Posted by South Bay Dave on September 05, 2003 at 16:52:37:
After reading about other diver's experiences with Sport Chalet I wanted to share why I no longer use Torrance SC for my dive needs anymore.
For a long time SC Torrance was a great place to go, the staff was helpful, knowlegeable, competent and friendly. The same people were there when you went in and they would get to know you after awhile. Service was their top priority and they wanted to know your feedback, so they could make changes if possible.
Then they started to hire these "cowboys" to man the dive dept. These guys (and one woman) seemed more interested in impressing you with how wonderful they were in their dive experiences then providing decent service (I was amazed at how few years and dives these guys had made). And any problems you had were because you were so much less wonderful than they were. Mix that in with the other new hires who needed to ask someone else how to fill your tanks! Nobody lasted long enough to get to know you as a regular customer.
Before I left (to frequent other dive stores) I experienced: short fills on many ocassions, some kind of "burnt" taste in several tanks of air (I was told later that I had somehow caused it after they had filled it), One tank that was given back to me empty and only properly filled when I brought it to their attention, told they couldn't fill my tank because it was out of HYDRO, (I had to point out the recent hydo date to them), told my certification card was not one they recognized (NASDS), and numerous other statements made to me indicating their lack of proper training. They also have raised their fill rates not only on individual fills but also on air cards twice.
This is a good example of how "Department StoreS" dive operations can never compare to the service you get from an independent dive store. I am sure the SC employees will give me their lame feedback on this post, but it doesn't matter because I dont go there anymore and from the looks of these other posts, a lot of other divers are coming to the the same conclusion!