Dacor Website?

[Whitelightnin]

Although it sounds that you had bad luck, I would say it doesn't make them a bad company. I confirmed with my LDS Saturday and he was very well informed about the trade in deal and I am going to stick with my Darwin Air Integrated computer even still because they still make my parts. My guess is that you had the luck that we all sometimes have and you got in touch with the wrong people. Give the man a chance and maybe even send an email or private correspondence and see what he can do for you. The only people that "lost out" in the end are your customers by not having a wider variety to choose from. I hope that your luck goes better in the near future because the more well stocked LDS's, the better for the end users.

OK. No answer yet so I'm assuming this is to me.

I never said they were a bad company, just NO dealer support TO ME. I don't know about other dealers.

Bad luck??? Bad luck might be one non returned call. REALLY bad luck might be two non returned calls. But three non returned calls ABOUT THE SAME THING.... No luck involved there. That is just bad customer service, Plain & Simple.

Phil might be the nicest guy in the world. I don't know as I have never met him. However, even if he is, he is not the one who deals with the dealers every day when we call in. If the ones we deal with are not helpful AND not trained well enough to get us to someone who is, it won't make any difference how nice he is.

Here are a few of my gripes.

I made a few calls to HEAD asking about getting on the mailing list so I could keep up with what's going on there.
Each time I was assured that I was on the list.
Great, except I have never recieved anything from them concerning what's going on.

I made THREE calls to complain about not getting anything from them. The first time, I told whoever answered the phone in "customer service" what the problem was & asked to have a supervisor return my call as I was not having any luck at that level.
NO CALL.
The second time I called, I again explained my problem & also explained that I had requested a supervisor return my call but no one had. I again asked for a supervisor to return my call.
NO CALL.
The third time, I explained that no one was returning my calls & asked to have ANYONE who could help me PLEASE return my call.
NO CALL.

Also, I had a diver from Dallas (4 hours away from here) who came into my shop with a BRAND NEW Mares computer that had a leak at the hose crimp. He had made his first dive with that computer here in the lake that morning. This was on a Saturday. The leak was IN the crimp, not at the connection. Bad hose. Nothing to do but replace it. I pulled a Dacor console out of my display cabinet & replaced his hose for him. I did not charge him as I was sure a BRAND NEW computer would be under warranty. On Monday, I called Dacor & told them what had happened & that I wanted to have them send me a replacement hose. I was told that I would have to pay for sending the hose to them & IF IT WAS COVERED, they would pay to send the new one to me. I explained that the customer had bought the computer in Dallas & that I had not made any profit on the sale of the computer. I also did not charge the customer for my labor to replace the hose. I also now had a console that I could not sell until I got a new hose for it. I did what I did in the interest of good customer relations.

TOO BAD!!! Our policy is that we don't pay for shipping on warranty items to us.

Also, I need to have the customer send in a copy of his sales reciept showing where he bought the computer. GREAT! Now I have to TRY to track the customer (whom I had never seen before & didn't have even his name) down IN DALLAS (4 hours from here) & get a copy of his sales reciept. RIGHT!!! I sent the hose in WITHOUT a copy of his reciept & I DID PAY SHIPPING to get it there. STILL WAITING.........So far, no one has bothered to call me about it. I'll order a hose from Trident & chalk it up to "Dacor experience".

Next, I have a customer come in who has a "lifetime warranty" on his regulator. He wants it serviced & has kept up with his warranty card & has had it serviced every year. Can't get parts for it. I call Dacor & explain the situation.
Them : "Sorry, we don't have those parts in stock. "
Me : "OK. what should I tell the customer"
Them : "Tell him we no longer support regulators made before the buyout."
Me : "But he has a lifetime warranty."
Them : "Sorry, we don't have parts for that model in stock."
Me : "So now what?"
Them : " He can buy a new Viper regulator. That is our current model."
Me : " OK. How much?"
Them : "XXX.XX (full dealer cost)"
Me : "Oh, he'll really appreciate that. Please see if you can do anything better & get back to me."

I explain the situation to the customer. Yep, He REALLY appreciates THAT!
I offer to sell him a Sherwood that I had just got in for myself at "Key Man" price (that is lower that dealer cost). He accepts & leaves happy with me and he REALLY APPRECIATES Dacor.
(Still have not heard back from Dacor.)

And now, they have a "program" for this situation but STILL don't bother to let me know about it.

Also, every time I order parts, half of them are out of stock.

How in the world am I supposed to make a living trying to work around service like that???

And as far as my customers that "lost out", they NOW DO have a wider variety to choose from. They have Dacor (sort of), Sherwood, Genesis, Bare, Dive Rite, Deep Sea Supply, Deep Sea (not the same as Deep Sea Supply), Scuba Max and IST.

