for sure. My only hesitation is that knowing that divers are a tight knit community, they’d believe the shop’s word over mine and I’d possibly get a reputation of being a jerk...not that it’s a fair reputation, but nonetheless. I just don’t want to do that.
MrBigfins
Contributor
I have been lucky with Scotts Scuba as my LDS. Great training, great communication, willing to help with advice and information, really reasonable on price to the point that it rivals online pricing, and great reasonable trips. A younger couple that are very passionate about diving ran the shop for a few years and then bought it. They have pushed more online to continually engage customers, foster the growth of a great divers community, expanded stock to include tech gear, order pretty much anything. So I guess I'm lucky
CT-Rich
Contributor
No one goes into owning a brick and mortar store with the intention of being a d*ck. They are in a landscape where virtually everything they sell with the exception of air and classes can be purchased online for less. They need insurance, rent, payroll and inventory. And a fair number of people will go in ask advice, shop, leave and purchase online (kind of a dick move in my mind). I don't buy everything at my LDS, most of my video gear is bought as cheap ass Asian knock-offs. A lot of my other purchases are within a couple of bucks of online. If it is a big ticket item, like a drysuit or PLB, I usually find they are competitive. I built a relationship with them over the years and I try to steer my business their way. They are a little pricey on the lessons side, and that has kept my advanced certifications in the one of these days column.
They don't want to lose their business to a mail order company two states away, and selling nothing but air is not a great business model.
Who should you give your business to? Try this, go into a store to window shop, say you are just browsing. Talk with the people there and have a conversation about diving (not the price of fins). See how knowledgeable they are about the type of diving you are interested in. You can scope out prices without making a thing out of it. Buy something useful, like a o-ring kit. build a relationship with them and you will meet the people. Dive shops are as much about hanging out with other divers as it is about buying gear. I am not making excuses for people that act like douches to their customers, but your LDS can be a place to build relationships.
I have had a few dive shops that I used regularly. It might be that I am socially inept and do not sense the incompetence and hostility, or it might be that I got to know the people working with them. I have had a few shops I didn't care for much or thought their prices were out of line, but mostly I have liked the people.
They don't want to lose their business to a mail order company two states away, and selling nothing but air is not a great business model.
Who should you give your business to? Try this, go into a store to window shop, say you are just browsing. Talk with the people there and have a conversation about diving (not the price of fins). See how knowledgeable they are about the type of diving you are interested in. You can scope out prices without making a thing out of it. Buy something useful, like a o-ring kit. build a relationship with them and you will meet the people. Dive shops are as much about hanging out with other divers as it is about buying gear. I am not making excuses for people that act like douches to their customers, but your LDS can be a place to build relationships.
I have had a few dive shops that I used regularly. It might be that I am socially inept and do not sense the incompetence and hostility, or it might be that I got to know the people working with them. I have had a few shops I didn't care for much or thought their prices were out of line, but mostly I have liked the people.
I'm so lucky to live in Cave Country. I can count on all the shops I frequent: Dive Outpost, Cave Country Dive Shop, Scuba Monkey and Lake City Dive Shop. I like them. They like me. Life is good.
They really have to be good in cave country as the normal audience typically is at least an experienced diver. Where as during the times I sit at one of my local dive shops waiting for my tanks to cool, I would guess anywhere from one third to one half of the people that walk in the shop aren't even certified divers, and only about a third dive with any regularity (mostly spearos).
CBP and CBSA aren't out to get divers. Duty rates are mostly determined by country of origin - the country where an item is considered to be manufactured (in addition to where an item falls into the tariff). So while Shearwater computers are made in Canada and would be eligible for preferential duty treatment if the applicable HS code is part of NAFTA, items not made in a NAFTA country would not be eligible for it. At least some of Fourth Element's products are made in Poland. If you buy from DRIS, located in the US, an item made in Poland would not be eligible for NAFTA.
I'm a licensed customs broker (clear imported goods through Customs, licensed by US Customs, but I don't work for them) with over 27 years experience in international transport.
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