My experience with North Atlantic Scuba in Marshfield

[dbg40]

Lot's of interesting speculation Dave C. Your choice of words is also interesting: "...minor issue of being declined service and after a perceived personal slight".

If I were not involved I too would wonder about the "other side of the story". So, it means each reader needs to decide what they believe.

The phone call lasted about 120 seconds. I called a product and service provider (NAS), the kid on the phone told me to take my business elsewhere and would not let me speak to a manager.

And there it is in a nutshell folks. Case closed. Given the choice, my personal opinion is that I would avoid it. (let me apologise in advance for poor grammar)
Dave.

 

[Oriskany Divemaster]

DBG40,

You said you are a contractor and do good work etc.

For someone to take the time to slam NAS through emails and not bother to spell check your emails, I can only imagine the quality of your work. I wouldn't want you to punch list any job of mine if you can't take the time to proof read your emails.

But then again this is just a simple (couple) spelling mistake(s) that could have been corrected with the push of a few keys.

Sorry spelling is a quirk of mine, OH and now I must go to my therapy session.

Am I the only who thinks that Skubaa_99 works for that shop? Maybe even the "kid?" Dude, if slamming someone because of their spell-check is the best you can do, then stay off your parent's computer and plant yourself in front of Sponge Bob and let the grown-ups talk. One day, you'll realize that most people don't give a fcuk about speeling.

As I travel all over this country, I stop by shops all the time, and every now and then I run into a shop that just doesn't get it. And those bad shops I keep hearing the staff say, "You know, running a dive shop wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the customers."

 

[oceanpout]

If I owned a dive shop that SUPPOSEDLY gave bad service to 1 person out of thousands on this board and there were only a few cry babies that have nothing better to do than bash others for not bending over backwards to give them the service they think they so deserve so much I don't think that I would be too concerned about losing a few fair weather customers. Sorry for the poor spelling, I went to slow tech.

 

[dbg40]

If I owned a dive shop that SUPPOSEDLY gave bad service to 1 person out of thousands on this board and there were only a few cry babies that have nothing better to do than bash others for not bending over backwards to give them the service they think they so deserve so much I don't think that I would be too concerned about losing a few fair weather customers. Sorry for the poor spelling, I went to slow tech.

And thankfully, you would be out of business in short order. In business you simply cannot pick and choose who you will be nice to, and who you will piss off. Fair weather customer?? Matt dropped 1500 clams in that shop. In my book, that would put him on the "be EXTRA nice list" You may not mind being mishandled by some smartarse behind a counter, but as a consumer, I demand fair treatment from a vendor. I don't think Matt was wanting anyone to "bend over backwards" for him, he simply wanted answers from a shop that sold the product he owned. He, and every other consumer, deserves to be treated well. It's our money, if they want a piece of it, they need to play nice.

 

[oceanpout]

to be put on the extra nice list u have to be extra nice not just spend clams everbody has clams to spend box of cleanex tissues only like 1 clam

 

[dbg40]

Even for .50 of one smallish clam, I want a smile while you are taking said 1/2 clam.

 

[mark_the_singer]

Matt,
You are totally justified in your response to your poor customer service experience. Money is time and my time is more valuable than rude service. Here in Maine, word of mouth is the way a business sinks or swims. I don't think it's just in Maine, though. If you are looking for a mechanic, how do you find out if there's one with a good or bad reputation? You ask around. The internet is the new way to ask around. So thank you Matt for letting us all know about your experience. I will not do business with the store you mentioned because I value customer service and my money is worth it.

 

[SkuaSeptember]

I agree completely with everything you've said. Those actions are what a fair-minded constructive person would do.

This kind of one-sided indictment bothers me enough that I just called the shop to alert them to this situation in case they want to address the accusations in this thread directly.

It's clear to me from the positive comments of long-term customers of North Atlantic Scuba that they don't deserve to be treated this way on the internet.

There are much better ways to handle a personal slight.

Please note that I have no affiliation or connection with North Atlantic Scuba other than my recent contact to alert them.

Dave C

First, let me repeat, I am not affiliated in any way with the shop being attacked. I am not a customer of the shop. I have no bias or alliance regarding this alleged incident.

My comments are simply motivated to address the unfairness of accepting at face value such a one-sided internet report that appears intended to cause harm to people.

I understand that's acceptable to some people, but let's call it what it is: "getting even". Personally, I find "getting even" is a waste of time and energy....and believe me, I'm tempted at times, too!