James

 

[Tunez]

Wow, sounds like tons of bad luck and I didn't mean to imply that anything was wrong with what you said. My whole take on this and IIRC, Phil has just taken over his particular department and being that there was a buyout, problems are to be expected. I was concerned about my Darwin Air Integrated computer that I had just bought but I feel a little better now that the Director of Sales and Marketing is at least on here fielding questions. Basically all I meant to you was to possibly use him as a resource to get what should have been done for the first time done right now. Send him a Private message and hopefully he can get you on the right track. I think everyone here has been through there own string of bad luck with something or another in their life and gotten through it. Hopefully, like I said, everything will work out well for you and Dacor soon.

 

[undrwater]

Well! Dacor web placeholder is up!! Thanks Phil!

There is a recall notice on the site for Darwin console and air computers.

There are contact numbers up on the site.

@Whitelightnin: are these the numbers you had contacted before? If not, maybe you can get a better response from these.

Here's the website: http://www.divedacor.com/

@Phil: please don't let it get to December before the REAL website is put in place.

 

[Bill51]

I have no idea how long ago those computers listed for recall have been on the market, but I think with the problems Dacor has been having with customer service I’d be pretty upset having to be without a computer for 4-6 weeks. Do they pay interest on the money I’ve invested that I’m not getting any benefit from?

I’ve got 3 Dacor Extreme Plus regulators that are working fine, and go very well for a couple years between service so I figure if I can get one more service cycle out of them I’ll be money ahead to wait until they die and buy something new then. The trade up cost to get a new regulator seems a little high to me given what I can buy a new regulator from a company that might be more dedicated to scuba diving than from a division of a company more interested in snow skis and tennis rackets.

So sad because I’ve loved all my Dacor equipment over the years.

 

[scubapro50]

I have no idea how long ago those computers listed for recall have been on the market, but I think with the problems Dacor has been having with customer service I’d be pretty upset having to be without a computer for 4-6 weeks. Do they pay interest on the money I’ve invested that I’m not getting any benefit from?

I’ve got 3 Dacor Extreme Plus regulators that are working fine, and go very well for a couple years between service so I figure if I can get one more service cycle out of them I’ll be money ahead to wait until they die and buy something new then. The trade up cost to get a new regulator seems a little high to me given what I can buy a new regulator from a company that might be more dedicated to scuba diving than from a division of a company more interested in snow skis and tennis rackets.

So sad because I’ve loved all my Dacor equipment over the years.

The Mares Abyss is one of the best regulators being made today (a "testors' choice" from Scuba Magazine June 2005) The list price on it is over $500 and shopping around you can find it at LeasurePro discounted for $449.00 ....... so an exchange price of $299 is not really that bad. yes there have been lots of problems with parts and service for the dacor line but on the other hand no real problems with the Mares line of products. Do yourself a favor and trade up before it's too late .....

 

[Whitelightnin]

“Unfortunately the parts suppliers for regulators produced by Dacor prior to our acquisition destroyed the molds when we moved production to our facility in Rapallo, Italy”.

The ONLY way I see this happening is if HEAD made a specific decision NOT to support those regulators & NOT to buy parts from the parts suppliers.

Phil's statement doesn't state WHY the parts suppliers "destroyed the molds", that had to be the case. In and of it's self, there is nothing wrong with that decision. I understand that it was a BUSINESS decision and not all business decisions are popular.
But, PLEASE, don't try to blame the problem on the parts suppliers.

On the other hand, not having a plan in place to address the conciquences of that decision constitutes a lack of planning. In the business world, that can get you in trouble.

As far as WHY Dacor doesn't want to talk to me, well...... maybe I did just slip through the cracks. But , come on guys, look at my post above. THAT'S A BIG CRACK!!! How many more dealers out there are in my shoes? Makes me wonder.

James

 

[Phil Mintz]

All,

As far as the Dacor recall, all dealers and consumers who purchased this were notified and the computers we are currently selling have are not under the recall.

The regs that are offered under the upgrade are Mares Abyss, Mares MR12 Rebel, Dacor Pro DPD & Dacor Eagle Sport.

Phil

 

[Phil Mintz]

James,

I am sorry you have had these issues, I can tell you they are not typical of our business today. I usually make it policy to not discuss an accounts business in public, but you have asked, so I will answer.

I have not looked into when you took over this shop, but aside from some parts we shipped this month, we have not sold anything to this account since 3rd quarter 2003. I do not dispute the issue you had on the phone, if you say it happened I believe you. However, did you get a name of the person you spoke to? Can you tell me when these calls occured? Our customer service manager (Nick Sellers) speaks with many dealers and consumers, if he or I received a message, you would have received a call. That is why I am asking who you spoke with.

