Aquamaniac
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You have FARRRRR too much spare time on your hands...........
Let's see what the FTC has to say about vertical price restraints in the biz.
- Thread starter Genesis
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earl
Registered
First, let me just say that a number of you have obviously never been sued. It doesn't matter if you are 100% in the right: you will still fork out barrels of money (good lawyers start at $200/hour and rapidly go up) just to get a case dismissed. I work in an industry notorious for using lawsuits to stop product development by competitors; such behaviour is rampant. Our company, of maybe 200 employees, spends >4M (yes, million) dollars a year on lawyers.
As far as LDSes, well, I feel for you. But for me, the price differential is enough that I can either afford to outfit both myself and my girlfriend or just one of us. Since she is one of my regular dive buddys and gets grumpy if I leave her behind, well...
Nonetheless, if there were something I could do to help, please say so.
Another thing that many folks in this thread don't seem to realize is that yes, perhaps a LDS could sue the manufacturers. So what? That sort of thing takes deep pockets -- at a guess, you would need $5 to $10 million and the ability to sit on the money for 5 years -- a good lawyer, with enough money, can keep any suit out of the courts and tied up in motions, etc for *at least* three years. Plus no real promise of ever recovering your money in case you lose, which happens, no matter the merits of your case.
-earl-
As far as LDSes, well, I feel for you. But for me, the price differential is enough that I can either afford to outfit both myself and my girlfriend or just one of us. Since she is one of my regular dive buddys and gets grumpy if I leave her behind, well...
Nonetheless, if there were something I could do to help, please say so.
Another thing that many folks in this thread don't seem to realize is that yes, perhaps a LDS could sue the manufacturers. So what? That sort of thing takes deep pockets -- at a guess, you would need $5 to $10 million and the ability to sit on the money for 5 years -- a good lawyer, with enough money, can keep any suit out of the courts and tied up in motions, etc for *at least* three years. Plus no real promise of ever recovering your money in case you lose, which happens, no matter the merits of your case.
-earl-
The LDSs will gladly work on your gear if necessary or let you use it in conjunction with any trip or outing they have. You do not pose a risk to them at all.
The LDS I work with typically handles gear they did not sell to the tune of 80 to 90% of their business. They don't know where it comes from, nor do they ask. It is only an issue if a "free" warranty repair / recall / service is required or expected.
If you were to contact Scubapro (or any manufacturer) either on line or through their phone / fax / snail mail connections I expect you would be give information of a LDS that sells Scubapro and could hook you up via phone and mail. And sure the local LDS will bemoan a lost sale he will also understand the freedom of choice you exercised and respect it. He also probably won't service the product since he isn't a dealer and probably doesn't have parts
dgangi
Contributor
You're kidding, right? Do you really think I would go through all that trouble? Hell no. This is 2002, not 1972. I *don't* do anything via snail mail nor will I call a manufacturer and sit on hold for an hour just to get the name of an LDS that I can call to buy a regulator. And I certainly don't own a fax machine. Only the government still uses those (they're 20 years behind)...
Today everything I do is on the internet. I don't even pull out the yellow pages anymore -- I use Qwestdex (on-line yellow pages). So if I want something, be it a bike part or a book or scuba gear, I simply open up IE, do a search on what I want, and buy it from the places I find on-line. This is how *I* prefer to do business, and I expect to buy only from those companies that give me what I want, how I want it, and at a reasonable cost.
I travel about 75% of the time for my job, so I don't have time to goof around with old-fashioned ways of doing business. The last thing I have time for is spending hours trekking around town. Most of my purchases (car parts, books, bike parts, you name it) are done from afar -- on the internet -- not in person.
And even those who don't travel are quickly understanding the convenience of buying on-line. We all seem to be working more these days and personal time is very precious. Using up that personal time driving around in the heat, cold, or whatever is just not an economical way to use that time.
Again, companies in EVERY industry need to wake up to the 21st century or risk going out of business. 5 years ago my on-line shopping habits were the exception -- today they are fast becoming the norm. It's amazing how much power the consumer has.
And yes, there will always be those who prefer to do business in person, so the demand will be there for the bricks-and-mortar business as well. I'm not suggesting that every manufacturer sell only on-line -- the local dive shop will always have its place -- but I do demand that they give me what I want and how I want it.
Thx...Doug
nk5,
We would work on the reg. There is only an issue with non-billed services. For instance, I would not offer free use of a reg while I worked on yours. Again, if it was my sale (at a descent markup) in the case of a problem with the merchandise then I take it upon myself to make sure you have a reg when you need it. Those services cost money to provide, though, and it has to come from somewhere. It happens more often than you think, nothing breaks till you need it.
We would work on the reg. There is only an issue with non-billed services. For instance, I would not offer free use of a reg while I worked on yours. Again, if it was my sale (at a descent markup) in the case of a problem with the merchandise then I take it upon myself to make sure you have a reg when you need it. Those services cost money to provide, though, and it has to come from somewhere. It happens more often than you think, nothing breaks till you need it.
k4sdi
Contributor
I just noticed this in an email from Divers Direct.......
I just thought this was interesting................
Maybe not.................
Dunno.............
Mark
I just thought this was interesting................
Maybe not.................
Dunno.............
Mark
Hope they have the compressor you are going to need online.
dgangi
Contributor
That's a good one
Take a look at where I live -- Phoenix. Not much to dive in around here. So I would never need a local dive shop to fill a tank for me (what tank?) unless I wanted to go diving in my swimming pool.
Come to think about it, there are some algae spots in the deep end I could scrape off. At 8 feet, I could probably spend 2 hours on 1 tank of air. And while I'm down there, I could always do some more practice on my fin pivots...
Thx...Doug
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