Sounds like a move to complicate and isolate divers. Turn them into a subset that uses terms other new divers would be confused by. What a way to foster communication. Like teaching immigrants Chinese to get by in Germany.
Scuba Schools of America/Rusty Berry
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The overall concept has been around a long time. In the workshop we got the whole history.
Okaaaay... Don't hold back! Let us know how you really feel about scum sucking low life bottom feeders.
R
redacted
Guest
To one degree or another, what scuba business does not employ these or similar sales techniques.
I was first certified in 1968 by San Diego Divers Supply in San Diego.
The store was NASDS now morphed into SSI.
The deal was all Scubapro @ full retail plus a Bailey wetsuit.
The store was NASDS now morphed into SSI.
The deal was all Scubapro @ full retail plus a Bailey wetsuit.
The shop I worked for before they made the switch did not.
The shop I work for now does not.
I am free to tell my students what gear I choose to use and why. I just returned from an OW class. I did not do the pool work or academics for those students. I wore my BP/W, my long hose regulator setup. I explained why I preferred both, and we went on with the dives. I used to do that with my old shop, too, with their complete blessing. Then they changed, and if I had continued, I would have had to wear the shop's official "instructor's uniform" and lie to the students, telling them I had chosen that gear because it was the best. Now, the shop did and still does sell the kind of gear I use, but it is not the gear with the highest profit margin, so I would have been required to lie to the students to push them to gear I don't especially like. I don't think many shops require that of their instructors.
R
redacted
Guest
Do those shops provide mask, snorkel, and fins for OW training?
Just a different degree.
Wow. Just wow.
---------- Post added July 12th, 2014 at 06:28 PM ----------
So you think that telling people that masks, fins, and snorkels are not included in the curse and then (if they choose to buy them from you instead of getting them elsewhere) helping them choose the ones that are honestly best for them is only a matter of degree different from flat out lying to them about what they need and steering them to products they don't need and are not best for them in order to get the highest profit margin?
You and I have a very different set of ethics. Very different. I would not have guessed it.
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You have to understand Gary. He's a bit extreme. Now, I like him, and he is a former client, but Gary feels that if a dive shop charges a dime over cost, they are out to screw the public. He used to be not this extreme, but he's gotten that way over time. No one is allowed to make a profit or a living peddling scuba. This only applies to equipment, Gary makes some of his own and it's fine stuff, but anyone who sells gear is the devil.
As we get older, we get more extreme about the things we are passionate about. Once you understand this, and know that he will slam on every dive shop at any opportunity, well, he casts pearls of wisdom.
Eric Sedletzky
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I've been reading this thread on and off, although I haven't read every single post.
This is the kind of sleazy garbage that totally gives dive shops a bad name. I don't know if any other hobby has such a miserable reputation or not other than used cars or TV repair in the old days.
Maybe it's because diving is still a very small niche activity and dive shops can get away with this type of behavior.
The two dedicated dive shops around me are similar in tactics. One I still go into because I have to, the other I'm done with.
They have become easy targets since the rise of the internet.
They cry and belly-ache about it but refuse to change.
They've been doing business this way for decades so it must be pretty hard to give up a once pretty good scam.
All the stuff I'm reading happened to me at some point, and then some wonder why I bag on dive shops. I was even told somewhere in a post on this forum by an LDS owner that "We are not the enemy!", well, if you practice the tactics that are cited in this thread, then yes you are the enemy.
I have a buddy that works for a large sporting goods chain in Southern California. They were at one point known as the "Evil Empire".
The other LDS's in the area labelled them as such. Many of the other LDS's in the area also closed up during the crash while the "Evil Empire" was doing just fine. Yes they are a large chain and have a lot more in their stores other than scuba, but they are also very customer oriented and will bend over backwards for the customer. Yes they have their faults like maybe not always having the most knowledgable employees, or maybe they will have someone from skiing filling in in the dive center, but they do what they have to do. The training is standard PADI by the book - no more, no less.
They open early and they close late, just like a store like Sports Authority would be.
They also have a 15 to 20% standard discount average on products, so it's a pretty good deal.
This may be the future of the walk in LDS.
This is the kind of sleazy garbage that totally gives dive shops a bad name. I don't know if any other hobby has such a miserable reputation or not other than used cars or TV repair in the old days.
Maybe it's because diving is still a very small niche activity and dive shops can get away with this type of behavior.
The two dedicated dive shops around me are similar in tactics. One I still go into because I have to, the other I'm done with.
They have become easy targets since the rise of the internet.
They cry and belly-ache about it but refuse to change.
They've been doing business this way for decades so it must be pretty hard to give up a once pretty good scam.
All the stuff I'm reading happened to me at some point, and then some wonder why I bag on dive shops. I was even told somewhere in a post on this forum by an LDS owner that "We are not the enemy!", well, if you practice the tactics that are cited in this thread, then yes you are the enemy.
I have a buddy that works for a large sporting goods chain in Southern California. They were at one point known as the "Evil Empire".
The other LDS's in the area labelled them as such. Many of the other LDS's in the area also closed up during the crash while the "Evil Empire" was doing just fine. Yes they are a large chain and have a lot more in their stores other than scuba, but they are also very customer oriented and will bend over backwards for the customer. Yes they have their faults like maybe not always having the most knowledgable employees, or maybe they will have someone from skiing filling in in the dive center, but they do what they have to do. The training is standard PADI by the book - no more, no less.
They open early and they close late, just like a store like Sports Authority would be.
They also have a 15 to 20% standard discount average on products, so it's a pretty good deal.
This may be the future of the walk in LDS.
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