Ok I have to admit that by the way you put this I do have to tell a little bit about my experience at my LDS. For respect to him and my collegues in the Tulsa area I wont mention names or dollar amounts. My LDS of choice is one that for some time has been the target of heated debate as well as a dive group I am involved in. Between the two there does appear to be some bad blood with the two of them but thats their buisness as to why. Anyway because of this bad blood and a handful of bad experiences (Hey they happen right no one has a 100 percent satisfaction rate.) My LDS catches a lot of negativity. Again I am not going to get between what one person feels is right and another feels is wrong)
Anyway he like a lot of dive shops nationwide are caught up in fight for survival as the internet has done harm to his buisness slightly as well. He does back what he sales though and does believe in them whole heartedly.
I have taken all but 2 courses with him so far and found his staff to be like family. Yes there are times me and his staff may have a disagreement of ideas and yes I am sure they have ideas of me sometimes not positive. (Everyone has a diffrent opinion of someone when they are not around whether serious or just out of fun) But we all know what we love and we all know what we want to achieve. I dont mind at all that sometimes an opinion may be lower of me then my expectations and I love it to pieces when they have a high opinion of me. Hey its life.
Now again being that we live in free market I understand he sometimes is not the cheapest man in the world and then I understand sometimes he just may be. I wont say prices of what it cost because its not my intent to start a flame war of prices but people localy know what he charges for his courses.
I told some people what he charged me for classes and they like to died. Others have said it was a good price. My point is as you stated it was worth it to me.
People wonder why I am so loyal to my dive shop and Im going to post it here.
When I went to Hawaii back in 2007 there were 2 absolutes in my life. One was I could not swim and the other was that I loved the ocean. I can never vacation without the ocean and this stems back to a love instilled into me by my now deceased wife.
Anyway while in Hawaii there was a swimming pool at our resort where Discover Scuba was offered for free. I was hesitant but hey I loved the ocean so much I was magnitized. I could not help myself so I asked if I had to be a swimmer. The reply was "Padi does not require swimming skills for the discover scuba" Well I should have caught that first sentence but hey I was thinking "OCEAN!!!" So I did the course and was hooked. I then came home and asked around not knowing how this whole thing worked and found I had to be a swimmer to pass the swim test and float test. Uggghhhhh.
Well I signed up with my shop and paid in full then realized uh oh I forgot about that part. I called the shop back and found that he was as subborn as I was. He said "come in and Ill show you some tricks to the trade" He spent his time in the pool with me and actually taught me how to float. He even took it a step further by taking time away from his busy counter and things he had to do so he could get in the pool with me for no charge what so ever and help me reach my passion.
When I recently took divemaster with him I realized all those years since he taught me to swim I still was no power swimmer but again taking the basic skills he taught me I put them together and passed the swim assesment based on what he taught me.
So when people ask me why I stick with him my reply is simple "Yes I paid x amount more then LDS X but his time in the pool and his belief in me when my own belief faded is worth far more then my savings. Yes I could go to this place but he spent his own time at no charge to teach me to swim. Thats something you cant put a price tag on.
Yes I am guilty of saving money online and when its substantial I dont have a choice as my money is not unlimited. But when it comes to courses he has my loyalty and when it comes to a brand I want that he carries he gets the first shot to at least come close enough to where I can afford it. His clientel is divided as any shops are. Some will walk away and never come back. Others will always be there for him and I am one of those.
, you should order your food online and cook it yourself. What about buying your steak online and take it to this restaurant to cook it for you??
