Divemaster course

[lord khram]

Indeed unfortunate! I dive Pattaya fairly regularly (once a month) and bring HS students with me at least 4- 5 times during the school year. I look after them but experience good support from the dive center. When diving without HS students I tend to use a Thai boat out of Sameasan. No problems there either. I wonder what shops you were with as well. Pitching 20+ vis is a crime as it would be rare. I am still waiting to see my first ever whale shark with well over 100 dives in the Pattaya area. Maybe I will get lucky during my Dec diving in the Phuket area...

Good to see you will still continue your training.

I have done well in excess of 1000 dives in the area and never seen a whale shark.
Never seen anything remotely like 25m Viz, I would say an average is nearer 5m, I would say the maximum I have seen would be around 10m and the minimum down to almost nothing.
But thats your average Pattaya dive shop for you.

 

[Arizona]

I finally agree with you on something... I have seen over 10m vis, but that is rare IMO. Average 5-7m.

 

[lord khram]

I finally agree with you on something... I have seen over 10m vis, but that is rare IMO. Average 5-7m.

We can't really disagree on this one as it is the 100% truth.
Doesn't stop these shops constantly telling a pack of lies to customers though. Some of the wild exagerations (lies) I have heard instuctors / shop owners telling potential customers, at times you could be mistaken for thinking they were proposing a trip to the Similans.

 

[penguintom]

As has been pointed out to me it is actually not this thread that I posted on regarding shop 4 of my post on here. It was actually on '2 Day/1 Night or Day Trip to Richelieu Rock' from post number 16 onwards.
Appologies for any confusion.

 

[Owen Butler]

I know Dive S.E.A., spent two days working there last year. NOT recommended! One week DM courses sound typical of him, he does Open Water courses in 2 days and doesn't even have a classroom, what you saw at the golf course is all there is except the boat.

 

[penguintom]

I know Dive S.E.A., spent two days working there last year. NOT recommended! One week DM courses sound typical of him, he does Open Water courses in 2 days and doesn't even have a classroom, what you saw at the golf course is all there is except the boat.

Why did you work there only 2 days? And what did you do there? That was a very short time.

 

[Owen Butler]

The place and the people were not for me. He seemed like i'd manage to get along with him when I met him, then I had to listen to him all day long telling me in detail about banging *****s, and his attitude towards the business is more or less get as much as you can out of people for as little as possible.

I am a Master Instructor but was looking for freelance work. He's one of the only people in Pattaya that actually hire instructors (most use their own ex IDC candidates as free labour) and was initially going to be there for two weeks. Two days was enough and I went elsewhere.

 

[penguintom]

The place and the people were not for me. He seemed like i'd manage to get along with him when I met him, then I had to listen to him all day long telling me in detail about banging *****s, and his attitude towards the business is more or less get as much as you can out of people for as little as possible.

I am a Master Instructor but was looking for freelance work. He's one of the only people in Pattaya that actually hire instructors (most use their own ex IDC candidates as free labour) and was initially going to be there for two weeks. Two days was enough and I went elsewhere.

Yes he certainly did a good sales pitch on me, and the reality of what is actually provided couldn't have been more different to what was promissed. You are right they just dont care about their customers, both the owner and his instructor only seem interested in drinking.
Also for other reasons a lot of these IDC instructors are not too good as far as a paying customer is concerned, mostly they dont seem to have any interest in what they are doing other than having a good time with their friends. but unfortunately shop owners also seem to have a lack of interest by leaving them to their own devices and not actually going out on the boats and supervising, to ensure their customers are being given what they paid for.
Your observation about giving the minimum possible for the most money possible, certainly applies to all the shops I have tried recently. And in their own different ways, all of the shop owners seem to have a complete disinterest in their customers and diving.
When I first learned to dive under the PADI umbrella, I was led to believe that the same standards were maintained worldwide. This is clearly not the case and I am surprised that such people are allowed to continue to operate in such a poor fashion whilst using the PADI name.

 

[penguintom]

It's unfortunate you had such a bad time on your trip. I have been following this thread 'off and on' but not enough to figure out which dive shops you are talking about. In fairness to both sides, maybe you should point out which shops you are unsatisfied with, in that way they can respond if they like and defend themselves and tell their side of the story. I'm not defending them or supporting you, but there are usually 2 sides to a story and sometimes 3?

Scuba board is designed to be an informative and educational forum board, it would surely be helpful to others if you disclosed exactly which shops you had bad experiences with, and maybe once they learn of the dissatisfaction of one of their customers they will strive to improve their service.

Better luck next time.

Sorry, I am not going to name the shops as that only seems to degenerate into cyber arguments. One of which actually got this thread closed down a few months ago.
As I said previously, if the shops read this forum they will no doubt know who I am refering to without me telling them. I have infact had a PM from one of the shops concerned already who actually knew which one of my moans applied to them. But that only begs the question why, if they know such bad practice is going on, do they not do something to stop it?

 

[lord khram]

The place and the people were not for me. He seemed like i'd manage to get along with him when I met him, then I had to listen to him all day long telling me in detail about banging *****s, and his attitude towards the business is more or less get as much as you can out of people for as little as possible.

I am a Master Instructor but was looking for freelance work. He's one of the only people in Pattaya that actually hire instructors (most use their own ex IDC candidates as free labour) and was initially going to be there for two weeks. Two days was enough and I went elsewhere.

Thats Joe i'm afraid, the only thing that surprises me is that he is still in business, he must just get a steady flow of new customers, as I doubt he will get any repeat business the way he treats everyone.
And yes, as you have experienced, his staff, both Thai and Farrang never seem to hang around long, apart from the current instructor, he seems to have lasted for some time, but then he does subscribe to the same school of ignorance as Joe himself, so at last maybe he has found someone he can get along with.