DSS (Deep Sea Supply)---Warning

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My wife has a 10 year old Dyson vacuum. It's infinitely repairable. I have a 1978 Peterson Iranian Coastal Patrol Boat with 1987 MAN diesel engines. My work is to be chief engineer of a 1984 200 foot long Navy research and development boat, and a 1978 95 foot navy research and development boat. We keep them running.

Yes. Some stuff is junk. But I find that stuff built now is way better than stuff built 10 years ago.

I'm not gonna lie, your world is weird dude, but super awesome.
 
I actually do repair my phone (6S) and my wife's (iPhone 4) and radios and all of the scuba gear of course and satellite TV antennas and it's really amazing what can be repaired.

I think the main reason folks don't is that they can buy a new one for near the cost of repair, and then they aren't running old junk.

I type this on a 2009 MacBook Pro which will no longer accept upgrades. It's also my chart plotter. It's gotten a new logic board, battery, and charger. It's connected to my iPhone 6S that has a new battery as a hotspot.

My wife has a 10 year old Dyson vacuum. It's infinitely repairable. I have a 1978 Peterson Iranian Coastal Patrol Boat with 1987 MAN diesel engines. My work is to be chief engineer of a 1984 200 foot long Navy research and development boat, and a 1978 95 foot navy research and development boat. We keep them running.

Yes. Some stuff is junk. But I find that stuff built now is way better than stuff built 10 years ago.


When I grow up, I want to be just like you!!!
 
Yes, actually. I recently repaired my son's Galaxy S8 by taking it apart and replacing the broken screen/digitizer about a month ago. It's been a little longer, but I've repaired my television as well. Both I did by ordering parts online and following instructions I found using google.

Okay, you guys win. If you have the time and patience to do the Googling, somewhere on the Internet there is probably information about how to do the work yourself. I am guessing Samsung didn't design the phone to make it easy for untrained people to repair them like TVs of yore. Come to think of it, just a few years ago I replaced the photosensor in my TV using instructions found online. To get back on topic, I suppose if you are clever enough and skilled enough to repair your smartphone you are the type who would find a way to repair your BC. For the rest of us, assuming we can find someone willing to do the work, we are often going to end up paying half as much as a new one. I don't know what DSS used to charge to replace a wing bladder, but if it was less than half the cost of a new wing, that's just icing on the cake--not something I would expect as a matter of right.

p.s. I should have sent you my Light Monkey HID can light when LM informed me last month that the cost of repair would approach the cost of buying new. An expensive can light (which I bought in used condition but was still expensive) is junk now.
 
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Dive-Rite is a good choice.

Exactly!!! It is a family business that has excellent reputation for quality and customer service and never yell or attack their customers or anyone at all. I have dealt with the wife, father and son since I owned my dive center in NY from the early 90's and they are always respectful, cooperative in addition to the quality and innovation of their product line. Of course, they never closed for months for any reason.
 
Hey guys, OP here. I think this thread has run it's course of being useful. I would respectfully request that we bring it in for a landing. It was never my intention to do any harm to the owner or business of DSS, only to report:

1.) a failure of an essential (to life) piece of scuba equipment (we're not talking tennis racquets or golf clubs here).
2.) apparent unwillingness or inability to back the product (especially when my life is involved), warranty or not, or to let me buy a new one. (Which I never got to request, because the apparent owner was too busy blaming me for his lack of time and disorganization). "I can't help you!!! ..."
3.) how I was treated as a prior customer.

In fact, I would feel culpable if someone's lost their life or at the least, experienced an emergency due to some equipment failure that I had personal knowledge of and that I could have reported in a public forum, but chose not to, to protect someone from personal responsibility. Now that IS criminal.

If that is "thin-skinned," "criminal," or "torpedoing" then we have different values. You live by yours and I'll live by mine.
There are some really great people (most) in this sport who sell great equipment, and who stand by their product (warranty or not--due to potential legal implications, I suppose).

If you are ok buying from, trusting the operation of and loyally supporting DSS, then that is your choice. I just wanted to give a warning, especially to the new or newer divers who may not know THE TRUTH, AS I'VE EXPERIENCED IT about this operation.

