DiveInn.com and Service/Warranty ?? (for Apeks regs)

[kcbdiver]

JShimmer,

I got the same response WORD for WORD and thought it was weird that they implied that us "Americans" would be soooo unethical as to not accept gear from the manufacturer "under (a legitimate) warranty." This was the second question I emailed to Inzes and the response I subsequently received.

"Question kcb: How much does a typical yearly service cost? Labor? Parts?
>
> Thanks in advance for the info."


"Answer: About the yearly servicing, the best is you send us the product by post. We will charge you parts, shipping cost back to you and a modest fee for the work. Ej: cleaning and maintenance of a Abyss regulator is 15US$,
maintenance kit 20US$ + DHL shipping back to you 18 US$."

Now what is wrong with this picture?
1) She answered a loaded question - A Lifetime warranty on a regulator means that as long as you bring it in for yearly servicing, parts are paid for by the manufacturer for the life of the reg., all you pay for is labor.

2) Under the about us info., I believe it is under that part, it states that all of this information is presented to you in English from Spanish and we are not responsible (kcb paraphrasing) for any mistakes in the translation and that the governmental bodies of Spain will rule in the event of a dispute.

3) I also checked Aqua Lung's website under warranty info. and came to the same conclusion as another fellow.

4) I went as far (Yes, I do have a life!) as to call Aqua Lung and these people are not legit. It's not that I have a problem with buying online for some things, but they give false information.

Yes, some send a warranty card with the product, but the fact is that manufacturers send the warranty cards with the product; therefore, whoever gets ahold of the product also gets the warranty card, valid or not. Also, just as a heads up, the manufacturers are considering sending the warranty cards separate from the product in the near future - So, BUYER BEWARE!

Hope your purchase goes well despite these facts.

 

[turnerjd]

Originally posted by kcbdiver


Now what is wrong with this picture?
1) She answered a loaded question - A Lifetime warranty on a regulator means that as long as you bring it in for yearly servicing, parts are paid for by the manufacturer for the life of the reg., all you pay for is labor.

No not quite!!

Only scubapro give lifetime service parts. The lifetime warranty for all other regulator brands that I know of is for manufacturing defects / non service parts.

Think about your car... you get a 3 year waranty, and this doesn't include the cost of servicing it (oil filters etc...), but it does cover bits that break / don't work correctly - its exactly the same with scuba regs.

Jon T

PS Scubapro haven't extended the free spares for life to europe yet that I know of.

 

[Frog]

If you want to order something and it happens to be from the UK (where i live) then get it from http://www.sdswatersports.com or http://www.simplyscuba.com i have heard nothing but negative comments from people who have purchased from diveinn.co.uk

 

[kcbdiver]

Sorry Turner you have been talked out by a Scubapro sales person!

Some dealers such as TUSA don't have a warranty program at all, but the particular regulator that I quoted to "good ol'" Ines at diveinn.com was a Mares Abyss reg. USD/Aqua Lung, Dacor, Mares, and Seaquest (The particular brand that was to be purchased online), all have lifetime warranties on parts, if you purchased from an "authorized dealer". You only need pay labor. I'm am not sure of other brands such as Scubapro and IDI; but I am 100% sure on the ones I mentioned. I am not speaking for the way all dive shops operate and their policies, but that is the way the manufacturer intended the lifetime warranty to be - parts are taken care of under a lifetime warranty.

By the way, Sherwood used to have a lifetime warranty on parts; however, they revoked it to a two service warranty seeing as how you can go several years (taking the appropriate measures of cleaning the reg) without servicing. It also contains the moisture return system.

Hope this clarifies!

