Regulator Service $120

[tau]

Hi all,

I called up my local diving store to get an estimate on servicing my Regulator. They told me it would take 120 dollars :11: to do my first and second stage plus my octo. When I asked him why it cost so much, he told me because I had failed to do my annual service on the regs. He told me that Aqua lung will only pay for the parts if i had a record of servicing the reg annually.

I have not service my reg in over 2 years, because I haven't been diving on it all that much. Is it normal to pay 120 to do this job?

Please help.

 

[mccabejc]

I paid $100 total (including parts) for the first service on my year-old regs at Sport Chalet.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

A fair rate for labor is about $25.00 per stage. I am not exactly sure on annual service kit prices for Auqalung but I suspect they are in the $10-$11.00 for the first stage kit and $6.00-$7.00 range for the second stage kits.

So figure $75.00 for labor and $25.00 for parts and that brings you in around $100.00. When you add tax and a small profit for the dealer on the parts (some dealers mark them up, others don't) $120 is not unreasonable. It's not a real deal by any means, but not unheard of and certainly not the worst I have heard of either.

Free p[arts for life programs are nice and are designed to be a good deal for customers but also to support dealers by getting you in for servcie annually. Realistically though, I doubt that any manufacturer has the time or resources to track the service records of each individual regulator they sell or cover under warranty, so enforcement is probably up to the dealer.

This is always interesting as on one hand dealers do not want to abuse free parts programs lest they go away as they do cost companies big bucks on the whole. But on the other they do not want to screw good customers who took a year or two off from diving either. If you are the original owner (and can prove it) and the reg has not been abused and needs nothing more than normal annual service parts, the dealer could take a more moderate approach and choose to take the view that Aqualung actually "saved" money on the parts for the year you missed and is really out nothing if the dealer decides to cover the parts under warranty.

I am not sure about Aqualung, but I know Scubapro lets you rehabilitate the warranty so to speak by re-instating you in the free parts for life program if you pay for the parts on the first service after you lapse. Parts are then free on the next service. This policy covers the badly abused and/or badly in need of major upgrade parts problem and provides some incentive for the customer to bring it in yearly without screwing the customer if he or she takes the occassional year or two off.

I'd ask if this is an option with Aqualung (officially) or with the dealer (unofficially). Ask nicely (and ask the owner or manager not the front desk folks who may not be empowered to color outside the lines anyway) as it is up to the dealer and you may be asking him/her to bend the rules a bit. But it is also a pretty reasonable request so if you get a "no" for an answer, you may want to consider your relationship with the dealer as a whole and possibly consider looking for another dealer.

 

[cmalinowski]

see what another dealer will charge. That's simple enough. If it is that much cheaper, you can explain to your LDS that you feel you are being taken advantage of. If you want to keep up a good relationship with your LDS, then you may just pay. Otherwise, question it.

 

[mike_s]

A friend bought a regulator off Ebay and took it in to get it serviced since it was many years old and in need of service.

Most of the LDS's charge $50 to $60 labor for regulator service. The one I use
charges $60 labor which is $20/stage. Parts are extra, unless it's covered
by the parts warranty.

Anyway, he ended up paying about $120 bucks for the service job on the regulator.
Which included $60 labor, parts, tax, (maybe new batteries for the computer), etc.
So the $120 charge you are asking about doesn't seem that out of line
with what other places charge.


I know you said that you just hadn't serviced it in 2 years, but I wante
to add a note about those others about running into the same situation
when buying a used regulator.

I don't have a problem buying some items used or off Ebay. But regulators
isn't one of them. "Used" regulators are often sold after they haven't
been used for a rew years. Of course this means they need serviced
because the diaphrams and o-rings are old, drying out, cracked, etc.

If you service them for the next three years and have to buy parts for
them at an average of $60/year, then you've spent an extra $180 bucks
on that regulator. 4 years and you're up to $240 in parts over 4 years.

Since most NEW regulators come with free parts warranties if serviced
annually, that extra $180 to $240 in parts is a lot of extra money for a used
regulator. Chances are that if you take what you paid for the used
regulator and add the cost of parts over the next few years, you could
have bought a new regulator for the same price or cheaper and had one
that YOU KNOW where it's been, serviced, treated, cleaned, loved, etc.

My friend that I was talking about above spent a lot of money on
his regulator used and only saved a little bit of money. But he's paying
it extra every year now in parts fees during regulator services.

-mike

 

[DA Aquamaster]

You make some valid points on the sometimes false economy of buying used regs. If you are buying a regulator used, be sure you know exactly what you are getting and be careful not to pay too much. (I see a lot of very overpriced regs sell on e-bay all the time.)

Obviously, getting a used, high performance reg for $100-$150 that would cost $500 for a comparable new regulator is a much better deal than paying $50 for a used reg that would cost only $250 new.

How good a buy it may be also depends on parts cost in your area. Most first stage kits are around $10 and most second stage kits are around $6.00, so if the dealer chooses not to make a profit on annual service parts, parts cost each year is only $25.00 and it will take anywhere from 5 to 15 years before you start "losing" money on your used regulator due to missing out on a free parts program with a new regulator.

On the other hand, even if the dealer marks the parts up 100%, saving $350 on a used reg over the cost of a new reg of the same model will still pay for parts for 7 years.

In either case a key feature is to buy a regulator that can be serviced in your local area by a local dive shop. From a practical standpoint, this limits you to buying used regs made primarily by Scubapro or US Divers/Aqualung as other companies suffer from either comparatively limited dealer networks or from a history of discontinuing parts support on older regs.

If you buy off e-bay, bid as if you were going to have to have it serviced, unless you are getting specific proof that it has been recently serviced by an approved technician.

A better option for purchasing used equipment is to buy the rental regulators from your local dive shop. Dive shops are normally able to get new rental regs for very low prices from the companies they represent and are able to sell them as used after 1 or 2 years. So, many dive shops will sell their 1 or 2 year old rental gear for about the cost of replacing it with new rental equipment from the company and this can be a very sweet deal for a diver. A reputable shop will do a fresh annual service with the sale, and a great dive shop will thrown in free parts on the next 1 or 2 services as sort of a mini in-shop warranty.

 

[CaptAdam]

120 dolllers is usually an average amount.........

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

Our shop charges 20 per stage if you buy the reg from us and 30 per stage if you bought it some place else. Parts are free if you service it yearly.

You need to service it even if you aren't using it. Things can go very bad in the closet. I think they wear worse if you don't use them.

 

[ShoeGal]

From what I hear, that sounds about right. I just called a couple of stores and asked.

 

[Dee]

I took an old set of SP regs in for service today and was quoted $120, too. Seems to be the norm.

While there I bought a new MK25/S600/R390. The biggest selling point was the SP warranty. Future service will only cost me $20 laber per stage.