The only catch is that the gear must have been serviced by Reef Seekers repair guru Robert Stark within the previous 18 months. We think that's a pretty generous time frame. Most mfgs recommend that you service your regs and octos every 12 months (a very few suggest two years). But we know that many of you don't do that. You go 14 months, or 16 months, or whenever your next trip is going to be.

For those of you who have been servicing your gear regularly with us, you're already enrolled/qualified for this program. For those of you who haven't, bring your gear in for servicing and get yourself qualified. (Even without the discount, our regular repair rates are still cheaper than most other places.)

And there's a bonus we'll throw in. If, during that 18-month (maximum - no grace period, not even a day, beyond the 18 months) timeframe, you need a bench check for your gear, bring it on by and we'll do it at no charge. Just to be clear, this does NOT reset you as a Repeat Offender and start the 18-month clock again. But if you're not sure if your gear's working the way it should, bring it on by and we'll see what's what. And if it DOES need early service, we'll tell you and then THAT would start the 18-month clock again.

A lot of divers don't realize that the mfgs have been cutting back on warranty periods and conditions. The days of free parts and labor for as long as you own the gear are long gone. Most warranties go no further than two years against defects and some are as little as a year. And even one mfg who still has a "parts-for-life" program makes it contingent on 12-month inspections and if you miss one, you're done. So we think what we're proposing (18 months) is not only a step forward, but also reflects the reality of how divers get their gear serviced. It saves you money, means your gear gets looked at regularly, works for us in terms of repeat business, and all of those things are good all around.

The other fact that a lot of people don't realize is that Reef Seekers is one of the few operations around where we still do the repairs ourselves in-house (Robert's house, actually). Many stores in the SoCal area have cut back on their in-house repair services and farm it out to an outside contractor (who used to work for us, actually). Now there's nothing wrong with this but the point is that if you go to store A and aren't satisfied and the following year go to store B, you may not be making the change you think you‘re making.

At Reef Seekers, you know who you're dealing with. If you've got a question or problem, you can go directly back to the actual person (Robert) who did the work. You'll also get quicker turnaround time from us when needed because we don't have to wait for an outside contractor to come pick up gear, service it, and then get it returned. If you miss their pickup day by a day, then it'll be another week before your gear goes out.

With Reef Seekers, you drop it off (Robert's at Manchester/Lincoln near LAX) and Robert can start working on it quickly. You can also ship the gear to us or, for an extra $35, we have a Concierge Service where Robert will come to you to get the gear (within the LA area) and will deliver it back to you when finished.

But the bottom line with anyone doing repairs is, what's the quality of the work? Robert has been our repair guy for almost a decade now, and he does excellent work. We are still an authorized dealer and repair center for a number of mfgs, and even for ones we aren't, we still are able to get their parts so we don't use generic stuff.