LDS won't viz my tank...

[flots am]

I know he just lost my business completely (closest shop is an hour away. But am I being unreasonable here or should I try and talk to him about this decision and it's ramifications?

It's his shop and his rules. I'm sure he knows that his nearest competition is an hour away, which is why he can afford to do what he does.

A tank isn't a good deal if it costs you a 2 hour round trip to get it filled, and he knows this.

Not much you can do about it, unless you want to buy a compressor.

flots.

 

[Damselfish]

In the future, when asked where you bought something and you don't know yet how they feel about such things, the correct answer is "your sister-in-laws cousin decided he didn't like diving and gave/sold it to you." Or some such thing. They might give you crap about stuff bought on the net, buying used on eBay, etc - but it's harder for them to complain about free from a relative. Might not flush out the short-sighted LDSs as quickly, but at least you keep your options open.

 

[Abdullah]

It's his shop and his rules. I'm sure he knows that his nearest competition is an hour away, which is why he can afford to do what he does.

A tank isn't a good deal if it costs you a 2 hour round trip to get it filled, and he knows this.

Not much you can do about it, unless you want to buy a compressor.

flots.

I'd drive the two hours round trip. I do that to get fills at a shop with better service.

No business has a right to expect exclusivity from its' walk in customers. It's a stupid notion, and stupid should hurt.

 

[muzikbiz22]

So I just bought a 40 cu/ft tank from LP. Mostly to just dick around off the back of a boat whilst fishing (or cleaning the boat..). Split the cost between me and a family member so cost wise was pretty cheap.

Just picked it up today from the UPS store and go to get it a visual and fill to be ready for the weekend. As I get the tank out the shop owner asks me where I got the tank from, then refuses to service it on the grounds that buying online kills LDS.. Never mind the fact I have signed up for the dive club, was talking to an employee about continuing courses there and had bought tidbits there.

Then he goes on about how he is charging less then online shops (80$ for a rubber 7' hose.. Really..). I know he just lost my business completely (closest shop is an hour away. But am I being unreasonable here or should I try and talk to him about this decision and it's ramifications?

So why didn't you buy the tank from the LDS in the first place ?

 

[DivemasterDennis]

I do not understand the attitude expressed. Sure the LDS want to sell stuff, but service is the name of the game. It is time to affiliate with another shop.
DivemasterDennis

 

[iluvtheocean]

2 hr round trip isn't all that much anymore -- it's an hour 1 way to my fav dive shop here from work --it's mostly surface streets with a stretch of highway between.

i'm looking at buying a used tank or two from craigslist -- the LDS said to bring it in before i buy so they can inspect it to make sure no problems --

 

[abyss_scuba]

Sounds like you caught him at a bad moment. Please consider the phone call I had yesterday. A guy calls me up and first thing he says is thanks for all the great information I gave him on getting certified -spent 30 minutes going over different agencies and training options- and with the information I gave him he now plans on getting certified in the Caribbean because they are $100 less. I guess the time I spent educating this guy has no value to him. Now would I mind helping him pick out the best bc which he has narrowed down to three different models he wants to buy on the internet, WHAT??????? Are you kidding me?

I am not defending this dive shop owner, what he did was stupid but we are all humans and have good days and bad days. As a sales rep once told me before I opened my doors " Don't let the last bad customer ruin you for the next good customer"

 

[oly5050user]

So I just bought a 40 cu/ft tank from LP. Mostly to just dick around off the back of a boat whilst fishing (or cleaning the boat..). Split the cost between me and a family member so cost wise was pretty cheap.

Just picked it up today from the UPS store and go to get it a visual and fill to be ready for the weekend. As I get the tank out the shop owner asks me where I got the tank from, then refuses to service it on the grounds that buying online kills LDS.. Never mind the fact I have signed up for the dive club, was talking to an employee about continuing courses there and had bought tidbits there.

Then he goes on about how he is charging less then online shops (80$ for a rubber 7' hose.. Really..). I know he just lost my business completely (closest shop is an hour away. But am I being unreasonable here or should I try and talk to him about this decision and it's ramifications?

we get people walking in with tanks or gear purchased via online often enough. No problem. Perform the service and thank them for their business and tell them to have a great day. Some times they walk around the store and see something and ask about it/price. They are surprised that item, lets say an alum tank, can be less expensive from us @ $160. including vis and fill , than online or what a local competitor sells it for. we also do our best to price match online dealers. I have 1 student starting tonight in a group class that came in 10 days ago and he wanted red Oceanic split fins with spring straps, we do carry Oceanic,along with Scubapro and Sherwood + others, but do not stock the model of fin he wanted .From memory I think it was a v16 fin..We priced match what he wanted,(was listed msrp at $189. we matched the $159.95 price that he found online) and we ordered in 2 different sizes of that model just to be sure that he is getting the very best fit possible. We will just place the extra one into inventory and eventually sell it. No big deal here.

 

[Superlyte27]

the purchase price of the tank is peanuts compared to the expenses of the fills, vis and hydros. You can tell this to the guy if he is not so smart to realize it, the ask him if he really wants you to go for fills and service to some place else.

There's no real money in fills, vis's or hydros. The profit on any of those, or the profit on a tank is all crap. The fact that he was willing to lose a customer on something he would have made less than $20 bucks on anyway is stupid. Good Riddance. Drive the hour to the other LDS.

 

[oly5050user]

Sounds like you caught him at a bad moment. Please consider the phone call I had yesterday. A guy calls me up and first thing he says is thanks for all the great information I gave him on getting certified -spent 30 minutes going over different agencies and training options- and with the information I gave him he now plans on getting certified in the Caribbean because they are $100 less. I guess the time I spent educating this guy has no value to him. Now would I mind helping him pick out the best bc which he has narrowed down to three different models he wants to buy on the internet, WHAT??????? Are you kidding me?

I am not defending this dive shop owner, what he did was stupid but we are all humans and have good days and bad days. As a sales rep once told me before I opened my doors " Don't let the last bad customer ruin you for the next good customer"

Randy, mistake here was after the first few moments of answering questions on the phone you should of offered for him to visit you. Make it where you give him an appointment to meet at a specific day and time. Now he can see first hand what you can offer that a carib resort cannot do for him in terms of training. Had a person yesterday come in on an appointment at 6pm, that required an upgrade from "scuba diver" to open water diver..she was going to island resort soon ..after telling us her problem we offered to get her started on it instantly by presenting over the last 2 modules of the academics in our classroom , then taking the final exam, then into our pool. All done in just under 4 hours. Now we issued her a referral on what she completed and only has to do dives 3 and 4 with an instructor on her trip.
A problem I found is that she took a typical ow course in Mexico and she tells me that there were skills that were never presented to her, such as buoyancy control or CESA's that are supposed to be taught in module 3 (a module that is supposed to be done for "scuba diver" cert) and she did not have a proper training log book showing what knowledge development sections she completed nor what dive flexible skills she has done.She had a PADI scuba diver cert card. The Mexican instructor used a generic cheap $2.00 log book that he had printed up and did not show any type of training record. We also sold here a training log book, gave her a referral ..I charged $156. for this service with the log book...It could of been less money charged to her if she had a proper training log filled out so that i would not of had to the entire dm skill circuit review or presented modules 4 and 5- final exam, if she had done it already when she originally took her course I could not know as it was not documented. Hopefully now when she needs gear she shops here.