Visit to the local dive store - A new mail order customer is born

One always thinks that one should support the local dive stores,
because in times of need Leisure Pro is not going to fill your tanks
over the internet, etc.
After ten years of diving and buying stuff, and a recent encounter of
the strange kind at my local dive store, I am leaning heavily towards
mail order. Here is the tale of my most significant experiences:

The strange encounter happened when I stepped into Ocean Adventures on
Lincoln (LA, where I live now) and asked what I needed to make the DIN
valve of my regulator fit into the din valve of a tank I bought on
Ebay. Turns out the Ebay find is a 300 bar tank, but in addition to
that information I got the whole wrath the dive store owner has for
Leisure Pro etc., when he asked me where I had bought the regulator:
Upon hearing New York, he went into a little fit:
"Leisure Pro? That's what happens when you buy from them,
non-fitting,... blablabla, ... can't help you with that, ... blabla,..
", etc., etc., you know the song.
He didn't seem to want to go back to normal conversation mode, to
either hear that Leisure Pro was my local dive store when I lived there
(with a much larger selection and better service than his, btw.), nor
that they hadn't sold me that combo, but that the tank came from Ebay
years later, and that I was trying to by whatever part was needed from
him. So I stepped out.

The second worst experience with a dive store was a guy who serviced my
regulator, but never 'got around' to give me the paperwork for the work
done. I kept calling and sending faxes until I lost interest, because
the next service was due. That was the store in Germany where I had
bought fins at a $50 above internet to support my local dive store, and
air and small stuff. Turns out that he mailed the regulator to a
service center, anyway, hence his disinterest in chasing down the lost
papers.

The only bad experience with mail order was Paulis Tauchshop in
Germany (http://www.paulis-tauchshop.de/), who didn't refund a return
for about a year. But this money was recovered without cost or much
effort to me through a lawyer, whom Paul paid for.

One really good mail order experience was another German store whose
name I forgot, who gave me the sales price for an item that I had
ordered even though it went on sale only a few days after I had
ordered.

The dreaded Leisure Pro turned out to be a small store cramped to the
ceiling with interesting diving stuff at great prices, a pleasure to
browse and buy. I didn't find the lack of constant PADI indoctrination
a shortcoming.

A completely different animal not to be confused with stores are dive
operators; I had mixed experiences with these. Interestingly enough the
bad ones were with operators in the united states, the really good ones
in remote parts of Europe, and Asia and Africa.

So after ten years of random sampling, the score:

Local dive stores: 2 really bad experiences (-2), generally high price
level (-1), local service and fast availability of small parts (+1):
negative two points

Mail order: One annoying experience (Pauli) (-1), one positive
experience (+1), good prices and huge selection (+1): positive one

So for me the internet comes out three points ahead. My dive store may
go the way of the dinosaur and the horse carriage, I will get pure air
without attitude at the Sports Chalet down the road or from a vending
machine at the dive site, my equipment through the UPS truck, and my
trips from able operators.

I would be interested in hearing other peoples experiences. Is this
unique, or the rule?

chris23579@yahoo.com wrote:
> <snip> My dive store may
> go the way of the dinosaur and the horse carriage, I will get pure air
> without attitude at the Sports Chalet down the road or from a vending
> machine at the dive site, my equipment through the UPS truck, and my
> trips from able operators.
>


Owing to the fact that diving is a hobby turned business for many of the
"shops" out there, the level of professionalism is severely lacking in
lots of shops. However, there are just as many "stores" that offer good
advice, service and pricing ... at least in my opinion. From the
paragraph that I left of your post, it appears that you are happy with
one of the stores in your area ... Sport Chalet! A lot of their
surrounding dive shops complain about THEM as their prices are almost as
low as mail order. Why not call them your LDS?

By the way, I am very interested in finding out where there are dive
sites with air vending machines! This is the first that I have heard of
it. Where would one go to find such a beast?

Just my $.02

--

Ray Contreras
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Webmonkey for:
http://www.ossystems.com
http://www.bobs-garage.com
http://www.clanwolverine.org
http://www.rayzplace.com

Opinions pro/con on internet v dive stores are like random posts on
Usenet...

There's good dive stores and there's bad dive stores. What makes them that
way are the folks working there. Very few of those folks are millionaires
(ok, none are), most do it 'cause they love the sport, 'cause we all know
that margins are thin.

When I find a good store full of employees, I stick with them 'cause I trust
them to give me solid advice. I have made lifelong friends from dive
lockers I've patronized. Yes, I've bought stuff off the internet.

Oh, forgot to mention the good customers and bad customers thing... and the
fact that small sample sizes are not [generally] statistically valid...
--
Rapid Rick
"Just Dive, Baby"

My dive store may
go the way of the dinosaur and the horse carriage

Ray wrote:
> chris23579@yahoo.com wrote:
>
>> <snip> My dive store may
>> go the way of the dinosaur and the horse carriage, I will get pure air
>> without attitude at the Sports Chalet down the road or from a vending
>> machine at the dive site, my equipment through the UPS truck, and my
>> trips from able operators.
>>
>
>
> Owing to the fact that diving is a hobby turned business for many of the
> "shops" out there, the level of professionalism is severely lacking in
> lots of shops. However, there are just as many "stores" that offer good
> advice, service and pricing ... at least in my opinion. From the
> paragraph that I left of your post, it appears that you are happy with
> one of the stores in your area ... Sport Chalet! A lot of their
> surrounding dive shops complain about THEM as their prices are almost as
> low as mail order. Why not call them your LDS?
>
> By the way, I am very interested in finding out where there are dive
> sites with air vending machines! This is the first that I have heard of
> it. Where would one go to find such a beast?

