Posted by Richard on October 24, 2000 at 16:46:49:
In Reply to: Sport Chalet- salesforce information posted by MHK on October 23, 2000 at 15:35:31:
I read all of these reports about Sports Chalet and I am curious why they are still in business? If they are
that bad, why do people still shop there and why do they appear to have such a large market penetration in
the Los Angeles area?
As an example, I first learned on this billboard that Diver's Discount Supply is pretty lame and sells their
own version of private lable gear for cheap. I knew first hand right up front it was not good equipment and
yet, I went out and bought a BC from them last Spring while enroute to a day trip to Catalina. I had a
hankering to dive a more technical BC but I didn't want to spend the higher money for something like a SP
X-Tech or Transpac II. I may have saved a few dollars, but I came to realize that my old Scuba Pro Classic
was in better shape and more comfortable in the water after years of use and abuse compared to the Commando
BC I bought from Divers Discount Supply after six months. It was a $299 lesson in gear quality I was forced
to take just because I "discounted" what others who had previous experience had told me about their private
label gear.
So, if I am to comprehend what everyone is saying here, Sports Chalet has employees that are of no use as
a reliable source of information on gear selection or air fills. Their high turnover rate of very
in-experienced employees are to be avoided because they will either lie to you because they don't want to
sound ignorant when asked a very legitimate scuba related question, or they are geniunely ignorant in scuba
first place and therefore should not be working in a diving and scuba retail business in the first place -
right? So who's fault is that? Sports Chalet or their customers for putting up with it?