LDS Disillusionment

[fashionablylate]

New to the diving community, I purchased all of my equipment from the LDS after they advised me that it wasn't "safe" to buy equipment from the Internet. Now a month later, I learned about LP, and it didn't take long to discover that I would have saved over 1000 dollars had I purchased from LP instead of the LDS.
I fully appreciate the sentiment about supporting the LDS, but when the disparity is that great...I have to wonder what I'm "getting" in return for supporting the LDS, apart from a hole in my wallet.
Someone convince me that I'm doing the right thing by continuing to support the LDS, please, so I can stop kicking myself for spending substantially more than I needed to.

 

[Whitelightnin]

Well, for starters, if your LDS is a good one, you will have a place that treats you like your a person & not just a wallet. Second, since you bought your gear there, they should cut you some slack on servicing the gear and possibly some on future purchases. Third, there is always the 50 million questions you will come up with in the next few months. They should be willing to help you out with suggestions & advice & such at no charge.

Was it worth the extra $1000 ? It just depends on the LDS. If it is a good one, it will probally pan out in the future. If it is not a good one ...

James

 

[gfisher4792]

Try this thread on for size: http://www.scubaboard.com/t16300.html though, if I were you, I'd skip to the last couple of pages (as the thread covers from 2001 to Aug 2004). Personally, I purchase stuff both from my LDS and the internet, though I've been buying more from Scubatoys and Scuba.com lately, as both come with full manufacturers' warranties, whereas LP stuff doesn't (other than the LP warranty). You can try this thread also: http://www.scubaboard.com/t64520.html

 

[scubasean]

Well, for starters, if your LDS is a good one, you will have a place that treats you like your a person & not just a wallet.

What does this mean? That they will welcome you back in the door and talk with you? I don't think it matters where you purchased the gear, all LDS's who want to make money will welcome you and your wallet back...whether you spent money at the earlier time or not.

As for cutting you some slack, they can, and some do, cut you slack even on the first purchase. There is alot of margin, esp. if you are purchasing several items. whether that margin and their overhead allows them to make money is a function of how well the store is run, and the volume of sales.

I buy off the internet and in the LDS, and both welcome me back each time with open cash registers...

As for the original post, please don't look backwards; look forwards...If you are just looking at price, you will always be finding a cheaper price, in car shops, kitchen appliances, etc. If you think you didn't get the best deal this time, look longer and harder next time.

Above all, enjoy your new gear and have fun diving...

 

[jiveturkey]

As for the original post, please don't look backwards; look forwards...If you are just looking at price, you will always be finding a cheaper price, in car shops, kitchen appliances, etc. If you think you didn't get the best deal this time, look longer and harder next time.

Above all, enjoy your new gear and have fun diving...

This is very good advice. Don't be bitter or it'll ruin your enjoyment. Dont' write off your shop either. As far as I'm concerned, they own you one here. If you can find a subtle way of mentioning what you might have saved had you gone through the internet, you might get some sympathy.

I just bought a drysuit. I originally didn't think my LDS would even come close to the price offered by LP but I sent them an email with a link to the LP DS several days before I had planned to order...just to give them a chance. They came pretty darn close to the LP price so I bought from them. Now, their list price on that drysuit was almost $300 more but they came through when they knew they'd have lost my business.

 

[sgj]

Then there are good LDS's and the one's you'd wish disappeared. As one of the previous posts said, "Do they treat you like a person?" If they don't, then do not buy anything from them, do not rent their tanks, and you will most probably get real lousy service from them.

I travel out of my way to rent tanks from an LDS in Tampa, because they treat me well and I give all my equipment to them for service. And if their prices are on the higher side on some of the equipment, I buy it on- line or at another LDS.

Well, I pay them for tank rentals and service, don't I?

 

[Janko]

I agree that what's done is done and you should look forward. However, sorry guys, I'm going against the grain here. No amount of hugs and kisses from my LDS is worth $1000 of my bucks.

When I did my O/W, I paid $250 AUD up front for the course - I didn't know a thing about diving. I showed up, did the classroom session and then the instructor said: "Now, let's get you guys a mask, snorkel and fins." At this point, the class was led into a room the size of a Volkswagen with about 3 varieties of masks, 3 varieties of fins and 3 snorkels. Since we had all paid for the course, had already invested our time in the classroom, and since we were newbies and didn't know a thing about diving, we were each essentially railroaded into buying a poorly fitting and 300% overpriced set of crappy gear. I can assure you this was no accident.

They intentionally screwed me and not only that, I've concluded that this is standard procedure in many diveshops. I've encountered this kind of "salesmanship" in several other places and I call them on it now because I know better.

I say buy from the internet until the ripoff LDS either gets the message or goes under. I mean no offense to the GOOD dive shops out there and their owners, but unfortunately you and your reputations are victims of your sleazy comrades.

