Discount Divers Supply

If you are looking to buy or replace something simple like a weight belt, gloves, etc, this place has some really amazing deals. I wouldn’t buy anything over 100 $ here unless you are an experienced diver who knows how to maintain their own gear, I think that’s why this place has so many bad reviews. The rental prices and used gear prices are really awesome for frugal divers like me.

Don’t give them your business, they are very dishonest and will take your money and gear– I am a new diver and this experience left a very bitter taste in my mouth.
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I purchased an Oceanic dive computer that I saw online from Discount Divers. I spoke with Mike on the phone, who assured me that if I would trade in my used Oceanic VEO 180 dive computer that I would no longer need, he would give me a $ 100 check back in the mail. I asked him to please call me if the amount would be different. Not only did I not receive a call back, but I received a check in the mail for $ 30– which was only $ 5 more than what I paid for shipping to send it to them!
When I called to ask that I either receive the remaining $ 70 as promised or that they send me my dive computer back and I’d rip up the check, I was told the dive computer was «damaged», which I know for a fact it was not (I had it checked at a local dive shop a week before I sent it in).
After leaving 5 messages over a week for John (the owner) I finally received a call back after stating that I would report them to the BBB. I then overheard a conversation between John and Mike (salesman), with Mike saying that he DID promise me $ 100. When John picked back up, he told me that I was never given a quote, and even Mike didn’t admit to it… I guess they didn’t realize the phone wasn’t muted!

This is now the 3^rd time I have tried to write this comment and it keeps getting removed. Back in November 2013
On November 20^th I brought in my dive gear (2 dry suits) to be looked at for an estimate. They told me the buyer/​owner was not there and I would have to leave the equipment with them. They asked me for my phone number and said that they would have the owner/​buyer give me an estimate. They made me sign a document that states that if I don’t pick up the gear within 10days then I donated it to them. On the 21^st my son was born and we were working with the hospitals as my son has some kidney issues. On Dec 4^th it hit me that no one had ever given me a call yet from the shop. So I called to see what was taking them so long. They then told me that 1 they can’t find my equipment, 2 there is no estimate and 3 it past 10 days so it is being processed. So I never did get my estimate, the whole reason why I brought me gear there and now I am out the $ 3000 that I originally purchased the gear for.

I can’t comment on other reviews, I can only share my experience with john.
I started purchasing from john in the mid 90’s when he operated out of a locker at a marina close to his current store. I bought a us divers Micra reg, BC, and other related equipment from him at about ½ the cost new. I dove this setup in Puget sound the next 5 years logging easily over 100 dives and the gear never let me down.
I stopped diving around 2000, and have been hauling around all my old tanks since. I finally had enough of lugging old out of hydro tanks around so I brought them to john. A couple days later they called and gave me an offer I thought was more than fair, a day later I picked up a check. John was there and it was nice to catch up after being a regular almost 20 years ago.
If I ever get back into diving this will be my first stop when gear shopping without any hesitation.

Buyer beware. Discount Divers Supply, to the unwary, may seem like a used equipment retail sales outlet, but based on my experience, it is really just a a pawn shop for scuba gear.
I bought two «used» items. The salesperson said I would be able to return the items within 14 days for a store credit. The salesperson added, «Worst case you may only get 50% of your money back for store credit», continuing, «but hey it would cost you that much to rent those items for two weeks.»
As it turned out none of what he said was true. I was not allowed to return the «used» items because I had used them. Huh? I asked to return them for a store credit, expecting, as I was initially led to believe by the salesperson, «50% back worst case.» I intended to use the credit to buy another item from the store but instead I had to leave my items to be evaluated by the owner, and after making me wait 4 days, he ultimately refused to allow me to return the items.
Their initial sale felt like a retail sale but the return was more like dealing with a pawn shop. No return allowed for any store credit. The icing on the cake was this statement from the same salesperson, «Hey, we’re not Nordstrom or Costco, you can’t just return stuff to us like you can to them.»
My experience with Discount Divers Supply was a disappointment. I ended up with overpriced merchandise, experienced misleading sales practices, and in the end, an impossible and unworkable return policy
It was so unsatisfying and slimy I would never do business with them again. Buyer Beware. I would strongly suggest you stay away from these guys. They don’t deserve any business unless or until they clean up their act.