It was nice of you to replace the hose, but I do stand behind the shipping comments. Any product under warranty (from any company) must be sent back to the company for replacement. We do not pay for shipping everytime someone needs to send something back.

I do not know why you have not received our mailings, the upgrade was not the only one we have sent to dealers, it may be that you are not coming out in the mailing list due to the fact that we have not done business in the past two calendar years. That can easily be fixed.

We would certainly like to change your opinion of us and build a good relationship, if you are interested please let me know and I will have a sales representative contact you. If you would like for me to contact you personally, I certainly will

Phil

 

[Whitelightnin]

James,


I have not looked into when you took over this shop, but aside from some parts we shipped this month, we have not sold anything to this account since 3rd quarter 2003. I do not dispute the issue you had on the phone, if you say it happened I believe you. However, did you get a name of the person you spoke to? Can you tell me when these calls occured? Our customer service manager (Nick Sellers) speaks with many dealers and consumers, if he or I received a message, you would have received a call. That is why I am asking who you spoke with.

It was nice of you to replace the hose, but I do stand behind the shipping comments. Any product under warranty (from any company) must be sent back to the company for replacement. We do not pay for shipping everytime someone needs to send something back.

I do not know why you have not received our mailings, the upgrade was not the only one we have sent to dealers, it may be that you are not coming out in the mailing list due to the fact that we have not done business in the past two calendar years. That can easily be fixed.

We would certainly like to change your opinion of us and build a good relationship, if you are interested please let me know and I will have a sales representative contact you. If you would like for me to contact you personally, I certainly will

Phil

Phil,
Do you guys keep a phone log? If so, check it & see how many times I have called during the past two years. You will find PLENTY (as in A BUNCH). I have NO IDEA whom I talked to. All I know was it was people in customer service.

As far as the mailing list, I called a few times over the first year or so, after I bought the shop, asking to be put on the mailing list. Each time, I was assured that I was on it. Still, nothing came.
When I bought the shop, the previous owner had PLENTY of stock so I didn't NEED to order anything for a while. I did make several calls getting everything switched over to my name & the new address.
After the problems I had during last season, would YOU have ordered anything from you guys this year if you were me?

The computer was a Mares MC1, not a Dacor, but what difference does that make? It was the hose connected to the SPG that was defective.Suppose you were the customer who just bought a brand new computer & had traveled 4 hours from home for the weekend to dive. You make your first dive & have to call the dive because the hose is defective. You take it to the local Mares/Dacor dealer who tells you

"It should be covered under warranty but you will have to send it back to the Mfg. to get it fixed. I realise that you are 4 hours from home, wanting to dive with friends for the weekend but please understand that you didn't buy it from me. I have not made anything from you buying it. In order to fix it NOW, I will have to pull a hose from one of MY consoles in the display counter, use MY time & labor to fix it, have a console of MINE out of commission for "God only knows how long" while waiting on a replacement hose, hope & pray that you will find & send me your sales reciept AND I HAVE TO PAY TO SHIP THE HOSE BACK TO THE COMPANY. And you expect this ALL FOR FREE just because I am a Mares/Dacor dealer!!!"

What would you think? Yes, I would be pissed off too. But instead, I did the above to preserve the customer's image of Mares/Dacor. I have never seen the guy before & will probally never see him again. He bought absolutely NOTHING from my shop. All I asked in return was to replace the hose & pick up the 4 dollar shipping on the hose.
Instead, I get "It was NICE of you to replace the hose".
I still have a console I can't sell sitting on my back shelf waiting on a hose. I'm still out 4 dollars. I still haven't been paid for my time or labor.

I have not heard from my sales rep since I bought the shop. You have my phone #. You have my email. You have my address (remember, I'm on the mailing list). You have my SEVERAL requests & complaints. Please explain this to me.

And why in the world are you ASKING me if I want you to have a sales rep contact me? If I have a customer that I find out is having a problem, no matter HOW I find it out, The FIRST THING I'm going to do is get on the phone & try to FIX THE PROBLEM. The worst thing I could do is ignore the problem hoping it will "go away". Yes, it might just go away but it will DAMN sure take the customer with it. Companies spend BILLIONS of dollars every year trying to attract new customers only to run them off with bad service. That is total stupidity.

AND I STILL DON'T HAVE ANY INFO ON YOUR DAMN TRADE IN PROGRAM!!!


James

 

[Wayward Son]

Your not the only shop so ignored. One I trade with did not change hands recently, the same owners have been there for many, many years, and were Dacor dealers long before the buyout.

They have told me similar things about an utter, almost absolute lack of support from Dacor.