 

[buff]

Why do these dive companies offer free parts and not free labour??? The parts themselves are cheap, the labour to do the annual servicing on a regulator is time consuming and therefore costly e.g. dismantle the thing, new o rings, ultrasonic bath, reassemble and test. How many parts fail in a regulator??? What parts have to be replaced?? I know Atomic had a part recall in one of their regualtors, but who else??
I have bought over $1500.00 worth of equipment from Diveinn.com( it is located in L'Estartit, Spain) and have been completly satisfied. I have dove with this equipment for the past 3 months and it has performed perfectly. In addition, the person in charge of returns, Inez, is extremely prompt,courteous and helpful....she is just damn nice. She returns my emails the same day.....sometimes her English is not perfect but her English is much, much better than my Spanish. I paid about $260 dollars for an Apeks TX50 from Diveinn.com. At my local dive shop the TX50 is $480.00. For the sake of argument lets assume there is no manufacturer's warranty and the warranty card they sent me is bogus. Now let's assume that the cost of yearly service on the Apeks TX50 is about what it is on the Mares Abyss and I pay $53.00 to have it serviced. That means that with the money I have saved by buying a regulator at Diveinn.com I can have my Apeks flown to Spain 4.5 times to be serviced-I get an Apeks regulator with almost 5 years of service-now that's what I call a warranty. And my Apeks reg. gets to keep the frequent flier miles..I asked Inez about that before I bought-caveat emptor!!!!!!!

 

[buff]

From where the sun shall rise I shall not speak again of online ordering of scuba equipment...the point is mute.

"Sitting Buff"

 

[turnerjd]

Originally posted by kcbdiver
Sorry Turner you have been talked out by a Scubapro sales person!

Some dealers such as TUSA don't have a warranty program at all, but the particular regulator that I quoted to "good ol'" Ines at diveinn.com was a Mares Abyss reg. USD/Aqua Lung, Dacor, Mares, and Seaquest (The particular brand that was to be purchased online), all have lifetime warranties on parts, if you purchased from an "authorized dealer". You only need pay labor. I'm am not sure of other brands such as Scubapro and IDI; but I am 100% sure on the ones I mentioned. I am not speaking for the way all dive shops operate and their policies, but that is the way the manufacturer intended the lifetime warranty to be - parts are taken care of under a lifetime warranty.

By the way, Sherwood used to have a lifetime warranty on parts; however, they revoked it to a two service warranty seeing as how you can go several years (taking the appropriate measures of cleaning the reg) without servicing. It also contains the moisture return system.

Hope this clarifies!

KCB,

I was of course, refering to the situation 'as is' here in europe. Certainly, in the UK, there are very strict legal rights as concerning waranties - the 'statuatory rights'. Certainly, for something like a regulator, there is a requirement for there to be some form of program in place.

No-where in the UK does free service parts. In the price of your service is the rebuild kit, and labour. Quoting from the APEKS warranty card I got with my TX40 'This warranty expressly covers defects in manufacture and unforseable defects, it does not cover damage due to expected wear, nor does it cover service items'

As for other parts, that are non service parts, yes they are covered (by law) by waranty programs etc.. Working as a DM with a couple of the local stores as a student allowed me to get a very good insite into what goes on in the UK world of diving.

The situation, is I am sure pretty different in the US!

Jon T

 

[kcbdiver]

Sorry Turner,

I had no idea that the manufacturers had a different scenario as far as warranty service in different parts of the country.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Nick]

Couple of weeks ago I've bought the TX100 from leisurepro.com. I live in NYC and needed to pay 8.25% tax, but anyway - their price is great - $330 vs $328 diveinn's.
If you'll buy it by mail order - the SH&H is about $15.
The regulator covered by LeisurePro warranty (not APEKS) for 1 year and could be serviced too.

 

[donooo]

Isn't that a problem between Scubapro and Uwatec ? Scubapro is suppose to represent Uwatec and Uwatec got what they want. I feel a little silly finding out how much extra I spent for a Dive-Rite BC by not going to Leisure Pro. A one year warranty is worth next to nothing when you bought the product 1300 miles away. Might as well be in NY if it fails in Honduras.

So don't take advantage of your LDS, but don't make them rich when they can't handle your questions or sell you what you want. They have a responsibility to represent a company. You have a responsibilty to make an intelligent decision. Not work on your gear cuz you didn't buy from them ? Or buy in the country ? I wouldn't think so.
The distribution "thing" is a 2-way street. Maybe there are some "blacklisted" people like Leisure Pro, but I'd be surprised if your LDS asks for recipts. Or question if they should.

Buyer Beware, and Smart

donooooo