Was I ripped off?

[DeputyDan]

First of all - if you are going to dive you need your own suit.

The question is not purchasing but - which size 3 -5-7 is best for you.

Second $140 is not out of line for the price.

As far as the mesh bag. I have two - one for class that was $8.95 and then one later on that was around $35 for boat dives - etc.

I actually use both - because I am a member of a private pool and will ofter snorkel laps rather than swim laps - the smaller bag works.

 

[jonnythan]

Don Burke once bubbled...
No one is getting rich selling Bare 3mm wetsuits for $140.

Still, unless you have a use for the suit, the money would be better spent on something that would support colder water diving.

LP and Diver's Wholesale seem to be doing fine selling them for well less than that.

Besides, it can't be bad for business to have every OW student buy not one but *two* wetsuits!

 

[learn-scuba]

jonnythan once bubbled...
<snip>
Besides, it can't be bad for business to have every OW student buy not one but *two* wetsuits!

Why do so many on this board seem to have a bug up their collective butts about a store sellign gear? It's really confusing... I thought that's what a business was all about. The suit that was sold was not sold for an unfair price and if the diver will be diving warmer waters, it will be more than useful.

Sometimes one could get the impression that running a dive store was immoral.

 

[Don Burke]

jonnythan once bubbled...


LP and Diver's Wholesale seem to be doing fine selling them for well less than that.

Twenty dollars or so of difference isn't likely to cover the cost of maintaining a shop with inventory as opposed to a drop-shipping website.

They might be making money, but they aren't getting rich.

jonnythan once bubbled...


Besides, it can't be bad for business to have every OW student buy not one but *two* wetsuits!

Let's see what happens when kpleynes tries to return the suit.

 

[Former FLL Now MSP Diver]

I bought my first wetsuit after my first pool session. Even though we live in Florida, the pool was unheated and after more than three hours in what I used to consider a freshing temperature of 78°, everyone in the class was shaking.

If you continue diving, you can always use the suit when you come to Florida.

Marc

 

[MikeFerrara]

I don't know if you were ripped off but it sure sounds like you were manipulated into buying where and when they wanted you to buy.

 

[cdiver2]

I have a very big bug up my a** if Im not told everything up front ie, when asked about scuba lessons tell them everything they will need and cost. Why do so many lds not give the total up front. Because they know a student is unlikely to back out once he has paid some money. Is this dishonest yes just as dishonest as a student walking out with a pice of loaner equipment. Just because your in business do's not make it right to lie evan by omision.

 

[5615mike]

I agree with cdiver2

We all seem to have the same bug up our a%$ over the LDSs' since so many of them are running their little programs which many can be interpreted as minuture scams. What, you keep the pool as cold as possible so you can sell some wetsuits. That's comical. Where did you learn that........PADI?

What in the world does a student who does not own their own equipment need with a mesh bag? You can explain till your blue in the face that you're doing them a favor by providing them an easier way to transport their borrowed gear to and from pool and OW dives. Poppy C$%k. Your just pushing the accessories part of your business and that has a high profit margin. You LDS owners out there, get a clue. You read many negitive opinions about LDS.........I wonder why? Why don't you ask yourself if you would like to be treated the same way. If you don't, you wont' be in business any longer the next LDS that just went OOB!

..........IMO..........whew.....what a rant........and I need to work.......what am I doing here anyway!

 

[MikeFerrara]

cdiver2 once bubbled...
I have a very big bug up my a** if Im not told everything up front ie, when asked about scuba lessons tell them everything they will need and cost. Why do so many lds not give the total up front. Because they know a student is unlikely to back out once he has paid some money. Is this dishonest yes just as dishonest as a student walking out with a pice of loaner equipment. Just because your in business do's not make it right to lie evan by omision.

I think the public likes it that way. There are a couple shops around here whp quote the cost of the class in pieces. If you call on the phone and ask the cost of OW class they say $175. People would then call us and we would say $350 and they would go to the other shop even after we explained that they weren't comparing apples to apples. You see our $350 (actually for a while it was $400) was everything books, equipment use for pool and OW and certification fees. Except for mask and fins you would get certified for $350. The other shop would then hit you with an instructor fee for OW, equipment rental for OW and whatever else. Getting certified actually cost them like $425. The quoted $175 was just class and pool.

Most of the time when we tried to explain it to people they just refused to believe us. If a person likes what they hear they try real hard to believe it. The honest approach doesn't work anywhere near as well. You will be rewqrded for telling people what they want to hear even if it isn't true.

 

[Atticus]

I think it's immoral for a shop to not be upfront with a prospective customer about the costs involved.

That being said, $140 for a 3mm Bare suit is a fair price - you may be able to beat it in some venues, but it's certainly not unreasonable.

One thing I would question though is whether a wetsuit is needed in the pool. I completed dive master before buying a pool suit, and I have a hard time believing that the pools in NJ are (on average) going to be any colder than the pools here (or anywhere else where ambient gets below freezing / a heater unit is required).

Every once in a while we suggest a wetsuit to a student who is very thin and not very physically active. If it's me, I loan it to them, but some of the other guys charge a nominal fee.

IMHO your best bet unless you're going to be doing tropical diving, or later getting into DM (and who knows at this point) is to politely say that you'd like to return the suit and either purchase the suit that you will be using for open water down the road (the Bare Arctic Full Suit is a reasonable choice), or ask if they have a rental suit that you can use if the pool proves to be too cold for you.

One note - I would be equally reluctant to put a student that I thought would be cold into the pool without a suit as I would to put a student in a full, thick wetsuit in the pool for their first lesson. There are pros and cons on this that could probably be debated forever, but that's my view.

Best of luck, and let us know how it goes.

- Atticus