I dropped off LW's scuba gear (buoyancy compensator (BC) and regulator) for service there in the middle of March before we left on our vacation to Maui. Then we were gone on vacation for a while and I was busy at work when we got back, and I just kept forgetting to check on it.
Here we are in May, and I called the shop to say, "Hey... uh... how about that gear I dropped off for service?" The guy on the phone was terribly apologetic that nobody had called to tell us the gear was ready and it had been ready and sitting there for some time. Okay, roger, thanks. I'll be in to pick it up soon.
This afternoon, I swung over to the shop to pick up the gear. I told the guy my last name and described the gear to him. He went looking in the back and seemed like he was gone for a long time. When he returned, he handed me LW's regulator, and he handed me this:
I realize some of you may not be scuba divers, so you may not recognize what that is in the photo. THAT, my dear readers (all five of you), is the inflator tube to LW's BC. Note the distinct absence of the BC to which it is supposed to be attached. To help you with the visualization, it is SUPPOSED to look something like THIS:
But alas, this is about the extent of the functionality of LW's BC right now:
The guy called over to their main shop (the shop on Hickam AFB is just a satellite shop). After what seemed like forever on the phone, the guy on the other end of the line said all he could find was a pink BC with no inflator tube attached. The guy on the Hickam end of the phone line said, "THAT'S IT! Send it on over here!" It should be in tomorrow.
I'm sorry, but are my expectations of customer service totally out of the box here? When they received JUST an inflator tube at the Hickam shop, would it not be reasonable for the employee receiving it to say to himself, "Self, that's awfully odd. I WONDER where the REST of the BC is that goes with this inflator tube? MAYBE I should CALL THE SHOP and ask them WHAT THE HECK?"
I'm really kicking myself now. If only I had KNOWN that 90% of LW's BC was at the other shop, then I would have picked it up when I was AT the other shop for the dive last Sunday!
Unfortunately, that means I will have to set foot in the Island Divers shop once more. After that though, I refuse to ever set foot in that store ever again. I'm just so done with these people that I had to laugh this one off this afternoon. LW keeps telling me it's not funny and she wants her gosh darn BC back. I wholeheartedly agree with her, but I've crossed some psychological threshold from being pissed off into a state of bizarre comic disbelief that anyone could be this disorganized.
That sucks. It doesn't give you much comfort that it was repaired correctly, huh? Make sure to give it a good test before she goes down to 60 feet. We used the dive shop on Camp Smith. I think it was/is called the Dive Locker.
ReplyDeleteThat is the Island for ya Brah!!
ReplyDeleteThere are multiple businesses and services there that seem to thrive with pathetic costumer service.
I figured there were two reasons.
1. Most of the customers that they routinely cater to are tourist.
If they get bad service, so what? They don't stay on island long enough to make a difference and they usually have gotten their money from them anyway.
2. They have the "Your stuck on an island and try to find better" attitude.
This is usually driven by reason 1 because the tourist dollar is higher volume for them than local business.
I would put in a complaint to the Hickam PAO or what ever Department that allows business on base.
Being a Dive shop, there are some safety issues here. You can't be sloppy with Equipment and procedures with this sport.
Hope you recover all your gear and that it is functional and safe upon retrieval.
Nereus