The "agreement" appears to be a text message, not any kind of signed contract, I'm not sure how much PADI is going to go to bat for a student in this situation. PADI's customers are dive centers, not dive students.
in an OW cert scenario that is easy to say...
but extending this sentiment reminds me of a recent crappy experience:
Only text & word of mouth agreements have been used between me and my freelance instrustor for TDI AN+DecoPro+mod1 deco
we also agreed on the prices that way
After doing all the training and getting a word of mouth that I passed -- he reneged on my status, claiming that we never did DP!
He certified me only to AN and mod1 (no deco)
After some phone discussions he claimed that I was not on DP level because I didn't have good trim and back kicks (BS, same logic could mean that I shouldn't have my mod1 cert, which came after )
(I did a few 45 min deco dives in OC, and a couple of deco dives on CC)
He didn't ask for more money -- but he was also charging me by day not by package
Long story short I wrote a long detailed "report" to TDI and still await their input; I have the dive logs to back my claims
Now.. I could have accepted that if he gave me the feedback on the spot and not lied to me about it to (I assume) make me do further courses (hence more work days for him)
He could be right, but then why take me on dives beyond my level? That is endangering the student (me)
He could be wrong, but how can I force him to cert me on it? It's the instructors descretion to have final word in pass/fail
A written agreement means nothing in such a case, and I will keep my part of the agreement anyway (I pay him for his working days -- not a garuntee of certification);
I belive (and everyone is free to disagree) that TDI standards have been broken here and they should bat for me not him (HE is their coustomer here right? they only get scraps for the cert itself from me, 95% of my "cost" was gases (35%) and his fees(60%))
Luckily another great resident Instructor that was assisting him on some of the dives says that I was on paar and should have been certified; and I will redo DecoPro with him for the cert sake (and the fun of the dives -- they guy is a friend of a friend coencidentally), sadly he is not a mod1 instructor yet
Renegging on a deal AND not being straight about it is just low, regardless; and either way it's hold a Cert hostage and giving excuses
sorry for hijacking but I was a bit triggered -- it's still kinda fresh for me