Silent World Review 11/28 - 30 With new ownership (long)

[RDRINK25]

I wasn't looking for a full refund. When I had approached him and asked about a "credit" he paused knew exactly what I was talking about. Then said " what were you thinking". I then responded and said "a store credit of some kind for the afternoon dive we missed". At that point he stated his policy and that was the end of it.

 

[muzikbiz22]

FWIW, I've been diving with Silent world for years, and they are still my first call, and have never had any issues with them; be it with the old owner Chris, or the new owners. About 2 years ago, there was a day when it was blowin' 25 knots, torrential rain and the trips for that day were canned by the shop. I received a refund no prob. Now, could the new owners use a "staff meeting" and make sure that everyone is together on all of their policies ?? Probably wouldn't hurt.

 

[Superlyte27]

I was a boat captain for the old owner. And while I hated the owner with a passion, he was the first to give credits and vouchers for missed trips.

At any rate, right now there's been 510 views to this thread. In another week it'll easily be over 2000. If 30% of the people look upon SW poorly for this interaction and only 1% of those would have ever even looked for a charter in Key Largo, then Todd probably should have made a happy customer. Honestly, that's what business is all about, weighing the pros and cons of making happy customers. If I can make a happy customer for $50 then I'm going to do it. That's all there is to it. Sure Todd might have felt threatened, but as owners we have to look past the stupid stuff. In the end, this is such a small community that we have to go the extra mile when others won't. The competition in Key Largo is so insane, this should have been a no brainer. Todd should have opened the lines of communication, and I think if he had thrown something as insignificant as a 10% discount on the next dives, he'd probably have a happy customer and a good review here.

And the other thing...
Your guide sucked. 20-25 minute dives are bs. It's not even worth the boat trip. Admittedly, I don't do much recreational diving.

 

[flots am]

At any rate, right now there's been 510 views to this thread. In another week it'll easily be over 2000. If 30% of the people look upon SW poorly for this interaction and only 1% of those would have ever even looked for a charter in Key Largo, then Todd probably should have made a happy customer.

I don't think it will be a problem. You're missing all the people who never heard of Silent World and now have. I'd never heard of them before, now I have, and think the complaint was just "sour grapes" over having to pay for something that was ordered (the 3rd dive) and not accepted. If I was paying for a $400K boat (or whatever it costs), I wouldn't be in too big a hurry to be issuing refunds either.

And the other thing...
Your guide sucked. 20-25 minute dives are bs. It's not even worth the boat trip. Admittedly, I don't do much recreational diving.

Guided dives suck in general. The joy is in discovering something, not having someone say "Hey! Look! It's over here!"

That's the difference between a walk though the forest and a walk through the zoo.

In any case, if the DM wanted to bail, the OP could have just waved goodbye and continued his dive. If the dive couldn't be done without the guide, it shouldn't be done with the guide.

flots

 

[TSandM]

How deep is the Spiegel Grove? I seem to remember it's in the 90+ foot range? If so, I could easily see, if you maxed out your no-deco time on the first dive and only did 45 minutes SI, a computer giving you only a 20 or 25 minute time for the second dive. I'm sure that's what our Suuntos would do, because I remember a pair of dives on Maui where the first was deep, at Molokini, and the second (after more than an hour) was to 80 feet and we had a 20 minute NDL. A more liberal computer might give a bit more, and Nitrox might give quite a bit more. But the DM may well have been doing exactly what he ought to do.

 

[Wookie]

snip... then Todd probably should have made a happy customer. Honestly, that's what business is all about, weighing the pros and cons of making happy customers. If I can make a happy customer for $50 then I'm going to do it. ....snip

And at the end of the day, that's really what it's all about. Todd could have handled it differently, he chose to rigidly stick to his guns, and is well within his rights to do so, but (maybe it's different in Key Largo) having customers return is the name of this game. He lost this customer, maybe he lost a couple more (there are a lot of choices in Key Largo), and now he has to get his name out in front of at least 100 and maybe a few hundred more to make up for it.

