Great experience with LDS and gear purchase <long>

[ScubaPaul]

I want to share a positive experience with a LDS here in Richmond, VA, and some mistakes I made before I met them (and this board!)..

First, I am not yet certified, but will be soon as I, my wife, and son will be doing our open water cert dives within the next week (YEAH), and we'll be off to Cozumel for 12 days at the end of the month.

Prior to beginning instruction, I read all I could on equipment (prior to meeting this particular LDS), and I decided I would put together a set of equipment based on info found in Scuba Diving magazine's gear review.. I wanted to own our equipment, and I figured that if Rodale labeled it as a testers choice/best buy, I couldn't go wrong right?!

Next, being an Internet savvy consumer, I researched prices locally, and then online, and settled on Leisure Pro for my purchase.. my order was a significant one, as I basically bought masks, fins, snorkels, regs, octo's bc's, and dive computers for 3 people (ok, be nice please.. I have since learned to at least try stuff out to determine if it fits, I like it, etc). The order arrived within 3 or 4 days, and I have to say, Leisure Pro provided excellent customer service, a very accurate order, and was very professional throughout my purchase and delivery..

As I began looking for a good LDS locations around Richmond with which to do our training, I was able to find one near our home with staff that I found very professional. As we discussed the course, and what I had as far as gear, I told the owner what I had purchased.. he took a deep breath, asked me to itemize what I had bought, and then asked me to bring the gear in so he could review it with me and point out features that were important(the equipment I purchased BTW was Apex TX100 regs w/ t20 octo, nautica bc's, and the Aeris Atmos Pro computer console with compass).

I went back the next day with the equipment...and over the next 2 hours, the owner proceeded to provide a real education on equipment, what to look for and why, what warranty issues would arise with the equipment (turned out that only warranty on regs and computer was LeisurePro), and also why I should wait to buy my equipment until at least I could physically try stuff out! The LDS sold Zeagle equipment, and in the case of the BC, there was a distinct difference between the Dacor and Zeagle products (both in quality and price)..the owner also told me about the lifetime warranty's, yearly cleaning and part replacement on the regs, and how he stocked most parts needed to maintain equipment with minimal down time. During this time, he was careful not to slam my purchases too much, and I appreciated that

Now here is the part that really surprised me.. he said if I were to return the equipment, take some time to try out equipment, that he would match the pricing of LeisurePro on anything that I bought! I decided that this was a very fair offer, and that I would send the equipment back (except mask, fins, and snorkels which were fine). I received a prompt refund from LeisurePro (after going through 2 managers to get the RMA), and began buying equipment from the LDS during the course of our training.. each time, he has charged the same price as LeisurePro advertises on their website (as agreed). We finally ended up with the following equipment..

Zeagle BC's (Concept II Pro & Escapes)
Zeagle Flathead VI regs, Octo+ MK
Aeris 500 AI computers

I am pleasantly surprised with our experience and the shop has earned a loyal customer. I am not sure he will always offer to match Internet pricing, but his willingness to do it on a significant order saved us money, and the time he spent teaching us important features and benefits of various types of equipment was much appreciated.


Happy Diving,

Paul

 

[waterdogs]

That is truly a good story, and your LDS should be commended not only for taking the time out to review your original purchase, and not slam where you bought it, but also to match competitions prices.

Sounds like this LDS is one where you are going to get great advice, great instruction and where I would spend my money knowing they were truly a fair operator.

Great to hear the good news, and tell the LDS way to go.

waterdogs.

 

[Dryglove]

Now that is a good dive shop.I wish all shops were like that and not gouge the customer and work with them.But i do have to say i would never expect my dive shop to match leisure pro.It would be nice if they would, but i think they would go broke.

 

[ScubaPaul]

lal7176:

I agree with you 100%. Since the base purchases, I've dumped another mint on stuff like wetsuits, custom mouthpieces (for son with braces), knives, lights, sausages, etc., etc., etc., and I haven't asked him to reduce his prices on those (though he typically does discount some 10-20%). He basically indicated for me to tell him when the price was going to make me go somewhere else and we would work it out.

It really helped on that initial purchase for the 3 sets of gear though. I asked him how he could do that, and he indicated he was still making a profit, and that the quantity and assuring our future business (cert class and Nitrox so far) made up for it.

Paul

 

[Jonathan]

great stuff - sounds like you've found a good one.

But then I am prepared to bet that there are more good ones out there than people care to mention. I read somewhere that if you have bad experience you tell on average 7 people (survey was before the internet and bulletin boards!) but if you have a good experience you only tell 3 people. Wouldn't the world be a better place if it was the other way round?

Enjoy your diving and your LDS
Jonathan

 

[WetDane]

Paul -
Congratulations - if I was you - I would stick with that dive shop like it was my own.
You used a term we seldom hear - a loyal customer - that is what will make this guy survive, because you know that he will not only treat you right - he will go out of his way to do so.

Jonathan,
You have hit the nail on the head with your question.
As a matter of fact it becomes even more scary - there is gradations of how "dissatisfied" a customer is - and they sort of correlate to how many people on average the unhappy customer will tell how unhapy s/he is...
Now for the scary part - on the other end of the scale we have "satisfied customer"! End of story. That's it.

I think of it this way - if I'm satisfied at a restaurant - I may or may not come back - statisfied does not equal that the food was good - but I may be full... What they really need to strive for are Loyal customers - People who will go out of their way to come back - customers who will tell others that they have never been treated better or more fairly. When I think about these things - it really seems logical - but for some reason, a lot of LDS trreat their customers badly for todays profit - that is short sighted and will eventually shut them down if you ask me...

Big T

 

[WetDane]

Paul,

Woudl you PM me - I would like to know who that shop is - I wouldn't mind talking to the owner and finding out how he sees things - and I'll be more than happy to tell him how I heard about him.

Big T