 

[Northeastwrecks]

What does this mean? That they will welcome you back in the door and talk with you? I don't think it matters where you purchased the gear, all LDS's who want to make money will welcome you and your wallet back...whether you spent money at the earlier time or not.

I'm not sure that I entirely agree with this. Its a bit more than being friendly. If a person wants to buy equipment from the LDS where I'm an AI, it will generally take several hours to run through the options, answer questions and make sure that we are meeting their needs. The upside is that we almost never have issues with returns and, if someone is not happy, we have a 100 day store credit return policy. We also don't do this during classes. We tell people up front the approximate total cost of the course and the personal equipment that they will need and how much it will cost for a decent recreational rig.

One the equipment arrives, we set it up and fit it to them (we sell primarily Halcyon BP's, so fitting is helpful, particularly for new divers). If a problem arises, someone generally has a piece of equipment available for loan until the problem is solved. We don't charge for this. We also encourage people to come out and dive. We organize local trips, charters, etc... That should be worth something.

If someone comes in off the street with stuff they bought on the Internet, we charge an hourly rate for setup. We also charge for repairs and don't loan equipment, although rentals may be available.

If someone comes into the shop, takes our time to help them pick out and size gear, then shows up with stuff they bought off the net, we politely show them the door and suggest that they have it setup by the person who sold it to them. We also suggest that they get their airfills from the same place that they bought their gear and arrange for dive buddies and training through the website. We don't need people who waste our time, then screw us over.

 

[redacted]

I'm not sure that I entirely agree with this. Its a bit more than being friendly. If a person wants to buy equipment from the LDS where I'm an AI, it will generally take several hours to run through the options, answer questions and make sure that we are meeting their needs. The upside is that we almost never have issues with returns and, if someone is not happy, we have a 100 day store credit return policy. We also don't do this during classes. We tell people up front the approximate total cost of the course and the personal equipment that they will need and how much it will cost for a decent recreational rig.

One the equipment arrives, we set it up and fit it to them (we sell primarily Halcyon BP's, so fitting is helpful, particularly for new divers). If a problem arises, someone generally has a piece of equipment available for loan until the problem is solved. We don't charge for this. We also encourage people to come out and dive. We organize local trips, charters, etc... That should be worth something.

If someone comes in off the street with stuff they bought on the Internet, we charge an hourly rate for setup. We also charge for repairs and don't loan equipment, although rentals may be available.

If someone comes into the shop, takes our time to help them pick out and size gear, then shows up with stuff they bought off the net, we politely show them the door and suggest that they have it setup by the person who sold it to them. We also suggest that they get their airfills from the same place that they bought their gear and arrange for dive buddies and training through the website. We don't need people who waste our time, then screw us over.

All very reasonable until the last paragraph. Overhead for service and air are mostly sunk costs. So you are sending almost pure profit packing. Doesn't sound like the smartest business model to me. Then again, with the things you are doing right you should be fine .... until somebody better moves in.

 

[scubasean]

I'm not sure that I entirely agree with this. Its a bit more than being friendly. If a person wants to buy equipment from the LDS where I'm an AI, it will generally take several hours to run through the options, answer questions and make sure that we are meeting their needs. The upside is that we almost never have issues with returns and, if someone is not happy, we have a 100 day store credit return policy. We also don't do this during classes. We tell people up front the approximate total cost of the course and the personal equipment that they will need and how much it will cost for a decent recreational rig.

One the equipment arrives, we set it up and fit it to them (we sell primarily Halcyon BP's, so fitting is helpful, particularly for new divers). If a problem arises, someone generally has a piece of equipment available for loan until the problem is solved. We don't charge for this. We also encourage people to come out and dive. We organize local trips, charters, etc... That should be worth something.

If someone comes in off the street with stuff they bought on the Internet, we charge an hourly rate for setup. We also charge for repairs and don't loan equipment, although rentals may be available.

If someone comes into the shop, takes our time to help them pick out and size gear, then shows up with stuff they bought off the net, we politely show them the door and suggest that they have it setup by the person who sold it to them. We also suggest that they get their airfills from the same place that they bought their gear and arrange for dive buddies and training through the website. We don't need people who waste our time, then screw us over.

Hi NEW,

Actually, I was asking the question because it wasn't clear to me what he meant. I'm on your wavelength, and agree that there is much more than friendliness involved. Your store also goes way farther down the extra mile than any I've seen in CA.

But, there are LDS's I favor for many reasons, and one I favor greatly is one that has treated me nicely even though I came into their store having bought classes and gear from his competitor down the road...I've now bought much gear and classes, etc. from them, and might soon enroll in the DM class with them.

Peace,

S.