Maybe Flots will be one of those new customers who will make up the difference. But maybe Flots will think again when he is in Key Largo and plan to go with one of the other ops there. Bad press is better than no press, but good press beats them all.

 

[flots am]

Maybe Flots will be one of those new customers who will make up the difference. But maybe Flots will think again when he is in Key Largo and plan to go with one of the other ops there. Bad press is better than no press, but good press beats them all.

Could be. I never heard of them before, and now I have, but the complaint didn't push my opinion of them in either direction.

I actually have pretty minimal requirements for a dive boat. As long as it gets where we're going and returns to shore when the dive is over, I figure they did their job.

Judging if the weather is good for me is my job. I understand that if I buy a seat on the boat it's mine. I also understand that if the captain is willing to go out, but I'm not, that's too bad for me, but he still gets paid for the dive.

flots.

 

[scubadada]

Interesting thread, I have no personal experience with the old or new Silent World. I do have a reasonable amount of diving experience in Key Largo with another operator

The per trip guide fee of $50 for the 1st diver and $25 for each additional diver is quite clearly displayed on the website, this should not have been a surprise.

The 48 hour cancellation policy is also quite clearly stated on the website. The point of contention was the sea conditions and whether the trip should have been cancelled by the operator and not charged to the divers. This is obviously a judgement call by the operator. Personally, I have to trust the decision of my operator and I go out if the boat goes out or am responsible for my financial commitment. In this particular instance, after returning from a tough 1st trip, was it the right decision to enforce the cancellation policy when all 5 divers opted out due to conditions, maybe not.

A deep wreck double dip is also described on the website as two dives with run times of around 40 minutes separated by a 1 hour SI. So the 1st dive on the Speigel Grove both days fits this description and is about what I would expect diving an AL80 with EAN32. The SI was a little short, I may or may not have pushed for more time. Regardless, the second dive of 20-25 minutes each day seems on the short side, apparently due to the guide's NDL. I would have done as was suggested above, finished my no deco or gas time with my buddy and then ascended. This could have easily been communicated to the guide.

With the exception of the disagreement over the threshold for calling the afternoon dives on the second day, I don't find anything amiss here. Sounds like the diving experience was actually quite good.

 

[guyharrisonphoto]

The trip that should have been cancelled was the trip to the Grove. It sounds like you and your wife were on the brink of injury, which is fully to be expected in those conditions. To me no dive is worth that and if I had seen those seas I would have spoken up and asked for a calmer reef dive instead. Thumbing the planned dive does not mean "no dive" especially in the Keys where there are lots of good sites. The captain, if he were safety (and liability) conscious, could have made that decision (or suggestion) for you.

You chose to do the dangerous, rough dive and apparently were very happy with it. The shop is correct that when seas outside the reef (for the Grove) are high, they are not as high inside the reef and especially on the inner reefs where they could have been below 5'. You had already made a dangerous dive and were pleased, so why would the shop expect you to cancel an easier, safer and calmer dive on the inner reefs? They informed you of this before the afternoon trip and were within their guidelines in charging you for a trip that you had booked and then cancelled.

As for the shop, they could handle things better from a "business" point of view, perhaps. I will let the professionals discuss that. But, I feel sorry for businesses nowadays, where every decision, with livelihood at stake, is subject to threat of massive bad publicity if people don't get what they want.

By the way, Silent World is not one of the shops I use, so I am not defending them in particular, but I do see their point of view.

 

[Lorenzoid]

How deep is the Spiegel Grove? I seem to remember it's in the 90+ foot range? If so, I could easily see, if you maxed out your no-deco time on the first dive and only did 45 minutes SI, a computer giving you only a 20 or 25 minute time for the second dive. I'm sure that's what our Suuntos would do, because I remember a pair of dives on Maui where the first was deep, at Molokini, and the second (after more than an hour) was to 80 feet and we had a 20 minute NDL. A more liberal computer might give a bit more, and Nitrox might give quite a bit more. But the DM may well have been doing exactly what he ought to do.

Yep, that's about what our Suuntos gave us for a double dip on the Spiegel Grove. For that reason I'm more a fan of the morning wreck and afternoon reef itinerary.