Manleynet.co.uk

Scuba shop Dive line poor customer service

This site is generally used just as a test bed for websites I am constructing but while I have a few spare moments I had to write about my worst ever customer experience with local scuba diving shop called dive line.

Dive Line poor customer service week 1

Back in February I took a triple console contents gauge to the Dive Line Branch in Colchester at the time called shark scuba which they had just taken over to see if I could have the item repaired, the item needed a new contents gauge due to ingress of water not a problem I was told should be about 3 to 4 days and around £30, great I thought so this was a Thursday I phoned back the following Tuesday to find out about collection and was told the item is not back from dive line in Ipswich but they would ring them and get back to me. A few days past no call so I phoned dive line up again and asked for an update, I was asked to call the Ipswich Branch of Dive line which I done and was told sorry it has been sent to Scuba-pro repair centre in France and to call back in 2 weeks.

Dive Line poor customer service week 2

Phoned Dive line back 2 weeks later and was told by a guy in their workshop I should not have been told 2 weeks they are quite slow and it will be 3 to 4 weeks. Please call dive line back again

Dive Line poor customer service week 3

Gave it another week and phoned dive line again this time being told well it could be up to 5 weeks we certainly have not received anything back from Scuba Pro in France kind of got the impression I was causing them inconvenience by calling.

Dive Line poor customer service week 4 and 5

During week 4 dive line gave me the same reply just saying nothing had been retuned to them from scuba pro and by week 5 I started asking them to dig a little deeper and find out what was going on, they promised me they would and as soon as they get an update they would ring me back being patient in fact far to laid back and patient I waited for a call back... and waited... and guess what no call back from dive line.

Dive Line poor customer service week 6

Dive line never did ring back so I called them back yet again and spoke to one of their staff who told me they have no record of anything being sent off to scuba pro in France and asked for my ticket number, well this was where things went wrong partly on my part I don't mind admitting that as I was unable to find my ticket, if they has been repaired within 4 days like they said I am sure I would have been able to find it but after this elapsed time it appeared I had lost it hands up to that.

Dive line then told me without a ticket they cant do anything  and they have no record of what ticket belonged to what item, one half of the ticket goes to the customer and the other half goes on the item but there is no other record kept hard to believe I thought. The member of staff then said they would have a very big look though the shop to see if they could find some scuba pro gauges that could be mine and would ring me back.

Dive Line poor customer service week 7

Now dive line broke with tradition and to my surprise did ring me back, sadly the staff member told me had a look cant find them we really need your ticket, the following conversation went along these line:

Me: I am very sorry as I explained I appear to have lost my ticket

Dive line: well without it we cant help how do we know we even have them

Me: well your member of staff knows me as a regular customer and has even said they cant find my the gauges I bought in

Dive line: without the ticket we really cant help

I wont post the whole conversation but it basically goes along these lines for a while and in the end this member of staff gives up and passes me over to the manager called Wayne, well Wayne also carried on along the following line explaining how they once had someone come in said they identified what was their kit took it away only for him to find out later it was not, well I could give him a good description of my kit and the history of this ongoing saga, to keep this brief he told me to try and find a photo of the gauges and if I could he might be able to find the gauges but other wise there as nothing he could do.

 Dive Line poor customer service week 8

By this time I had bought a new set of gauges from Wittering divers for £105 not that I wanted to spend money on a new set but needed something to get diving.

I remembered some small initials on the back of the contents gauge written in white paint and knew this is one way that they could be identified, I phoned dive line back and spoke to the member of staff who by now knew me and no doubt cringed every time I called and explained how to identify my scuba pro regs the details were taken down along with my phone number again for a call back.

Dive Line poor customer service week 9 &10

Dive line stuck to their tradition of no call back and 2 weeks later I phoned back, by this time I had almost given up and had planned to take legal advice as soon as I had a day off work to my total surprise on this call "Yes said the member of staff  I had another look around our Ipswich branch of dive line and found your gauges", we can repair them today and get them back to you for tomorrow and we will not charge any labour, just amazed they had turned up and yes I wanted them fixed I agreed, the total cost was £34, exactly the same quote I was given when I 1^st took them in for repair and expected to have labour costs.

Dive Line poor customer service Conclusion

At the time of writing this many businesses  are suffering due to the recession and also diving in the UK appears to be a dying trend as scuba diving is cheaper and for most easier and better in the clear waters of most holiday resorts which all seem to be acquiring a scuba centre in some shape or form so more people I feel I are just becoming holiday divers and this was proven to me by my recent dive trip to Portland in the UK when what a few years back was a place packed with divers to only a few small parties and the disappearance of a number of dive boats due to lack of divers.

Now in a business climate like this I would have thought all shops whatever there line of trade would go out of there way to help the customer so it is a surprise to me the standard of poor customer care I received from dive line scuba shop.

I was once a regular customer but obviously not now and never will be again.

So for an item with a brand new value of £105 worth about £45 second hand and a repair value of £34 never again will I be spending my cash of around £10 to £20  per month in Dive Line, not a great loss to them in itself but I have also told members of my dive club and a few friends who also used them and what shop in the scuba business or any other business come to that can afford to lose regular customers.

The good news if there is any by looking around at other places I have found 2 other shops not to far away that offer great customer service and in fact are cheaper than dive line overall.

I have tried to keep this as factual as I can of the events as they happened and feel this is a fair account of the worst customer experience I have ever had.

DIVELINE UPDATE JULY 2010

During the past few months I have been getting more than just the odd message though the site from other people with details of problems, a few have asked me to publish some of these on this site but I would rather not as I don't want to get tied up in any libel legal action and there are many forums around the net dedicated to this type of service. If you really want to put your experience online have a view of this post and maybe sign up and explain all there.