Does Peggy work at your LDS?

[Dan G]

Some people and shops (of all sorts) just don't have a concept of how to deal with making mistakes. It's not the mistake that bugs us so much, it's the response to it that matters. Pete, you gave them multiple opportunities to respond in a way that demonstrated a commitment to it making right. You had every right to get testy and walk out of there having decided never to walk back in.



:amazed:

(any excuse to use these little guys)

 

[Wookie]

It's all your fault, Pete. You have a shop right across the street from where you live that tumbles, hydro's, VIP's, and O2 cleans cylinders. Heck, they do 50 of mine a year. Keep your money local.

OBTW. You know the real power in the shop you took the tanks to in Central Florida is out of the country right now. Guys just don't take care of business the way the power does. It's an excellent shop, you fell through the cracks. Twice.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I use one shop for fills and one for hydro's and vis. This winter I'll be doing my own vis and just got the motor for a tumbler of my own. Then I can get hydros as through two of the places that supply our company's welding gas without going through a shop. The one I use for fills is great for that. He gets mixes within a 1% consistently and will give me whatever I want in them. "Good" fills are the norm. But he does not hydro and will wait to get a bunch of tanks to take em to the hydro place so I now use the shop that will take them as he gets them. Hydro and vis on two sets of doubles, two singles, and a stage took a week and half. They were ready when he said they would be and that happened while he was moving his shop! He's also a tech and PSD team instructor and does not like to have a bunch of tanks setting around the shop. He gets htem in and gets them done. And done right more importantly. I would have been pissed and named the place that gave the that kind of run around and the friendship may be one reason they allowed it to happen. Friends don't get pissed at friends so why hurry, Pete will be cool with it. Wookie had the best advice.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

That wouldn't happen at the shop I currently go to. It would happen and has happened at a few shops I used to go to. Those other shops are currently either out of business now or barely clinging to life. Many people I know will drive right past them to get to the shop I currently use.

Were I in your situation, Pete, I would simply stop going there, and as a courtesy make sure the owner knows why.

So many dive shop owners have this odd notion that their customers owe them loyalty ... but not the other way around.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[The Chairman]

I think most of us can logically deduct which shop you're talking about, Pete. If not naming the shop was a true goal, this post is a failure.

You think you know which shop this is. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. You'll never really know and I'm not saying. I spread my money around quite a bit and am friends with many shops. What gives them away here? The lack of service? The excuses? The inability to accept fault?

You see, I was almost willing just to swallow the whole thing and go on. I have since found two places in the Keys and South Florida that can and will do excellent service. But when the owner simply refused to take ANY of the blame and kept shifting it on everyone else (including me) that became the tipping point for this thread. He was kind of abusive about it. Bad call.

 

[The Chairman]

OK,

so far the universal constant in most of these posts is to walk away. That's the easy way out. Yes, I know in my heart of hearts that I am doing just that. Its sad, but I still have three tanks that need to be tumbled. How do you get the message across to your LDS so that this doesn't have to end like this? What can you do to ensure success and not failure? The sad part? I still spent more money with them. Now I wish I hadn't.

 

[ucfdiver]

What gives them away here? The lack of service? The excuses? The inability to accept fault?

Lack of organization lol

 

[Dan G]

I guess the question is, Pete, what is your motivation? Do you want to resolve this with the LDS so they can benefit from an experienced diver, instructor and consumer and unlimately become a better shop? Or, do you want them to see that you are right? I know how both feel, so I am not judging, but if you just want to be right, then walk away and don't use up the emotional energy that comes with that desire.

As an example of how a shop of anykind ought to function, is when my LDS changed a computer battery for me. On my second dive in Coz a week later, it flooded. The dive op had no clue what to do (another story) and could not tell me where to go becuae they claimed no one on Coz could do that type of thing.

I called my LDS. They recommended a shop and said they would reimburse me when I got back home for the expense of a new battery and labor. I was back on the boat for the afternoon tank and never missed a dive. Now that's how you make right a mistake. Not once did they try to ask questions that would have made it seem as if it could have been my fault.

 

[divengolf]

As Frank said, just go to the local one that starts with a "Q".

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

You see, I was almost willing just to swallow the whole thing and go on. I have since found two places in the Keys and South Florida that can and will do excellent service. But when the owner simply refused to take ANY of the blame and kept shifting it on everyone else (including me) that became the tipping point for this thread. He was kind of abusive about it. Bad call.

How do you get the message across to your LDS so that this doesn't have to end like this? What can you do to ensure success and not failure?
.

I don't think there's much of anything you can do if the LDS owner refuses to accept responsibility for the poor customer service. A successful outcome depends on a mutually satisfactory result ... not shifting blame to one party or another.

I see no point in putting effort into justifying poor customer service. Unless there are consequencs, there's no motivation to make it better.

There's gotta be better shops out there ... find one that'll meet your needs.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)