Fair enough
Trying a wetsuit and not buying it is one thing but trying it just so he can order the appropriate size on the internet is low.
Using LDS for a fitting room
- Thread starter GrumpyOldGuy
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Fair enough
Trying a wetsuit and not buying it is one thing but trying it just so he can order the appropriate size on the internet is low.
scubadobadoo
Contributor
Fair enough
Agreed my brother and my sincere apologies if I offended with my stupid analogy
!I don't totally disagree and I think we may be simply chatting "past one another" as frequently happens online but I still would like that customer to come in and try on that suit so I can get a crack at them and chance to leave them with a positive vibe.
I don't know why so many shops get angry or scared by the internet while others have used it to their advantage in many various ways.
For those of you who like to go to the LDS and try things on to insure they fit correct, then purchase them at the LDS. Where will you go once the shop has closed down?
tac747
Contributor
I suppose that can work in some cases but generally that is not a wise approach for effective negotiating. Whether buying regulators or cars or houses or most anything else, if you walk up and immediately ask the lowest price, they aren't going to tell you their lowest price. If they even give you a price at all. At this point, they don't see any serious intent to buy.
In many cases, it can be a greater waste of their time to negotiate a price than to try on the suit. If the suits are on a rack where the customer can take one off and there is a changing room available, it need not take any of the shop's time. I don't use the LDS as a fitting room but if I did I think I can put on a suit and decide if it fits without a sales person hovering beside me. I hate it when they hover. Go back behind the counter, I'll come get you if I need you.
I also would never depend on a shop for my knowledge of a product. Shops have a vested interest in pushing what they have available. I've seen too many cases where a shop touts a brand as the best product or best value, then when they quit carrying that brand it is junk and the new brand they carry is the cat's meow.
Agreed my brother and my sincere apologies if I offended with my stupid analogy
This is gracious of you, thank you!!!
We may not also be talking about the same thing
I have to accept that the customer may try the suit(s) and not buy anything. We can't expect that we hold a gun to the customer's head and shot him if he doesn't buy after trying the suit on, not at all. Not making the sale is part of the business we like it or not. What I find objectionable is the case where the "pretend" customer is using the dive shop as his private free fitting room just to get the information he needs to buy the suit/equipment online. I do understand that some business owners (dive shops and others) who complain about customers all the time who don't just hand over their hard earned money to the store are not so good business people. They usually turn into bitter business owners with an attitude that turns customers away. The business owner has to work hard to "earn" his customers' trust and business, no doubt about that.
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scubadobadoo
Contributor
No worries, not offended.
Mike
Contributor
I think you are saying you don't pimp the LDS, unless they in your mind 'deserve it', since you will never go there try something and buy it. You go there try it, then research it for a few months, find the absolute lowest price and then buy it from there, if it happens to be the LDS you'll bless them with your business, but if it isn't then oh well, you gave them a shot with all your full crocodile tear intensions to have bought from them, had they just been able to clear your guantlet of consumer ideals? Is this correct?
What would happen if you accidently paid 'too' much at the LDS? If you went there, found what you wanted, could afford it and just bought it, but later found out you could have bought it cheaper somewhere else? Woud you go to hell as a result? Would you spontaneously combust on the spot? Would all your hair fall out? Just wondering what the dire consequences would be?
Could you imagine going to a LDS, trying something, buying it and NEVER finding out if you could have gotten it cheaper somewhere else, and just went on with your life? That would be freak'n crazy! Probably kill a few people here.
Silly hyperbole. I imagine the worst that will happen is his dive budget is wiped out and he has to wait til later to get that new LED dive light. Let's see, new wetsuit and new light... new wetsuit... new wetsuit and new light... new wetsuit... new wetsuit and new light... new wetsuit... whichever should I choose???
R
redacted
Guest
Many new divers will experience that scenario as I did many years ago. No combustion and I still have my hair. What I did come out of it with is disappointment at how the shop told me what a great deal I was getting and a lesson - BEWARE OF SCUBA RETAILERS. So now, I do my research first and I shop around. The result is I make almost no major purchases in LDSs. And I tell other new divers of my experience so they need not learn that same lesson the hard way.
BTW, that initial purchase involved about $1000 worth of gear from an authorized dealer when it would have been about $700 from LeisurePro at that time. The real shame is the service from that shop also sucked so I ended up with no benefits from purchasing from an authorized dealer. Since then I have probably spent 10 times that amount on major gear purchases from price competitive retailers.
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