Adventure Sports

[wtdrm]

Mr. Pit Bull said it best and I will not  disagree or elaborate. However, he made a statement that I disagree with. "Expensive sport". Not now, but I will start a new thread about whether or not this this is an" expensive sport". Please tell me the thread I should start it on.
CJ

[sagacity]

AH! The tanks MOST definately. The internet cannot beat the LDS VAS of providing FREE! aifills with a tank purchase. It costs the shop almost nothing, and guarantees the sale, and likely a repeat customer. We'll be buying our tanks from the LDS - 4 of them probably by the end of the year - and we already have the LDS picked out ;D

[MAXFACTOR]

Sagacity,  I donot work for a dive shop, but if you get a chance,  give me a call off line I will clue you in on one of the best kept secrets this city has.      763 232 6960. 

maxfactor
joe b

[MAXFACTOR]

I would like to say one thing in support of ASC...    I was in there one time, and the owner was super.  Offered me a tour and advice on training.

I also have been in 4 other dive shops in the twin cities and at least a dozen in Florida, and 4 in mexico.

BUT BOTTOM LINE IT...... when you are making a decision to find a home..... to service your gear,  dive with, train with and potentially put your life in others hands and if your like me and have a family to account to.....  then you will seek out the best dive shop in the Twin Cities. 

Whatever your decision, you owe it to yourself to explore and be comfortable with the shop. 

I do think its time to stop beating up Adventure and move on to dive stories, and training posts. etc. 

Art, as one of my ice diving buddies, I agree with everything you said and your reasons for both cyber and retail. 

TAKE A TOUR &   LETS GO DIVING...
maxfactor 

[advspts032]

to Sagacity ... I am one of the instructor/ managers at adventure sports ... and I wanted to write yopu a quick response to your post, since it was probably me, you delt with
in the store ... you mentioned "off-standish" ...

certainly I do not like anyone feeling that way, in my interaction with him/her ...

actually, we ... and I dare guess other stores ... spend alot of time fitting gear to people ... (suits, BCD,s fins etc.)

that never had any intention of buying them in the first place ... and were using the store ... we experience that often.
Really, we don't care if we are not busy ... and try to help out if for no other reason, to make new relationships ...

But, we have to give in store purchases first priority ...

we are in a new world re. the LDS, and the on-line sales environment ... from my perspective, this is how I make my living professionally, and like all people do not like being used ...

certainly, we are all free to made purchase decisions, and on-line is one of them ... that is a good fit for some ...

others like a full service store, with advise, a pool ... repair and
feel those value added things are worth every nickel ... in the end most divers find a connection to an LDS, is of value ...

actually, our gear Tec. has assembled gear for "on-line" customers ... and many have tested gear in our pool ...

well, food for thought ...

I respect your perspective ... I hope you will consider mine ...

FYI - we will match any on-line sales from an authorized dealer

[sagacity]

We were the only customers in the store at the time. I certainly wont hold one interaction, with one sales person, as representation of the entire store. There may be times when we revisit the location. But, after reading this thread, there is a common complaint about the treatment of customers. There are simply so many other choices, and other shops that we have visited; with better experiences; that we'll think of before thinking of advspts.

"offstandish" was a nice way putting the treatment. The overall experience was a very positive one at the location - and open pool Fridays is certainly something that might bring us back...and buy something . The sales people were friendly, and helpful. And while there were no other customers in the store, gave us their undivided attention. talked shop, classes, trips, etc. But the first impression we got was that we were told, pretty much straight up, that he was reluctant to let us fit gear, b/c he was worried we would just try it on there, and buy it somewhere else. It was a couple of minutes of going back and forth with the salesperson, explaining how that wasn't our intention; and how we didn't even think of that until he mentioned it, and how we weren't that kind of people, before we were helped. If it had been just me, I would have left and never returned; but my dive buddy was very intent on buying this new piece of gear, so we stayed. We looked at each-other in disbelief. We wondered if all dive shops in the Twin Cities were this coarse. (It was the first shop either of us had gone to in Minnesota) That event soured me to the store. I shouldn't have to market myself as being worthy enough to part with my hard-earned cash and become a customer in any store. Plain an simple. Maybe I'm wrong, or old fashioned...I dunno....

And no, we didn't buy the gear there. She didn't like the ones you carried. We ended up getting it somewhere else - a product the store simply doesn't carry. Had the gear been the right fit - w/ the right features - we would have bought there.

On the plus side, other than that, the people there were VERY friendly, and from my point of view, very well stocked. I'm sure eventually, we'll end up there again. Here's hoping to a better experience when that happens. If another bad experience were to come up again...I couldn't imagine ever return again - for any reason.