An Exception to Every Rule
In the 1990s, a company that had once been a major, USA-based equipment manufacturer was bought by an Italian firm. The purchaser ceased almost all USA operations and chiefly used the company as a way to sell their foreign-made equipment under another brand name (a story that should sound familiar to all of you in the IT industry whose jobs are now being done by some low-paid “Injun” in Bangalore or New Delhi).
Then, in 2003, the company announced that it would no longer provide parts and service for any USA-made regulators built prior to the early 1990s. And if you happened to own one of those regulators? Well, the joke was going around that, in this case, the “lifetime” warranty was good only for the life of the warranty.
Of course, what our holiday turkey had brought me was one of the many regulators that, in the words of Detective Harry Calahan, was now, “Shit out of luck.”
The only good news in this entire story is that the visiting turkey was not one of our regular customers. We hadn’t sold him his now useless regulator, nor were we the ones who failed to educate him about the need for regular, professional maintenance. Thus, he couldn’t hold us responsible.
If there is a moral to this story, it’s this:
- Before you buy a regulator from any manufacturer, be sure to ask, “If I’d bought a regulator from this company twelve years ago, would I still be able to get parts for it?”
- Buy regulators and other life-support equipment only from authorized dealers so you qualify for warranty coverage. Make sure you understand the warranty requirements and honor them. Doing so can save you hundreds of dollars in parts over the life of the regulator.
- Even if you don’t qualify for warranty coverage, get your regulator serviced at the intervals recommended by the manufacturer. (After all, it’s only your life that depends on this stuff.)
And, finally:
- Don’t wait until the last minute to get your regulator in for service. Dive vacations cost too much to be ruined by procrastination.
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