Thanks for the post. I appreciate the support I’ve received from fellow divebuddy members. I’m doing my best to grow this community for the benefit of the entire scuba industry.
I’m always an advocate for supporting your local dive shop. There is no substitute for local businesses that offer great service and products divers need. Most modern dive centers are smart...they know divers shop around and look for great deals. Most will match or beat other offers on gear, just to keep the customer happy AND because they know gear sales aren’t 100% of their business. Local dive centers provide training, group travel services, local "get togethers", air fills, maintenance, rentals, fitting services and more.
So I recommend that everyone use their local dive center for all the reasons listed above, but be smart about it. If your dive center provides poor service, bad products, high prices...it’s obvious that you should shop around. Businesses like that shouldn’t be in business...it hurts our industry.
Here’s a good test to see if your dive center is ready to do business with the "modern diver"...ask them how they feel about buying gear online. The smart ones won’t bad mouth it, but rather leave it up to you to decide. They will provide quick and fairly priced service if your "internet bought" gear requires work. They will provide fitting services and gear suggestion/configuration ideas. They will do what they can to make you happy...because they know gear sales is only a small part of their modern dive center business. If they keep you happy, you’ll come back to them for all the other things a local diver needs.
Thanks for being a member of DiveBuddy.com!
If you reply to posts like this...lets keep the opinions and comments positive and constructive. Lets find a way to all work together to build a better industry...with ALL players involved.
Sincerely,
Greg Davis
Member #1
DiveBuddy.com