Posted by Ken Kurtis on February 18, 2003 at 11:52:20:
In Reply to: How about a good shop / company story? posted by SoBay Jim on February 18, 2003 at 11:15:12:
Jim in SoBay wrote: "When it finally is time to buy a new ScubaPro BC, guess where I'm going?"
Reef Seekers Dive Co. in Beverly Hills????? (Sorry, gang, couldn't resist.)
Seriously, though, there are probably more good stories than horror stories. Unfortunately, you (the diving community) take the good ones for granted because they happen with such regularity that it seems the norm, and that makes the not-so-good ones all the more glaring.
Jeff and his staff do a great job at Pacific Wilderness trying to meet customer needs. So do a lot of stores (Barry at Sea 'D Sea, Carter at Malibu Divers, Rocky at Scuba Haus, Hal at Hollywoodivers . . . and then there are those Bill & Ken fellows at Reef Seekers are just a few that immediately come to mind.)
The bottom line in all this is that it's in a dive shop's best long-term interest to give good customer service. Despite what some of you might think, we really don't sit around each day trying to figure out new ways to p**s you off.
Which takes us back to the previous thread regarding Ocean Adventures. I talked with Steve Ladd (who I've known for years) about this yesterday because something just didn't quite seem right about the story tome, especially knowing Steve. And since I don't think he's going to post anything (despite my urging), he did provide one more piece of the puzzle that, IMHO, casts a very different light on that incident. (And Rey, feel free to offer a rebuttal.)
Seems the class that Rey signed up for was a DM class. According to Steve, Rey was issued books required for the course that were not returned. Said books run $150. Steve is still holding $150 of Rey's money. Seems fair to me.
Now, whether Steve will refund Rey if he returns the books or not, I don't know. But the point of all this is that (1) there's always two sides to a story and reasons for everything, (2) the first shot is rarely the full, complete, or accurate picture, (3) it pays to dig deeper, (4) no one's going to be objective when the underlying goal of a post is to make someone look bad (think of anything that Michael Kane writes referring to me), and (5) reserve judgement until all the facts are in.
But to go back to the original comment from Jim, it's nice to see/hear good service appreciated.
Ken Kurtis
NAUI Instr. #5936
Co-owner, Reef Seekers Dive Co.
Beverly Hills, CA