LDS won't viz my tank...

[divad]

I'd drive the hour each way, just to buy an o-ring to avoid this owner.

That would be $25 to $30 or more, not including the fill(s).

 

[MKrauter]

I will be getting the tank VIPd and filled at the shop that's an hour away. I'm there for weekends anyway, but Monday I will go in and talk to the owner face to face. I've been trying to think of a way to answer the email he sent me and figure it's easier to just talk to him.

Again thanks for the sound advice everyone, it's given me another perspective to look at the situation. I will also mention this thread so that hopefully he can read through the responses given and hopefully give his .02$ worth.

 

[muzikbiz22]

I will be getting the tank VIPd and filled at the shop that's an hour away. I'm there for weekends anyway, but Monday I will go in and talk to the owner face to face. I've been trying to think of a way to answer the email he sent me and figure it's easier to just talk to him.

Again thanks for the sound advice everyone, it's given me another perspective to look at the situation. I will also mention this thread so that hopefully he can read through the responses given and hopefully give his .02$ worth.

If you have something to say to the owner, then say it YOURSELF, and don't "mention this thread". To me that's a lot like "Well, the reason I'm breaking up with you is because my friends don't think highly of you". His ".02$ worth" with regards to this thread, means nothing. This is about you and him, and how hopefully the 2 of you can move forward and develop a better relationship that is mutually beneficial, makes "overall financial sense" to you, and is profitable to him. All of these opinions on this thread, including mine, ultimately mean nothing, as nobody here knows you or him or the shop in question. And no, I'm not a shop owner. Just sayin'

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I will be getting the tank VIPd and filled at the shop that's an hour away. I'm there for weekends anyway, but Monday I will go in and talk to the owner face to face. I've been trying to think of a way to answer the email he sent me and figure it's easier to just talk to him.

Again thanks for the sound advice everyone, it's given me another perspective to look at the situation. I will also mention this thread so that hopefully he can read through the responses given and hopefully give his .02$ worth.

Is it really worth your time and energy to go into this guys shop and have a word with him. Is it for your benefit or his?
If it's for your satisfaction you may not get the reaction you're hoping for.
I found that in situations like this (and I've had my share) that I'm the one that has to be the good business person (as the customer) seeing my customerness as the other side of the business deal.
The best thing I found is to drop people like this like a hot rock. they just never see me again. It isn't even worth my time or gas to go back into a shop like this that I know will never come around.
It's better business on the customers part to cut your losses and not give it a second thought or as much as a single action, or give the turd the satisfaction to know he pissed off one of his customers and got under your skin.
Referring him to this thread isn't going to do anything but waste your time and energy.
Take the high road.

 

[RJP]

Seems to me that both the OP and the shop owner have made a mountain out of a molehill.

Given the tank has now been purchased, best course of action at this point is to get it VIP'd and filled at the LDS. Especially now that OP and LDS have emailed back and forth about it. If OP gets it VIP'd at the "hour away" shop... what does he expect will happen when he brings a tank bought from LP with a VIP sticker from Shop #2 to the LDS for a fill someday?

It takes two to have a relationship. The OP has the option to have some level of relationship with a local shop, or give up on them completely and commit to drive 2hrs round trip for anything and everything going forward.

My advice would be to email the LDS saying "thanks, will swing by to get the tank VIP'd and filled" with no punitive tone or direction for LDS to check this thread. The only benefit OP would get from rubbing the LDS's nose in it would be a momentary sense of superiority upon clicking "send" that will dissipate before the electrons even get to the LDS's inbox.

Just because the LDS started off willing to cut off his nose to spite his face (looks like he came back round a little) doesn't mean the correct response for the OP is to do the same.

 

[CT-Rich]

I have read most of the stuff on this thread and have to say, if you are okay with your LDS going away and not having local fills tell him to piss off and let him go under. Otherwise make piece with him. Not all businesses succeed and he may be destined to fail. But, don't bitch that there are no decent dive shops in a year or two. next time you want to buy something, go in, mention you are interested in getting XYZ and are interested in a specific price. Can he match it? Give him a chance to counter offer without smacking him in the face with the LP as the competition. He may offer you something that Leisure Pro can't, like a complimentary fill or inspection or a free do-dad. Just do him a favor and don't mine him for info and then buy online, because then you are taking his time without compensation.

