MaxE
Contributor
This has been a constant struggle for me. I have two local dive shops. One I was certified with and bought a ton of gear from, they changed owners and just before the transition I had some really poor service and stopped going there. The other initially turned me off, the normal crap, “those tanks are illegal” if they are over 20years old, I brought some old atomic regs in and was told I should just buy new ones.
The funny part is the regs are what I had serviced and turned me off to the 1st shop, the reg tech at the 2nd shop that told me to buy new ones fixed them and said they would last forever, asked why I did not bring to him in the first place. Well they have a pool, do kids swim lessons and are much closer, I spend lots of time and money there. The relationship has grown and improved. I was in the marked for a new rather expensive piece of equipment from a manufacturer that has “very strict” MAP pricing. The shop I currently go to is not a dealer, my original shop is. I went and asked if when they have store wide sales would the item I want be included. I explained I wanted to support them, I ended up buying local and was very satisfied with what they did to earn my business
The funny part is the regs are what I had serviced and turned me off to the 1st shop, the reg tech at the 2nd shop that told me to buy new ones fixed them and said they would last forever, asked why I did not bring to him in the first place. Well they have a pool, do kids swim lessons and are much closer, I spend lots of time and money there. The relationship has grown and improved. I was in the marked for a new rather expensive piece of equipment from a manufacturer that has “very strict” MAP pricing. The shop I currently go to is not a dealer, my original shop is. I went and asked if when they have store wide sales would the item I want be included. I explained I wanted to support them, I ended up buying local and was very satisfied with what they did to earn my business