Posted by Tailspin on June 29, 2001 at 19:14:32:
Last Saturday, I purchased two PST LP 80 Tanks from the Sports Chalet in Irvine. The guy who sold them to me, just before I took them to the checkout stand slapped a new VIP sticker on the tanks. When I took them to my own dive shop to have them 02 cleaned and DIN valves put on, we popped the valve on one of them, put a light stick and dental mirror in and it was fine. The other tank's valve required a wrench and a lot of torque to get off, and when we did, there appeared to be rust all over the bottom of the tank.
I took the tank back to Sports Chalet, showed it to one of the people who had waited on me, and she was properly grossed out. Then a guy named XXXXX comes up, obviously senior to the girl, peers into the tank and proclaims that it isn't really rust, just a "stain". I said, "well, whatever it is, I don't want to breathe it". He said something to the effect that if I had seen the things that he had seen, this wouldn't bother me so much, or words to that effect. They refunded my money, promised me a new tank by Monday, but to this date, it hasn't arrived. I'm no longer interested and am open to suggestions as to where to purchase PST tanks.
My major concern is the attitude of this guy, and also the practice of throwing VIP stickers on a tank without actually looking into it.
I've never bought equipment from Sports Chalet before and I never will again.