just got my gear "serviced"

[fjpatrum]

So, I bought some old gear and had it serviced by a LDS. I told them that the BC was self inflating, they made a note of it, shipped it off and I got it back in a week, which is standard around here. I got the BC back without any old parts attached even though the receipt said that parts were changed out (second time this has happened to me with this shop). I took it home and a couple of days later I decided to hook it up to a tank and make sure it was fixed. As you've probably guessed, the problem wasn't fixed. So I took a couple minutes to calm down and called the shop to say "WTF??!!" in the nicest way that I could. They told me to bring it in so they could check it out, after quickly determining that it wasn't my fault, they sold me a new inflator minus the cost of parts, (looking back on it I am not sure what I ended up paying labor for...) anyways, the dive shop manager asked me if I wanted to send the old inflator up to the shop (at no cost of course) to see if they could fix it, one week later I received my original inflator, complete with new O-rings in "working" condition. I have yet to test it out.

Just wanted to put this out into the SCUBAsphere and see what bounced back, I am not really sure how pissed I should be, or if I can really trust anyone to service my gear anymore... I don't think that, had the roles been switched, I would have handled it they way the shop did. I am pretty sure they wont see another dollar from me, and I guess I will just have to take this as a lesson learned; even clean looking shops with nice employees cant be trusted by appearance alone, also cheaper does not equal better.

I recommend telling the shop owner exactly what you've said here. It may be the owner already knows the situation, but it might not be the case.

That said, I'd never pay anyone to service a BC in any way shape or form. They're too easy to inspect and service yourself. I think you let them off too easily, to be honest, but then you were there and I wasn't. If you have another shop to deal with, that seems like a good choice.

 

[Bob DBF]

So, I bought some old gear and had it serviced by a LDS. I told them that the BC was self inflating, they made a note of it, shipped it off and I got it back in a week, which is standard around here. QUOTE]

Assuming my DIY solution didn't work on a peice of gear, I wouldn't be taking it to a shop where I couldn't talk to the tech who is going to fix it.



Bob
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I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.

 

[Thalassamania]

The only times I've known gear fail in service was right after it was serviced by a factory approved service technician. Like Wookie, I service my own gear.

 

[Wolfie]

I want to hear more on 2 points
1. "self inflating" is this the old school co2 canister pull the string and shoot to the surface type of self inflating?
2. You mentioned "ship it off" ? If I take my gear to an LDS for service it's because I want to know who is doing the work and thier experience. If I wanted it Shiped off I'd ship it myself to the person that is doing the work! So, did they actually send your stuff to someone else to service?

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I want to hear more on 2 points
1. "self inflating" is this the old school co2 canister pull the string and shoot to the surface type of self inflating?
2. You mentioned "ship it off" ? If I take my gear to an LDS for service it's because I want to know who is doing the work and thier experience. If I wanted it Shiped off I'd ship it myself to the person that is doing the work! So, did they actually send your stuff to someone else to service?

@Wolfie:
1. "Self-inflation" referred to unintentional BCD inflation. I'm fairly certain that the OP has a traditional BCD power inflater. The specific malfunction is, when the inflater hose is connected and the reg pressurized, the power inflater is stuck in the "on" position. This is a common failure mode for power inflaters.
2. Not all dive shops do reg and BCD repairs in-house. Some are forced to send them onto another shop or back to the manufacturer for service. Moreover, there are a few manufacturers that don't deal directly with customers. For example, if a customer has an issue with a Scubapro BCD, he needs to have an authorized Scubapro dealer send it in for him. Essentially, the dive shop plays a middle man role between the customer and manufacturer. That's just the way things are.

 

[diverzach]

I'm new and don't know anything. My uncle, who has done a few thousand dives and is technically inclined does not get his regulators serviced. When he has, they break. He used one for 9 years with no problems and did not have it serviced. He said the key was to take care of it.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

The answer is NO, you cannot trust anyone to properly service your gear.

This does not mean you can't send your gear out to be serviced, but that you need to personally verify the work was done and everything is ship shape before you use it. If you can find a local service tech you trust, that another level of confidence, but you still need to verify. Everyone makes mistakes eventually, but their little mistake can cost you a dive trip or worse.

I don't have the skill nor parts to do an overhaul. I have learned to use the IP gauge, check cracking pressure and open up some covers to look at the condition of the parts, check for leaks in a tub, etc... I keep a spare tank just for testing regs and such before I pack for a trip. Twice I found problems post service, but since I found them before the dive, it was a non-issue.

 

[Thalassamania]

The repair folks that I have never heard of a problem with (which does not mean that they've never had one) is Professional Scuba Repair.

 

[Splitlip]

@Wolfie:

2. Not all dive shops do reg and BCD repairs in-house. Some are forced to send them onto another shop or back to the manufacturer for service. Moreover, there are a few manufacturers that don't deal directly with customers. For example, if a customer has an issue with a Scubapro BCD, he needs to have an authorized Scubapro dealer send it in for him. Essentially, the dive shop plays a middle man role between the customer and manufacturer. That's just the way things are.

Im with Wolfie. I won't take my regs to a shop that ships them out for service. And as far as the Scubapro example cited, the only reason a shop would ship anything back to them would be a warranty issue I imagine.

Having said that, the shop, even though they did not do the service, should have installed or at the very least, given the op the new inflator.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Im with Wolfie. I won't take my regs to a shop that ships them out for service. And as far as the Scubapro example cited, the only reason a shop would ship anything back to them would be a warranty issue I imagine.

Yeah, that's true. Sorry for not making that clear in my previous post. It would be for a warranty issue, e.g., a seam ripped, bladder punctured?, defective weight pocket, "backplate" separating from the BCD, malfunctioning power inflater (not fixable by simple overhaul). My point was that sometimes broken gear needs to be sent "out."