These are fairly common in The Netherlands at least. Just coin-op
filling machines giving about 50 bar for 50 eurocents. Very handy as
they are open 24/7 and much cheaper if you still have over half a tank
and just need a top-off.

> Just my $.02
>

chris23579@yahoo.com wrote:
> I would be interested in hearing other peoples experiences. Is this
> unique, or the rule?

I'd say you've had a run of bad luck. We've got several dive shops in
town, two of which who are absolutely phenomenal. Great prices &
selection; and run by the friendliest, most knowledgeable people I've
ever met. I don't know what your selection is in your town, but if
there is other shops it might be worthwhile giving them a chance.
Although on-line may have better prices (and IME, this isn't always
true), there are many advantages of using a local shop, at least if
there is a local shop worthy of your business.

Now that said, I'm leaving town sometime around January, and am planning
on doing the mail-order thing when I leave. That is, if my local shops
are willing to ship stuff to me...

Bryan

"Barry" <barry@mydomain.nl> wrote in message
news:448d59f3$0$31650$e4fe514c@news.xs4all.nl...

> These are fairly common in The Netherlands at least. Just coin-op filling
> machines giving about 50 bar for 50 eurocents. Very handy as they are open
> 24/7 and much cheaper if you still have over half a tank and just need a
> top-off.

And you can legally smoke a joint and have sex with a prostitute while
you're waiting. But we were talking about the "real" world, i.e. the U.S.,
where there's laws against all sorts of stuff and liability concerns even
when there are no laws.

Who'd wanna dive in frigid NL waters anyway, what with all the joints to
smoke and prostitutes to visit? It ain't gonna translate to Laguna Beach,
where they're so freaked that they even require divers to wear snorkels.
Plus the local residents already complain about noise made by early morning
and night divers. There's no way they'd tolerate a noisy compressor on
site.

"Ray" <ray@rayzplace.com> wrote in message
news:448D793A.8090604@rayzplace.com...
> Barry wrote:
>>
>> These are fairly common in The Netherlands at least. Just coin-op filling
>> machines giving about 50 bar for 50 eurocents. Very handy as they are
>> open 24/7 and much cheaper if you still have over half a tank and just
>> need a top-off.
>>
>
> Now THAT is very cool! Are these at the dive site run by the city or a
> dive store nearby?

Ray, FYI, I heard there's air vending in Florida somewhere.

It ain't new in Europe.


>
>
> Ray Contreras
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> Webmonkey for:
> http://www.ossystems.com
> http://www.bobs-garage.com
> http://www.clanwolverine.org
> http://www.rayzplace.com

Popeye wrote:
>
> Ray, FYI, I heard there's air vending in Florida somewhere.
>
> It ain't new in Europe.
>


That is actually great news as long as it is successful. I see it as a
step towards making the individual diver take a little more
responsibility upon his/her shoulders. A small step ... but a step all
the same.


--

Ray Contreras
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Webmonkey for:
http://www.ossystems.com
http://www.bobs-garage.com
http://www.clanwolverine.org
http://www.rayzplace.com

On Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:11:33 +0200, Barry <barry@mydomain.nl> wrote:

>Ray wrote:
>> chris23579@yahoo.com wrote:
>>
>>> <snip> My dive store may
>>> go the way of the dinosaur and the horse carriage, I will get pure air
>>> without attitude at the Sports Chalet down the road or from a vending
>>> machine at the dive site, my equipment through the UPS truck, and my
>>> trips from able operators.
>>>
>>
>>
>> Owing to the fact that diving is a hobby turned business for many of the
>> "shops" out there, the level of professionalism is severely lacking in
>> lots of shops. However, there are just as many "stores" that offer good
>> advice, service and pricing ... at least in my opinion. From the
>> paragraph that I left of your post, it appears that you are happy with
>> one of the stores in your area ... Sport Chalet! A lot of their
>> surrounding dive shops complain about THEM as their prices are almost as
>> low as mail order. Why not call them your LDS?
>>
>> By the way, I am very interested in finding out where there are dive
>> sites with air vending machines! This is the first that I have heard of
>> it. Where would one go to find such a beast?
>
>These are fairly common in The Netherlands at least. Just coin-op
>filling machines giving about 50 bar for 50 eurocents. Very handy as
>they are open 24/7 and much cheaper if you still have over half a tank
>and just need a top-off.
>
>> Just my $.02
>>

YooHoo!
No more pesky VIPs or Hydros!

"GWB" <gwb3483@eatel.net> wrote in message
news:m8lr82pctglubf26h47ej25n6q16bg44r0@4ax.com...

> YooHoo!
> No more pesky VIPs or Hydros!


Until that last dynamic one, that is...

--
Popeye
"If one does as God does enough times, one
will become as God is." -Dr. Hannibal Lector.

www.finalprotectivefire.com