Rude, $-grubbing Local Dive Shops

[Louma]

Wow! Where to begin? I'm from NJ (way south of where you are speaking about). After I got involved a lot more into diving did I find out that I truly stumbled into a good dive shop. We can all sit here and argue about agencies, independent Instructors (of which I am proud to be one) and LDS. The truth is, most of us never really do any research. If there is interest in diving, and we drive past the LDS sign enough times, sooner or later we'll go in to see what's it's about. Like I said, I did great. I know lots of others who didn't. You obviously have great perseverance; hopefully you’ll find the combination that you are looking for. You might want to look into some of the local dive clubs to see who gets high marks on treating their customer’s right.

 

[sabbath999]

Wow, sorry to hear that.

My LDS that I got my training at was the polar opposite of what you are describing as well.

Not only were they patient and caring, they were thorough and went well beyond the standards of what the class requires. They are people who enjoy teaching (it is obvious) and are technically very good (pretty much all the instructors and dive-masters are cave divers with hundreds or thousands of dives... the main instructor has more than 30 years experience and thousands of OW and cave dives)

On the day my wife was certified, she completed her OW training and the first thing the divemasters did was ask if anybody wanted to go out diving with them... which, of course, she did.

They make it a point to invite people back to the pool at any time there is training sessions going on so that we can work on our dive skills, all at no charge (except for the air)...

I shopped around for equipment before I started buying, and while they certainly are not the cheapest place in the world (what LDS is?) they are reasonably in line and didn't try to "load us up".

Things like fins and masks were sold by fit, not by price or features. Regulators and BCD options were explained, etc.

I am sorry you had the problems with the LDS's you have been associates with. Keep trying, the good ones are out there.

 

[24940]

I've found that when I'm being consistently treated like an *******, it's usually because I'm being an *******.

Without the other side of the story, it's just a rant on the internet.

Your story doesn't reflect the experiences I've had with any shop I've done biz with.

 

[DRsharky]

WOW Sorry to hear your experience with dive shops and I admire your patience. As I know myself, I would stop trying after a first bad experience.
I was lucky to have a great guy as an instructor (who became my close friend even though he was much younger then me) when I learned diving. Thanks to him I am the instructor and trying to make the learning experience as pleasurable for my students as possible, hoping that they will love diving as much as I do.

 

[Splitlip]

Uh, welcome to the board?

Great intro.

 

[peterbj7]

"SCUBA CERTIFICATION - ONLY $99!!!," we signed up and left the shop about eight hundred bucks poorer after masks / fins / snorkels / logbooks / gear bags, etc. No biggie, we're city folk and used to such scams

I'm afraid I stopped reading at this point, as you had totally lost any sympathy I might have had for you.. Were you so naive not to realise that you would need equipment to dive? In what way was this a scam? I'm afraid your attitude is the problem and I'm totally with "24940". I doubt you'll find any shop catering for any elective equipment-intensive activity that will suit you. I'm sorry to say that if you came into my shop with that attitude I'd refuse to serve you.

 

[RJP]

I have yet to have a bad experience although I can foresee having a problem there but that remains to be seen.

My granmother used to say "The only thing you're sure to find every time you look for it is trouble."

 

[RJP]

Am I the only one to find that the lds industry is largely composed of rude, money-grubbing, sleazemerchants? Care to prove me wrong in the form of a recommendation of a decent lds operation in nnj? I'd love to have my opinion changed.

Ever notice that the vast majority of people in ANY retail business are "rude, money-grubbing sleaze merchants"?

Idiots make up the vast majority of people in the world, and I'm never really sure why people expect the average LDS to be better than the average LPS*, LSS**, LCD***, or LAAA**** in this regard.

In fact, the idea that anyone does anything "primarily for the love of ______, with only a secondary interest in making money" tends to assure the customer that the business will be poorly run, which never leads to good customer-centric service.

I find that the people who do well in any business are those that take the approach of "how can I make as much money as possible doing what I love" rather than those who think "can I make enough money to get by doing what I love." To be succesful at the former you need to focus on the customer's needs, at the latter you tend to focus on your own."

* Local Pizza Shop
** Local Shoe Store
*** Local Car Dealer
**** Local Anything At All

 

[Gombessa]

Idiots make up the vast majority of people in the world, and I'm never really sure why people expect the average LDS to be better than the average LPS*, LSS**, LCD***, or LAAA**** in this regard.

Well, if you came from a small town, you'd realize that we raise good people in our small towns, and LDSs there tend to be nicer. And the city folk who come in, well, ya know, it's a problem here, but also it's got to be a multi-faceted solution, and you know, well, what it ultimately does as a solution to help shore up our economy helping the to help, you know, well it's ultimately gotta be all about job creation too, and shoring up our economy too, and health care reform with those LDSs cause, you know, we've got, right, because one in five jobs being created under the umbrella of job creation, you know, and also

Right?

 

[diveandclimb]

Where I am there are several LDSs around so there are enough options that I can go to the one which treats me well. Some of them go the extra mile by asking how my dive was when I come to return tanks (I own my own gear except tanks) or by throwing in a free bottle of defog with a larger purchase. Those are the shops where I buy gear and get training. The ones which ignore me because I'm not buying a $1000 in gear every time I walk in are the ones which don't. I got trained with Boston Scuba Academy and I can say without any hesitation it is the best decision I could have possibly made. That said, our instructor (who has certified thousands of divers during his career) was definitely a yeller. I think this is good, if you can't handle the stress of a little bit of yelling how could you possibly handle the stress of an OOA situation at 100 ft in low vis. That said you have to be able to balance this with professionalism which it sounds like some of your instructors did not.