So far, we've only heard one version of events and there could easily be another version that puts this into a completely different light.

You've laid out some interesting points, unfortunately many of them do not pertain to anything I've said, although you've lumped them all as an apparent response to my quote.

Nevertheless, here's my perspective on each point, just based on the one side we've heard from the OP.



1. I'm suggesting there's an onus on a customer to give a shop owner/manager a fair chance before harming them on the internet after an alleged incident with one of their employees. That chance wasn't given by the OP. Remember, we're talking about people here, not just a "shop".

This simply appears to be an attempt by the OP to cause financial harm to people running a well-respected business after he had a minor issue of being declined service and after a perceived personal slight from one of their employees.

Since the OP reports his phone call with the shop employee ended after "words" were exchanged and the other person hung up on him, it brings into question how each party handled themselves. People have limits. People sometimes overreact. Sometimes customers are unreasonably demanding or abusive. Sometimes customer service falls apart as a result. Sometimes people post before they've calmed down.... I've done that, for sure! Thankfully, being long-winded gives me time to get things into better perspective.....

Here, we really only have part of the story, but apparently the OP felt strongly enough about the whole issue to try to harm the owners of this business without first bothering to get their input:



Why didn't he give the owner/manager a fair chance before trying to harm him? Doesn't the manager/owner deserve a call?

What was the OP's main motivation for his post? Performance of a public service? Revenge for a personal slight? I don't know, but the disproportionate response of the OP makes me wonder.

If it was to perform a public service, could we agree it's incomplete and probably misleading and unfair without first obtaining the owner/manager's input?

Was this a warning to protect the public from suffering a similar "hell of an experience" with this shop? After all, this really appears to have been a minor and probably personal problem of the customer and/or of the employee, doesn't it?

From the testimonials, this appears to be not characteristic of the shop. Doesn't the OP's posting unfairly smear the reputation of the shop and the people who own/run the shop by basing it on one minor incident or policy disagreement? Seems like an over-reaction to me, but I tend to be pretty easy going....

Since you've quoted me, let me say that I had not implied any onus on the customer to do anything other than follow the suggestions of the other poster, DavidInNH, that is, to give the manager of the shop a chance to rectify or clarify the situation.

That would be a reasonable, constructive and fair response, unlike the OP's one-sided posting, in my opinion.



2. I would hope dive shop owners have better things to do than monitor and respond to internet chatter, even when the chatter maligns their reputation. How many forums would you suggest a shop monitor and how much time should they devote to it to be considered "savvy enough"? A strange concept really....

Should they respond once they've been made aware of an internet allegation? I can see how responding could be viewed as a total waste of time and a no-win situation for them, even if they are totally in the right. Just look at the unfairness of the process here and how people jump to conclusions before having all the facts. It could be a veritable "black hole" of flawed circular logic....

A non-response from a dive shop doesn't tell us anything about the shop (except maybe that they're busy serving lots of happy customers), but the OP's attempt to harm a shop over a minor issue and personal slight possibly tells us a great deal.



3. I have no affiliation with them and stated that clearly.

Are you simply mistaken or did you think you discovered my secret bias?

I'm loyal to treating people fairly.



4. I agree completely.

Maybe they tried. Maybe the call got off on the wrong foot and went down hill quickly. People react to people and sometimes get a "hair-across". Who was to blame? We certainly don't know in this case, do we?

It is a shame if one employee didn't handle the phone call well, regardless of how the customer may have handled himself.

It's also a shame if the customer unfairly sought revenge by trying to harm the apparently outstanding reputation of a shop over a service policy disagreement or a personal slight.

Where's the sense of balance here?

The real shame is that there may actually be undeserved harm done to this shop based on a one-sided report of such minor problems. It's also a shame that people piled-on and came to conclusions based on such minimal and possibly skewed evidence.

There's certainly no real public service involved in this thread.

In fact, some people have posted their agreement with the alleged position of the shop not to service a problem of mating two different products, only one of which they carry. I can see their point, too.

Someone stated it could quickly become a no-win situation for the shop to attempt to fix this OP's problem with his suit/glove combination. Remember the Pottery Shop Rules: "You break it, you own it". I can see their point.

Sometimes a customer telegraphs that they will be unreasonably demanding and still be unhappy no matter what you do. Was that the case here? I don't know. Maybe not, but something led this employee to hang up on the OP. "Words" were exchanged. What transpired to lead to that? We don't know, do we?

