Your right, the manufacturer/distributor will not sell me repair parts. Nor will he sell me a regulator. I have to get my goods from retailers, not wholesalers. And I'm sure some retailers believe the liability card is real. And threats of suits and actual suits will likely occur. I'm somewhat surprised we have not heard of any yet. But, for the most part, the problem is simply momentum. Shops didn't do it yesterday, they're not going to do it today, and they don't plan on doing it tomorrow. Those kinds of shops don't get much of my business anymore, nor much business from any of my buddies. I've been servicing my family's regs for about 6 years now. It is a bit more complex than changing spark plugs, but not as difficult as rebuilding a carburator. If someone would not think of doing their own brake job (and 95% won't) then they probably should not be servicing their regulator. Just Brakes is still a booming business even with Auto Zone selling brake parts to anyone who wants them. And yes, tools are an additional expense, but not that much. Beyond what I had in my tool chest to service my cars and any other thing my wife would like fixed around the house, I spent no more than $100 on tools just for scuba (and I made/improvised a few more myself). The high dollar cleaners and adjusting tools that every professional should have (but some don't) may let you do it a little better and clearly faster, but the DIYer can do a perfectly adequate job without them. How many small LDSs have you seen with a flow bench. Of the 6 local shops in this area in the past 10 years, none had a flow bench. Larger shop in the big city had one though. Impressive but it still took 2 trips to get my Mk2/R190 right.
Seven years ago, documentation and parts were hard to come by. Now both are fairly common on ebay and many other sources are opening up. A couple LDSs have told me there is nothing in dealer agreements for Mares, Poseiden, Zeagle, or Scubapro restricting authorized retailers for selling parts. But I understand, it is different, it is new, and it is not without conserns that such sales may be made. I'm quite sure that if anyone could walk into Scuba Zone and buy parts for any regulator, shade tree scuba mechanics would pop up everywhere and provide some very serious competition to authorized shops and their technicians. With the increasing competition for retail scuba goods caused by more and more internet sellers, hitting many shops with even more competition in that area of service would cause more shops to close their doors.
Slow change in this area is probably a good thing as that allows all to adjust without too big and too quick of a shock. But the 1990 business model is just not going to continue working.