To be fair, when I first bought my gear from DSS, the same guy spent a good deal of time with me on the phone. When I asked my newbe questions, though informative, he quickly made me feel stupid (I was a beginner), but that's just how some people (very few, mind you) navigate their world around them. If you knew me and what I did for a living in the Navy, and afterward, I don't think you'd accuse me of having "thin skin," as one or two suggested, or of not caring about people and their success.

If you've done business with DSS and are happy with the quality and design and follow-up service and sales, then I recommend you do what you think you should do. All equipment can fail; and true, a warranty is a warranty. However, good business and customer care is important to if you want to maintain and GROW your business. Perhaps the owner is fine with just selling a dozen bp/wings and some nuts and bolts per week and call it good, but then that's more a hobby than a business.

Many of your posts were helpful; some were not. Some were just ignorant. As for me, I'm done with DSS. I have much to learn about this sport and am humbled by the vast cumulative knowledge represented here. There are just so many really great people who dive, sell equipment and organize trips and instruct than to spend time with those who are abusive or jerks.

As a senior, I don't have as many diving years remaining as some of you, but of all the sports I've engaged in over my lifetime, it is the one I wish I'd learned so much earlier. I've spent a ton of time in Florida, California, Guam, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, the Philippines, Diego Garcia, Greece, Italy and much of West Pac! Actually, many places I dove had no Scuba centers within hundreds of miles! What an amazing world we get to witness under water! Amazing friendships, experiences and well-being.

To dive buddies past and present and future, safe and amazing diving...

Skyflyer
 
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Tobins attitude in a nutshell. I find it entertaining honestly.
 
Bought a TV lately? A phone? Outside of warranty, they MIGHT be repairable for a hundred bucks or more. It's all junk, not designed to last forever, even though its costs hundreds of dollars. Dive gear, being simpler and more generic in design, is more likely to be repairable, but my point was that we can't really count on that.

A wing is more like a automobile tire than a phone.
 
p.s. I should have sent you my Light Monkey HID can light when LM informed me last month that the cost of repair would approach the cost of buying new. An expensive can light (which I bought in used condition but was still expensive) is junk now.

Generally I do my own maintenance on stuff like that if I've got the time. The components are pretty cheap, usually. Depends on what the problem is. If I were going to be in country for longer I'd throw it on the bench and take a look for you.

As to the electronics repair stuff, most manufacturers try very hard to limit the amount of repair that a consumer can do. Check out Louis Rossman's youtube channel for some interesting perspective on it. Particularly how Apple limits their own authorized repair centers, artificially inflates the price of repair components, and actively goes after independent repair shops. He does component level repair of primarily Macbooks, but does a lot of work with a woman who owns iPad Rehab, another independent repair shop specializing in phones.

Interestingly enough, most phones can be repaired by simple parts replacement. Short of trying to recover data due to a logic board repair, most of it only takes a little patience and a couple small tools.
 
Okay, you guys win. If you have the time and patience to do the Googling, somewhere on the Internet there is probably information about how to do the work yourself. I am guessing Samsung didn't design the phone to make it easy for untrained people to repair them like TVs of yore. Come to think of it, just a few years ago I replaced the photosensor in my TV using instructions found online. To get back on topic, I suppose if you are clever enough and skilled enough to repair your smartphone you are the type who would find a way to repair your BC. For the rest of us, assuming we can find someone willing to do the work, we are often going to end up paying half as much as a new one. I don't know what DSS used to charge to replace a wing bladder, but if it was less than half the cost of a new wing, that's just icing on the cake--not something I would expect as a matter of right.

p.s. I should have sent you my Light Monkey HID can light when LM informed me last month that the cost of repair would approach the cost of buying new. An expensive can light (which I bought in used condition but was still expensive) is junk now.

I've got 2 very well maintained, barely dove LM 21 Watt HIDs I'm selling. Both still have full battery life at last burn test a few months ago. We dive LEDs now but kept these are our lights for crappy viz and just never use them.

Message me if you have any interest.
 

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