Gear Service - LDS or Factory

[cadiver67]

Hello All,

Do you take you gear to your local dive shop for service or send it to the factory.

I have an Oceanic Computer and Oceanic Regulator.

Oceanic will do a complete factory overhaul (at least thats what they call it, who knows what it consists of) in 5 to 10 days for about $75 - $100 for the Reg and $30 - $60 for the Computer.

I wonder if it is any better to have it done by an "Oceanic Factory Technician" then my LDS.

One thing though - at Oceanic they work on only Oceanic Products all day long.

What do ya think?

cadiver67

 

[drglnc]

If the lds is a dealer than they have the oceanic cert to maintain your gear. There isnt much to an over haul, cleaning replacing o rings and a few misc small parts. if you don't trust them to do this basic maintanence than they shouldnt be YOUR lds.

the other thing to consider would be cost and time. how ofton do you dive? is 10 days with out your gear a hassle and how about the cost to ship it?

 

[dmmike]

cadiver67,

IMHO. I've always used my LDS, for me this has had many pluses. First, by being a steady customer he always get my gear done quickly , and has done some rush service for me also:shakehead . Second, after the gear has been serviced, if it needs a small adjustment, its no problem, and no charge, typical done the same day.

Also, by using my LDS I know the person touching my gear .

 

[redacted]

If your LDS has a good tech, you should get just as good a job done with less cost and less hassle. Unfortunately, not all LDSs have good techs.

Shop around and see if you can find an LDS that you are comfortable with.

 

[Damselfish]

seems expensive unless it's something more than annual service. Not sure what this even means for a computer. Maybe they want to make factory service available as a last ditch option, but not undercut their dealers. Just speculating here.

 

[Michael Schlink]

Tske a look at your LDS's work bench area, and ask a few questions about who is actually going to be working on your regs. I'm picky about who works on my regs.

 

[erparamedic]

I have one LDS that gets ALL my business... frankly, I've never even set foot in another store. You just can't beat the service that you get at this LDS. The owner is exceptional! He gets all my purchases, had done my class, and both my hubby's classes (and with luck, he will be doing AOW for me soon). He also KNOWS the gear that he sells, will gladly answer your questions, and never pressures you into buying. When servicing gear, I know who is working on it, and trust the job he does.

DSIW is an exceptional dive shop with an exceptional owner!

 

[cadiver67]

Thanks for the input -

My LDS guy is the nicest person in the world and I am extremely faithfull to the shop when it comes to purchases.

From your comments it looks like he will be getting our gear service business too.

He seems very knowledgeable and competent, I just didn't know if one was better then the other.

My wife and I are still pretty new and this will be the first time we have our stuff serviced.

Thanks again,
cadiver67

 

[1RUSTYRIG]

I took my wife's regs and mine into the LDS for service prior to going to Belize this past June. It was the first, and last time, I will ever use my LDS again. One, they were horribly over priced for servicing ($150 per) and they didn't get it done in the time frame promised. Also, I ordered the USB cable for my ATMOS II computer and they had to order it in (which I could have done off the net for 1/2 the price). The new guy the owner hired is TOTALLY obnoxious as well.

From now one I will be boxing my rig up and shipping it back to scuba.com for servicing. I have always gotten great customer service from those guys.

Kevin