Groupon Deal - is this course recommended?

[ScubaSteve1962]

I agree completely there is nothing wrong with getting you in for OW and selling you more later. I think it is pretty much the topic of this thread to investigate if a dive shop can make money doing this, sounds like in your experience it can.

Losing money on the OW is probably too risky, but perhaps breaking even on the OW might be worthwhile.

Yes they can, but they gave me great customer service, that made the difference. Hope this shop does the same for them. You know if they're offering AOW with OW they're hoping they will buy their gear from them. :idea:

 

[nimoh]

I agree, the only possible way to make it work is through customer service

 

[captjohnr]

Groupon Spams the internet with cut rate, deceptive advertising, that is killing the legitimate scuba business in Florida.


Groupon has made these comments to me… ‘our strict screening process…. We pride ourselves on featuring only the best of the best’


Groupon’ s 'best of the best' is cut rate, deceptive ads by Merchants with a history of Boats that kill instructors - Air that kill Divers - Tanks that explode/kill.


• Death Ft Myers diver dies [Archive] - ScubaBoard
• Death Bad Air in Key Largo: Undercurrent 01/1998
• Death Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Google News Archive Search
• Death tank painting [Archive] - ScubaBoard
• Death http://www.tampabay.com/news/public...urg-scuba-tank-blast-turns-to-missing/1191615
• Scuba West Deal of the Day | Groupon Tampa Bay Area ; Scuba Quest Deal of the Day | Groupon Tampa Bay Area;


The scuba deaths above are a prologue of the future. Groupon has advertised these loser merchants in Central Florida monthly for over a year.


Groupon Spams the internet with cut rate, deceptive advertising, that is killing the legitimate scuba business in Florida.


It won't be long before someone is hurt in a Groupon Deal and C cards issued by Florida Groupon Merchants are suspect.


I Do Not Recommend Groupon Scuba Deals.

Sunsation ~ Scuba Tampa/Scuba Orlando/Scuba Crystal River ><(((*>

Captain John L. Russell 3
MDEA Instructor Evaluator/Course Director 2098
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Sunsation Divers ~ Site Tampa
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[nimoh]

OK, so you have a problem with these shops that continue to operate despite some negligent behavior in the past that had catastrophic consequences.

Then, you think Groupon should be shut down because the associate with these shops.

I didn't read through all of the examples you included, but some of these shops are PADI endorsed facilities. Should PADI also be shut down also?

 

[tech_diver]

I may be revealing some basic ignorance because I don't do Groupon, however I've read through all these Groupon threads and I'm still unclear on what all the hate is about.

It was my understanding that Groupon was just an online co-operative promotions site. How is it any different from any other co-op promotion a group of stores might do? Is two-for-one certifications any different that a groupon coupon? Some stores in some areas do co-op promos from time to time (I've even seen stores co-op local tv advertising).

Again, I know nothing about groupon but I'm reading these posts about death and eco-destruction and I'm trying to see what's the deal.

How does a person with a groupon coupon different than a person with a coupon issued directly through the retailer?

Not trolling, really, just very curious...

 

[Kingpatzer]

Groupon's business model encourages, and even requires, that shops who provide classes through them are going to have to cut their standards to the bone in order to come close to making a profit -- and even then, they're probably going to be dependent upon additional off-coupon sales in order to make a buck. Basically, Groupon is creating loss-leader deals in huge volume.

http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/doing-the-math-on-a-groupon-deal/
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6600.html

Because the scuba business has a very low repeat customer rate in the first place, and because of limits on class sizes and restrictions on staff to student ratios, and because of a host of other factors, this sort of "deal" is not sustainable in the Scuba industry. But that doesn't stop poor business owners from making poor business decisions. But the folks who really are forced to suffer in these cases are the customers.

 

[nimoh]

Groupon's business model encourages, and even requires, that shops who provide classes through them are going to have to cut their standards to the bone in order to come close to making a profit -- and even then, they're probably going to be dependent upon additional off-coupon sales in order to make a buck.

I can agree with that, except for the "requires" part, the store is free to lose money and try to make up the money later, so I think "encourages" is more accurate.

However, I still don't see how the problem is with Groupon. It is the shop that creates the deal on Groupon, sets the price, and determines what (if any) standards will be compromised. Groupon is pretty much just handling the advertising.

As tech_diver put it: "How does a person with a groupon coupon different than a person with a coupon issued directly through the retailer?"

Don't get me wrong, I don't believe that scuba instruction should be discounted (it is already discounted too much). However, if standards are being compromised because of discounting, I think the issue is between the diver, the shop and the agency, and the problem is the shop.

 

[Kingpatzer]

As tech_diver put it: "How does a person with a groupon coupon different than a person with a coupon issued directly through the retailer?"

Don't get me wrong, I don't believe that scuba instruction should be discounted (it is already discounted too much). However, if standards are being compromised because of discounting, I think the issue is between the diver, the shop and the agency, and the problem is the shop.

The answer to the first question is that a Groupon discount costs the shop more than the value of the discount. Much more! If you read the associated links in my post you'll see how.

I agree that the problem is with the shop in question being run poorly. And that's sort of my point. If a shop is going to use Groupon, that is a clear signal (as Groupon currently is structured) that either the shop is going to be losing a huge amount of money on you, so you have to wonder where they'll make it up, or they're going to have to cut something in order to stay in business. Well, what is there to cut beyond the amount of time and care they take with their students?!

 

[nimoh]

I think we are getting somewhere, my current thought on the subject is that the shop is the problem, and Groupon is a red flag.

I took a quick scan of the articles in your links, and it seems to me that Groupon is up front about the costs of using Groupon, it makes me wonder why any retailer would want to use Groupon, but I don't see anything deceptive.

 

[ScubaSteve1962]

Why is everyone jumping on Groupon and the shop. With this shop being in Canada, there probably is a very long down season for diving. It's just a small business trying to stay in business, by any means necessary. Yes they probably know they will loose money on the lessons, but hoping they make it up on the gear and repeat sales, and setting up travel for their students. Just because something is on sale doesn't mean that the quality isn't the same. If I buy a truck at the beginning of the model year I'm going to pay full price for it, but if I wait until the end of the model year, I will save thousands, does that mean one is inferior?? And once in the class does that mean everyone used Groupon?? So will the students who didn't use groupon get better lessons than the ones that didn't? You know the things about most things unless everyones had a bad experience with it, you don't find out until after the fact that, and everyone isn't going to happy with everything. Even the best instructors get complaints sometimes. I know the post was about Groupon, but he would have been better off if he asked about the shop.