Unauthorized Sellers of Scubapro, Apeks and NO WARRANTY for you baby!

[Aquamaniac]

yknot once bubbled...
As a newly certified diver preparing to purchase a full set of gear I have been reading as many of the threads related to online versus LDS shopping. First, my experience: I finally settled on what I wanted.........

What a great post.!

I guess it all comes down to volume though, When your LDS is selling 2000 regs per month, we will get Wal-Mart pricing

 

[jonnythan]

dgangi once bubbled...
On-line purchasing will never knock out the brick-and-mortar businesses because there will always be a demand for "personal" face-to-face purchases. But let's face it -- the internet is changing how business is done, and the businesses that can't face this fact and morph to fit the changing times will only wilt away...to the benefit of us all. Capitalism and technology are both amazing things.

Thx...Doug

Amen to that.

 

[redseal]

Hey folks, let's be real: the LDS doesn't just "sell air" and certainly can't make a reasonable living just selling air and holding dive classes.

Yes, the Internet and on-line dive stores may have lower prices and greater selection (and the whole issue of warranty or non-warranty repairs and maintenance is a stickier issue: do you really want or need to spend time packing up and mailing hundreds of dollars of equipment back and forth?) but where do you get the opportunity to try out various regs or BCs or computers? It's locally, and usually the place to find people who are willing to extol the virtues (or bark about the lousy stuff) is through the LDS, i.e. other local divers.

Simple, non-technical items like wetsuits and fins and snorkels and gearbags should be looked at on-line, just for sheer variety. Essential, life-support equipment, well, IMHO, should be looked at, touched, tried (=rented), and then bought.

The last time I was in WalMart or Home Depot I felt like an insignificant cog; forget true "customer appreciation" or customer "service". It's rare in the megastores, and pretty much absent on-line. But want to spend a while chatting with the LDS owners and fellow divers, well, it's kinda like talking with folks her on Scubaboard!

 

[nyscubanerd]

Makes you wonder where companies like scuba pro and Aqualung will be aligned in the next 5 years. I think Scuba Pro will have to change their policy on not selling over the internet. Suprised they haven't already.

One question that I've been curious about is something that my local Dive shope owner said to me. He said that when you purchase items on the grey market a lot of the time they are brought over from other countires and are substandard products.

Do companies manufacture items differently depending on what country? Is an MK25 diffferent in the USA and Germany?

Would love to hear a real answer on that topic. I would be shocked if they would change a design just to handle a country. You'd think they would develop the best/safest design for all countires and then distribute that cookie cutter fashion throughout the world.

Kevin

 

[metridium]

redseal wrote...
Hey folks, let's be real: the LDS doesn't just "sell air" and certainly can't make a reasonable living just selling air and holding dive classes.

Under the old model, they can't. In the model that may likely evolve in the next decade, classes and fills will no longer be loss-leaders, but rather profit centers to offset lost equipment sales.

redseal wrote...
Yes, the Internet and on-line dive stores may have lower prices and greater selection (and the whole issue of warranty or non-warranty repairs and maintenance is a stickier issue: do you really want or need to spend time packing up and mailing hundreds of dollars of equipment back and forth

If the savings are right, then yes I do.

redseal wrote...
It's locally, and usually the place to find people who are willing to extol the virtues (or bark about the lousy stuff) is through the LDS, i.e. other local divers.

That's what places like this site are for. Getting unbiased answers from the LDS owner's cronies is a bit more hit-and-miss, I'd think.

redseal wrote...
Simple, non-technical items like wetsuits and fins and snorkels and gearbags should be looked at on-line, just for sheer variety. Essential, life-support equipment, well, IMHO, should be looked at, touched, tried (=rented), and then bought.

Why? If there's something wrong with it when it arrives, send it back. Always pay by credit card to ensure you're protected, though.

 

[Aquamaniac]

There is a Dive Store I used to frequent called Mindarie dive, they now have an offshoot called dive superstore .

http://www.mindive.com/sales.html

The are a LDS and an online Store. I often bought things online, and had to return it later, no problem. Also had service done there.
Maybe this is the Store of the Future.........

Dave

 

[metridium]

nyscubanerd wrote...
Makes you wonder where companies like scuba pro and Aqualung will be aligned in the next 5 years. I think Scuba Pro will have to change their policy on not selling over the internet.

I'm looking forward to that day. In fact, I think I'll throw a party!

nyscubanerd wrote...
One question that I've been curious about is something that my local Dive shope owner said to me. He said that when you purchase items on the grey market a lot of the time they are brought over from other countires....

Yeah, always keep an eye out on Apeks especially. They're always trying to pass off regs made in some third-world sweatshop country called "the UK" to unsuspecting patriotic Americans. It's shocking, I tell ya!

nyscubanerd wrote...
Would love to hear a real answer on that topic. I would be shocked if they would change a design just to handle a country. You'd think they would develop the best/safest design for all countires and then distribute that cookie cutter fashion throughout the world.

If there's a difference between a reg sold in the US and one in the EU, I wouldn't be surprised if the EU reg were the one designed to higher specs.

 

[nyscubanerd]

I have trouble believing that no one who works directly with Scuba Pro or Aqua Lung are not involved in these message boards. Any disgruntled employees?

Come on, you know you want to tell us the truth. It's anon, go ahead!

 

[redseal]

Metridium wrote ( a few posts above ) that if there is something wrong with equipment bought on-line, just return it. That's fine if indeed there is something technically wrong or non-functional, but a couple thoughts come to mind:

[1] What if there is something wrong with regs/gauges/computers? Do you want to find that out the hard way?
[2] What if there is nothing wrong other than after receiving and USING your new setup you decide you don't like it? Most on-line stores will only accept merchandise back that's in its original condition, unused, with all packing and warranty materials. And are you really going to go back and forth through UPS or Fedex or whomever trying manufacturer after manufacturer, when you could more easily walk into your local LDS and try stuff there, or find other divers who would be willing to let you try their gear (and provide possibly unbiased opinions about same and other gear)?

I'm glad that we all participate in this website's forums; it's sorta like standing around in the LDS chewing the fat....

 

[metridium]

redseal wrote...
[1] What if there is something wrong with regs/gauges/computers? Do you want to find that out the hard way?

Whether LDS-purchased or online-purchased, it's always a good idea to test out new gear under controlled conditions before beginning normal use. Equipment to test intermediate pressure is also readily available.

If you're not comfortable doing that yourself, some LDSs will check out your equipment for a fee.

redseal wrote...
[2] What if there is nothing wrong other than after receiving and using your new setup you decide you don't like it? Most on-line stores will only accept merchandise back that's in its original condition, unused, with all packing and warranty materials.

Ditto for the LDSs I know. YMMV.

redseal wrote...
And are you really going to go back and forth through UPS or Fedex or whomever trying manufacturer after manufacturer, when you could more easily walk into your local LDS and try stuff there, or find other divers who would be willing to let you try their gear (and provide possibly unbiased opinions about same and other gear)?

I'd do extensive research first to be fairly certain of what I wanted.

Also there's nothing unethical about trying on gear in an LDS as long as you haven't already made up your mind to buy it elsewhere.

Just be sure to give the LDS a chance to match or come close enough if you find a remarkably better price elsewhere, either online or in another LDS. Examples of this happening abound in the archives.