Must gear be purchased from the LDS you are getting Open Water certified at?

[BVickery]

This seemed very strange to me as well. I did not understand the logic here. The shop name is Hatts Diving Headquarters here in Melbourne FL. Just off 192 & US1. The owners name is Mike. And is now trying to work out a deal with us to get a BCD through his shop. The divemaster / instructor in her first class last night is who told us this information. He seemed upset that this was not discussed with me prior to signing up for classes with them. As apparently this sort of thing happens quite frequently with them. At this point I didnt mind sending back the other BCD as it had never seen any water. However the loyalty of this shop is somewhat in question to me now. The instructor came out and spoke with "Mike" (Owner) and expressed his concern. Which in turn was told to my wife that they will try to find a loaner Zeagle Zena for the classes and that I can work out payments with them sense it was their fault. Just does not seem logical In my opinion.

Wow. I am all for supporting the LDS too (I got a Diver's Supply here and overall they have treated me well, at least the last manager and crew). I have bought lot of my gear from them, but also from others. The only thing they have asked me is give them a shot to make the sale via price matching deals.

 

[OkByMe]

The same old story... That LDS is working off the now dead business model. They only have training and convenience to sell. Many provide the environment to continue diving, such as running boats, having pools, air and mixed fills, inspections, equipment service and a group of people to dive with. Equipment sales is not what they can compete with and they need to price their products accordingly. If a retailer selling dive equipment can make a profit, they can sell their equipment competitively and make profit. If dive instruction groups can make a profit selling instruction, they need to structure their cost and they can too.

You need to find a shop that can respond to your needs and not try to dictate your gear purchases. I wonder what they tell people who show up for some more advanced "punch card" diving who already own the gear and have been diving with it for years. I surmise that they keep quiet since they know what these people already know. They are trying to take advantage of your lack of knowledge to make a quick, high profit sale. If they have that mentality, I wonder how it translates into the quality of instruction you may receive?

 

[paulw]

I would not trust them on any level, not even for training! I would request a refund and leave.

 

[Bopper]

... Deleting post.

 

[mrokern]

Mind you, I'm a new diver who bought everything from his instructing LDS during OW (BC, regs, computer, 3mm, etc.)...but I did it because I was hooked and I wanted to. I also still researched my purchases. The shop never put any pressure on me to buy anything.

 

[TSandM]

It is at least remotely possible that the liability insurance contract they have requires that open water students dive in gear the dive shop owns or has sold (although I doubt it). They should have informed you of this when you were looking at gear there. But I suspect this is far more a shop "policy", not required by anybody except the shop owner, who looks to maximize the profit from each student. (Classes are loss leaders for dive shops; where they make money on OW students is by selling them equipment, so if you buy your equipment elsewhere, the shop has lost money on training you.) It is an all too common and quite detestable behavior on the part of shops.

 

[macado]

Wow... and people wonder why some LDS have bad reputations. That's pure and utter bullsh*t.

The owner/diveshop is just pissed that you didn't buy equipment from them. Plain and simple. It sucks because they didn't make money but it has nothing to do with liability.

In the dive business world, lots of shops sell dive classes at a loss and hope to make their money back by selling you expensive equipment. I'm not saying the Zeagle Zena is bad; It's actually a great BC but there is no special training or liability involved with using it at all.

The shop is literally feeding you a line of crap to protect their bottom line since they would prefer that you buy gear from them. At this point in the game, I don't feel divers should be purchasing most of their gear. At this stage, you're so new you really don't know what gear you want. I recommend divers try different types of equipment before purchasing a set of gear.

Most dive shops prefer people to buy their own personal gear to start (I.E. mask/snorkel/fins) but it is not typically required. Other dive shops do it differently; For example, the dive shop I work for supplies all gear as part of the training costs. You don't need to purchase anything if you don't want.

 

[crosshairs]

Call his bluff and go train with someone else.....I'm sure there are plenty of instructors in your area.....you might even find one who is a member here

 

[pafindr]

Wow that's a really odd type of liability.
You can't use a certain type of gear because it wasn't bought at that specific shop?

The Mares isn't sold at their shop so you can't use it because it's a liability BUT if they can get it for you through other channels then it's not a liability? How does that work exactly? Looks like they are just trying to make a profit.

With that said the Zeagle is a very good BCD and will last a VERY long time. My Zeagle is 20 years old.

 

[fisheater]

If they are willing to lie to you before the course, why wouldn't they lie to you during (& after) the course?

RUN!