This months Mystery Diver

[Helen F H]

Here below is a copy of the letter im going to send to Diver Magazine.




Dear Sirs,

I read with dismay your “Mystery Diver” section this month. Was this the same Denney Diving I know and love? I doubt it.
I have been a loyal customer of Chris’s for many years. Indeed there are very few items of my kit that have not come from him. There is another dive shop (a very large and well known one) much closer to me than Chris, but since they played “lets sting the dopey novice” and sold me a drysuit that was one size fits no-one I refuse to use them ever again!
One thing that your “Mystery Diver” fails to understand is that once you go to Chris, you are treated as a friend. I suspect the person with whom a member of staff was having a “personal conversation” with was indeed a customer. I have been known to be in there for a lot longer than I intend due to the excellent company and chat from all members of staff. The McDonalds cartons on the counter only prove that the staff are dedicated enough to work through their lunches to provide a top notch service which was evidently in demand. I have had a wait in the shop, mainly due to the fact that there were 10 other people in there all asking questions! I am happy to wait and browse amongst the surprisingly large amount of stock they keep, despite the comparatively small size of the shop.
Chris does not do training; it is a shop not a school. If your member of staff had asked about equipment suitable for a trainee then I think they would have got on a hell of lot better than asking about training. Maybe a little more research was needed.
For those people who have never been to Denney’s, the shop is situated on the sea front in Redcar, right next to a garage. There is no room to expand except up, and due to the store room upstairs needed for the vast quantity of stock kept by them, that is not a viable option. Personally I would rather pay less for my gear and have a less posh shop, than pay more for halogen down-lighters, fancy display stands and glass display cases.
There are no shag pile carpets due to the fact that soggy divers enter the shop for fills of both air and nitrox.
The posters are from local clubs advertising events. Should he insist that they be laminated before being put up?
The coffee machine is leased, not owned by Chris. I think that is a rather petty thing to comment on, as do many others who have read the article.
Everything I order from Chris arrives promptly in excellent condition. I have no problems with paying for postage because I am assured that the equipment I receive will be top notch and is not being sold to me because he has a pile of them to shift and needs the room!

All in all, I think the article was misleading and unfair. Research that should have been done was obviously not, and appearances do not count for everything. Do not assume that all dive shops treat their customers as a mere customer. Here you are a friend.