Scubapro Plastic Air barrel Cracking

[Hank658]

T.,
Thanks for the clarification.

 

[oceancurrent]

Thanks, guys. Plastic it is then. I rarely use this S600 these days anyway, since I prefer Atomic and retrofitted R109s. With all this plasticfication ScubaPro has gone to the dark side in my book.

 

[Phat_HC]

As mentioned the warranty replacement policy of ScubaPro is plastic for plastic which they are happy to do for any cracked air barrels provided your reg is still under its warranty. They started getting a lot stricter with Dealers in terms of providing warranty replacement of parts only if the reg has been serviced annually. They're now checking all of this via an online database dealers use when servicing your gear.

As for the metal replacement, these are now standard for the current S600's coming from ScubaPrp. You can buy the metal air barrel and have it installed as on upgrade to your existing reg. I would be surprised if a dealer would sell you the part without installing it from a liability perspective. Once upgraded the metal air barrel would be covered by the ScubaPro warranty as if it was part of the original again so long as you maintain its annual service through an authorized service center.

 

[cbrich]

If you expect Scubapro to warranty a plastic airbarrel for a metal one, you must be crazy or something. That's like going into your Chevrolet dealer (or any car dealer) with a faulty CD/AM/FM radio and expecting a Navigation radio. It's just not going to happen. I have heard the parts for the metal barrel upgrade are fairly inexpensive.

 

[Phat_HC]

Don't quote me but I believe the replacement part will cost a bit under $30

 

[oceancurrent]

They started getting a lot stricter with Dealers in terms of providing warranty replacement of parts only if the reg has been serviced annually. They're now checking all of this via an online database dealers use when servicing your gear.

And what if I have bought a reg but don't use it for 5 years? If it doesn't get all these unnecessary services, they won't stand behind their own product when it comes out defective?

I would be surprised if a dealer would sell you the part without installing it from a liability perspective.

Liability is a made-up fictitious excuse for dipping deeper into the customer's wallet, don't you know?

In fact, the scuba industry in the USA is the only industry that I know of which insists that people will kill themselves if they service their own gadgets (of course, forgetting that just some 50 years ago everyone was servicing their own gear).

Imagine the uproar if car dealers stop selling parts to consumers! And in what way are, let's say, brake pads less of a life-critical piece of equipment than a regulator? Perhaps they should not sell brake pads in the open out of fear that somebody will install them poorly in a car and then go on a kamikaze spree?

 

[Phat_HC]

Oceancurrent, I understand what you're saying and I don't disagree with you in principal but in practice liability lawsuits are very real. You can be sued and incur large legal expenses even if you're found not guilty. This has caused everyone involved to the take extreme measures to avoid even being named. As I said I don't like it but its the reality of the real world. You can blame the people who bring in frivolous lawsuits, courts and lawyers in the USA.

With that said if you read the fine print ScubaPro's "Parts for Life" warranty only covers the parts involved in the annual service kit. I don't have a copy in front of me but I believe they only cover parts for a year or two from defects. At the store I teach through we can almost always get them to cover a part like the air barrel as this cracking isn't the result of misuse. In fact for this specific problem we've got everyone of them covered. That's the advantage the dealer is probably always going to have.

 

[cbrich]

In fact, the scuba industry in the USA is the only industry that I know of which insists that people will kill themselves if they service their own gadgets (of course, forgetting that just some 50 years ago everyone was servicing their own gear).

Don't forget the USA is the only country that get sue happy too. I would like to see a phone book, where the Attorney section is < 1 page long. But the stipulation is; the 2010 population of said city has to be greater than 250,000 people.

 

[oceancurrent]

Right. The point however was that the scuba manufacturers are the only consumer-oriented industry within the USA that I can think of which refuses to sell spare parts to the consumers. And the USA is the only country where they can do this at will apparently.

Heck! I can even order parts for my hang glider from Willis Wing and they will happily ship them to me. No mention whatsoever of the fact that if you put the wrong part the wrong way, the results can easily be catastrophic. Other than a warning label or two, that is.

In Europe, by the way, there is a EU directive which stipulates that if you sell some gadget to the consumer, you must then also offer him spare parts for said item. The dive centres there still occasionally try to deny the casual customer access to parts by quoting safety concerns. However when pressed with the EU directive, they typically cave in and sell you the kit. One just has to be firm and stand his ground.

The scuba industry in the USA takes a bit too seriously its self-invented policing role.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Right. The point however was that the scuba manufacturers are the only consumer-oriented industry within the USA that I can think of which refuses to sell spare parts to the consumers. And the USA is the only country where they can do this at will apparently.

Heck! I can even order parts for my hang glider from Willis Wing and they will happily ship them to me. No mention whatsoever of the fact that if you put the wrong part the wrong way, the results can easily be catastrophic. Other than a warning label or two, that is.

In Europe, by the way, there is a EU directive which stipulates that if you sell some gadget to the consumer, you must then also offer him spare parts for said item. The dive centres there still occasionally try to deny the casual customer access to parts by quoting safety concerns. However when pressed with the EU directive, they typically cave in and sell you the kit. One just has to be firm and stand his ground.

The scuba industry in the USA takes a bit too seriously its self-invented policing role.

I don't think shops refusing to sell consumers parts is so much of a liability concern as it is a business protectionist manuever, which both the dealers and the manufacturers are in kahoots.
They don't want people to get their hands on parts because they don't want to lose their annual service gravy train.
There are online dealers and reg manufacturers out there that will gladly sell the customer rebuild parts. Scubapro and a few others are just hanging on to an antiquated business model to protect their little dealers puppets.