Did I get Screwed by Diveshop Hydro, who never inspected the tank?

[SlugLife]

LOL. the scuba industry is so screwed.

"Support your local dive shop!" I got sick of hearing this repeated a bunch of times in the online materials for a couple dive classes I took.

Dive shop did not only screw you but lied to you. By 1988 most cylinders were the "good" alloy not AL6351.

While I understand the desire to maintain a relationship I would speak to the owner about being lied to an go from there. Life is too short to deal with crap like that.

I am just enough of hard arse I would have said no I am not signing anything and they had 2 minutes to return my property otherwise I would be calling the cops.

Now if push comes to shove the cops would say it is civil matter. But them showing up would probably be enough to return my property.

I mostly agree. Because of my specific circumstances at the time, this wouldn't have been practical.

The other part of my story, is I have a friend from out of town with a boat (about 2h15m drive each way), and we do treasure-dives. He's always on a tight schedule, and has work the next day. I had no tanks, and dive-shops weren't open yet, so I proposed we dive his two tanks first, then he drops me off at the dock, I make a round-trip to the dive-shop to pick up my two full tanks and we're immediately off to our 2nd dive using my tanks. If I spent an hour arguing with the shop, calling the cops, etc ... that might have screwed over my relationship with my dive-buddy and decade-long friend, which is 50x more important than a "$40 tank" or any dive-shop relationship.

In hindsight, the right call (aside from calling the cops, or going to court) would have been to demand my two good tanks, and say I don't have time to deal with the 3rd "condemned" tank or singing a document I don't have time to read. Then deal with the 3rd tank at a later time. If they were literally refusing to hand over any of my tanks (which they were somewhat implying), then that might have been a call my friends, then call the cops scenario. Like you said, they probably would have said it's a civil matter, but it would have probably gotten my tanks back.

 

[grf88]

It is these types of issues that cause many to have their own compressor despite the fact they usually don't make a lot of economic sense. I have a great dive shop but still purchased a compressor for independence and convenience.

 

[SlugLife]

It is these types of issues that cause many to have their own compressor despite the fact they usually don't make a lot of economic sense. I have a great dive shop but still purchased a compressor for independence and convenience.

I've thought about that route. There might be a way I can make it work under $2k. Perhaps use extra/redundant stages of filters, test for CO, etc since they're cheaper compressors not designed for scuba. How much did you spend?

As far as my pony-bottles, I don't Hydro, VIP, or fill. I just trans-fill them from my main tanks, with a $40 setup I pieced together off Alibaba.

 

[grf88]

Forget about anything not designed for scuba, they are not up for the task. In fact some designed for scuba may be questionable especially the smaller ones. I purchase a used gas powered RIX SA6 for $2500 and then spent another $1000 on converting to electric and adding filtration. I like the fact that it is an oil free compressor.

 

[Zef]

Based on everyone's comments, here's my read: The dive shop had zero authority to (a) condemn the tank, (b) refuse to allow me to pick it up, or (c) demand I sign literally anything.

• (a) They weren't a hydro-facility, therefore, cannot condemn tanks without customer permission.
• (b) My property is my property, and without a contract, denying someone of their property is theft.
• (c) Refusing business without a contract is fine/normal. However, you cannot say "we won't return your property, unless you sign a contract."

Denying someone of their property is not theft unless the actual act of taking the property was illegal. Since you turned your tank over to the shop willingly, it is not theft.

What happened to you falls under the umbrella of civil torts law and is called "Conversion", that is you were basically denied access to or otherwise unjustly deprived of use of your property.

The issue that you would face is you would need to prove that you were coerced to sign the paperwork allowing them to condemn your tank. That might not be a huge hurdle to overcome but the time and expense to legally argue the issue may be more than an old aluminum tank is worth regardless of whether the alloy was suspect or not.


-Z

 

[Alaskan Scuba Dude]

I would say the local dive shop wasn’t on par with good business practice and customer service. It only takes a minute to unscrew the valve to take a peek inside and use a dentist mirror to inspect the neck of the cylinder. The signing of the document was to cover them against lawsuits. I would have taken the cylinder home and used it as training tool for technical diving. You paid $40 and you got what you paid for. Artist use Scuba cylinders to produce some fantastic designs. I would put this unfortunate breakdown in communication as a one off experience.

 

[grantctobin]

I would say the local dive shop wasn’t on par with good business practice and customer service. It only takes a minute to unscrew the valve to take a peek inside and use a dentist mirror to inspect the neck of the cylinder. The signing of the document was to cover them against lawsuits. I would have taken the cylinder home and used it as training tool for technical diving. You paid $40 and you got what you paid for. Artist use Scuba cylinders to produce some fantastic designs. I would put this unfortunate breakdown in communication as a one off experience.

Are you certified? Are you familiar with different alloys used in manufacturing of Luxfer cylinders over the past 40 years?

 

[Alaskan Scuba Dude]

 

[SlugLife]

Denying someone of their property is not theft unless the actual act of taking the property was illegal. Since you turned your tank over to the shop willingly, it is not theft.

What happened to you falls under the umbrella of civil torts law and is called "Conversion", that is you were basically denied access to or otherwise unjustly deprived of use of your property.

The issue that you would face is you would need to prove that you were coerced to sign the paperwork allowing them to condemn your tank. That might not be a huge hurdle to overcome but the time and expense to legally argue the issue may be more than an old aluminum tank is worth regardless of whether the alloy was suspect or not.


-Z

Thanks for the correction, I'm not a lawyer obviously. From pragmatic terms, it's a little absurd for me to take this to court because I could easily recoup far more spending the same time at a job.

However, from a hypothetical perspective, I do expect I could at the very least establish:

• They never conducted any inspection on the tank. Looking at the date isn't an inspection.
• They denied me access to my property, said my only two choices were letting them mark the tank as condemned or scrapping the tank, and that regardless which I chose, I had to sign the document they presented.
• The document was signed, but only after I protested, and after the previous bullet-point.

Regardless of all of the above, I suppose it's not like I'm going to sue anyway.

Are you certified? Are you familiar with different alloys used in manufacturing of Luxfer cylinders over the past 40 years?

Ignore ASD, he stirs up trouble in every thread he posts in.

 

[Treknell]

I know of two specification of older alum cylinders that can be condemned without hydro just a quick look at them. One from Norris DOT - E 6688 and /or DOT - SP 6688.
Second from Luxfer CTC - SP 922