AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Ambergris Caye Do I need to buy snorkeling gear before trip?

Too true Cat - kind of like those people who pick my brain in one or a million emails and phone calls and then book it direct with the hotel. Has been happening WAY to frequently these days. You know who you are..... (gee, they just don't have an "instant graemlin" with the gesture I am looking for )

I found it Barb.....

of course you did, and i am so not surprised

egcntrk, is it still called shopping when you intend to purchase elsewhere? Sure, if you just walk in and take a look without using up the salesman's time and then wander down to the next store, where you intended to go in the first place, maybe that is shopping. But if you go and use up a salesperson's time to get educated with the specific intent of purchasing elsewhere, couldn't you consider that something else? What if you were the salesman on commission? What would you then think of the person "shopping" with you?

This problem has become quite a bit more obvious nowadays with so many people savvy about buying online or as Barbara said, dealing direct.

If the company care about their employees, they would pay them a salary and not on commission. When salespeople are paid on commission, they tend to be pushy and seem desparate. Maybe this is why people are buying online and skipping the salesperson.

Skiping the salesman is fine... no problem but if you use the salesmans abilities don't you owe them a sale?

In the diving industry and elsewhere, specialist shops that gave good advice are rapidly disappearing from the UK, and I suspect from the USA as well. Once they aren't there, who do you go to for advice then? Most dive shops now will not service or in any way help with dive gear they know has been purchased "on the cheap" from internet sellers, and can you blame them? I'm not blaming "egcntrk" as he/she is merely voicing what many short-sighted people actually do, but I find the attitude " a quick buck now" and hang the future so frustrating.

For those of you who don't know, I run a retail shop selling dive gear.

Read carefully. The qualifying words were "look" and "maybe." I did not recommend purchasing elsewhere. More than once I used the phrase "good equipment" in hopes the poster would look at available options and realize good equipment is worth the investment. My personal recommendation is to purchase equipment from a reputable dive shop. I did. There was no intent implied or otherwise stated.

No. A salesman is not "owe[d]" a sale because they shared their abilities while in the scope of employment. The salesman gives information on the product, the consumer determines the product is not what is needed, simply not within the budget or doesn't like the person and/or their sales tactics, and the salesman is "owe[d] a sale because they were doing their job? If that were the case, one that attends a timeshare pitch owes the salesman a purchase. A salesman on commission knew how the business worked when they took the job. Working in the landscaping industry I drew many landscaping plans and drafted the quotations to accompany them. Each and every client had the benefit of my knowledge and experience not to mention the plans in their possession. I never felt the client's signing a contract was owed to me. I'm quite sure a great many of them ran straight to the local garden center, with the plan in hand, and purchased what I'd recommended. That time is factored into the overhead and is part of the cost of engaging in business. Then again, it would certainly be nice if every time I uttered "You need to seek the advice of an attorney practicing in ________" they placed $75 in my hand!

Pedro2 has an excellent point. That was one more reason we purchased from a reputable dive shop. I am not short sighted. You gave me excellent advice on wetsuits and I am most grateful. I will not look at the cheapest but the one that will work best for me. It will be purchased from the dive shop. I plan to use it for many years and that phrase about hanging in the closet vs. actual use hit home. Not knowing one single thing about a wetsuit, I relied on an expert to show me the right direction. Where better to begin than with this group of multi-faceted people? Pedro, do you have a shop in my area? I am, ahem, a she.

I was attempting to discourage them from purchasing low quality equipment without slighting anyone. I tried to be tactful and must not have been successful. Something was read into the post that was not intended. I was fortunate to know a diver that recommended a reputable shop and was concerned they may not have that benefit and was encouraging them to visit multiple places. In that manner, they could separate the weed from the chaff.

Now then, can we stop the spanking and all have a rum punch together?

Jesse, I'm not saying that you owe the salesman the sale, just because they spent some time with you. What I'm saying, and perhaps you meant the same, is that using the salesperson's time like that, when you have no intention of giving them the sale, is dishonest. I'm reasonably sure that none of us, even those on salary, want to have money-making time and energies, stolen by someone who is going to be a customer somewhere else.

I'm not talking about comparison shopping, for example when you want to buy a car or a fridge or a DVD player and haven't decided which store you are going to buy from or what brand you want. I'm talking about when the customer knows darn well that they intend to buy from Ebay or online or Costco/Priceco but first go and use up the salesperson's time at a retail outlet.

If you wish to do the reverse, there's some small merit in that. In other words, do all your research on line and/or by reading consumer reports. Once you find the online price, consider that you may be better off making your purchase at the retail store. Now, armed with your prices from your online research, go to the retailer and see if you can make a deal on the price. Just keep in mind, that one of the reasons things are so much cheaper online and at Costco, is because there is little to no staff, no service, etc. Sometimes warranties aren't even valid.

To bring this back around to diving specifically, I can't get airfills online. I can't try on wetsuits, BCD's, try out fins, regs, masks in the online pool. I can't get my annual service online or at Costco or Walmart. I can't go and chat about diving with Leisurepro. It is in my best interest to make sure that my favorite LDS stays in business. Therefore, I'm willing to pay a bit of an increase in cost from that which I would pay online. It is worth the few extra bucks in the longrun, as I'm getting the extra value for my money.

Hey, eg, I was editing while you were posting.

Here's to the rum punch and good fitting mask!