Scuba Schools of America/Rusty Berry

[sneighbor]

The question is: is the shop in an area where there are sufficient numbers of new students coming in the door so that overselling them will not create so much ill will that the number of new students coming in the door will drop to the point that the increased profits per student no longer makes up for the drop in numbers.

The shop is in Montclair, CA at the western edge of what's called the Inland Empire. About 50 or so miles from the ocean. I think, but don't know for sure, that most of the new students are recruited at shows and events. It seems that every other dive shop in the area is very well aware of Rusty. In fact, I called the local Sports Chalet in Ranch Cucamonga and told the guy I had had a bad experience with a local dive shop. He said, "let me guess, SSA in Montclair?" I asked how he could know that. He said, "Rusty is my best customer. I get calls from pissed off customers all of the time."

 

[Thalassamania]

The real key to the system is to either make sure that there is either a captive audience, or a ready supply of naive subjects. I hadn't thought about recruiting at shows ... but that makes sense.

 

[diver_doug]

NASDS had their own magazine, "Aquarius" that had what amounted to the articles and same photos you see in other dive magazines, but the only gear on any of the models was those brands that were sold in the shops, same deal with all the training materials, every photo was RPM gear, all the prose were written using the "system" and "safe" patois. They had their own dive resort down in Mexico and a live aboard, all under the aegis of "Club Aquarius." The end came when the California Attorney General came after them after the change in Federal RPM laws. But that did not stop them, they continued on in just the same way, with a no discount (except for the one time package purchase) policy and, IMHO, highly manipulative and deceptive sales practices.

Interesting...SSA's club is called Club Aquarius. Do you think Rusty co-opted the name, or was he part of that original Club Aquarius?

 

[muddiver]

There are also a number of simi landlocked potential customers in the Corona/Norco area that he does a good job of fleecing.

 

[muddiver]

Interesting...SSA's club is called Club Aquarius. Do you think Rusty co-opted the name, or was he part of that original Club Aquarius?

He is the apprenticed owner of the shop from the late 60's or earily 70's. The Club A, the SSI sell-you-poor system and all the other stuff that can be traced back to NASDS are probably well ingrained in his program. I know that shop has been running since I was in high school back in the earily 80's and it is the only one in the Pomona valley that has not moved, changed names or dissappeared (anyone remember Divers Discount? or that little shop in Diamond Bar?).

 

[diver_doug]

The shop is in Montclair, CA at the western edge of what's called the Inland Empire. About 50 or so miles from the ocean. I think, but don't know for sure, that most of the new students are recruited at shows and events. It seems that every other dive shop in the area is very well aware of Rusty. In fact, I called the local Sports Chalet in Ranch Cucamonga and told the guy I had had a bad experience with a local dive shop. He said, "let me guess, SSA in Montclair?" I asked how he could know that. He said, "Rusty is my best customer. I get calls from pissed off customers all of the time."

haha...that's Joe. He said the same thing to me...that he has had more business generated by Rusty than anybody else. With almost every dive shop in this area if you mention SSA or Rusty Berry you get a rolling of the eyes and at least one horror story they know of, or dealt with directly. FYI Joe is a super cool and helpful guy. He seems like a relic from the past when customer service was something people actually prided themselves in. He's gone above and beyond for me on more than 1 occassion...and because of that I frequently purchase items from him, even if I can get them cheaper online. He's a genuinly good guy and a great guy to do business with.

 

[ChrisM]

At first I thought the same thing about the complaint, but it is very relevant to Lina's claim that she was told that no one ever got hurt using one. And proof that SSA knew about it

As for who was sued, that's jsut product liability law. If there is a defective product out there (no comment on the rebreather), everyone in the stream of commerce - the manufacturer, the distributor, the retail store - etc is or may be liable to some degree.

As for SSA and Rusty's history on the board, check out Tulsa's blast from the past, and seeming confirmation that you can't change an angel shark's spots... What a pitiful bunch

 

[Lina77]

He is the apprenticed owner of the shop from the late 60's or earily 70's. The Club A, the SSI sell-you-poor system and all the other stuff that can be traced back to NASDS are probably well ingrained in his program. I know that shop has been running since I was in high school back in the earily 80's and it is the only one in the Pomona valley that has not moved, changed names or dissappeared (anyone remember Divers Discount? or that little shop in Diamond Bar?).

That shop itself has been around for a very long time and it was owned by Wayne Miller, Rusty didn't take over as owner until 8-9 years ago.

 

[Leejnd]

This thread has been quite illuminating! I also went to check out the BBB reviews. VERY interesting that in just the last few days, since this thread popped up, there have been several new reviews. The negative ones you can pretty much tell who wrote them - the people posting in this thread about their own experiences. Then right after theirs are all these new positive ones which seem to be directly addressing the negative reviews. They smell suspiciously like "friends of the shop".

And now there's a new one from someone telling almost exactly the same story as Lina77 and sneighbor - I can't tell if that new reviewer is someone who's been posting on this thread, but it's an awfully similar story. Hmmm....

 

[Lina77]

This thread has been quite illuminating! I also went to check out the BBB reviews. VERY interesting that in just the last few days, since this thread popped up, there have been several new reviews. The negative ones you can pretty much tell who wrote them - the people posting in this thread about their own experiences. Then right after theirs are all these new positive ones which seem to be directly addressing the negative reviews. They smell suspiciously like "friends of the shop".

And now there's a new one from someone telling almost exactly the same story as Lina77 and sneighbor - I can't tell if that new reviewer is someone who's been posting on this thread, but it's an awfully similar story. Hmmm....

OMG...I am so angry right now. TrustLink, which is run by the BBB has removed 3 negative reviews and were replaced by positive ones from Rusty's buddies. I had a friend who posted and talked to the others that have posted and they're all gone. Rusty sure is one hell of dirtbag...BBB will be hearing from us in the morning.