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In New Orleans there are two dive shops. One has been around for 50 years or more and the other for 10-15 years. The oldest operation has a good inventory but when you walk in, you are given the high pressure and that turns me off. They do not even want to know the type of diving I do or what I am interested in, they just want to make a sale,,,any sale.
The younger shop is a mom and pop outfit and a lot smaller. If more than one customer is in the shop at the same time, the owner goes nuts, he gets short and doesnt know how to handle the "crowd".
I got certified through the Old shop and my son got certified through the young shop. The Young shop did just about everything to rip my kid off and I dont appreciate it in the least.
For starters, even though he had a full set of gear, he was required to rent gear from the shop for the checkout dives. Rent to the tune of $400 for a worn out, women's non-weight integrated BC that frankly, I would rather toss out then wear and trust my safety with, a beat up regulator and analog gauges.
My son had new scubapro reg and BC and a SmartCom computer but wasnt allowed to use it. I own my own tanks and was giving him one of mine but the shop owner said it was too small, "my son would run out of air, he is an airhog, he remembered from the pool sessions."
The Tank I wanted him to use was a Steel LP77. I had to point out that the LP77 held the same volume of gas that an AL80 did. To make matters worse, I had to use math and explain tank factors until he finally agreed but still insisted my son use the AL80.
The real kicker is, these checkout dives were Sat and Sun. The following Fri we left for the Bahamas and during our 17 dives in the Bahamas, my son's air consumption was just about the same as mine. Early in the week, I would have 200Lbs or so more than him at the end of our dive, at the end of the week, we were just about even.
This tells me the shop owner had no clue but was merely argumentative due to 1. having more than one customer in the store at the same time; and 2. he wanted to rent his gear despite anything else; and 3. lastly, what was funny was this shop is a ScubaPro dealer so it wasnt like my son was going to use some gear that was foreign or presented difficulties in the event of an emergency.
I can absolutely tell you I would use neither shop unless I have no other choice, and that includes gas fills.
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