Why you should, or should not, service your own regulator

[TONY CHANEY]

Sure thing,

Just fill out the Service request form HERE and I will get all of that info over to you.

Per your site are you going to chage me a quote fee of $20.00 if I fill it out?

 Expedited service is $40 per reg set (1st, 2nd and octo).

 Normal turnaround time is 2 weeks

 Payment MUST be received prior to return shipment

 Please send your Repair insured by a carrier that provides tracking info (UPS, FedEx, Etc.)

 Air Hogs SCUBA is not responsible for lost / stolen packages

 A $20 fee will be applied if you are requesting a quote. This amount will be applied to the repair if you elect us to complete the repair.


So if I remove my second stage from my left reg and attach it to my my right reg then it will be $90.00. With the "extended cleaning" then we can include an additional $15.00. Now does that "extended claening" for $15.00 include all the stages or $15.00 for each stage? If just $15.00 for the entire set then the price jumped to $105.00 and if it is $15.00 for each stage it jumps to $135.00. I am not busting your chops and am not trying to creat a fuss but how is a customer able to determind what needs "extensive cleaning" or not? And my next question is: What does "extensive cleaning" include that you would not have to do to a reg. that does not need extensive cleaning. Also how do you justify $15.00 for the "extensive cleaning?"

 

[NC Air Hog]

Or just don't send it. I honestly could care less.

 

[NC Air Hog]

So if I remove my second stage from my left reg and attach it to my my right reg then it will be $90.00. With the "extended cleaning" then we can include an additional $15.00. Now does that "extended claening" for $15.00 include all the stages or $15.00 for each stage? If just $15.00 for the entire set then the price jumped to $105.00 and if it is $15.00 for each stage it jumps to $135.00. I am not busting your chops and am not trying to creat a fuss but how is a customer able to determind what needs "extensive cleaning" or not? And my next question is: What does "extensive cleaning" include that you would not have to do to a reg. that does not need extensive cleaning. Also how do you justify $15.00 for the "extensive cleaning?"

There is an example of what I would consider a dirty regulator in need of "extensive cleaning". Dragging your regulators through the dirt and letting the dive shop guy take care of it is not, IMO, the right attitude to have towards your gear. That is why we include an extra $15 per stage that looks something like this. The final decision will be made by the tech doing the service. We always let the customer know prior to adding that to the bill just in case they would like to come and pick their regs up instead.

Normally I charge people a fee to get a reading on the reg set and will go ahead and tune everything for them. For military personnel (past and present) or members of Public Safety teams, we perform this service for free but we must charge shipping to send them back or we are just throwing money away. However, if you are just some random individual who has never served, I feel as if I should charge for my knowledge, time and effort; not to mention the fact that your reg set must be attached to roughly $1000 worth of gear that I went ahead and paid for out of the kindness of my heart. Now if we look at the total $135 and just add the parts kits needed, I do not think it is overpriced. If someone does, they can do it themselves or take their gear elsewhere. I get the feeling that you have copied my website and pointed out each and every little thing possible to make me out to be a bad guy for some reason. Thanks for that.

 

[TONY CHANEY]

Or just don't send it. I honestly could care less.

That is one heck of an answer! I feel that your reply was very uncalled for and rather rude. If you could care less then I can take it that you could care less about my LSE and my life. I was not picking you apart or being an ass but your reply was a big change up. I was actually asking a very fair question and considering your reg. repair. Now you sit there and wonder why divers don't trust LDS for repair our regs. Maybe, a lot of you could "Honestly care less."

 

[TommyAHS]

I'm going to jump in here for the fun of it and point out that dive shops who choose to service gear may or may not do a good job. Apparently a lot of faith has been lost on a few of you chatting here. It is the responsibility of the shop to perform service in a quality and effective manner, or business will be lost (god forbid someone get hurt). Somehow, this turned from a discussion to an analysis of one specific business (the one that brought the topic up!!). That's an ok turn if it must go that way, but many of you have taken the time to learn how to service a few select regulators. I know that over the past few years Josh (chatting above) has traveled around the country to meet with various engineers, partake in courses, speak with specific technicians, etc. He has also brought people to us to provide further education as well as spent many thousands of dollars to make sure that he can service not just a Poseidon Odin, but regulators from many many companies new and old with the tools needed to do the best job (heaven forbid we damage the finish). When a lack of knowledge as arisen, more travel and education has taken place.

