American Pro Divers? GRRR!

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Missdirected:
Did anyone e-mail them? If not, I don't mind doing so. My guess is they won't care but that is only a guess based on what I know of them. On the other hand, sometimes people surprise you.

I did.
 
American Pro Diving Center responds to Stine.

Manatee tours are scheduled in the morning with the main reason being the manatee are more active in the morning for a more enjoyable experience for the family. The tour starts at seven in the morning at the dive shop with time for signing in, getting any gear needed, watching the required US Fish and Wildlife Video and finally Captain and Divemaster introduction covering final gear check before going to the docks.
All but one family was checked in, geared up and watching the last couple of minutes of the video. At this point the Stine party of 3 was a no show so we called our after hours answer service thinking the Stine party cancelled in the middle of the night. The answer service said no calls from the Stine party.
At this point a car pulled up in the plaza but none of the passengers were rushing toward the dive shop in any manner of someone being late for the boat. Opening the front door to see if this was the Stine party they were told the video is almost over and they needed to move quickly to join in with the group. Only two people came in at first, the third still was at the car. The ladies came to the counter and were asked to fill out the check in sheet and waiver form for the trip. They waited till the third member came in to the shop as they were not sure what they needed. Again the Stine party was asked to fill out the check in sheet, read and sign the waiver form and was asked what gear was needed? The first response was no gear was needed then they had a discussion about, did they bring a regulator/ bc or not.
The video was now ending and the introductions, briefing and orientation with the rest of the families were starting.
Again the Stine party was asked to start filling out the check in sheet and read the waiver form and show C- Cards. Not everyone in the Stine party brought their C- Cards in the shop with them.
Again the Stine party was asked to start filling out the check in sheet and read the waiver form while the other person was instructed to go to the car for the C-Card.
The Stine party then said they had been out with us twice now over the last few months and we have the C- Card information on file but their daughter was not.
The rest of the families on the tour, orientation were now finished and they were heading out of the shop to the marina following the Captain.
At this point the Stine party was explained that there was not enough time to get the C- Cards out of the car, figure out what gear, get the gear on the boat, start filling out the check in sheet, read and sign the waiver, bathing suits on, bathroom breaks and make in down to the docks with out making the other families wait an unfair amount of time. The manatee portion of the tour is snorkel only and with the time frame the Stine party gave us was the only option. They did not have to get C-Cards out of the car, check and or rent dive gear and they would still make the tour with out delay or have any of the other families wait. Keep in mind the divers pay more money for the dive and any gear rental is more money also. So we are taking in less money by not having the Stines do the dive.
The Stines had scheduled a full day to do both the morning and afternoon trips. The discussion was to do the morning manatee snorkel and when they come back from the am tour show C-Cards, rent the dive gear needed and dive the afternoon dive.
This was unacceptable by the Stines they were diving in the a.m.! Our answer -we can’t hold up the other families from their experience?
The Stines main answer was “what is the problem we showed up late before” when they came with a dive group who hired the entire boat. The Stine party then said they were just going somewhere else where they can be accommodated on a morning dive. The rest of the discussion was reasons why we are not going to hold up the other families…
The Check in sheet was still not filled out so we asked them to fill out the check in sheet for the afternoon dive. They did not want to go with us for the afternoon dive due to we were not accommodating their morning by making the other families wait at the docks.
The seat charge the Stine party paid for was for the morning trip which was sold out and we saved three seats for the Stein party. They paid for the seat charge, which is not the full rate, as they were shown on our books that we were sold out for the manatee tour. The afternoon tour was cancelled for them with no seat charge or penalty.
The Stines were repeat customers for many good reasons about our Dive Shop. Because of arriving so late there was not adequate time to read the waiver form or check gear etc.
The daughter of the Stine family as you read came along way to dive and I’m sure this also effected the reaction of the parents to my decision as to the no morning dive situation for the Stines. Instead of heading to the docks the Steins wanted to argue and argue they did. The “rude” she talks about, is not liking, the only answer at that point, for the Stines morning tour. They could have still gone on the manatee portion of the tour and dive in the afternoon but wanted others to wait, in order so they could dive also in the am.

Imagine the other 15 people on the tour that traveled to the shop just as far and some further away than the Stines. Now imagine the other families showing up on time and paid their hard earned money for the tour and had to wait an unfair amount of time at the docks knowing the earlier the better the manatee tour. Now imagine the other family being your family, knowing the Stine party did not care about your family.

