Dive World Austin says they do not maintain rental equipment until it fails

[jalistair]

Hmm I did not know you were in Belize, I would like to go there sometime. From everything I have seen online the diving there is spectacular! Plus they speak English

 

[tholden1]

As promised, here's the video. I know now that a high-pressure hose puts out a low volume of air so I had plenty of time, but it certainly looked scary to me at 60ft. I didn't know at the time that I had plenty of time. Now I know better.

YouTube - SPG_Issue.avi

 

[driftwood]

O Ring Kit reviews and discounts, ScubaToys

O-ring kits are $5.00 for 40 pieces. Pretty sure that would cover more than one spg, or tank, or reg or w/e

I knew they were cheap...but daaanng

Its IN-execusable that a shop would let such simple maint fall behind. If a shop cared even a smidge about their business, they could foot the cost of something so inexpensive.

And a standard mouthpiece replacement is $3.95.

I have an idea...it could be fun...lets everyone order one of those o-ring kits and send them to the store

Mike,

They are laughing all the way to the bank on that deal. The ring I need to replace the battery on my Cobra goes for $.26. Suunto charges $20+ for the kit that includes a $4 battery.

Rings are dirt cheap. It's the labor costs that shops are avoiding by not doing regular service. That being said, there are some specialty parts, like seats, that the manufactures don't like to sell separately, so you have to buy the full kit from them.

 

[peterbj7]

Hmm I did not know you were in Belize, I would like to go there sometime. From everything I have seen online the diving there is spectacular! Plus they speak English

Yeah, the diving here isn't bad! And there are some stonking deals available at the moment. If you are available for the week Christmas - New Year, PM me. Would you be solo or with a partner?

 

[ryanpublic]

Also speaking from experience, I disagree. Perhaps in mainland USA that's true, but it isn't here in Belize, nor I suspect in many other resort destinations. I started out with the same policies as you, but within a short while the local market was saturated with used gear and I couldn't sell it.

Here the vast majority of dive shops give rental gear free, and if you try to charge for it your customers simply go elsewhere.

On the other hand if everyone is "giving" rental gear (or loaning gear for free) that is in poor condition, it sounds like you could charge something for gear that was in good working order with maybe a few features like integrated weights. Right?

I own all my gear but if I ever had to rent gear from a shop and had an experience like the OP I'd never go back to that shop again. Definitely if I gave them a chance to make it right and had another bad experience that'd be then end of my association with that shop. (Sorry Dive World but that is a fact). No shop is perfect and rental gear does take a beating, but what separates a average shop from a good one is the level of customer service.

Austin has a huge dive community enough to support several shops. I'm an instructor at Scubaland and I dive with students all the time (and have for the last four years). The students use the same gear we rent. At Scubaland we take alot of pride in our rental gear. Any glitches or abnormailities are investigated immediately. I know this because I've reported some over the years. In fact we rent out all sorts of rental gear to provide our customers a chance to try out different types of regs. The MK25s are common but I've seen some MK11s and MK17s as well. Ask John Linsey about that (he works at the Lake Store).

I know the guys at Oak Hill (well the owner anyway) and at Toms and I can see why they have good reputations too, I've seen both go way out of their way to help customers. I don't have as much experience with Dive World or Clear Water, or the other shops. And even if I thought it was true I wouldn't suggest the OP's experience is common at any shop. That's got to be up to the customer.

Good Service or Bad Service the customer has a choice. And it's good when someone wants to share his experience good or bad. Keeps us all honest.

 

[rakpix]

Every time you run your mouth (eg slamming a business), people notice and remember.

i was responding to a perceived slam. i've always had good expeirences with dive world.

But, thank you everyone for their input. I'm not trying to bash Dive World. I'm not out to get them.

thought you were. nvm. may you dive a thousand dives without a short fill ... or bubbly spg.

 

[ianr33]

No reply from Dive World yet?

 

[jalistair]

As promised, here's the video. I know now that a high-pressure hose puts out a low volume of air so I had plenty of time, but it certainly looked scary to me at 60ft. I didn't know at the time that I had plenty of time. Now I know better.

YouTube - SPG_Issue.avi

As a new diver myself, that video would have scared me as well!

 

[jalistair]

Yeah, the diving here isn't bad! And there are some stonking deals available at the moment. If you are available for the week Christmas - New Year, PM me. Would you be solo or with a partner?

Hey Peter I will look into it. I am in the army and last I brought it up, about a month ago, I was told Belize is one of the places we are forbidden to go to due to security reasons. Of course they told me the same thing when I went to Israel to dive there and it turned out that was just people running their mouth when they did not know what they were talking about. So that being stated I will look into it and if I do go it would most likely be as a solo trip.

 

[Debraw]

<I started out with the same policies as you, but within a short while the local market was saturated with used gear and I couldn't sell it.<snip>

I guess I am wondering why the limit to selling to the local crowd? Is it possible that you could sell to the new vacation divers?