violakat03
Contributor
Here's my situation:
My husband and I are taking a beginning dive class with a local community college. The instructors are all from a LDS, and we have been going there for all our equipment needs. However, I feel that we are far overpaying for things we could easily get online for much cheaper or perhaps be looking at different brands. They pretty much strictly carry ScubaPro and Aqua Lung. We so far have purchased masks, fins, snorkels and boots (total for both of us: around $700!!) and a BC for me (Ladies ScubaPro Diva with Air II, total around $750). We cannot afford to purchase any more equipment at these prices and would really like to have our own stuff, but the LDS owner (who is the lead instructor of the class) is really pushing us to only buy from a store, and pushing us to buy certain products. He really tries to make you scared of buying anything online or used and any of the products he doesn't sell. This makes me very uncomfortable and makes me wonder, should I spending all this money in his store when I feel like he's pushing me into his certain products? When I had a legitimate question about a wetsuit (I'm a plus sized girl and an Aqua Lung Men's hyper-stretch did not fit me - too loose at the neck because of my chest size) and an answer I had found online, he waved it off as BS and pointed me to one of his high-priced suits - which also did not fit.
I'd really like to be able to purchase our own equipment without breaking the bank. If we go through his store, we're looking at $300 EACH for wetsuits (3mm full suit - $600 each for 5 mm), $1000 for computer (because they push that you should spend more now instead of re-buying later) and $1000 each for regs (Legend, I believe Aqua Lung?) - this is way beyond our reach, we've pretty much tapped ourselves out just buying my BC and our masks/fins/snorkels. Even if we go with the cheapest models he sells, we'll be looking at $500 for computers and $500 for regs, each.
Another couple in our class (who we are car-pooling with us to the checkout dives and want to do two extra dives after we get our certs) recently purchased a lot of their equipment online, and the instructor had some really not-nice things to say about that (would you trust something your life depended on that you bought from eBay, etc) and that just really rubbed me the wrong way. When I told him I saw the same wet suit he was selling for $300 on Scuba.com for $150, he talked a lot of smack about Scuba.com and the fact they aren't authorized dealers, etc, and that I'd be wasting my money going through them. This makes no sense, when Scuba.com lists all of their authorized products with links back to the manufacturer's website - and besides, I was looking at wetsuit! (Henderson, btw) Basically, I'm just very leery of taking everything he says at face value, obviously as a business owner he's going to fight for every customer he can get, especially in the day of net shopping, but he's gotten to the point where I'm getting uncomfortable discussing equipment with him because he pushes certain products so much.
What are your opinions? Should I trust the dive shop owner, who has been in the business for 20 years, been diving for 40, and has over 5000 dives to his credit? Or is it truly safe and more financially feasible to buy less "name brand" products, buy used, and buy things online?
My husband and I are taking a beginning dive class with a local community college. The instructors are all from a LDS, and we have been going there for all our equipment needs. However, I feel that we are far overpaying for things we could easily get online for much cheaper or perhaps be looking at different brands. They pretty much strictly carry ScubaPro and Aqua Lung. We so far have purchased masks, fins, snorkels and boots (total for both of us: around $700!!) and a BC for me (Ladies ScubaPro Diva with Air II, total around $750). We cannot afford to purchase any more equipment at these prices and would really like to have our own stuff, but the LDS owner (who is the lead instructor of the class) is really pushing us to only buy from a store, and pushing us to buy certain products. He really tries to make you scared of buying anything online or used and any of the products he doesn't sell. This makes me very uncomfortable and makes me wonder, should I spending all this money in his store when I feel like he's pushing me into his certain products? When I had a legitimate question about a wetsuit (I'm a plus sized girl and an Aqua Lung Men's hyper-stretch did not fit me - too loose at the neck because of my chest size) and an answer I had found online, he waved it off as BS and pointed me to one of his high-priced suits - which also did not fit.
I'd really like to be able to purchase our own equipment without breaking the bank. If we go through his store, we're looking at $300 EACH for wetsuits (3mm full suit - $600 each for 5 mm), $1000 for computer (because they push that you should spend more now instead of re-buying later) and $1000 each for regs (Legend, I believe Aqua Lung?) - this is way beyond our reach, we've pretty much tapped ourselves out just buying my BC and our masks/fins/snorkels. Even if we go with the cheapest models he sells, we'll be looking at $500 for computers and $500 for regs, each.
Another couple in our class (who we are car-pooling with us to the checkout dives and want to do two extra dives after we get our certs) recently purchased a lot of their equipment online, and the instructor had some really not-nice things to say about that (would you trust something your life depended on that you bought from eBay, etc) and that just really rubbed me the wrong way. When I told him I saw the same wet suit he was selling for $300 on Scuba.com for $150, he talked a lot of smack about Scuba.com and the fact they aren't authorized dealers, etc, and that I'd be wasting my money going through them. This makes no sense, when Scuba.com lists all of their authorized products with links back to the manufacturer's website - and besides, I was looking at wetsuit! (Henderson, btw) Basically, I'm just very leery of taking everything he says at face value, obviously as a business owner he's going to fight for every customer he can get, especially in the day of net shopping, but he's gotten to the point where I'm getting uncomfortable discussing equipment with him because he pushes certain products so much.
What are your opinions? Should I trust the dive shop owner, who has been in the business for 20 years, been diving for 40, and has over 5000 dives to his credit? Or is it truly safe and more financially feasible to buy less "name brand" products, buy used, and buy things online?
All of our customers are pretty much an extension of our dive buddies and friends Dont settle for less because he tells you that you have to listen to him....Find a good shop that takes care of you