Ron,
Owner
American Pro Diving Center
 
Ron, we appreciate your taking the time to share your side of the story.
 
So to add to that,
we called the dive shop to find out who it was that we spoke to, and it turns out it was Ron the owner. We were not allowed to ask questions or finish sentences during this phone conversation as we were waspishly snapped at and were told constantly that everything was all our fault.
We were naiver offered the waiver to sign as we were at that point already too late to fill them out, my parents had been diving with them before and on their last trip waited (with their entire group) for over 90 minutes for the boat to show up at the dock. Over the phone were told that because we were indecisive about what gear we needed we were holding everyone up. Of course tanks and 1 reg is definately a hard decision to make so I'm sure we took a long time deciding that one! As for cancelling our afternoon dives, if someone is rude I don't want to be stuck on a boat with them. I do not like being treated like garbage for a service I pay for and so we chose to take our business elsewhere. Ron forgets to mention that when my Mother suggested my posting our experience on Scubaboard, he threatened to charge us for our afternoon dives.

When this post was mentioned during the phone conversation my Mother was told that the Scubaboard members that posted here were just late and inconsiderate like my family is, and their opinions were not to be counted for.

What I would really like Ron to explain to me is why he was rude. Yes we were late, we paid for our seats. Why did he need to berate us in front of a room full of divers?
 
Hmmm...I keep on my other half about showing up to places early instead of just in time...a couple of weeks ago we went to the pool for a refresher before she goes to get her O/W checkout dive.....We got there early so I could BS with her instructor since I was going along on the trip...the other college students showed up while he and I were unloading the truck and gearing up...sploosh in the water we all go and then one girl shows up late we just hit the water mind you... she starts to gear up and the instructor tells her to sit this one out.....WHY?...Because he tells her that if she is going on a boat trip (which she will for the check-out dives) she needs to learn to be on time or the boats will leave with out her......she was unhappy but a lesson better learned at the pool than the dock...
Now that having been said, I have been on many a trips, always try to be early, but if running late (speeding ticket) called the shop explained and asked if they could hold up a few minutes to ask if anyone would mind on the trip If so leave with out me, I understand....MY FAULT....peronal responsibility..it was my responsability to show up on time....
 
Stine:
What I would really like Ron to explain to me is why he was rude. Yes we were late, we paid for our seats. Why did he need to berate us in front of a room full of divers?

It seems pretty obvious that he was rude to you because you were rude to him and his other customers, i.e. showing up late without contacting them. While I am sure that it was unintentional, it was certainly rude and inconsiderate, and if you had shown up on time none of this would have taken place.

Now, that being said, an owner who dispenses rudeness in response to rudeness is probably not using the best business model.

At this point, there really isn't much more for this to turn into than a "he said/she said" kind of thread.

I wish people would take more responsibility for their actions. It's bothersome to see someone gripe about what someone else did (even if it is terribly unjust), when they themselves caused the entire situation in the first place. If you set the ball in motion, you have to be prepared to accept whatever comes of it.

Two wrongs don't make a right. Don't want to be treated that way again? Don't treat other people the way that you treated them again. Piece of cake.

Wow, I wonder if I could work any more cliches into this response?
 
Stine:
I had read some negative reports on this dive shop, but we went anyways. Now I know to listen to Scubaboard members!

I would say; lesson learned, take a deep breath, and move on. Hopefully, other members read the reports and take note, that is all that matters in the end anyway :)


Did you ever read the post I mentioned?
 
I guess you shouldn't have been late. Frankly, nothing pisses me off more than people not being on time per instructions.

I recently had a student wanting to take a nitrox course. Set a date and time, confirmed, no show. No call to say can't make it or running late, nothing. Called a couple of days later to reschedule. Same thing. No show. Both times I showed up to the shop from my real job just to teach the class. He tried to reschedule again and I refused to call back. He was scheduled to dive the following weekend on a full boat. We had other divers wanting to go, no problem. Cross him of the list and insert more reliable diver. One thing to call and advise of not coming or running late, but to show late just shows selfishness and inconsideration.
 
Maybe American Pro won the arguement, but at what cost.
There are allot of dive shops in Crystal River with good customer service. The locals know who they are and who to avoid.
 
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