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

[DaleC]

Life support gear :chuckle:

 

[raftingtigger]

Given that they pressured you into an unnecessary gear purchase it puts the quality of instruction into question. Before you put your wife's life on the line for the sake of convenience please read the thread and linked article on a recent training accident in Monterey, CA http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/accidents-incidents/449366-write-up-near-death-monterey.html. Interview and choose your instructors like your life depends on it. There are plenty of threads on how to choose an instructor.

 

[chrpai]

That shop has been around since 1954 so they must have enough support from enough divers to get along ok. I have priced numerous things with them and found them very competitive. My GF is taking the ow there and we bought her a zena for 539 from them. Same bc on leisure pro is 549..

Leisure Pro isn't such a good deal when they become an authorized dealer. You want to guess why? I bet it has something to do with minimum advertised pricing policies.

Read this for the backstory:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/zeagle/248093-leisure-pro-now-authorized-zeagle-dealer.html

The whole model preys upon an endless revolving door of new suckers... oops I mean divers.

 

[IIIEXOCETIII]

I completely understand your logic there Jon. I agree with you. So something forced them into carrying these type of insurance policies. Most do not from what I can tell.. I just wish it was informed prior to doing all this. As Brad the dive instructor mentioned. "This happens all the time". Now weather this is true or not is still unclear. It's very interesting to see how many people out there feel this is not called for. I appreciate all of the feedback everyone has given. It has shed much light on this particular situation for me. I have dealt with Mike at the shop for some time now within the years, and has seemingly always been honest with me. However, this issue I was far to uneducated about to not ask the community their advise.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

No you don't understand totally as I am aware of no insurance policy that will force them to make you use gear they sold you. That's a lie they are telling you. Ask to see the policy. Ask who the insurer is and post their name here. It's a shop policy to get you to buy gear and prevent other students from seeing gear they do not sell. That's all. They don't want others to ask you where you got the gear and possibly go there themselves. It is fear.
Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[manni-yunk]

They are lying to you.RUN, dont walk.Get trained somewhere else. I am actually dissapointed that someone (highly respected poster) in this thread actually posted that it was within the realm of possibility that the insurance thing was real. IT IS COMPLETE BS and everyone knows it.

 

[ladyfishdvr]

I cannot even imagine why a shop would treat anyone that way and expect them to be a return customer. I deal with two shops in my area. The closest one is where I took my OW cert class and have bought some of my gear there. They provided discounts on snorkle, mask and fins for students. I have taken gear I purchased used to them for service. They are always polite and provide excellent service. The other shop is further away but they have allowed me to dive with them locally and I have bought some of my gear there and taken a class there as well. Neither place required me to buy from them for any reason. They both provide excellent service with the expectation it will bring me back and it does.

If either shop ever told me I HAD to buy GEAR from them for a class, I would cancel and never go back.

 

[bl6394]

So annoying when shops rely on deceit to control their customers and maximize their short term profits.

I recall the shop owner who sold me a drysuit telling me that I needed to use him - exclusively - to get my DUI drysuit repaired/upgraded. "DUI won't let you send it in - they'll send it right back to me." Now - this is just one of several lies - but I guess he thought it tended to keep me dependent upon him for my diving needs...

I wish shops would get the message that good service and integrity go MUCH farther towards building a loyal customer base than this sort of BS...

- Bjorn

 

[Aguablanco1]

I completely understand your logic there Jon. I agree with you. So something forced them into carrying these type of insurance policies. Most do not from what I can tell.. I just wish it was informed prior to doing all this. As Brad the dive instructor mentioned. "This happens all the time". Now weather this is true or not is still unclear. It's very interesting to see how many people out there feel this is not called for. I appreciate all of the feedback everyone has given. It has shed much light on this particular situation for me. I have dealt with Mike at the shop for some time now within the years, and has seemingly always been honest with me. However, this issue I was far to uneducated about to not ask the community their advise.

Why would any LDS, or for that matter insurance company, specifically require a particular brand of equipment in order to be insured? It would seem to me that the LDS or insurance company would be increasing their liability by endorsing those products over other brands. If a catastrophic failure did occur, would they not share in the liability because you were forced into that brand? This is exactly why insurance companies DO NOT specify a particular brand. They may exclude certain equipment, but they will, most likely, never demand a particular brand.
I happen to be a garage door contractor for the past 25 years and our liability potential is extremely high. No insurance company has ever required me to use any specific brand of equipment, and I doubt they ever will. You have been deceived, lied to and harassed all because of a greedy, and in my opinion unethical business owner that you still wish to do business with. I am curious as to why you have such loyalty to this particular shop. Are there no others around? As was said earlier, no offense intended, grow a pair, stand up for yourself and your wife, and get to a shop that has your interests at heart.
RichH

 

[oly5050user]

While I agree that OW training is probably a loss leader for a dive shop, I doubt if many shops ever lose any money on training. Remember, "loss leader" does not mean it is actually sold at a loss (although it could be). It means that it is sold with a reduced profit margin with the idea that it will draw customers into other purchases at with full profit margins. The training agency gets paid. The instructors get paid. The shop does not lose money.

OW training can be a money looser deal..I had a weekend schedule up and had 2 people in it. One of the students only could make Friday night. The schedule was for AFri-Sat-Sun..so this became a 1 person course. This person only purchased required mask/snkl/fins..So we did Fri-Sat-Sun and he was such a mess I did another pool session with him at no charge. He paid $269 for course..I get paid $300. from facility. The facility still had to cover cost of use of their pool/insurance/power..All said and done this was a loss. Should we have just canceled this class and ruin someones plans for that weekend? The 1 student had plans to leave for a vacation following week and planned on being able to go diving.