LP Scubapro regs same warranty as buying through SP dealer?

[reefseal]

Thanks everyone.

Response to my note below from LP..



Thank you for your interest in Leisure Pro--and for your inquiry received today.
You asked if we are an authorized dealer for Scuba pro. In order to offer you the extremely competitive prices that we do, we have chosen to remain an independent dealer. While Scuba pro dictates higher prices to its authorized dealers, we are able to sell at much lower prices and thus pass on significant savings to you our customer and thereby save you a lot of money.
Paying less, however, in no way gets you less! You receive the "identical" product with an equally good warranty from us, a company that has proven it self for 18 years. If Scuba pro offers lifetime warranty for the regulator you wish to purchase, we will give you the same warranty. Our customers trust us not only for great prices but also for responsiveness should they ever need to exercise their warranty. For further assurance, may we suggest that you check feedback about Leisure Pro on BBBonline.com, BizRate.com, Shopping.com, and PriceGrabber.com. Nothing speaks more effectively than the voices of our satisfied customers. (To go directly to the warranty card or to one of the feedback sites mentioned, please click on the underlined item.)
Let us know if we can be of further help. I hope you will choose, as have many thousands of others, to select your Scuba necessities from Leisure Pro.


Just to be clear… Scuba Pro warranty comes with free service parts- You just have to pay for the labor and shipping the item to us. You can not take it to your LDS for service. You will have to send it to our store in New York NY and we will service it here.

 

[Hotpuppy]

Thanks everyone.

Just to be clear… Scuba Pro warranty comes with free service parts- You just have to pay for the labor and shipping the item to us. You can not take it to your LDS for service. You will have to send it to our store in New York NY and we will service it here.

Let's translate that in to English....

When you buy labor at $35/hr and shipping for $8 we'll throw in free parts worth $5.....

wow, thank you for your overwhelming generosity.

I still find this whole issue to be a downer in the industry. There are similar issues in other industries, but most of the time there is a tangible benefit to the consumer.

 

[redacted]

Let's translate that in to English....

When you buy labor at $35/hr and shipping for $8 we'll throw in free parts worth $5.....

wow, thank you for your overwhelming generosity.

I still find this whole issue to be a downer in the industry. There are similar issues in other industries, but most of the time there is a tangible benefit to the consumer.

Or you could take it to a local authorized dealer where you will buy labor at $75, no shopping to worry about and the same $5 worth of free parts.

 

[Guy Alcala]

Or you could take it to a local authorized dealer where you will buy labor at $75, no shopping to worry about and the same $5 worth of free parts.

The parts may only be 'worth' $5, but you'll sure as hell pay a lot more than that. Just yesterday on another forum I had the opportunity to buy a couple of used Apeks XTX-50/DS4 regs for $350: two first and two second stages. I was curious to see what the parts cost is (I bought my XTX-50/DST from my LDS, and get it serviced every year under warranty so I don't pay for parts) to see if they were worth buying used instead of new. MY LDS charges $54 + (currently) 9.75% tax for the parts for an APEKS 1st and 2nd stage (they all use the same internal parts kit), and $50 for the labor. Scubapro will be similar.

So it's a question of how many years do you have to pay for parts before it starts costing you more than you saved up front by buying used (or gray market, in some cases). In the case of LP specifically, you aren't paying for parts, so the only issue is whether you want to have to ship your reg back to New York annually for service.

Personally, for my regs I want to get them serviced by my LDS, because they know me and if a problem crops up they can turn it around a lot faster - in that case I think it's worth paying the extra cost for an authorized dealer. Indeed, I sometimes dive with their chief instructor who's also a tech, and on a couple of occasions he has done minor repair work like an SPG O-ring replacement for me (gratis) in the parking lot between dives, service which would be a bit difficult for LP to match. Of course, now I know what's causing my SPG to bubble and what to do about it, but I didn't then.

For something like a dive computer it's a different story, because my LDS isn't going to do any service work beyond changing batteries; they're going to ship it back to the manufacturer, who's probably just going to replace it with a new unit rather than try to repair it. So for something like that, an etailer provides repair service that's no different from my LDS. However, my LDS may give me a loaner unit (if the need is urgent) to use in the meantime, or at least give me a break on a rental. This may or may not be an important issue, especially if you have a backup computer.

