Curious: Are you LDS loyal? What do you use them for?

[violamama]

We checked our 5th area dive shop today and were much impressed.

Are you loyal to one shop?
Do you still use the interwebs to buy stuff?
What are your criteria for choosing a shop?

As far as I can tell, shops are useful for:
Being staffed by people who can train others and like to talk diving
Maintaining gear
Knowing about local events/clubs
Arranging local and faraway trips
What else??

Out of the five, only 2 and a half were willing to chat about gear without seeming to try and sell sell SELL it to us, and I noticed the annoyingly high pressure shops tended to carry only one main brand.

One has its own pool onsite and will let you try several kinds of any gear before buying (which catapulted them to my instant favorite). Another chatted with us for over an hour and actually discouraged my husband from impulsively buying an on-sale drysuit until he's figured out which one he really wants.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Gear and especially regulators are not just economical commodities, they are first and foremost "vitalities" --critical life support equipment that I don't go cheap on.

All my regs are bought from LDS Pacific Wilderness San Pedro because they are authorized dealers (ScubaPro/Apeks/Aqualung) and have the knowledge & expertise to directly service that equipment. If they have the ability to competently do yearly service on all of Los Angeles County's Fire, Sheriff & LA Port Police Police, and the USC/Wrigley Science Center Research Divers on Catalina-- all of their Scubapro Regs in volume, then I'm willing to pay an extra premium for that service or repair on my own gear.

Time is money, the real & most basic dynamic commodity --if you've got the knowledge, skill, ability and most of all --TIME!!!-- and your own network of supply chain manufacturers to help you confidently purchase and work on your own personal gear, then great!

LA County Public Service, Port Police and USC/Wrigley Marine Science divers don't have time to shop for, service & repair their gear by parcel post or the Internet --especially critical gear like regs-- nor do they have time to go traipsing off to junket trips like DEMA. Hence the economics of the Local Dive Shop, of which Pacific Wilderness San Pedro has the most centralized mainland location for fast turn-around drop-in delivery & pick-up, as well as the best service/repair techs in all of LA County. And typically they have the best retail prices in town for us regular recreational divers, because of all these yearly high volume purchase/service order contracts with the Los Angeles County Gov't.

Scuba Center in Los Angeles, South Bay, Orange County: Scuba Lessons, Scuba Gear, Scuba Repair - Welcome to Pacific Wilderness Online!

 

[chillyinCanada]

I'm devoted to my LDS. Can try anything in the pool before purchase, will order in anything I want that they don't have and with no obligation to buy it once it shows up, owner never tries to sell me anything or upsell me (the staff probably tries a bit harder,lol), owner has discouraged me from buying new regs, saying I don't need new regs (my regs are 20 years old). I repay all this wonderful treatment by purchasing all manner of silly things and/or 3 wetsuits in a year.

Gosh, sure wish the LDS was less busy so that I could hang around talking about diving and/or gear with them for an HOUR!! OMG. I would <3 that.

 

[Mike.D]

We checked our 5th area dive shop today and were much impressed.

Are you loyal to one shop?
Do you still use the interwebs to buy stuff?
What are your criteria for choosing a shop?

As far as I can tell, shops are useful for:
Being staffed by people who can train others and like to talk diving
Maintaining gear
Knowing about local events/clubs
Arranging local and faraway trips
What else??

Out of the five, only 2 and a half were willing to chat about gear without seeming to try and sell sell SELL it to us, and I noticed the annoyingly high pressure shops tended to carry only one main brand.

One has its own pool onsite and will let you try several kinds of any gear before buying (which catapulted them to my instant favorite). Another chatted with us for over an hour and actually discouraged my husband from impulsively buying an on-sale drysuit until he's figured out which one he really wants.

