THE SWEET TASTE OF A LOW PRICE TURNS SOUR QUICKLY

When I go shopping I don’t normally let price dominate my decisions on what I'm going to buy.

Of coarse price factors into my decision, it but it’s not the main reason I base the decisions.

I buy quality, I buy what I want, and I buy what is going to last a long time, I’m always

thinking long term. Unfortunately, I recently made a purchase based solely on price, and

wow did it end up costing me. I enjoy scuba diving as a hobby, I’ve been diving for years

and finally decided to go for my certification. I purchased all the necessary gear and I did

so based on quality, comfort, longevity, and function. I’m extremely happy with my

purchase. I already owned a wetsuit so didn’t buy one at the time. When it came

time to make my open water dives, I was told the water was cold and it would be best if

I wore an extra thick wetsuit. I don’t own one and didn’t really want to spend the money

on one as they can be expensive. So i was going to be smart and buy one online, based on

the price of coarse. All my other gear I purchased from a dive shop and relied on their expertise,

and like I said I’m extremely happy with all of it. It came time to make my dive. I put on

my new wetsuit and wow was it tight, difficult to put on and very uncomfortable. When

I had someone zip up the back I immediately had them unzip, I couldn’t hardly breath in it. I

bought the correct size but the suit had no give to it. I thought once in the water it would

loosen up. Wrong, I felt like a mummy. 10 minutes underwater and I couldn’t take it anymore,

I just couldn’t breathe in that suit. I surfaced, went in and had to call it a day. I had

my whole Saturday and Sunday planned around those certification dives. Needless to say, I

couldn’t dive at all. That $129 wetsuit ended up costing me so much, in traveling, what I paid

to dive, what I paid the instructor, and so on. Monday morning I went to the dive shop and tried

on a wetsuit with flex and stretch, the same size as the one I bought online. That wetsuit

felt so comfortable, it was easy to put on, and wasn’t restrictive at all. So I bought it. It was $300

plus tax, that’s over twice as much as the first one. Even though I received some credit for

what I already paid I had to pay more to reschedule the dives. In the end, the $171 I thought

I was saving ended up costing me over $600 extra. The lesson is you can never go wrong

with buying quality, buy from an expert, and buying exactly what you need because you get

what you pay for. That lesson should be applied to when you take care of your car as well.