Personally, I tend to agree with your premise that any opportunity to serve a customer is a good chance to turn them into a loyal customer.

That's true, unless the customer is totally unreasonable, of course. Then you have to cut some of them loose, in my opinion.

Questions arise about the OP's handling of himself on that call. He's stated:



So what happened here? What does it mean "we exchanged some words"? Calling each other names maybe? How'd it get to that? Followed by the employee hanging up on the OP who subsequently tries to get even on the internet by harming the people who run the shop? In the guise of public service?....



Let me just say that this comment and and some others you made do not refer to anything I've said.

I just disagree with the OP's choice to try to harm people over a minor policy issue and possibly a personal slight. He could have chosen several other ways to deal with these issues that would have been far more constructive and fair.

That's just my humble opinion based on incomplete information....

Dave C

OK, so a few thoughts based upon posts within this thread, not all of them specifically in response to your individual post.

Item #5 - referred back to diver 85's post.

Item #3 - I assumed that because you are so staunchly defending the store that you must be a customer who has shopped there and had a good experience. This was supposed to be a compliment. Guess not.

Item # 2 - Atlantic Divers and PG Dive are both known to participate on this board because they know the value of being in tune with their customers and the diving community. It's not any more time consuming than opening your mail each day. Had the shop owner or manager utilized this resource they could have sent a quick PM to the Op in an attempt to rectify the situation. FWIW we are now six days in, you have alerted them, and apparently they still have no interest. A simple "I'm sorry for this turn of events, please give us a chance to make it right" would go a long way.

Item #1 - I've been in retail for about 30 years and there are a couple of basics. You only get one chance at a first impression. The employees you hire are your public face. If they have not been trained to properly handle a customer inquiry or to turn the call over to the owner/manager, then whoever hired and trained them is no better than the employee. If they have been trained to tell a customer to take an item back where they bought it and to not refer possible difficulties to the manager, why on earth would you pursue doing business with them?
Another retail basic - A satisfied customer might tell one person. A dissatisfied customer will tell ten. Since the internet allows you to easily tell 10,000, customer service becomes even more important.

 

[Tampico_ED]

Maybe not related but ...I have several times call PG Dive asking for boat charters or quotes ...and they have always being nice. Also MASS diving seems to be a nice shop.

OK Matt just in case you did not know Diver's cove is a Diving Concepts dealer/repair

 

[dave4868]

OK, so a few thoughts based upon posts within this thread, not all of them specifically in response to your individual post.

Item #5 - referred back to diver 85's post.

Item #3 - I assumed that because you are so staunchly defending the store that you must be a customer who has shopped there and had a good experience. This was supposed to be a compliment. Guess not.

Item # 2 - Atlantic Divers and PG Dive are both known to participate on this board because they know the value of being in tune with their customers and the diving community. It's not any more time consuming than opening your mail each day. Had the shop owner or manager utilized this resource they could have sent a quick PM to the Op in an attempt to rectify the situation. FWIW we are now six days in, you have alerted them, and apparently they still have no interest. A simple "I'm sorry for this turn of events, please give us a chance to make it right" would go a long way.

Item #1 - I've been in retail for about 30 years and there are a couple of basics. You only get one chance at a first impression. The employees you hire are your public face. If they have not been trained to properly handle a customer inquiry or to turn the call over to the owner/manager, then whoever hired and trained them is no better than the employee. If they have been trained to tell a customer to take an item back where they bought it and to not refer possible difficulties to the manager, why on earth would you pursue doing business with them?
Another retail basic - A satisfied customer might tell one person. A dissatisfied customer will tell ten. Since the internet allows you to easily tell 10,000, customer service becomes even more important.

Mostly excellent points with which I can agree wholeheartedly.

However, I stated clearly that I am not connected with the shop in any way.

I've simply tried to be a staunch defender of having a fair and constructive process to deal with what I consider a minor, and probably isolated, customer service incident, especially when people's reputations and livelihoods are at stake.

My opinion is that the process wasn't fair or constructive in this case, and unwarranted damage to a reputation resulted.

Immediately going to a first step of causing damage to a reputation and then expecting the other party to come out and try to repair the damage isn't fair. The attacked party usually can't sufficiently repair the damage no matter what they say, no matter what the original facts were.

Heck, I couldn't even make it clear I wasn't a customer despite my best efforts.....

Dave C