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Newsgroups: bit.listserv.scuba-l
Date:         Thu, 5 Nov 1992 08:30:00 CDT
From:         DEMO GOD <LAPORTEM@OSHKOSHW.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Thought this might be of interest

Date sent:  5-NOV-1992 08:08:44

>From: "(Alan Wright)" <awright@GSSEC.BT.CO.UK>
>
>In article <921101192047@olympus.demon.co.uk>, Nicho@olympus.demon.co.uk
>(Gregory Stewart-Nicholls) writes:
>|>
>|>  Hmmm .. interesting. I don't believe it is possible for a UK outfit to
>|> qualify their warranty in this way. The warranty is on the goods, not based
>|> on where they were purchased. Obviously different over there .....
>|>
>|>  Greg.

Alan Wright <awright@GSSES.BT.CO.UK> writes
>
        [Stuff Deleted]

>And while we are on warranties, I recently bought a Buddy Commando
>BC (or ABJ as they like to call it) and found their warranty quite

Never heard of this brand before, what else do they make?

>interesting. Their warranty seems good but it only covers the first
>owner. Now I personally have no problem with this since I tend to
>hang on to equipment for a long time, probably much too long. I
>hate buying new stuff - all that stress over whether you are buying
>the right thing, being overcharged or how many times you are going
>to take it back to the shop before you get one that works (sorry,
>general gripe - nothing to do with diving equipment :-)).

Agreed!
>
>Anyway, this type of warranty would seem to discourage the second
>hand buyer, which makes it difficult to sell your old equipment in
>order to upgrade. Not everyone can afford to dump or donate old
>equipment, especially things like cameras and timers/computers.
>Now I accept the argument that second hand equipment may be dodgy
>but if it is within your own club or area this may not be an issue.
>It is always reasuring to a buyer to be told that the thing they
>are buying is still covered by the manufacturers warranty. This in
>turn may impact on the manufacturers since people will change
>their equipment less often.

Most of the companies I can think of right now only warranty a product for the
original owner.  I hope this doesn't come across cocky but would you give an
example of one who does warranty the second owner.
>
>I would be interested to know from which group the majority of
>sales of new diving equipment comes. Is it from people who have
>never owned the equipment or is it from people changing/upgrading
>their existing equipment?

Well, after working in a dive shop for a while, I think the majority of sales
of new equipment (BC,reg,tank,wet/dry suit,etc) can be expressed in two ways:
(note this is IMHO)

1.The open water diver, just certified and wants to do a lot of diving.

2.The Adv OW diver, got certified OW not long ago but wasn't sure they were
going to like diving so waited and rented their gear for Adv. and now likes it.

Most of the divers after this level have got most of the equipment they want,
and rent what they don't have.
There (in this area) haven't been a lot of people upgrading, most have found
what they like and are sticking with it(like me with my Dacor 950 reg). It's
nice to keep things long, especially(sp?) when there isn't anything wrong with
what you have. Granted there are things that can go wrong with the gear but
it's not like a car that rusts to pieces and you have to buy a new one, with a
little maintenance the car will run great for years just like diving equipment.

A second thought would be that once people have found something they like, they
more than likely made a sizeable investment in it.  If there isn't anything
wrong with it, and they can still get it serviced yearly then why upgrade.  A
average price for the middle of the road regulator(Dacor's 360 or Quantum with
standard depth/pressure gauge package and a octopus) runs between $500 and $600
  That is a large investment for many people(I have met a few that have no
problems dropping that down, I am not one tho  :)  ) and they don't want to
turn around and two years later do it again.

Well, I think I got off track of the original idea here but if you'd like to
discuss this further let me know.

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