Customer Service Extraordinaire

[Scuba Brad]

I think to sum all of this up............its the service that brings us all back.

Happy And Safe Diving

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

I think to sum all of this up............its the service that brings us all back.

Right on. Anyone can sell stuff. Pfft... That doesn't take one bit of effort. If someone buys stuff at your shop, they are customers of whatever brand they've purchased. It's only when you begin to service that customer and go the extra mile, that they become YOUR customer, and will remain YOUR customer.

 

[laughintom]

I wanted the NOAA Dive Guide and wanted to support my LDS. The hardcover was $79 online at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and direct from the NOAA. The dive shop quoted me $162 for the same book. I don't mind supporting my LDS but I will NEVER order from them again. To top that off, everything I've ever ordered from them has taken 1 month or more to come in. I order from Scubatoys and have my gear within a day or two.

 

[Scuba Brad]

Laughintom, Its nice to know some of us in the web business do a good job......I agree many don't. I have learned alot from Larry..........someday who knows........maybe we'll be his #2 competitor. Its a goal to shot for. But for now we just do the best we know how.

Fish W you always have insightful comments...........thanks.

Happy Diving

 

[123Scuba.com]

Not sure it qualifies as the BEST customer service I've ever received in the dive industry but it's recent so I'll throw it out.

I recently bought new fins on-line for my wife and myself. After a pretty lengthy search I found a website that had the fins we wanted in our size and preferred color. We got free delivery because the order exceeded a certain dollar amount.

So ...I placed the order. About a half hour later my wife went back on-line and decided that she wanted a lycra hood and bought one from the same website vendor. Of course, this was a smaller item though and she was charged a delivery fee.

The next morning I received a call from customer service indicating that the inventory had not been updated on the website and only one set of the fins was available in the color we wanted. Rather than just saying ...too bad, so sad, the cs rep opened up a dialogue about options, one of which was an upgrade to a more pricey set of fins for my wife. Not only that, she went into an in-depth discussion of the differences in the fins. In other words, she wasn't just reading off a data sheet or even worse, just someone without dive experience on the other end of the line. Since I wanted to talk this over with my wife first, I got the 800 number and told the cs rep I'd call her back in few minutes.

Long story short ...I called the cs rep back and told her we had opted for the more expensive fin, which she gave us at the same price as our original selection. Next, I told her about the separate order for the lycra hood. She located that order and combined it with that of the fins and removed the delivery charge.

This might not seem like much to some, but to me this was excellent customer service.

The website was 123Scuba and I can say without hesitation that I would definitely purchase items from them again and/or recommend them to another diver.

'Slogger

Slogger,
Glad we were able to make you and the wife happy, that is our goal. It is good to see you and other members of the board sharing your good stories as well as the bad. It is all too common for the good tales to get forgotten while the bad get lots of airtime. If you or anyone else needs anything just give us a call or drop by the website. We won't treat you any differently because you may have purchased some of your gear at an LDS !!!!

 

[Footslogger]

Slogger,
Glad we were able to make you and the wife happy, that is our goal. It is good to see you and other members of the board sharing your good stories as well as the bad. It is all too common for the good tales to get forgotten while the bad get lots of airtime. If you or anyone else needs anything just give us a call or drop by the website. We won't treat you any differently because you may have purchased some of your gear at an LDS !!!!

===========================================
You're welcome ...and pass along our personal thanks to Laura. She knows her stuff and is very helpful.

'Slogger

 

[Scuba Brad]

Thanks Guys nice follow up!!!

Another good story............and Mike you're right both good and bad should be told. While we are friendly competitors I appreicate accurate and straight forward comments ...........you've had a great customer service story that deserves to be told! Even if its a Thread by one of your competitors!

Happy Diving........my hat is off to you!

 

[Kat]

123scuba.com

Here is my complaint with your website:
If I can not see the shipping & handling price before giving my personal/credit card information, I hit the back button. Yes, you offer free S & H on orders over $75.00 But what about a $50.00 item? I want to see the final cost before I commit to purchase. You had a few item I would have liked to purchase, but did not, because I did not know what the grand total would be.

 

[TSandM]

One of the things that irritates me greatly is to sit and wait (in the particular instance I'm thinking of, while HOLDING a fairly expensive item that I had already indicated a willingness to buy AND my credit card in hand) while someone is on the phone, particularly if said phone call is obviously NOT related to an immediate customer service issue. It has always seemed to me that the customer in the shop should be worth two on the phone . . .

I also agree that it is maddening to make several driving trips to a store because one has been told an item will be there on a given day. I do eventually learn to call first, but sometimes you can't get anybody on the phone -- the flip side of my first paragraph.

On the other hand, I've had more good service from dive shops than bad. We got very good advice on our original gear purchases and were not steered to the most expensive items in the store.

And I'll second Rick's comments about Matt at Northwest Sport Divers. I went in there to talk about dry suits, and two or three days later, I got a phone call from Matt asking me if I wanted him to get a sizing suit up from Diving Concepts. He's now brought up two and I still haven't committed to buying a suit. When I've gone in there to purchase something they haven't had, I get a phone call the day the item comes in. Those are the kind of little things that keep me coming to a store and cause me to recommend a place to others.

 

[redacted]

what is the very best and the very worst thing that has happened to you

Best: Found an LDS that will sell me parts. He knows there are actually few people who want to DIY and he would rather have their business than have it go elsewhere.

Worst (hard to chose): 1. LDS serviced my Air2 and it breathed like a brick. After 2 trips back to correct problem and the day before I was to leave for Coz, he wants me to come pick up my reg before I get off work so he can close early. He also admits he had been adjusting it incorrectly and shows me how to make minor adj if problem persists. Turns out what he showed me was also not quite correct.

2. Another LDS services my Mk2/R190. It has a little problem with erratic performance so I take it back and get the dirty look "we'll check it". When I go to pick it up they want to charge me claiming they had not serviced it. I showed the owner's wife the 2 week old receipt. She looked at it, threw it back at me, and told me to "take the reg" as she walked away.

That is why I DIY.