Guy

 

[halocline]

The parts may only be 'worth' $5, but you'll sure as hell pay a lot more than that.

Yep, the reg manufacturers mark up annual kits to an insane degree, thereby falsely inflating the value of the free parts program.

But, you can buy o-rings from o-ring manufacturers and just buy seats for the regs in most cases. Then, you can ditch the whole idea of "annual" service and just service the regs when they appear to need it (based on a few simple tests) or just whenever you feel comfortable.

I've had good luck tracking down HP seats for the MK5/10, which is what I use for 90% of my dives. Each kit has three, most dealers have a drawer full of extras, etc...

LP seats for the G250-style poppets (all current SP barrel poppet balanced regs) are about $4 retail (I think) and trident actually carries generics that look like they might work. The LP seats for unbalanced SP 2nds are literally less than a dime a dozen if you try the Awap seats-r-us special.

For me that has left only the D series seats, which I got lucky and found a handful of at a SP dealer. Granted, that's luck, but those 2nd stages can go for a long time between seat replacement due to the very low spring tension.

$30 of o-rings at oringsusa or someplace similar should last the average diver the rest of his/her life. Especially considering how much more likely we are to die young by servicing our own regs.

 

[Crush]

Warranty issues, etc., have been dealt with.

WRT the nonsense of LP stuff having parts missing - musn't be important parts - most of my gear is LP, and it works perfectly.

I have spent over $2K on gear from LP and have never had a problem.

 

[Splash-X]

$30 of o-rings at oringsusa or someplace similar should last the average diver the rest of his/her life. Especially considering how much more likely we are to die young by servicing our own regs.

Are you suggesting buying all of the O-rings in bulk for your needs? Just wondering what the shelf life on them is in terms of years. I'm not saying it is or is not a bag thing, I'm just getting your point of view on it. Sorry if it sounds rude or blunt.

 

[halocline]

O rings have a good long shelf life, some materials more than others. But, the best way to do it is to split bulk orders among a few friends every few years. My point is, for the cost of one annual "kit" at retail, which most dive shops won't even sell you, (an amazing situation considering the stunning mark up) you can buy lots of o-rings that will service lots of regs for lots of years.

I usually replace all the o-rings in a used reg I buy (not always, to be honest) and then only replace the few in dynamic and/or large pressure differential situations when I rebuild subsequently. But I buy old regs. I've bought several 20 year-old regs with what look like original o-rings that still worked fine.

 

[carrielsal]

I have seen lots of threads on SB regarding LP. The one thing I have not seen is negative posts regarding their reg service. IMO, if their service wasn't top notch we would be hearing about it.
The LDS is not always your best bet for service. I have an OMS workhorse reg that I need to learn to service myself. There is only one LDS in my area that services OMS regs. Every year after annual service it seems I always have to take it back, because something is wrong. This year I had to take it back twice. Luckily I have spares. It took over 3 weeks to get my reg fixed.

 

[carrielsal]

Thanks everyone.

Response to my note below from LP..



Thank you for your interest in Leisure Pro--and for your inquiry received today.
You asked if we are an authorized dealer for Scuba pro. In order to offer you the extremely competitive prices that we do, we have chosen to remain an independent dealer. While Scuba pro dictates higher prices to its authorized dealers, we are able to sell at much lower prices and thus pass on significant savings to you our customer and thereby save you a lot of money.
Paying less, however, in no way gets you less! You receive the "identical" product with an equally good warranty from us, a company that has proven it self for 18 years. If Scuba pro offers lifetime warranty for the regulator you wish to purchase, we will give you the same warranty. Our customers trust us not only for great prices but also for responsiveness should they ever need to exercise their warranty. For further assurance, may we suggest that you check feedback about Leisure Pro on BBBonline.com, BizRate.com, Shopping.com, and PriceGrabber.com. Nothing speaks more effectively than the voices of our satisfied customers. (To go directly to the warranty card or to one of the feedback sites mentioned, please click on the underlined item.)
Let us know if we can be of further help. I hope you will choose, as have many thousands of others, to select your Scuba necessities from Leisure Pro.


Just to be clear… Scuba Pro warranty comes with free service parts- You just have to pay for the labor and shipping the item to us. You can not take it to your LDS for service. You will have to send it to our store in New York NY and we will service it here.

Reefseal,
Why doesn't your profile identify you as an LP rep?