Purchasing own equipment online/lds?

[h90]

Oops!!! Another victim!

Check out this post

Back up or spare gear can save you always anywhere in the world rather than being dependent on an unknown resort shop

yes for me it was the Mares Distributor which seems to be angree because I bought in a different country (I am a foreigner in Thailand and bought it at home in europe).

But I must add here: That Mares USA (which have nothing to do with Europe nor Thailand) tried a lot to help me and if it would have been bought in USA they would have been successfull to help me.

So mares customer in USA seems to be fine, but in Thailand it sucks.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

So, what was the main cause of the oily tank, either unethical VIP or bad compressor?



The only thing that we can think of is someone was not getting their air check like they are supposed to, and never changed a filter....These are only assumptions as to the problem....I wish I had taken a pic for you guys, it really was worse than you could imagine

Hoosier, Did you find a source for what you were looking for? I still wish I could have done something better for you

 

[Cheekymonkey]

Haha if it was that bad he probably doesnt allow cameras

 

[Divingdon]

Watch out for your warranties the Suunto website says,

ONLY products purchased from Authorized Suunto Retailer are eligible for ANY warranty or service program coverage.

I believe most companies like Aqualung, Scubapro etc. have the same kind of statements on their websites. So buying online may not work out cheaper in the long run if your equipment develops any fault.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

Actually thats true for almost ALL scuba vendors.....Some people dont feel that is an issue though and a cheaper price is better for them.

 

[Swan1172]

The real issue is that the dive industry is well aware of the gray market and yet has done nothing. I am talking about outfits like LeisurePro which sell new products without a manufacturers warranty. Evidently, to the manufacturers, a sale is a sale, regardless of who is selling it. If they were really worried about the gray market, they could easily stop products from flowing there.

 

[H2Andy]

Evidently, to the manufacturers, a sale is a sale, regardless of who is selling it.

actually, the manufacturers probably prefer gray market sales: they move more product, and they don't incurr the costs associated with warranty issues

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

The real issue is that the dive industry is well aware of the gray market and yet has done nothing. I am talking about outfits like LeisurePro which sell new products without a manufacturers warranty. Evidently, to the manufacturers, a sale is a sale, regardless of who is selling it. If they were really worried about the gray market, they could easily stop products from flowing there.

The problem isnt the Manufacturers....if you have read this thread its divers that keep them in business. I know for a fact that some of the lines I carry try extremely hard to keep products off of Leisure Pros website and continually buy lets say a Computer from them to look at the serial numbers on the computer. From this they can see which diveshop sold it to LP and they are immediatly removed and can not sell that Manufacturers product again. They taken the products of the shelves of over 15 shops this year alone......

You cant blame it on the manufacturers there is only so much they can do....The problem is that alot of divers dont care about where it comes from and are price driven

Just my $.02 rant
Mike

 

[lazyturtle]

One advantage to buying from your lds is customer service. Any lds worth supporting would be able to give you feedback (from thier instructors, dms, regulars) about the gear, help (setting up, care, maintainence), and possibly even a free dive (I've comped people who bought full sets of gear for a dive tour before, so they could try it all out without worrying). Buying from a lds also means you can return with problems or questions, maybe even meet the gear rep (and I've had gear reps be super cool to customers before). Also many shops will 'throw in' stuff like whistles, knives or whatever. You should also see if they will price match.
Buying online will save you money and if you have no questions or need no help should be just fine.
I think it really depends on you comfort level as a diver (I don't have any questions about gear that a lds can answer anymore) and as a gear owner (I'm certified to repair gear, so any problems I fix myself).
Also worth checking: in the past I've heard people say (this is total hearsy, check it out for yourself) that there were warenty issues from purchasing online. Again I don't know if that is true, so look into it before purchase.

 

[Swan1172]

The problem isnt the Manufacturers....if you have read this thread its divers that keep them in business. I know for a fact that some of the lines I carry try extremely hard to keep products off of Leisure Pros website and continually buy lets say a Computer from them to look at the serial numbers on the computer. From this they can see which diveshop sold it to LP and they are immediatly removed and can not sell that Manufacturers product again. They taken the products of the shelves of over 15 shops this year alone......

You cant blame it on the manufacturers there is only so much they can do....The problem is that alot of divers dont care about where it comes from and are price driven

Just my $.02 rant
Mike

I disagree, because the manufacturers should have been doing this from the beginning. You are talking about 15 dive shops losing their authorized retailer status -- a drop in the bucket. This is more about posturing than it is about really solving the problem. I doubt that any of those 15 dive shops were selling much volume anyway, so it was easy to get rid of them.

Also, you are right that there are a lot of divers that don't care where there equipment comes from, so long as they are getting the best price. This is the entire reason we are having this conversation. If they could get it at a reasonable price from their LDS, they would. Instead, a lot of us go online to find the best price from authorized retailers. I personally would not support a gray market retailer, but that is just me. Obviously not everyone thinks the same, because LeisurePro is doing very well.