Sounds like the shop you found is a keeper!!
To answer your question:

1. No I am not loyal to one shop. All the shops in my area arrange dive trips so I go with whoever is offering whatever I am interested in
2. I buy all my gear of the interweb- divegearexpress.com (except little bits and bobs like spare mouthpieces etc. )
3. If I walk into a shop and it's pretty quiet and no-one introduces themselves and offers any help/show genuine interest within the first 5 mins I instantly mark shops down.

A good shop to me is one that I feel comfortable in, I can go in and have a yarn for hours about everything and a shop that doesn't look at my setup with that weird look. (Shops here haven't really caught on to long hose/bungeed backup/ bp/w setup).
If a shop actually refers me to another shop for something they don't stock/know about then I usually trust them more as they are honest and genuinely care about your needs and not just try to push gear on you.
Cheers!!
Mike



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[MXGratefulDiver]

Loyalty is for people, not businesses ... and it needs to be reciprocal.

I buy my gear based on need and preference, not who sells it. Price isn't always a factor, but if my dive shop of preference doesn't carry something I want I'll happily buy it somewhere else. No shop can be all things to all people.

I don't have a criteria for choosing a shop, but I won't remain long in one that tries to sell me something I neither need nor asked for ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Kharon]

Loyalty is for people, not businesses ... and it needs to be reciprocal.

I buy my gear based on need and preference, not who sells it. Price isn't always a factor, but if my dive shop of preference doesn't carry something I want I'll happily buy it somewhere else. No shop can be all things to all people.

I don't have a criteria for choosing a shop, but I won't remain long in one that tries to sell me something I neither need nor asked for ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Amen! I prefer to spend my money locally and I do when I can. That said, it's not been possible very much. One of the two shops that are within easy diving distance is very pricy. I've been told that I can ask them to price match. Their fills, vis, and hydros are a bit less with faster turnaround than the other shop so I usually get them there.

The second shop is closer but when I ask about a specific item (brand and model) that I have researched and decided to buy they almost invariably try to steer me to a brand/model they carry and often badmouth my choice. Sometimes they even ignore my question and tell me what I should be looking for. I really don't like that. I can also ask this shop to meet an on-line price and they sometimes can. I still get fills at this shop due to the convienience.

So far I've bought exactly what I wanted and haven't been disappointed nor wrong in my choices. I love the kit I put together. It's exactly what I need and want. Almost all of my purchases have been on-line because I can get exactly what I'm looking for at a good price. I prefer to spend local but it's often simply not possible.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I'll chime in because last weekend's experience at the LDS really made me want to beat this dead horse. I refrained from posting while still in an agitated state, but since you raised the horse from the dead ...

I normally buy everything on-line, but I use the LDS to service my wife's and my reg sets and to get the batteries in our dive computers changed. That answers your question. Now, let me go off ...

The owner knows us from the above, and he's been very helpful and kind. We were even thinking about asking if we could use their pool to test out some new gear (that I hadn't bought from them), since they have offered use of the pool in the past. So last Sunday my wife and I drove the 8 miles to said LDS because we were in need of a mask and some lead (okay, and an opening to ask nicely about the pool).

As we drove up to the shop, we discovered they are closed on Sundays.

Sure, we should have called ahead to ascertain their hours before leaving home. But it didn't occur to us that a business that depends on a leisure activity like diving--something people tend to have time to devote to mainly on weekends--would not be open on Sundays. I've never enjoyed living here in the Bible Belt, but I guess as long as I do, I will still be shopping on-line for dive gear. I'd rather pay to have lead shipped to me than to drive 16 miles roundtrip to the dive shop for that.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Round trip 16 miles? Do you live in a village?

 

[Mike.D]

I have to travel 15 miles and yes I've done exactly that before. Closed on sundays.... WHY!!!!


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---------- Post added February 28th, 2014 at 11:27 PM ----------

15 miles one way.... You do the math...


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[The Kraken]

The only thing I will buy from an on-line, reduced price store is a wet suit.
There is a specific brand that I like and most shops don't carry it.

the K