Discount Divers is the only used gear shop in town and I’m glad there’s an option between buying new and buying off of Craigslist.
Anyone who walks in the door of Discount Divers is there to buy dive equipment for less than it costs to buy new.
Obviously there’s going to be problems buying used equipment. Anyone who buys used gear knows there’s a risk of the equipment they purchased having an issue.
If you want to buy used gear, you have two choices, buy from private sellers off Craigslist or buy from Discount Divers. I’ve done both and anyone who has looked at gear sold by private sellers knows that people try to sell stuff that is completely unusable and want way more than it’s worth. Occasionally I get lucky and find a good deal. Sometimes I don’t and I waste my money. That’s the risk you take when you buy used gear, from a private seller or from a store. I’ve actually had more problems with gear sold by private sellers than Discount Divers. And most private sellers know their equipment is bad and sell it to you anyway and there’s no way you’ll get your money back and they’re not going to pay for repairs.
I think what’s important is whether the repairs are being handled well by the shop to fix gear. I’ve purchased an entire set of scuba gear at Discount Divers over the last 3 years. I’ve had problems with some of the things I’ve bought but every issue I had was fixed by DD. Also, after I bought a drysuit that ended up just having too many problems, I was offered in-​store credit and I used it to buy a brand new steel HP tank through the shop that they ordered for me.
The other thing is that there’s no way the owners can know every issue with equipment without having used it personally. DD tests equipment but some issues don’t show up until the gear is taken on a dive.
I wasn’t able to afford an entire set of new scuba gear when I first started diving. I was able to put together a diveable set of gear pretty affordably through Discount Divers. As things wore out or I had extra money, I upgraded my equipment.
I feel like I’ve gotten my money’s worth out of what I purchased and I continue to shop and bring my friends over there. As an Open Water Instructor, I also think it’s a good store to show people the many different styles of gear (like different style BCDs, drysuits, etc.).
Plus I can get air fills there and it saves me from having to drive too far from West Seattle when 5^th Dimension is closed. My two cents

I came here for the first time to get fins and snorkel as a gift. They had a good selection of used gear, but when I got home I found the fins had a broken clip that had been very carefully hidden by the way the straps were folded. After that I decided to see how much the fins would have been if I had ordered them new online… to my surprise I found out that Discount Divers charged a higher price for used broken fins than I would have gotten if I had bought new ones online.
I understand a store retailer charging a slightly higher price than Amazon because of overhead, but higher prices on used broken gear than what I would have paid new really ticked me off.
They also do not do returns on anything, so now I get the joy of exchanging them for a different overpriced product that will hopefully not be broken.

Stay as far away from this shop as possible! The absolute worst, dishonest shop I have ever dealt with. My son was fitted wrong for a $ 600 wetsuit, was never able to get into the suit, the owner now wants to take the never worn suit back for $ 150!
I also plan on reporting them to the Better Business Bureau.

I spent $ 1,800 on a drysuit and other gear for my 14 year old son that just started diving. The drysuit leaked horribly. I paid for new seals, then had to pay $ 60 to have it tested after it STILL leaked. The zipper is shot and the dry socks are leaking. After several phone calls (our ‘Salesperson’ had quit) they said they’d give me ‘in-​store credit’. They did a sloppy job measuring him for a new suit, then at the checkout counter… ONLY THEN… did they tell me that John would «buy the suite back from me after HE had it tested.» Buy back a suit that is falling apart? After I’d spent $ 250 on seals and a test, after 3 trips to Deadly Divers?!
I threw away $ 650 (plus other gear like bags that are falling apart) and my son had an pretty lousy interdiction to cold water diving. Don’t shop here. Support our other local shops.
Eric

