SlugLife
Contributor
The short story is I brought in a used 1988 tank for Hydro at a Scuba-shop. Normally I go to a fire-safety place, but I was in a rush. At the time I bought it about a year ago, I checked this thread and believed it to be the good aluminum. The VIP tech called me, and said they wouldn't hydro it because it was older than 1990, but otherwise never inspected the tank. Rather than argue, I said I'd just pick up the tank. (My intent was to take it to the fire-safety place) However, when I arrived at the dive-shop, they refused to just hand me the tank, and instead DEMANDED I sign a document stating the tank was bad, and that the tank either had to receive a stamp condemning the tank, or be scrapped. I unfortunately don't have the tank or pictures, otherwise I'd ask people double-check my work.
Just to give them some benefit of the doubt, lets pretend the tank was AL6351. Is condemning a AL6351 tank without inspection normal? Is signing documents about condemned tanks normal? Did I get screwed?
Anyway, aside from them condemning a tank, which they never actually inspected, and which believed is good (perhaps correctly or not), I'm super pissed that the dive-shop essentially forced/coerced me into signing a document, even if I didn't take the tank home. I did argue, specifically that they never hydro'd the tank, and the metal but they were not listening AT ALL. I was stuck, because they also had two of my other scuba-tanks, and it's one of the very few available fill-shops around, and I had a dive-buddy waiting at the docks. I'm kinda pissed at myself, because I never sign under such circumstances normally, but hindsight is perhaps 20-20. I left the tank with them because it's effectively scrap metal, and I don't really have the space for that at this time. They didn't charge for the hydro. I stopped buying tanks that old a while ago, but still had that one around.
Anyway, $40 I spent on the tank sucks, but isn't the end of the world. Customer service was a bad experience. But I'd like to know if the Dive-shop actually screwed me? The next dive-shop adds 15-20 minutes to my total-drive, but may be worth it if I did get screwed.
Just to give them some benefit of the doubt, lets pretend the tank was AL6351. Is condemning a AL6351 tank without inspection normal? Is signing documents about condemned tanks normal? Did I get screwed?
Anyway, aside from them condemning a tank, which they never actually inspected, and which believed is good (perhaps correctly or not), I'm super pissed that the dive-shop essentially forced/coerced me into signing a document, even if I didn't take the tank home. I did argue, specifically that they never hydro'd the tank, and the metal but they were not listening AT ALL. I was stuck, because they also had two of my other scuba-tanks, and it's one of the very few available fill-shops around, and I had a dive-buddy waiting at the docks. I'm kinda pissed at myself, because I never sign under such circumstances normally, but hindsight is perhaps 20-20. I left the tank with them because it's effectively scrap metal, and I don't really have the space for that at this time. They didn't charge for the hydro. I stopped buying tanks that old a while ago, but still had that one around.
Anyway, $40 I spent on the tank sucks, but isn't the end of the world. Customer service was a bad experience. But I'd like to know if the Dive-shop actually screwed me? The next dive-shop adds 15-20 minutes to my total-drive, but may be worth it if I did get screwed.