WHY Dive shops make you Feel GUILTY ???

[lairdb]

I guess most of the people complaining about prices won't be happy until WAL MART starts selling scuba gear in their sporting goods department ... we can then expect the "lowest price everyday" and absolutely nobody in the store to know anything about the equipment or how to use it.

Well, for many of us that's pretty much what we have right now, so: yeah, I'd be okay with that plus the lowest price every day. As an added bonus, at Walmart they fire the rude and lazy people.

 

[lairdb]

To get to the point (since I have no patience), isn't it good to eliminate the "personal profit" motive completely from gear recommendations?

Ah, now you understand. Yes.

Then, your only expectation of the LDS is to actually sell you the equipment, same as the mail order provider. Fortunately for the LDS, they have a huge advantage in... um... oh yeah, "selection". No, wait, that's not it... um...

 

[Corigan]

I saw a really groovy U.S. Diver's mask and snorkel kit for kids at walmart the other day. It is only a matter of time.

Matt

 

[kidspot]

Our Wal-mart has more mask/snorkel choices than most of the dive shops around...

oh and they are the only shop that sells 1lb weights for weight belts too...

Tim

 

[Kriterian]

Well, for many of us that's pretty much what we have right now, so: yeah, I'd be okay with that plus the lowest price every day. As an added bonus, at Walmart they fire the rude and lazy people.

They don't fire them, they move them to the customer service department. Try returning something one day.

 

[Snowbear]

I do not listen to a scuba merchant that does not dive and does not know how a piece of gear works uw.

How can you know the difference??

I personally know of a shop that hired someone as a salesperson who had never dived before. This person did eventually certify. But meanwhile.... this person knew the right words and was successfully able to sell gear for the store.

How is this better than knowing what you want to buy, pricing it, finding out what the best buy is (accounting for service and availability) from an online dealer who may or may not have certified divers actually making the sale??

Sorry PF - I don't buy your arguement.

 

[kidspot]

How can you know the difference??

I personally know of a shop that hired someone as a salesperson who had never dived before. This person did eventually certify. But meanwhile.... this person knew the right words and was successfully able to sell gear for the store.

How is this better than knowing what you want to buy, pricing it, finding out what the best buy is (accounting for service and availability) from an online dealer who may or may not have certified divers actually making the sale??

Sorry PF - I don't buy your arguement.

lol - reminds me of a co-worker when I used to sell computers part-time for a big electronics chain. She sold them by "color" coordinating them with the customers interior decorating... didn't know a thing about computers, but sold more than anyone else in the state... too bad I'm color blind... no wonder I didn't sell too many computers

Aloha, Tim

 

[Dive-aholic]

I like my local dive shop, and have never paid "Full Retail Price" for anything there. However, I am a little turned off by the fact that they feel they should mark everything up to the point that the customer has to ask why things are so expensive. Can you imagine if you actually walked into a local dive shop and the prices were compareable to internet browsing? I would probably die of a heart attack. My problem is, that someone coming in that is looking into getting into diving is so turned off by browsing and the outrageous prices, it makes it hard to even trust the LDS. If you went into the grocery store and lettuce was $12 a head, wouldn't you wonder if you could trust that store when the guy comes up and says "Oh, don't worry about that, we can cut you a deal on the lettuce." I mean what else have they "lied" about?

I agree with most of what you say here. It turned me off quite a bit. When I first decided to take the OW class, I went to a LDS and spoke to one of the instructors. Learned about the class, the gear, etc. I made a mental note of all the prices. I even tried on a bunch of masks. Then, like I do with everything, I went home and searched the Internet. You wouldn't believe how shocked I was to find the fins I like for $99 :11: , half the price the LDS has it marked for! I never even looked back. I guess I could have asked them to cut me a deal. But I didn't know that was part of the game. And I didn't believe they would cut the price in half anyway, or even close to it. I don't think they're lying about anything. I just think they don't know how to run a business very well. But not everyone is like me. I see a lot of people buy gear there. I'm sometimes tempted to tell them STOP, go home and check out the Internet, but I don't. The LDS has to make money from someone.

I have supported my LDS by doing most of my training with them and booking trips with them. Not all my trips are with them, but they do a lot of driving trips to Mexico (we're 6 hours from decent diving). We also book an occasional week long with them just because we don't want the hassle of putting together a trip and we like the group thing every now and then. And they do make money on those. I've priced them out separately. But it's the convenience I'm paying for.

I don't see any convenience in driving almost an hour to pay 2x the price for something I can purchase on line from a reputable dealer for a great price. Besides the fact that my LDS doesn't even carry the kind of gear I'm diving now (bp/w). In fact, I'm not even sure they know what that is.

 

[divad]

Before you and I go in further circles, let us agree that we both have a different criteria

Please stop writing "a criteria."

 

[Floridawannabe]

Hows this for making you to not feel welcome at the LDS. I did a lot of research online for price and warranty before I went to any LDS. I ended up buying my gear online. I met my dive buddy and he was a member of the LDS nearby, so I joined. I wanted to test out my new equipment in the pool that I just became a member with. I was supposed to meet my buddy there and I was about a hour early. I had time to kill so I browsed around the shop. I ended up spending about $200 while waiting for my buddy to show up. He was running late so I asked one of the LDS personel if I could get all my equipment hooked up and ready to go. He said sure, and took one look at my equipment and asked where did you purchase that equipment from. I said I bought it online, OH. Hold on, I have to ask the owner something. He came back and told me that thier insurance would not cover me using equipment not purchased at the store. We got into a long debate and I was told the long story of how important LDS are and that people like me are going to put them out of business, then what am I going to do. I reminded him that I bought a membership there and that I just got done buying some equipment from them. My dive buddy showed up and he got into the debate. A LDS personel that my daughter dances with his daughter showed up and I explained what was going on as my dive buddy and I were getting ready to walk out the door. He said wait a minute and went back to talk to the owner. He came back and said go ahead and use the pool. He said that the owner does not understand that if you chase away members then you will not have anyone and we might not purchase some of or equipment there but we will buy other things.
I went in a few weeks ago and since the other incident happended about a year ago, I asked about getting my equipment a yearly inspection. This time talking to the owner directly. He asked where I bought my equipment from and I said online. He asked what the name brand was, I told him. He stated that my equipment was a knock off and he does not service it because it is to expensive to do. He said that any equipment purchased through his LDS he would service. I called around to other LDS and one closer to my dive buddy said he would be happy to service my equipment, so we have switched to the OTHER LDS. Hopefully he is more helpful than the other one and makes me feel welcomed in his store.