LDS's are just too expensive

[SharkDiver36]

I've read about 3 pages worth of comments repeating their own chorus line about buying from a LDS and I'm about ready to puke.

Keep buying off the internet "people" and soon you'll have to take your pool sessions of the internet too, along with internet air fills, internet service and trying on gear over the internet and trading e-mails to ask your questions.

Most internet sales have very little overhead. There is no electic bill for the classroom, no need to pay an instructor for teaching a class, no insurance to buy because they have no students for liability, no compressor maintenance, no parts to stock to repair your gear, etc.

There's nothing wrong with saving money, but diving is a specialized sport and there isn't much competition (no divinig walmarts, kmarts, targets that compete with 5 miles of each other) just around the corner.

In my mind the only "excuse" that holds water for puchasing gear over the internet is if you want something your shop doesn't sell.

If you go to the shop, hold the BC, ask 50 questions about gear, try the wetsuit on and then turn around and buy it on the internet than you are using the LDS and I have little respect for those types of people. The paid to have that sit there for their customers to try it on, if you never intended to buy it there, then don't even ask a question or try it on.

Why is it that we don't have a problem handing our wallet to a mechanic to fix our car but we pitch holy hell when the person that fix's or repairs our AIR SOURCE we *****, whine, moan and complain? Does it suck to hand someone $200 for sercing 6 Reg's, sure, but no one has a problem at all, or even think about it really to hand $200 to your car mechanic.

 

[irishsquid]

I have surfed the web for prices and products and was amazed that my LDS was never more than 3-5% higher. Factor in shipping, and it was pretty much a wash. I do appreciate the fact that I am asked by the LDS if I want to try out my selections in the pool to my satisfaction before purchasing. :14:

 

[Charles R]

I like LDS's but I just have to go online for my equipment. I saved so much money by purchasing online compared to an LDS. And I purchased my equipment from online authorized dealers, that sent me warranty cards.
With all the competition, why can't LDS's lower their prices. Shouldn't diving be for everyone, not just the upperclass?
How does everyone else feel?
If it weren't for online sales, I would not be able to afford anything.

Herei s My 2 psi

1. If my LDS wants to compete with online prices then design a web site and sell more product to get your prices down with more buying power it’s a free market.

2. Don't give me that crap that if you buy online it’s not allowed by manufacturers its crap and you know it.

3. I can send my gear in for service and get the same if not better turn around than my LDS at least for the brand of gear I bought H.

 

[amascuba]

Well....

The think is I keep seeing all these self-righteous posts about those EVIL and NASTY LDSs out there and how they're opressing the dive community, bustin the chops of poor innocent customers who choose to exercise their rights to support on-line merchants, etc., etc...

WHAT I DON'T HEAR is the tales of the guy who wanders in to the full-boat retailer and attempts to leverage his desire to purchase by throwing the fact that he can get the same BC/reg/tank-knocker on the internet for half the price... (or whatever)... in the shop-op's face.

I've seen it any number of time... heck, at one point I did it myself... The sad part is... the poor oppressed diver doesn't ususally seem to care who else is around... in fact, they seem to prefer it when there are other customers in the shops... I don't know... maybe they think this ads to their leverage over the dive shop op...

So... what's the LDS supposed to do? Sit back and cave? Throw up a surrender flag? Attempt to explain their situation? I rarely see a diver who's waving the internet flag ever go down without a fight... if "A" pushes... "B" pushes back... it's how it always seems to go.

I guess the thrust of this is simply... I really don't see any point in LDS bashing... and particularly when it's put in a 'saints and sinners' form where they're always the bad guys and the complainer is a poor innocent little diver who's getting abused by them... which is RARELY the issue.

... are there bad dive shops... sure there are... no question. There are bad internet sites too... but if there's a gripe... let's use a narrower brush... there are also some DARNED good dive shops out there... and the last thing we want to do is to put them in a corner with the miscreants.

... and before any more assumptions begin... No... I don't own a dive shop... nor am I employed by one... but I did stay at a Holiday Inn once...

