Short date cylinders

[desertrat]

If you had bought some cylinders and the date was short on them what would you do about it?

Just interested in people's opinions on whats acceptable date wise and what you would expect from the supplier if the date on the cylinder was a long time before you got the cylinders?

Cheers

[warmwaterdiver]

depends on the size Rob

if it was a rare size then its more acceptable than a standard size, for example a 2L steel might be upto 12 months old and seen as acceptable as they only manufacture in batches and you may be quite a time from then, whereas if you buy a faber 12 I'd only accept a few months (maybe upto 4 or 5)

[David G]

I think it will be linked to the price you pay too.

I bought a 'new' 12l faber last month and it was 9 months since the manufacturers test (2007/07).

My complaint to the supplier was greeted with a standard "Return if you're not happy" policy which would end up costing more than a test in lost shipping charges.

If I add the cost of the test to the price I paid then it is still cheaper than many places..

Not overly happy but......................

David.

[Richard Mason]

Interesting - I recently bought a Faber 12L from Dive Imports in Perth, at 69% of the price from LDS - he put them into test when he sent them, so they are in test from April 2008, meaning, the annual test (yes that's right), won't come up until April 2009. It's even more significant here, mind you, a full test only costs us the equivalent of 14 quid here anyway.

[Brian of Aquanauts]

There is a certain dealer of Faber cylinders that manages to sell them so cheaply because they sell older ones... it's the reason why they're cheap. (or certainly used to be a few years ago).

The trade price on a Faber last time i looked (about a year ago) was £109+VAT, and the older date ones that can no longer be sold for full trade are sold off cheap through this rather well known site.

Our dive shop had to stop selling 12 litre fabers because it was impossible to compete... they managed to single handedly remove ours and most of the dive shops around the country ability to compete on quite a number of products. Think apeks regs were the other one.

Generally not good for the industry, 3 coastal dive centres shut down last year in cornwall, and centres are struggling everywhere. The dive industry is changing rapidly at the moment and the little dive shop is not being supported much anymore.

[videogirl]

I bought 2 12l fabers from our LDS 2 years ago. When I got them home, I realised the dates were 2 years old! Called them and they said, oh yeah, forgot to mention we'll do a free visual test on them in 6 months.

I took them back for a refund - way too much hassle taking them for a test in 6 months and having to do without them for a couple of weeks. And then having to pay for a hydrostatic test that much sooner.

I wouldn't accept any more than about 4/5 months and if I'm buying them online, I always phone to check the dates first.

[Ferg3333]

personally I would have got the free visual as the difference between the visual and hydrostatic is only a couple of quid.

Yeah my LDS doesn't bother selling cylinders, tells us he can't compete, other suppliers I know can't compete with the big one pushing all the stock out.

I'd accept anything upto 6 months, or unless heavily discounted a free visual would do it for me. They are likely to need cleaning at some point.

[warmwaterdiver]

Originally Posted by Brian of Aquanauts

There is a certain dealer of Faber cylinders that manages to sell them so cheaply because they sell older ones... it's the reason why they're cheap. (or certainly used to be a few years ago).

The trade price on a Faber last time i looked (about a year ago) was £109+VAT, and the older date ones that can no longer be sold for full trade are sold off cheap through this rather well known site.

Our dive shop had to stop selling 12 litre fabers because it was impossible to compete... they managed to single handedly remove ours and most of the dive shops around the country ability to compete on quite a number of products. Think apeks regs were the other one.

Generally not good for the industry, 3 coastal dive centres shut down last year in cornwall, and centres are struggling everywhere. The dive industry is changing rapidly at the moment and the little dive shop is not being supported much anymore.

if you're referring to GoDive, this was standard practice a few years ago but not on the same scale since, and on the very rare occasion within the past couple of years, certainly not without making the customer fully aware, and pricing the cylinders even cheaper

they get through so many they dont need to sell out dated cylinders, they'll buy as many as they can into the UK as they know they can sell them on

whether its a good thing or not, is not the arguement

you could argue Tescos is killing the High St shopping but its a free market

[David G]

Originally Posted by warmwaterdiver

they get through so many they dont need to sell out dated cylinders,

I'm afraid I have to disagree.

In March they had no stock of dumpy 12 litre cylinders.

In April they sold me a 2007/07 dated dumpy................................

What's that if it isn't buying in 'old' cylinders ?

[Richard Mason]

Originally Posted by videogirl

I took them back for a refund - way too much hassle taking them for a test in 6 months and having to do without them for a couple of weeks.

Jeez; our LDS turns em round in a couple of days. Take it in Monday, collect tested & filled Thurs or Fri.