Gear service late due to local dive shop incompetance

[khemicals]

Greetings,

I bought some gear from scubatoys, had a wonderful transaction. I would recommend them to others. We got a pair of zeagle brigades and zeagle flathead VI regs. Again, they work great. Our alternate air sources are TUSA's.

So, we bought the gear on June 6 last year. I did my research online, and found a shop in the Cincinnati, OH area that would service the gear (authorized for both zeagle and tusa) for about $60/set (BCDs and Regulator setups) from the phone call I had with them. So, I had my wife drop the gear off on June 2 (5 days ago) at the Underwater World Scuba Center.

Today, not too long ago, I get a call from their tech, don't recall his name offhand, indicating that they will service the gear, but since I didn't buy from them they are going to charge me more for the service (~$120/set instead of $60), plus another $40+ for parts, since I wasn't in their serial number database, despite knowing that the gear could be serviced at any authorized reseller under the warranty for the cost of service only.

If a dealer wants to charge more for servicing gear that wasn't bought at their store, I understand, but they should have told me first. But, charging for parts that are certainly covered, and I believe Zeagle would provide to them for free, is either ignorance, or fraud. It would make me happy if Zeagle could take some action against them for their poor handling of a Zeagle customer.

I just got off the phone with Scuba Toys and they said they'd service the gear without issue, despite now being technically out of warranty, and as I have read from others, their techs are trusted. So, perhaps I am better off this way anyways. But do be aware of this difficulty when buying any gear online, but frankly, I don't want to deal with my local dive centers if they are going to try to always rip me off. Car dealerships certainly don't charge more to service a car you did or didn't buy from them in general.

If this post is in the wrong place, feel free to move it, but I didn't find a good place to put it, and frankly, it does apply to the zeagle gear a bit, but more so as a recommendation to not deal business with Underwater World Scuba Center, they certainly don't have the price right, nor do they have their information straight.

Thank you,

David Burley

 

[H2Andy]

ah, the games some shops play

i would say never spend a penny in that shop again. i would call them and let
them know that, and explain why instead of gaining a customer, they just
lost one.

they want to play hardball? throw it right back at them.

 

[munkispank]

That sounds steep even out of warranty- I paid $60 a set at my LDC for a full service including parts for a reg set I bought online. I know that doesn;t really help you now, but thought I would agree with Andy that you should leave this place alone in the future.

 

[ScottZeagle]

David -

While I cannot tell the shop what to charge for the service and labor, the parts should be free.

I will have the sales rep for that area contact them and make sure they understand the policy. It may just be a simple misunderstanding...

Thanks for the post. This is just as good a spot as any, and easy for me to find!!

Scott

 

[The Chairman]

Scott,

WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP SO LATE???

Khemicals,

The issue is not with buying from ScubaToys or ANY Internet retailer: it's with the particular dive shop. They are making doing business with them way too hard. That's never good! Doing business should always be easy.

 

[The Chairman]

BTW,

the shop delayed your gear not through incompetence, but through their archaic policy. Incompetence implies that they can't fix it and that is not the question here.

 

[AXL72]

Sorry to hear the situation.

Had you considered sending the equipment to Scubatoys for them to service the regs and such?

Just remember, if you wanted to give your money away for charity, you would give it to Salvation Army as opposed to JoeBlows Dive Shop (Actual dive shop name removed so as not to make 'em cry).

 

[DiveMaven]

I bought my Zeagle regs (and most of my other stuff) from ScubaToys and it can't be any easier to send my regs to them for service. It's basically $40 plus shipping, which for me still comes out cheaper than taking them to my LDS for service.

I always thought that as long as you had your regs serviced within 30 days of the anniversary of the purchase that the warranty was still valid. What's the scoop Scott?

 

[oly5050user]

David -

While I cannot tell the shop what to charge for the service and labor, the parts should be free.

I will have the sales rep for that area contact them and make sure they understand the policy. It may just be a simple misunderstanding...

Thanks for the post. This is just as good a spot as any, and easy for me to find!!

Scott

what is Zeaglrs policy for internet/mail/telephone sales? if it is like other manufacturers is it not that if customer did not physically walk into LDS to purchase the equipment that the sale is not authorized?thereby no warrenty? I do not know Zeagles dealer policies but do know others..

 

[ScottZeagle]

Our policy is that the regulator needs to be serviced annually in order to take advantage of the "free parts" program. If you miss that "magical date" by a day or three, we aren't going to make an issue of it....life happens.

Oly - Zeagle allows our dealers to sell online. If you buy a Zeagle product through any authorized dealer it will have a warranty.

Thanks,

Scott