The reaction of LDSs to this pressure, to me... is very understandable. When I waltz in looking to buy a whatever... I'm on their turf... I'll listen to their pitch, make a judgement, possible make a counter offer... if we reach agreement... cool.... if not... "Thank you for your time..." ... move on ... nothing to see here.

I've seen a couple of LDS bashing threads out here now... the archives would PROBABLY reveal more... it seems to be more of an ego boosting sport than anything of substance...

Thank ya' for askin'...

(Oh... and it's "Gospel Preacher" mode... I can't dance a lick...)

I pretty much agree with your conclusion.

 

[fire_diver]

I've read about 3 pages worth of comments repeating their own chorus line about buying from a LDS and I'm about ready to puke.

Keep buying off the internet "people" and soon you'll have to take your pool sessions of the internet too, along with internet air fills, internet service and trying on gear over the internet and trading e-mails to ask your questions.

Well, I can tell already, that you haven't read this thread, or any like it. Either that or you have "read" it but only "comprehended" the parts you agree with.

Most internet sales have very little overhead. There is no electic bill for the classroom, no need to pay an instructor for teaching a class, no insurance to buy because they have no students for liability, no compressor maintenance, no parts to stock to repair your gear, etc.

NAME ME ONE MAJOR INTERNET SHOP THAT IS NOT ALSO A B&M!!!!!!

There's nothing wrong with saving money, but diving is a specialized sport and there isn't much competition (no divinig walmarts, kmarts, targets that compete with 5 miles of each other) just around the corner.

In my mind the only "excuse" that holds water for puchasing gear over the internet is if you want something your shop doesn't sell.

What is your time worth? what is MY time worth? Why should I get in my car, drive across town, to another town, or 100 miles away? Gas costs money dude. Then when I get there, I can stand around and wait while the kid working the register talks on the phone to another customer for half an hour, and repeated has to stop talking to me to answer the phone? And on top of all this (and more) I get to pay at least 50% more for most items.

If you go to the shop, hold the BC, ask 50 questions about gear, try the wetsuit on and then turn around and buy it on the internet than you are using the LDS and I have little respect for those types of people. The paid to have that sit there for their customers to try it on, if you never intended to buy it there, then don't even ask a question or try it on.

Why is it that we don't have a problem handing our wallet to a mechanic to fix our car but we pitch holy hell when the person that fix's or repairs our AIR SOURCE we *****, whine, moan and complain? Does it suck to hand someone $200 for sercing 6 Reg's, sure, but no one has a problem at all, or even think about it really to hand $200 to your car mechanic.

I'm sure the same people who complain about spending $200 for reg servicing, ALSO complain about paying $200 to an auto machanic. I'm capable of doing all my own work, for both cars and regs. But I can't afford the computer systems all modern cars require for repairs. I also have trouble locating reg kits, becuase the shops refuse to sell them for less than the cost of a reg servicing.

So in the end, I buy online what ever I want. If my (100 mile away) LDS has something I want (and it's not highway robbery) then I will buy it when I find myself in that town. And I take my regs and tanks in during the off season, becuase it will be at least a month before I can get back down there to pick them up. I also will continue to change my own oil, antifreeze, and brakes because I don't care if my neighbor hood Jiffy Lube goes under. I also get my air fills at my dive destination or from my company air compressor.

Have fun hanging out in your LDS, they are certainly charging you enough for the priviledge.

Comrade stroke

PS- I LIKE my LDS even though it is a long way away. They give me pretty good prices. Many, many shops are not as good as mine though, and I have wasted my time in them too. I LOVE ScubaToys however. Great prices, great service, great people (and don't look now, but they are an LDS). PLus I don't have to spend 3 hours driving, and $50 in gas to get my stuff.

 

[Brandon]

Blah blah blah.

The cyanide makes my kool aid taste funny.

-Brandon.

 

[ReefHound]

The think is I keep seeing all these self-righteous posts about those EVIL and NASTY LDSs out there and how they're opressing the dive community, bustin the chops of poor innocent customers who choose to exercise their rights to support on-line merchants, etc., etc..

.

