Bloody dive shops...

[chillyinCanada]

Here's another example from 20mins ago.

On Friday I text the owner of a dive shop that I'll be picking up 2 tanks on Tuesday am. All good.
On Monday I call the shop again to make sure my tanks will be ready the next day, as I am sure it was forgotten, and clarify when i will pick them up. All good.

I show up and the lady at the counter - same one I phoned 24h earlier - says "oh, we are quite full today, let's see if we can even give you one". Some instructor lady suggests to the counter lady that I may only get some of their small tanks, which I refuse. They then go down the list of divers once more and are nice enough to give me 1 tank in the end.

Now I am just going by myself for a dive with a small tide window today, so I can actually do just fine with one tank, but if my buddy would've shown up and we would've planned for a couple of drift dives either side of the tide, I would've rocked up a tank short, with little chance to organise another one on such short notice.

What really gets me is that despite checking twice, I almost would've had my dive cancelled by the force majeure that is the local dive industry. No apologies either.

How does that work? Do all the customers phone and order tanks and then call and remind and then show up in a.m. and end up with one tank?

 

[Divectionist]

The poor guy had to fight to get a refund for $2K of gear NEVER ORDERED

Criminal... you wouldn't think such things happen.

How does that work? Do all the customers phone and order tanks and then call and remind and then show up in a.m. and end up with one tank?

I asked about it when I had more time as I dropped the tank off. It's all about how many students/boat customers they are servicing, which I understand, but I did not get a straightforward answer how they would not know that a day before.

That shop is only a 10min drive, rather than 30-40 like some others, so I may give them another go, but if I get stuffed around then I'll be gone.

Met a couple at the dive site today and they mentioned another shop, and we quickly got onto the unreliability topic and they certainly experienced much of the same lunacy

 

[GC_Diver]

That shop is only a 10min drive, rather than 30-40 like some others, so I may give them another go, but if I get stuffed around then I'll be gone.

Met a couple at the dive site today and they mentioned another shop, and we quickly got onto the unreliability topic and they certainly experienced much of the same lunacy

Not to side track too much, this isn't by any chance a shop named state + scubadive?

Have you tried Dive Warehouse? It is located in Bundall and is only a store, no trying to sell courses or anything else.
It is not too far away if you are diving the seaway.

 

[Divectionist]

Not to side track too much, this isn't by any chance a shop named state + scubadive?

Have you tried Dive Warehouse? It is located in Bundall and is only a store, no trying to sell courses or anything else.
It is not too far away if you are diving the seaway.

No, different shop. Have not dealt with the shop you mentioned. Is it a recommendation or a warning?

I've been to the Warehouse but I think whilst they did/do fills, they do not rent out tanks. I may be wrong.

 

[GC_Diver]

No, different shop. Have not dealt with the shop you mentioned. Is it a recommendation or a warning?

Wouldn't pay to go out with them that is for sure, but the owner and guys working there are pretty nice. You can give them a call and ask if they want to rent out tanks, I think they might do it but it is not something they advertise.

I've been to the Warehouse but I think whilst they did/do fills, they do not rent out tanks. I may be wrong.

I haven't tried renting from them, but on their webpage they say it is available, 200bar tank for $30.

 

[pauldw]

I may have said this once before, but...when I took one of my daughters in to sign up for OW, we paid for mask, fins, snorkel, booties, but they didn't have all the gear, so they gave us what they had and ordered the rest. Then we never got it. Over time they said that set did not in fact come in the same color-matched set. Well, that's both facially absurd, and contradicted the catalog they had in front of them. They insisted she take some clear thing. This isn't the biggest deal in the world; she doesn't have to have color matched mask and fins. But it is a big deal when people are at best unreliable, pretty clearly incompetent, and probably dishonest. LDSs that want to have loyal customers, just can't be that way. The next gear I bought was in another county over.

 

[yle]

Facebook is much different than a website if you don't have an account.

Hmmm... good point. I have a facebook account, just don't use it. And I've never had a problem seeing stuff that shops post to their facebook page, but I didn't consider that I could only see it because I have a facebook account.

 

[electric_diver]

Here's another example from 20mins ago.
On Friday I text the owner of a dive shop that I'll be picking up 2 tanks on Tuesday am. All good.
On Monday I call the shop again to make sure my tanks will be ready the next day, as I am sure it was forgotten, and clarify when i will pick them up. All good.
...

There is a solution to that: buy your own tanks. Then you only have to deal with the fill person.

 

[James79]

You are 100% wrong about relationship building. It is my experience that sales is ALL about relationship building. You build trust and confidence with your customers. Over time those customers become more than just cash in the till. I have built friendships with many people who started out as customers. They trust me to not sell them junk or sell them something just to sell something. I have built that trust with them. These same people want me to dive with them, have drinks with them, etc.

Any LDS owner or employee who believes there is no relationship other than seller and customer is sadly mistaken and will likely fail. Sales 101 is relationship building.

I am well aware of the size of the industry as I work in the industry. I would not be broke in month but I appreciate the support.

I agree, and am in a position to not need an LDS (I can get fills at location, service my own gear, etc.), however my LDS is owned by people who treat me and my kids well.... As long as it doesn't hurt the checkbook too bad, I give them the custom. And they recognize when I don't that there is a good reason and don't hold it against me. So they will continue to get business from me and mine... Because of a relationship beyond seeing me as a source of cash-flow.
Respectfully
James

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

I forgot about this post and seeing it again reminded me how grateful I am it wasn't started by DandyDon.