Opinions sought from LDS owners

[jtpwils]

Wow - what started out as a request for some feedback on what owners would think of my request - because I didn't want to "offend" (for lack of a better word) the owner, has turned into a debate/treatise on how some people feel others should run their shops. NOT what I intended at all - and actually asked people to refrain from. I guess I know better now.

Private lessons - the main reason I first inquired about private lessons is my family's very busy schedule (my daughter's summer camp, my volunteer EMT duties, my wife's book group, my weekly sports game, etc.) The idea that a young student would benefit from them came later as a suggestion and I had also thought about it previously since I'm taking my first born into a hostile environment.

We did take the discover scuba class first and she did great. If your interested there is a thread on that event.

Anyway - to the original point. No special rates or discounts were had. Discounts are available on packages that include regs, bcd, etc. but not on basic personal gear. We had a good discussion and I'm sure we both left it without any negative feelings. Did I drop some cash - absolutely, I knew that before I even thought of taking classes, and I also didn't "have to" buy from them. They made that clear early on when I originally spoke to them. Could I have saved online - absolutely, but I chose to spend my money there today.

Thanks as usual to you all for taking the time to read my questions and provide some great responses. Sorry for any hornets nest I inadvertently kicked.

 

[snowflake4727]

Kicking hornet nests is inevitable in any group larger than 1. Don't worry about it. This sport, like everyother group in the world has alot of opinionated people involved.

 

[oly5050user]

So you will be more profitable from losing a customer than trying to accommodate them? So lets see, you lost training, the immediate and future training for him, any recommendations he made to anyone he knows(both training and gear), any future gear purchases on gear or gas fills, money if you run a charter(this may not apply since he may be a vacation diver, but still possible). Did you offer to match prices or anything, if the prices are so much different that he would not even consider buying from your store, than I think that the prices in your store are the problem.

And $600 dollars for a private lesson, you have to be joking, a $400 mark up from normal to private? That seems quite unreasonable. I wish your business good luck, you'll need it if you can't adapt to the changing times.

How much do you figure pool time is? How much do you pay the instructor? How about the gear and insurance? Sit down and figure it all out. Pool time alone can be $150.-$200. per session..especially in the NYC area.We have our own indoor pool.This IS a business.To teach at a loss is foolish.You teach at a loss and then your student goes online for mask fins everything .Why bother to stay in business? Dive shops have to learn to charge what the training is worth.We do and we are the most stable LDS in the Westchester area.If we truly charged too much for private lessons I would not be as busy as I am.Oh ,I have 2 people coming in now for private lesson and another 1 tomorrow ..I have another 2 coming in for private this afternoon with another instructor we have on staff. As to the lost customer.I refused to teach him because of the attitude he had even though we charged him group rate for private class at his schedule! Also why teach him so that he can tell others that they can take lessons on the cheap AND buy online on the cheap.I do not see any loss of business at all.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I do charge extra for private Basic Open Water lessons and the rate varies due to schedule, time involved, travel expenses if they wish to do checkouts in other than our normal location etc. But this is for private 1 on 1 lessons. 2 or more constitute a group for me. Fortunately I have a very good deal with the LDS whose pool I use. I do not charge extra for private advanced classes as I really enjoy doing then and they are fun for me as well. Again things like extraordinary travel fees and lodging, etc are another matter. One if the other things I do is offer a $25.00 referral bonus to students. Send me an OW student or an advanced student who takes a full price class and I'll send you a check for 25 bucks. Ideally a student who takes, say my UW Nav class for $150, can send me 6 OW students or 6 students for any other class and get his/her full tuition back. It's a win for everyone including the shop I refer them to for gear and extras required for classes if they don't have them and want to buy them. The nice thing about being an independent right now.