censorship-who really is big brother

[sportsfisherman]

ok so lets here it!! tony says we as members a not aloud to hijack a thread.(espsecially if you you are a finacier of his venture) so what is everyone elses opinion??? if someone posts a thread and you have negative or positive info that pertains to such thread do you want to know the pros and cons from opinions of others and have the right to make your own opinion of such thread. lets here what you have to say before it gets censored.

[bgbill]

Tony said the thread was derailed, it might be better just to start a new thread about EZ Scuba and Eric Zimmerman, and let people tell of their experience with him, both the good and the bad.

[anchorman]

I am trying to figure out why people have a problem with Eric. I have known him for a while and never had a problem with the guy. His shop is small but I get better deals there than from any other dive shop in Tampa. I have seen Eric give people the shirt off his back to help them out. I dunno what the problem could be but IMO he is a nice guy.

[bgbill]

I am trying to figure out why people have a problem with Eric. I have known him for a while and never had a problem with the guy. His shop is small but I get better deals there than from any other dive shop in Tampa. I have seen Eric give people the shirt off his back to help them out. I dunno what the problem could be but IMO he is a nice guy.

Quite a few people have had bad experiences with Eric Zimmerman and EZ Scuba, myself included, some people made posts about their experience with him in the other thread and they got deleted.

[SpearMax]

ok so lets here it!! tony says we as members a not aloud to hijack a thread.(espsecially if you you are a finacier of his venture) so what is everyone elses opinion??? if someone posts a thread and you have negative or positive info that pertains to such thread do you want to know the pros and cons from opinions of others and have the right to make your own opinion of such thread. lets here what you have to say before it gets censored.

This thread belongs in the complaint center. First, I do NOT know EZ Scuba and they are NOT financing anything. I am! The point was VERY SIMPLE - Do not de-rail someone's thread that is promoting an event at a local dive shop - no matter what your personal beef is! Scott Zeagle started that thread for a Mother's Day Event. The thread was not a customer satisfaction survey or an opinion poll or a bad customer service experience. We have rule of engagement #4 for this very purpose. Please go and read it in the Announcements forum. Thanks!

[SpearMax]

I am trying to figure out why people have a problem with Eric. I have known him for a while and never had a problem with the guy. His shop is small but I get better deals there than from any other dive shop in Tampa. I have seen Eric give people the shirt off his back to help them out. I dunno what the problem could be but IMO he is a nice guy.

This is exactly my point. I do not know this Eric guy or his shop. Every business on earth has issues with customers from time to time, myself included. There will be supporters and detractors. Anchorman is obviously a supporter. Should a few detractors be allowed to sabotage a Mother's Day sale that might be good for others? Should they be allowed to de-rail Scott Zeagle's thread because of their personal problem with a particular vendor? There are other ways to deal with such issues.

[bgbill]

This is exactly my point. I do not know this Eric guy or his shop. Every business on earth has issues with customers from time to time, myself included. There will be supporters and detractors. Should a few detractors be allowed to sabotage a Mother's Day sale that might be good for others?

Tony,

I don't think anyone was trying to sabotage the sale, they were giving their opinion of the guy and posting about past dealings with Eric Z.

If you don't want any negative comments about the Mothers day Sale, I think all of the comments (not just the negative ones) should be removed and the thread locked.

If someone wants to start a thread about EZ Scuba and any experiences both good and bad, is that acceptable?

[AbDiver]

Tony,

Why allow dive shop sales to be in the spearfishing sections at all. Shouldn't they be in a section for gear sales or dive shops or somewhere else.

Frank

[SpearMax]

Tony,

Why allow dive shop sales to be in the spearfishing sections at all. Shouldn't they be in a section for gear sales or dive shops or somewhere else.

Frank

Good point Frank. But I see the way it has been set up is that the Local Dive Shop section on the front page appears to be for sponsors. I will have to look into that. Thanks for the suggestion. Tony

[ScottZeagle]

Tony,

Why allow dive shop sales to be in the spearfishing sections at all. Shouldn't they be in a section for gear sales or dive shops or somewhere else.

Frank

Frank -

I put it in the Gulf Coast section simply based on the location of the shop. I don't expect the east coast people or the California people to be able to take advantage of the sale.

If Tony wants to create a section expressly for this type of event, that is fine, but I don't know that it would get much use, really, and you would have a huge mix of areas trying to utilize the same section, which could become quite confusing.

Just my thoughts,

Scott

[Tally_Luke]

I have a good bit of experience with BBS going way back and I wholeheartedly agree with Tony. It would be better to just start a new thread about the customer service or lack thereof you have received with a shop than to take an existing thread off on a tangent like that.

I will also agree with Tony that you will always have detractors and fans for a business. I will go one step further and say that the statement "the customer is always right", is false and when properly worded should say, "the customer is generally wrong, but you need to let them think they are right". People nowadays feel far too entitled. They expect dead on perfect customer service, exactly what they want, when they want it, how they want it AND at the lowest price they can find on the internet. If any one of these go wrong, they expect you to give them the item or service for free (or damn near it) and fire whoever screwed up.

Now, I do feel that businesses need to honor their word, they need to do the right thing by their customers and they need to make it up to their customers if they fail. But I think most people expect businesses to cut their own throats, especially local “brick and mortar” stores. These are the hardest businesses to run IMO, your costs are much higher than people see…all they see is the money coming in. They, for the most part, have no clue about the various taxes, insurance payments (my insurance on my building quadrupled due to the hurricanes in the last 4 years with no claims), up front cost to maintain inventory, power and water bills (compressors eat electricity), unemployment fees, workman's comp and every other little charge or fee Uncle Sam takes that is not a "tax"...not to even go into the specific details of each business has on its own. Anyway the costs are often high and you simply cannot charge the low low cost that you see on the internet and still make a profit with the lower volume sales.

I will close with, "Customers, patronize your local dive shops and cut them a little slack when everything is not perfect the first time and Store Owners, do the right thing by your customers and ensure that your employees are paying attention to detail.


Luke

PS. My experiences with Eric, although limited, have been over the top positive so far so I have nothing but good to say about the service there.

[WonderBoy]

I've been in the food service industry, sales, retail, customer service, scuba instruction, charter fishing and diving, and now high tech computer consulting and data management. If there is one thing I've learned that holds true for everything, it is this...

"The customer is not always right, but the customer is always the customer."

[richhermes]

Maybe it would have been better to split the offending posts off the mothers day thread into a new thread versus poofing them altogether and being accused of censorship. Just a thought.