Full Equipment Purchase

[CotoChris]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Lou @ Aug. 07 2003,12:24)]Richard

You can ask for a discount, and I would expect one, but as with most things you have to close to a purchase to get it.  They won't waste their time giving you a price for you to take elsewhere unless they think they have a good chance of you buying it.  if you are going for a full set, i would go in person to a shop as Andy suggests, and haggle face-to-face.  Online buying is great when you know what you want, and can shop around listed prices, but for extra discount you can't beat that cash/card in hand "i want to buy know, what you gonna do me" approach.

Hope you get a bargain!

Lou

<font color='#0000FF'>Agree with you tottally there Lou. For discounts it is much better to be face to face.
As for on-line shopping they are good if you know what you want to buy. I'm actually really annoyed with Simply Scuba as I just spent £450, the order is two weeks late and when I opened 'Diver' today they are advertising 10% discount on all products! I'll complain and see if I get my £45 worth.
As for diving, it is too hot to dive, its reached 41ºc and honestly I'll cook in the wet suit before I'll hit the water -I'm going to sleep in my bath tonight.....

[richarddbarker]

All,

Thanks for all the advice guys.

I went to Divers Warehouse last night, my first intentions was just to check things out. I was pretty confident I wanted an Otter Drysuit anyway so I thought this was a good place to start.

I did have my list of equipment as suggested and I talked through it with one of their staff - JJ. He really knew his stuff and found me a drysuit off the peg. He suggested I get rear entry as I'm not the tallest guy and the front zip would have been a problem. An Otter skin with all the kit (undersuit, socks, hood, hose, shoulder dump) advertised store price £520. I managed to get one with their heavy duty heeled boots fitted too. These are much better than the flat style.

One point to note is that their factory is closed for two week summer holiday. I'll have to pop back to get braces fitted.

He also helped me decide on Regs, BCD and Fins. I'd picked out some quite expensive kit initially but he explained the advantages/disadvantages of other kit (including explaining what kit he used) and he saved me wasting about £100 on upgrades I didn't really need.

He did indeed knock a bit off for buying all the kit together, although I paid plastic rather than crinkles. Felt safer putting it all on the card.

I felt a bit shell shocked after blowing £1000+, but after unpacking the car at home I could see I'd got myself some excellent gear at a price I was happy with.

JJ constantly reassured me that if I didn't like anything I'd bought I could give them a call and they'd get it sorted out for me.

Andy2tanx's thanks for offering to bob down to the shop with me. If the staff hadn't been so helpful I'm sure I'd have needed a bit more guidance.

[Mary]

Any one been to the new go-dive shop yet?

[Noel Johnson]

Hi Mary.

A friend of mine has who says it's quite large, although I doubt I ever will but that's another story.