My experience with North Atlantic Scuba in Marshfield

[Sean222]

The closest shop to me that sells Diving Concepts is North Atlantic Scuba. I called today to talk about the problem and if they can do a leak test and help me fix the problem. The first question out of the mouth of this rep was "did you buy the suit or gloves from us". I explained I had not, his next comment was, "you should return to the shop where you bought them". I asked to speak to the manager and he refused. We exchanged some words and he hung up.

can find another shop who wants the service revenue.

That seems to be pretty much SOP in the recreational boating industry as well. They don't usually come right out and say it that way. They just don't bother calling you back or they put you on a waiting list forever.

 

[yakdiver1]

I think you have overreacted with your post. You had one bad phone call with no named employee who was rude to you. You posted a negative comment about a very reputable dive shop. Your entire story may be true but I believe you should have at the very least sent an email to the shop before posting this story to the entire world. You have said you do not want to waste the time but an email would certainly have taken a lot less time than what you spent here.

My background is, that I primarily use South Shore Divers because they are close, but I have shopped at NAS as well and recommned both shops. One week ago I bought gear at NAS that no one else supplies and was very happy with their service which included a phone call and then a visit to purchase.

 

[dbg40]

No doubt because it was a straight out purchace.

 

[oceanpout]

I have never had any kind of negative business with nas they have always gone out of there way to repair ,service any stuff that i ever brought to them more than once they went out thir way to repair a problem so i could get on vaca or dive that day since i have been going there from late 80,s maybe you didnt like what u heard and got a little hot and agrevated with them
and sparked a bad situation

 

[SadiesMom]

Can't say as I concur with you, Diver85...this is a pretty fluid society - people move from place to place. And shops close. I bought all my gear from my LDS - that had been around for 25 years - but the owner closed it last year after he found out he had cancer. I'm going to have to take all of this gear elsewhere for service.

If I moved (and that's not at all uncommon in this transient society), I'd still have to take my gear elsewhere for service - whether or not my old shop had closed. Why start off with the attitude that you're not going to service gear or help a potential customer unless they bought the gear from you? That's pretty darned unreasonable, IMO. If a shop sells the brand of gear I have, I would expect them to service mine for me as an authorized dealer/service center.

An example - If I have a Kenmore fridge I bought from Sears here and I move from Rhode Island to Oklahoma and it breaks down, I'm going to call the local Sears to fix it. I'm sure as heck not going to expect them to tell me to ship it back to the Sears I bought it from in Rhode Island for service because even though it's a Kenmore, I didn't buy it from their Sears! They sell Kenmore, they service Kenmore, then they should be servicing MY Kenmore - no matter where I bought it!

Frankly, if I went to a new shop and they had that attitude, I do exactly what Capt. Matt is doing. A) Not go back and b) let people know what happened.

I will concede that David has an interesting point, in that it might be nice to give the manager a chance to make things better - but I don't think Matt's "obligated" to do that.

 

[RIOceanographer]

Very simple solution, take the items back to where you purchased them........Are you in business for yourself??...If so, you might understand more where they are coming from...IMO, the business owed you nothing but 'have a great day'........

The last time you brought your gear in for service did you notice that part where they handed you a piece of paper with a dollar sign and some numbers with the words "amount due"?

It isn't like shops service gear only as a favor to their loyal customers, they do it for the money. So what if Matt bought the suit or gloves elsewhere? Does it make his money as a customer any less valuable?

I have never dealt with that shop, I have no clue if this is typical behavior for them or not. Maybe there is more to the story and maybe not, but taking Matt's version of events at face value, if they only refused him because didn't buy his gear there that's a stupid business move. They should be concerned with where he spends his next dollar, not where he spent the previous one.

Personally I'd expect the shop to respond with something more like:
"We'd be happy to look at that for you, our standard charge for a leak test is....."

or if they can't do it perhaps:

"I wish we could help you but we aren't equipped provide that type of service...."

I got my drysuit serviced last time at Divers Cove in CT. I bought the suit at Ocean State Scuba in RI which is now out of business. Diver's cove never asked me where I got it. Why should they? They just gave me a price quote, did a fantastic job and now I'm a happy and they've got a bit more money in the bank. And more importantly I'll certainly come back and spend more and I have already sent several other people there for drysuit work. That's how a good business works.

 

[MSilvia]

Are you in business for yourself??...If so, you might understand more where they are coming from...

Yeah... I'm sure most small business owners can easily relate to that. Nothing ruins a business faster than potential customers, eh? I don't know how you expect them to make any profits if they take stupid risks like servicing the brands they carry.

 

[Skubaa_99]

NAS is a very reputable shop and has been around a long time. I have purchased a top of the line regulator elsewhere and had NAS go through it without any questions. Jeff knew I purchased it elsewhere but didn't GIVE ME ANY GRIEF. Jeff knows I don't live on the south shore and that
I can't make a trip down there to purchase everything as needed. But I try to make it down there
for all my purchases, and have been pretty faithful since 1979.As the saying goes there are two sides to every story.

 

[ggilmour]

I just had a hell of a customer service experience with a rep at North Atlantic Scuba. To provide context, I have an O'neill neoprene drysuit and the Diving Concepts dry glove system. The drysuit is brand new and the dry gloves I have been using for 3 years. I had the same suit prior, and the dry gloves worked like a champ. I have not been able to get a dry dive on the new suit and the leak is right at my wrist seals. Somehow I have not been able to connect my dry gloves for a dry seal. I have done it many times with my former suit, not sure what's going on with this one.

The closest shop to me that sells Diving Concepts is North Atlantic Scuba. I called today to talk about the problem and if they can do a leak test and help me fix the problem. The first question out of the mouth of this rep was "did you buy the suit or gloves from us". I explained I had not, his next comment was, "you should return to the shop where you bought them". I asked to speak to the manager and he refused. We exchanged some words and he hung up.

No problem, I can find another solution and warn everyone in my network to avoid the store. South Shore Divers for example offers good service and has a very knowledgeable owner.

This kind of thing burns my a$$. There is a business adage, change is not required, survival is not mandatory. It will apply to businesses run like this. I purchased my first diving rig through this shop many years ago including BC, regs, custom sized wetsuit, tanks, etc., etc. The idiot on the phone did not take the time to have a conversation any further than the fact that I did not buy my dry suit/gloves from them.

It will be a longer drive, but I can find another shop who wants the service revenue.

Matt;

I hate to say this but most stores would give you the same answer. The issue here is that you have a suit and dry gloves that were provided by a different manufacturer and they may have worked in the past but how is the store to know that. I very often get people that tell me that their DUI suit which worked fine worked fine with their Diving Concepts gloves stopped working and when I call DUI the standard answer that I get is sorry can't help you we don't support Diving Concepts. If I call Diving Concepts they tell me sorry we don't support DUI. So I as a support person get stuck in between the two, the issue becomes if I take in the suit then I am agreeing to resolve the issue, without the support of a manufacturer and that puts the store in a tough spot as they are just going to get a bad rap if they don't perform and very often can make the matter much worse if they don't have someone on staff that knows the two products. I would agree that they could have handled the interface more professionally but at the end of the day I would have said. Sorry we cannot support someone else's work. As that is what both O'Neill and DC would have told them.

 

[large_diver]

I can guarantee that for every shop in New England (or anywhere else) you can find people who have had positive and negative experiences with the same shop. People have bad days, personnel turnover, etc.

That said...giving customers a hard time regardless of the reason is shooting yourself in the foot/wallet.

-Chris