I think it's great when divers want to learn service. And it's even better if you really get it, but I also think it's great to talk about repetitive skill sets and how that creates quality. Do the naysayers here actively service regs all year to ensure that same quality of work? Or when you make an error do you learn and fix it, while reading up and taking your time when you perform your next self-service? We offer our benches and tools to trained divers all the time who want to be the one inside their own regs. That's not a problem.

Now . . . I know I trust Josh to service my various regs and the regs of my family any day of the week. I also know the time and effort he puts into every set has value. If the industry has burned you so badly that trust is gone, that's ok too, but it's pretty trivial to attack a business with which you have never done business. Many times here on SB I see threads jump off track. The goal here was to discuss servicing, and get an idea of what people do and why. Perhaps something could be improved??? Why don't we get back on track or drop the topic all-together. Either way, if all someone can do is try to find personal issues with my business partner or business, then you probably do not want to dive, do business, or get to know us anyway. Either way, be safe and have fun.

 

[TONY CHANEY]

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There is an example of what I would consider a dirty regulator in need of "extensive cleaning". Dragging your regulators through the dirt and letting the dive shop guy take care of it is not, IMO, the right attitude to have towards your gear. That is why we include an extra $15 per stage that looks something like this. The final decision will be made by the tech doing the service. We always let the customer know prior to adding that to the bill just in case they would like to come and pick their regs up instead.

Normally I charge people a fee to get a reading on the reg set and will go ahead and tune everything for them. For military personnel (past and present) or members of Public Safety teams, we perform this service for free but we must charge shipping to send them back or we are just throwing money away. However, if you are just some random individual who has never served, I feel as if I should charge for my knowledge, time and effort; not to mention the fact that your reg set must be attached to roughly $1000 worth of gear that I went ahead and paid for out of the kindness of my heart. Now if we look at the total $135 and just add the parts kits needed, I do not think it is overpriced. If someone does, they can do it themselves or take their gear elsewhere. I get the feeling that you have copied my website and pointed out each and every little thing possible to make me out to be a bad guy for some reason. Thanks for that.

A much better reply and thanks for clearing up the silt. also thanks for taking care of those that took care of us. FWIW 20 years active Marine Corps and retired.


Yes, I did copy and paste from your web site that you posted here. I felt that it lead to additional questions so I simply asked. No harm ment. You still never answered if the "request quote" would be chaged to me for $20.00. Take care, and I really do mean that.

 

[gcarter]

What Tony said, +1. It was a fair question - is the $20 quote fee for submitting the form you asked him to fill out, or for a physical inspection and quote? Not at all clear from your website, no he was not picking you apart or making you out to be a bad guy. YOU did that with a snarky, uncalled-for response. It is not at all unreasonable to ask for an explanation of charges.

Great customer service.

 

[NC Air Hog]

Since you are one of those Devil Dog types, you would only be charged shipping back to you if you wanted a quote. Typically we charge $20 because it takes time. No one ever just gets a quote though.

 

[TONY CHANEY]

but it's pretty trivial to attack a business with which you have never done business. Many times here on SB I see threads jump off track. The goal here was to discuss servicing, and get an idea of what people do and why. Perhaps something could be improved??? Why don't we get back on track or drop the topic all-together. Either way, if all someone can do is try to find personal issues with my business partner or business, then you probably do not want to dive, do business, or get to know us anyway. Either way, be safe and have fun.

1) Who attacked anyone?
2) We all were 100% on track and still are. Here is the thread title: Why you should, or should not, service your own regulator
3) If a LDS wants to jump in and defend the shop's point of view, I support that. Now, if a LDS tries to downplay what has been said, then I will challenge that....it is called debate. Each party needs to take a stance and defend their take on the situation and also accept the others POV.
4) This is not about your shop but all shops within the diving industry, so yes, let's stay on topic.

 

[NC Air Hog]

What Tony said, +1. It was a fair question - is the $20 quote fee for submitting the form you asked him to fill out, or for a physical inspection and quote? Not at all clear from your website, no he was not picking you apart or making you out to be a bad guy. YOU did that with a snarky, uncalled-for response. It is not at all unreasonable to ask for an explanation of charges.

Great customer service.

Just two Marines hashing it out. Brothers will be brothers after all.