This is one of the most unprofessional, offensive, incompetent, dangerous companies I’ve ever done business with. I seriously regret not taking the other negative reviews seriously.
I was a repeat customer. I had gear that worked without any problem in November. I took it to them in March to be serviced before a dive trip. My expectation was that they were going to make sure it was in proper working order. Turns out, they did the opposite and put my life in danger twice.
These are the things they did wrong:
1 — They told me my first stage and alternate needed to be replaced. They claimed they couldn’t be repaired because replacement parts were impossible to obtain, so I needed to buy new gear. That was a lie. I took the gear to another local shop, and they got the parts easily and repaired/​replaced the broken parts in about 3 days, so I had it back in time for my trip.
2 — On the trip, three separate pieces of my gear malfunctioned. Two of these malfunctions (simultaneous) resulted in a leak at 95 feet that could have had extremely serious consequences if I hadn’t handled the situation calmly and correctly.
3 — The third malfunction was my primary 2^nd stage regulator. After it malfunctioned I had two other dive shop owners look at it. Both informed me that it was assembled incorrectly (i.e., the techs at Discount Divers put the parts back in the wrong order after they serviced it). I didn’t discover this malfunction until I pushed the purge button, which caused it to flood and become unusable. I was lucky this happened at the surface, because if it had happened at depth I could easily have drowned from inhaling a lung-​full of water. The other two malfunctions were merely failures by them to identify a problem, but this error was indisputably and exclusively their fault.
4 — I went back to Discount Divers to ask them to take a second look at my gear. Regarding the problem that caused the leak, I asked why they had told me the BCD had «passed with flying colors» and then it immediately failed. They told me that they don’t actually check out the essential, life-​saving parts of the gear. They just inflate it, submerge it, and if it doesn’t leak immediately they assume everything is fine without even looking at the parts.
5 — They claim to have been unable to replicate the malfunction that caused the leak, but that all they did to test it was, once again, to inflate and submerge it. I said I wanted the actual parts inspected closely and/​or rebuilt so I could be confident it wouldn’t happen again. They refused to do anything. When I asked why, they said their customers often make up problems to cheat them, so they were going to assume I lied about having the emergency leak at 95 feet.
5 — I would have been satisfied if they had done *anything* to acknowledge their error (particularly with the regulator) and make it right. Honestly, a partial refund would have cost them virtually nothing, but instead they chose to treat me as a presumptive liar and send me away. Now I have to spend the money to have another shop service the gear again, due to their incompetence.
In addition to posting this review, I intend to submit a complain to the Better Business Bureau. I am totally disgusted, and strongly encourage you to avoid this shop if you value your life and want to be treated respectfully.

Discount Divers Supply will happily take your used scuba gear to give you a quote, but the check will eternally be ‘in the mail’. Do not shop here.

Horrible return policy, help, and vaule.

Definitely keep looking for a good shop locally and skip this place, its a serious mess. I found the dive shop up on Aurora to be very helpful and they truly cared about the experience you have as a customer.
The only thing the owner of this business cares about is making sure you pay too much, and making sure you are forced to sign this waiver attached to every receipt that acknowledges that you have read their restrictive return policy. Even brand new equipment unopened cannot be returned for any refund, partial or otherwise. Buying used scuba equipment here is a serious gamble. At least on Ebay, you usually can return the item within a week if it doesn’t work, and certainly if it is defective. Buying from this shop is a disaster. If you purchase a BCD and it leaks, how would you know this prior to leaving the shop?
They don’t care if you end up with the right gear for your application. They don’t care if you are remotely satisfied. They really don’t care about anything as far as the customer goes.

I bought a full set of scuba gear here for my son. This is one of the worst places I’ve ever done business with. They sold me a computer that didn’t work, and I had to go back about 4 times and yell at them before they finally made it right. After all that we get to Hawaii, and it was there that we noticed the BCD didn’t have the integrated weight pouches.
Every attempt at making my purchase right was met with denial, and every time they said they would have to talk to the owner and call me back. They are a scam. I was so angry at the end of this I was yelling and swearing on the phone.
I’ll never ever go back and do business with these jerks again. They lie, scam, and lie more. I’ve seen crack heads that are more honest than this place.

