Equipment Training vs Equipment Manuals...

[DiveGearExpress]

It is sometimes difficult to draw the line between what is within the domain of training with the dive instructor, and what is simple education by the suppler regarding equipment features. Unfortunately, the global pandemic has accelerated the shift from store to online by perhaps as much as ten years and further highlights a 'gray area' between the two.

The training agencies and their instructors generally take the position that dive equipment assembly and use is part of the training. The (perhaps archaic) thinking has been that providing the raw information on how to use the equipment, without the benefit of individual instruction, invites the user to exceed their skills and training. A frequently heard opinion is the internet can't or shouldn't attempt to provide dive equipment instruction. In the early days, our Dive Gear Express customers were highly trained and very experienced divers. In the last few months, we have encountered several customers unable to perform tasks as fundamental as assemble their new bcd onto a tank. We have received a complaint about a defective regulator because the customer didn't understand they needed to open the valve on the tank. We have had customers who didn't understand that a light will flood if you disassemble it underwater.

What is our responsibility to the customer? Should we produce ever more detailed manuals and videos to explain without supervision, or is the more responsible action instead to direct the customer to seek more individual training and/or mentoring (which usually just makes them angry because our documentation is "inadequate".)

 

[cruisekingkris]

I took a written test for a learners permit and to be allowed to take a road test to obtain a drivers license. when I bought a Jeep Wrangler I didn’t ask Jeep how to put the turn signal on and change lanes in their product.

When ordering a car from Carvana, do they show you how the radio works and where the gas latch is?

I believe it’s all in the training and experience.

DGE, keep doing you. It’s worked to success this far.


Just my 2 cents

 

[tbone1004]

@DiveGearExpress what is ironic is that the "archaic" thinking is actually the most recent thinking but not the original thinking.. Back in the dark ages in the 60's/70's the regulators all came with full parts explosion diagrams and the full repair manuals. In the 80's they went to the current model which is obviously archaic, but it's interesting that the industry went from full repair manuals, to forbidding end users from repairing their own gear, and it is now swinging back the other way.

 

[_Ralph]

@DiveGearExpress what is ironic is that the "archaic" thinking is actually the most recent thinking but not the original thinking.. Back in the dark ages in the 60's/70's the regulators all came with full parts explosion diagrams and the full repair manuals. In the 80's they went to the current model which is obviously archaic, but it's interesting that the industry went from full repair manuals, to forbidding end users from repairing their own gear, and it is now swinging back the other way.

I’d be ecstatic if manuals all had a exploded view, and possibly a small section on tuning (in the case of regulators).

Doesn’t need to be a full repair manual, but in case something does fall apart (ie, dump valve on a BC), you know where, and how many ‘bits and pieces’ you should hopefully have in your possession....


_R

 

[Lostdiver71]

Unfortunately producing more detailed manuals and videos will probably not help as most of the people you are having these issues with will not bother to read the manual or view the video. They are already not viewing the existing videos that are already out there. A simple internet search or actually reading the description on your website would tell them that a strobe light is a light that flashes! If they don't know to turn the tank on they shouldn't be diving either!

 

[Ana]

We have had customers who didn't understand that a light will flood if you disassemble it underwater.

No amount of training by manuals or instructors will fix that.

I imagine is better if you don't call them stupid when dealing with them but that's the reality of your business, maybe karma for closing fill express ? (sorry couldn't help myself)

 

[BoltSnap]

the more responsible action instead to direct the customer to seek more individual training and/or mentoring (which usually just makes them angry because our documentation is "inadequate".)

The responsible and professional response and action from your side is to do just that, nothing much more. If you take on the role of the instructor and mentor, you are also taking on their respective liability remotely. If the customer doesn't know how to put a regulator on a tank, one needs to ask himself, what else the customer doesn't know and can possibly hurt him?

 

[Akimbo]

We have received a complaint about a defective regulator because the customer didn't understand they needed to open the valve on the tank.

I see no reason to provide more documentation than major manufacturers like Aqua Lung and ScubaPro.

 

[greeniguana]

Frankly, I've always been impressed with all the "TekTips" DGX has their web pages. They are far and above more informative than anything other retail places provide. Someone had to put in gobs of man hours to write them all. And we're not talking piddly "how to" stuff. They wrote a whole comparison of deco algorithms!

 

[Bigbella]

Even the scuba companies themselves and their training methods have changed -- have become greatly simplified over the years.

When I took my first manufacturer's course on regulator maintenance, there was a brief written portion on troubleshooting, and a few dodgy multiple choice questions to answer. I had taken along my manuals, the size of a Manhattan phone directory, and hung out that night before, taking notes -- expecting something rigorous, for the refresher, that following morning.

While we were required to disassemble and reassemble a few regulators, we were never required to attach any of them to test boxes or even tanks, to actually tune them, as we had in the past; or verify anything; and only had to prove that we could operate a screwdriver; a couple of specialty tools; and didn't wind up with extra pieces.

Everything was basically done, hand-tightened; and none of the students even had access to a torque wrench.

The instructor did the whole process with the aid of an overhead projector, and we were to duplicate it. He tuned a regulator or two with a test box; but the closest we ever got to it, first hand, was on our way, out of the door of a Marriott conference room . . .