The Great local dive shop vs. online debate
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Just got my book in the mail yesterday...getting ready to go lie on the couch and read it until I fall asleep for my afternoon nap.
I LOVE BEING ON VACATION!
I LOVE BEING ON VACATION!
lairdb
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Got curious and spent a few minutes digging. Disclaimer -- I was focused only on regs; I'm massively skeptical about the need for annual service on anything else.
I was completely unable to find any warranty info on Mares's awful website (the only point in it's favor was the presence of PDF end-user manuals, which is pretty basic, but not everybody does it; otherwise an awful, nearly un-navigable mess of marketing rubbish.) A couple of third-party sites as well as anecdotes on scubaboard seemed to support the 2 years of parts for Mares.
Aqualung (own label and distributor _for the U.S._ for Apeks and SeaQuest) was mentioned in another post as covering parts; I can't find any indication of that in their posted T&Cs -- in fact, it's not even a Lifetime Warranty, but a "Limited Pro-Rated" lifetime waranty; from 2-5 years it's 75% of value, 5 up it's 50%, and all can be modified by their subjective judgement of how "worn out" it is, all the way down to 0%. There is, however, anecdotal comment on many sites indicating that Aqualung offers a lifetime-parts deal for all their made or distributed regs.
Oceanic allows *some* of their dealers (those identified as "Alliance" dealers, which is a minimum stocking level agreement) to offer a lifetime parts program. Note that other stores are *not* required to (though they "may") respond to this agreement; only your original seller is required to.
Atomic's website does not indicate any coverage for parts past the two year period that is their first service interval for most regs (Most Atomic regs are on a 2 year interval, vs. most mfr's 1 year.) Notably, their lifetime warranty is the only one I saw that says the lifetime warranty does *not* require servicing to remain in force; though they recommend an annual safety check and a "require" a 2-year service. (This is a little confusing; I interpret it as meaning the warranty stays in force even if you miss a service interval, but you'd better get it serviced before you dive it.)
--Laird
jeremyrfoster
Registered
I talked to an LDS yesterday and they said that regs are the only thing that need servicing. They said you can visually inspect your own BC. That is good news for me... makes me feel like I can buy a BC online where I get great deals and not worry about high servicing costs. I also emailed some of the online places (more obscure ones on ebay) and they said that you don't get a manufacturer's warranty, but that they match it with their own warranty against defects.
Good stuff.
Good stuff.
PurduEE
Guest
Do the obscure e-bay guys guarantee that they'll be in business when you come to claim your warranty service?
*For anyone claiming that you can never be certain about any company, you can't argue the fact that it is much more likely that Scubapro or Zeagle will be in business next year than all the guys selling gear online...
PurduEE
Guest
True, but who cares? It's irrelevant. You still have the option of dealing with the company directly, or finding another LDS that carries your particular brand. If the obscure e-bay guy is gone, who are you going to go to?
You guys can go on all day, but the straight deal is that you are _definitely_ more protected by the warranty offered by the LDS/manufacturer than you are from some third party...
Did you pay more for it? Probably...
You know, it's not always the case that online sales are not warrantied by the manufacturer. Scubatoys.com has warranties on the stuff they sell and in several cases, their prices are pretty good compared to LP....
Many shops have been known to refuse warranty service unless you bought it there.
In point of fact, how ELSE would they "police" what you have and where it came from, huh?
As for "warranties", no, you are not "more protected" - unless you consider $10 worth of parts to be all that valuable.
I consider it an absolute act of fraud to push such a comparison.
Oh by the way, do you run or work for a dive shop? Are you part of the endangered species playing FUD games with your customers?
CobaltWave
Guest
Most equipment of real value have serial numbers. These serial numbers are assigned to the distributor. If you brought your gear to a LDS, other than where you bought it. They contact the manufacturer and they track the serial number to see if it was sold to a "Authorized Distributer."
I just had this discussion with my LDS. I was looking at buying a Suunoto Cobra, Thier price was $775, LP price $476. They said you pay more for the "warranty" which in most cases is a simple trade, your broken one for a new one. It its not under warranty, then you have to send it off to be repaired. They recently had a guy bring in a defective computer that was bought off the internet for about $400 and on the 1st dive it broke, now its going to cost the guy another $300 to have it fixed plus a few weeks of down time. However, even though it was broken, a fluke, and needed to be repaired; the total cost still didn't exceed the LDS purchase price.
The moral of the story:
If you buy it off the internet you risk buying defective equipment, but if its defective you still can get it repaired for less than the LDS sells it new. So the risk is minimized, it you lose you lose mostly time. And the premium your paying for at the LDS is not for authenticity, by instant satisfaction, IMHO.
PurduEE
Guest
I've heard this problem, I've never had it happen to me. My original LDS here in Austin shut down (ocean's window) and I've had service done on regs (Mares mostly) at two different shops. No parts charge. To be honest, I think this 'they won't believe you unless it's the original LDS' thing is mostly FUD. If that's been your experience, go to another LDS - people move, LDS' close, it's a reality of life...
Nope, but it is easy to see why you might have had problems dealing with people in the past. You've gone from a pretty straight on debate, where I indicated that your point was not relevant, to a personal attack. If you aren't interested in hearing other people's opinions that do not agree with your own, the internet is not for you...
I think your parts costs are low. For some first, second, octo parts kits, you are looking at a more than $10 in parts, easily. In fact, Sherwood is about the only reg I know of that will set you back only $10 or so for the parts (first and second). Let's say that you spend $20 in parts for first and second, which is probably a reasonable dollar figure. That's still a $40 difference that you need to account when trying to figure out an apples to apples comparision between buying a reg from LP versus buying one from an authorized retailer (be it online, or not).
As for your regulator maintenance process, you can go ahead and not replace HP seats, etc. on a yearly basis, but unless you're carrying a pony, I think it's pretty dangerous. It might look fine, but with the temperature and pressure extremes that the HP seat and some other parts of the first stage are exposed to, I'd rather follow the recommendation. A second stage failure isn't a big deal, but most folks don't dive with a first stage backup (other than a buddy). At least with the recent Zeagle HP seat recall issues, those HP seat failures resulted in NO air being delivered. It would not be a fun experience to have that kind of a problem at depth.
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