I think you have selective eyesight. There are as many if not more threads/posts bashing online sites. Let's look at a few thread titles just in the past 2 days. These are threads, not just posts.

LeisurePro - what was I thinking ordering from them

What the ?#$@ is the deal with LeisurePro?

ScubaToys … I am disapointed

www.leisurepro.com again

bad expierience with online retailer

WHAT I DON'T HEAR is the tales of the guy who wanders in to the full-boat retailer and attempts to leverage his desire to purchase by throwing the fact that he can get the same BC/reg/tank-knocker on the internet for half the price... (or whatever)... in the shop-op's face.

Am I missing something here? Aren't the pro-LDS guys always saying to give your LDS a crack at it, to take your online deal to them to see if they can match or get close?

 

[cowboyneal]

Last time I checked, I live in a capitalist society. Therefore, if I want to go try on a BC (or anything else) at a LDS and then buy it on the internet for 30% less (or better), that would be my privilege. I'm sure Cheney would state I am "exercising my God given right to combat LDS terrorism and that if you're not with the capitalists, you're with the terrorists." It's all in who is, and how they are, looking at it, I guess...LOL...

I walked into my LDS to get a reg serviced. Before the guy even looks at it he's telling me "it's $250" it "takes at least 3 weeks" and "you can't put a price on life support." I told him that I am a dive instructor and that he could put his life support BS you know where. Then I sent my reg out to one of our online friends, and had a whole overhaul and shipping back and forth and service in 7 days for less than $100...screw the LDS..

I just bought a bunch of floatsam and jetsam (including a new Cressi Matrix) from Diversdirect.com. First, I would have had to go to three different stores to get everything I got in one place in 15 minutes on line, I got free shipping and in the end spent less than $100 on everything. Pricing it out at the three separate stores, I would have had to spend over $130 and drive around for an hour or two (spending who knows what on gas)...screw the LDS...

Got Capitalism?

 

[ReefHound]

I've read about 3 pages worth of comments repeating their own chorus line about buying from a LDS and I'm about ready to puke.

Keep buying off the internet "people" and soon you'll have to take your pool sessions of the internet too, along with internet air fills, internet service and trying on gear over the internet and trading e-mails to ask your questions.

Some of us puked long ago over these worn-out baseless scare tactics that are trotted out in the absence of a rational argument.

Most internet sales have very little overhead. There is no electic bill for the classroom, no need to pay an instructor for teaching a class, no insurance to buy because they have no students for liability, no compressor maintenance, no parts to stock to repair your gear, etc.

I'm not interested in subsidizing someone else's class, charge for each service what it costs. Besides, we've heard from those who actually run BOTH a LDS and a online store that the online segment has higher costs.

In my mind the only "excuse" that holds water for puchasing gear over the internet is if you want something your shop doesn't sell.

Don't need no steenkin' excuse.

If you go to the shop, hold the BC, ask 50 questions about gear, try the wetsuit on and then turn around and buy it on the internet than you are using the LDS and I have little respect for those types of people. The paid to have that sit there for their customers to try it on, if you never intended to buy it there, then don't even ask a question or try it on.

Even most internet advocates have little respect for those people. No argument there.

Why is it that we don't have a problem handing our wallet to a mechanic to fix our car but we pitch holy hell when the person that fix's or repairs our AIR SOURCE we *****, whine, moan and complain? Does it suck to hand someone $200 for sercing 6 Reg's, sure, but no one has a problem at all, or even think about it really to hand $200 to your car mechanic.

Maybe because there is real competition in the auto repair industry.

Maybe because the manufacturers don't fix the repair costs.

Maybe because you don't have to fix it at an "authorized dealer" or lose your warranty.

Maybe because if you want to fix it yourself, plenty of stores will sell you the parts.

 

[ReefHound]

I have surfed the web for prices and products and was amazed that my LDS was never more than 3-5% higher. Factor in shipping, and it was pretty much a wash. I do appreciate the fact that I am asked by the LDS if I want to try out my selections in the pool to my satisfaction before purchasing. :14:

Wouldn't it be great if all those people claiming their LDS is at or near online prices would post the name of the shop so the millions of divers buying online can find them?