Sorry to say I’d buy online over spending hard earned money keeping this local dive shop in business… and I’m a big fan of supporting local business, especially dive shops. It’s been a number of years, but the couple times I did go to the store I was unimpressed with lack of decent customer service, proliferation of outdated gear and inflated prices.
There are a few other good local dive shops that seem to like making money by employing good customer service, decent gear stocked and competitive pricing as a means to that end.

My whole family started dealing with Discount Divers Supply (John) about seven or eight years ago. One by one, we got screwed so blatantly and so badly that we all gave up. I had been a commercial diver for thirty years at that time and had raised 131 wrecks. I had trained more commercial divers than I can remember or count. I had dealt with every kind and caliber of human being from Oregon to Alaska: Good ones, bad ones, in-​between ones. But I had never, ever dealt with an individual who, in my view, was so utterly and absolutely dishonest and dishonorable as the owner of this shop. I’ve never seen any business that turned out more ex-​customers who felt they had been blatantly ripped off when selling gear TO Discount Divers and buying gear FROM Discount Divers. We have tried to take gear back to them for minor problems that were clearly covered by their «in-​store warranty». We found no relief in any instance — not once. This is the worst, bar-​none, dive shop I’ve ever dealt with, that my family has ever dealt with, or that my friends, students or co-​workers have ever dealt with. It so happens I’m looking for a couple of gear sets right now. I’ve been perusing Craigslist. I find ad after ad after ad after ad, posted by this commercial enterprise, which serves only to spam the various categories they appear in. Conversely, I find ad after ad after ad after AD that enraged customers of Discount Divers have placed, trying to warn others about this outfit. Unfortunately, Discount Divers is extremely active in buying and selling used gear, and so they have one of the best selections around. They have so much, partly, because their prices are so high that they end up keeping much of it for years or perhaps decades. In any case, their large selection tends to suck in the unwary and uninitiated. Our advice is, stay away. No matter how good the selection, just say no. We feel it’s almost a certainty that you’ll end up feeling screwed and angry. We check every once in awhile to see if «John» is still the owner. If he ever kicks off or sells out, we might go in and take a look. As long as this guy is calling the shots, however, we find that we feel anger and disgust just driving past the place on Westlake. In our experience, Discount Divers is known locally as Ripoff-​Divers. You’re going to get ripped off enough in this world. Our advice is to stay away from those places where it seems a near certainty that you’ll get ripped off. Keep an eye on Craigslist — you’ll see ads all the time posted by people who are so angry at Discount Divers that they are compelled to actually post their experiences publicly. Reply to them, talk to the people, listen to their horror stories, verify their claims, look at their receipts, view their faulty gear — then make an educated decision about where to buy (or sell) your own. We think John feels he’s being a «sharp businessman» when he takes advantage of sellers and finds ever more creative ways to not stand behind the merchandise he sells. In fact, however, this is not «sharp business» at all, but rather an obnoxious, putrid brand of greed, bordering on theft, simmered in stupidity, and while it’s true there’s a sucker born every minute, and even the sleaze that goes on in pawn shops can be capable of technically keeping an establishment alive, a solid, respectable business foundation is what’s preferred by most intelligent adults who prefer to sleep well at night. John hasn’t learned this, and he never will, and his attitude is a detriment to the very sport of scuba diving. The WWW is absolutely rife with extremely negative reviews of this shop, including accounts of their ignoring Better Business Bureau complaints, of angry customers having no choice but to go to the Washington Attorney General, of customers gearing up to file suit against them. The facts are easy to find (we maintain a list). We have to give Discount Divers a giant BEWARE, the size of the HOLLYWOOD sign. It’s rare that we come across a worse business. This level of dishonor and stupidity seems rare even in Third World countries. Perhaps the man is simply mentally handicapped; sane, moral, well-​adjusted folks just don’t act this way.