See, I'm a fairly pragmatic guy. I figure a business owner is free to run it any way he wants.
Now, if that way is such that he makes it clear that he doesn't want my business, I will gladly ensure that happens. He can have fond memories of not getting any.
On the other hand, if he runs it in ways that I appreciate & treats me right, he's likely to end up with a lot of my trade. My LDS falls into this category. They treat their customers right, don't play childish games with them & provide outstanding service. They know the internet exists & have accepted that they have to compete with it, like it or not. They do everything they can on prices & on some lines are actually cheaper than what I can find on the net.
The notion that a shop would punish a customer for buying from LP is utterly foreign to them. They obviously want to make the sale themselves but know that they aren't going to make every sale. If a reg is brought in that isn't under warranty, they gladly service it -for the same fee as any other reg- and the customer just has to pay for parts. And they don't play games with the parts charges, either. Joe Diver with a Scubapro reg from LP will pay the same for parts that I do for an old reg that I didn't keep serviced annually. I bought it new, but since I didn't meet the terms, it no longer gets free parts, so I pay. Or for one that I bought used, they don't care.
As a result, I gladly buy the majority of my gear from them & they get all of my service work.
I'd like to go someplace exotic and take a seminar sometime.