 

[redacted]

I have read most of the stuff on this thread and have to say, if you are okay with your LDS going away and not having local fills tell him to piss off and let him go under. Otherwise make piece with him. Not all businesses succeed and he may be destined to fail. But, don't bitch that there are no decent dive shops in a year or two. next time you want to buy something, go in, mention you are interested in getting XYZ and are interested in a specific price. Can he match it? Give him a chance to counter offer without smacking him in the face with the LP as the competition. He may offer you something that Leisure Pro can't, like a complimentary fill or inspection or a free do-dad. Just do him a favor and don't mine him for info and then buy online, because then you are taking his time without compensation.

Just because your dog bites you, is that any reason to get rid of it?

The other side of the coin is that helping this shop to quickly reach its ultimate demise may hasten the opening of a new and better shop.

 

[CT-Rich]

Just because your dog bites you, is that any reason to get rid of it?

The other side of the coin is that helping this shop to quickly reach its ultimate demise may hasten the opening of a new and better shop.

You are making a dangerous assumption that when a shop goes under there is someone else standing in the wings thinking, 'Man just because the other guy just closed his doors, doesn't mean this isn't a great place to risk my life savings and sell dive gear... and compete with all those super cheap online retailers...' When a dive shop goes under they are seldom replaced. I think the entire of state of Rhode Island is down to 3 shops, 2 of the most convenient ones (Narragansett and Jamestown) are now gone and despite serving really good areas to dive, they have not been replaced.

Just last year there was a guy who took over the dive shop in Newport getting some bad press about something dumb... don't even remember what. If he went under, well that means a lot of driving if I want to spend a couple of days diving long drives to fill tanks.

If the guy had a bad day and was a d#ck, fine. And if you want to see him go, fine too. If you want to have a good working relationship with him so you can get your tanks filled whenever you want and have your gear inspected and serviced at your convenience and have some one local to shoot the **** with and a local business you can support, you might want to work it out....

Easy to sit in my house five hundred miles away and say good riddance to that crappy dive shop that I would never have gone to anyway. Much harder to do when he is your local air center.

(I am not defending his behavior, though)

 

[Lorenzoid]

I disagree with the idea of artificially supporting a shop by buying things that you could buy for less elsewhere. I'd love to see Main Street looking like it did in the 1950s with mom-and-pop shops. But the reality is that modern retailing has turned to the likes of Wal-Mart and Leisure Pro. I don't see small local dive shops as efficient retailers of gear. Now, if dive shops want to change their business models as I mentioned in a comment above, that could certainly make sense. If fills, tank inspections, gear repair, etc., are what customers are demanding, then offer those services and charge accordingly. If the next closest place to obtain fills is an hour away, then in view of the lack of competition why is this guy not charging a bit more for his fills? (And if he did, he'd probably have less of an attitude.) A truly simple solution is to give discounts on air fills (or, for that matter, on other things) for tanks purchased from his shop, rather than charging everyone the same amount and then ranting and raving when someone comes in with a tank purchased elsewhere. Or maybe he could charge a monthly membership fee or something for air fills. I don't have all the answers--if I did, I'd be a successful businessman. I'm just trying to argue that there ARE alternatives to an inane business model that requires people to buy from a limited selection of gear at prices above market. The only business model that will work in the long run is for the business to offer the things that customers actually want to buy at the prices they are willing to pay.

If his shop goes under, it does not necessarily mean long drives. If you and other local divers find there is no solution to the problem, and if you want your fills bad enough, a solution will present itself, whether that is some enterprising individual running a business enthusiastically catering to you at whatever the market rate for air fills out there in the boonies might be, or you and your fellow divers starting your own air fill co-op by buying a compressor, etc. I think a previous comment mentioned fire extinguisher service businesses as something to look into for air fills.

 

[nimoh]

It seems to me that an LDS refusing business from a customer already in their store is far more detrimental to their business than lost sales to the internet.