Real Regulator Warranty Claims

[spectrum]

In a recent thread it was stated that you should "want a new regulator so you have a warranty". Warranty for most scuba regulators is a 2 headed beast. Head one being the repair of manufacturing defects, the other being the marriage with the dive shop to service the unit, usually yearly with the complimentary baggie of parts.

There have been plenty of threads about the merit or not of arbitrarily performing yearly service and that's not where this question is going. Tell us about a true warranty repair your regulator received. I'm not talking about bring it back to fine tune for a little free flow but something that was down and dirty defective or broke unexpectedly. In other words aside from the baggie of free parts what is the realistic exposure without a warranty?

Pete

 

[allistoy]

12 sets of regs in our household zero defects ever. All our gear is Scuba Pro with many hundreds of dives on them

 

[Garrobo]

No servicing here. I buy a new set from LeisurePro about each year, depending on how many dives I do, and sell the used ones on Ebay. I usually get around 80% of what I paid for them originally and once got more. You can usually find a set of regs on LeisurePro from $125-150.

 

[whodunit68]

It took many, many cycles and lots of pain, refusals, and all kinds of other things but I had a defective HP seat replaced on a Sherwood regulator. Frankly, it was in large part to the shop I deal with in New Jersey (and the diligence of one of the owners and the tech) - and I hadn't even bought that particular regulator from them. They didn't need to but they got it hooked up for me - all for $10 shipping charge. It was an unpleasant experience and took a long time to get there.
I guess a little plug for the Scuba Connection in NJ is in order here. I had warranty issues with them on another item as well (them being Sherwood).

 

[redacted]

I have had 2 Mk20 pistons that needed to be replaces. One was the old style brass tip piston that would not hold IP for a year and the other was the new composite piston that developed a leak through the inner o-ring. Neither reg was under warranty so I ended up paying about $40 each for the replacement pistons and did the work myself.

I also had 3 Mk20s that went through the retainer recall. Scubapro provided the recall service for free regardless of warranty status. Although I did have one authorized dealer refuse to do the recall service unless I was going to have an annual service done at the same time. He did not want to provide the service for free (and he doesn't have to).

 

[Superlyte27]

Really simple process at my shop. If your regulator is broken... we fix it. If it's in warranty, Oceanic assumes the cost. If it's out of warranty, You assume the cost.

For yearly service... Oceanic buys the parts, you buy the labor.
In the above scenario of a sherwood HP seat: If this were an Oceanic product that had been serviced annually and proof was provided, we'd replace the seat. (if we did the service, we'd replace the seat, and the cost would be 0) Because a HP seat should last more than 1 year.

 

[halocline]

Superlyte, I think this thread is supposed to be about actual examples of warranty work that people have had. I'm sure you're very proud of your shop, but that isn't the point to the thread.

 

[Superlyte27]

I think the actual point was...
What should realistically be expected...
The point of my post was exactly that....


*edit, if the point of the question was to ask, is there really a purpose to annual service (which I don't think was the purpose), then the answer is: YES.

The warranty does not cover accidental damage. It covers manufacturer defect and annual service. Seems pretty cut and dry to me on what should happen.

And, no, I'm not proud of my dive shop. We simply abide by guidelines developed by our manufacturer, which all shops should be doing.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Hi Pete,

I've owned 10 regulators since beginning diving in 1976. None were ever subject to a recall, none ever needed warranty service.

Best wishes.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I recently had my first regulator failure. It was relatively minor. The reg had 6 months and maybe 50 dives on it (new) when the high pressure seat partially failed during an inhalation (I felt it). The reg started to freeflow slightly, so I assumed it was a case of the intermediate pressure creeping up. I tightened up the second stage resistance, double checked the pony, and continued the dive, with the slight free flow disappearing once the pressure was down to 2000 psi.

I bought the new, discount, generic, first stage off a Scuba board vendor for like $70. The shop said it looked perfect inside and that the HP seat was slightly defective (or possibly scored by a salt crystal) and needed to be replaced. The shop gave me a "discount" and only charged me $15 for the seat and $25 for all that labor and then tax too.

They sell the exact same first stage for $180, so rather than paying $41, I sold the damn thing to them for $40. It was my first true regulator failure other than a few hoses that I have seen explode. I think I'm going to stick with regulator brands I recognize from now on.