Age off by a week -- refund for the class?

[frostfire]

OK maybe someone can offer some thoughts here. I am a Padi rescue diver. My kid is 10 (minus one week). S/he has in the past done bubble maker/seal team plus discover scuba x3. We set up this vacation to Hawaii to get her certified. Last week she was certified as a Padi diver. We went on to the second island this week and she has done several more dives, with rave remarks by the DMs involved. I got a phone call today from the shop that certified her last week and the instructor announced that since she was a week short of 10 (which they neglected to check on the application), the course was no good and that we were out the money and the kid would have to do it over on our next trip if she wanted to be certified. The kid is now hysterical that s/he cant dive any more the second week. I informed the DM here on the second island that the cert was no good. She was appalled that the dive shop had not checked the birthdate on the application, and said we should demand our money back on the course so that we would not pay for it twice. I called PADI today, without naming names, and they said we should apply for arbitration on the kid's certification by the committee there and that they would bring the dive shop and DI up before 'the board'. I paid $500 for the course and tipped the DI $100. This has really ruined the trip for us. It's not like I lied on the application. It's literally a matter of a few days. Any suggestions? I appreciate your thoughts...

I forgot to mention that this is the in house dive shop at a major name brand hotel group where we own 9 weeks, Dear Husband is ready to go ballistic..

 

[boulderjohn]

OK maybe someone can offer some thoughts here. ...and the instructor announced that since she was a week short of 10 (which they neglected to check on the application), the course was no good and that we were out the money and the kid would have to do it over on our next trip if she wanted to be certified. The kid is now hysterical that s/he cant dive any more the second week. I informed the DM here on the second island that the cert was no good. She was appalled that the dive shop had not checked the birthdate on the application, and said we should demand our money back on the course so that we would not pay for it twice. I called PADI today, without naming names, and they said we should apply for arbitration on the kid's certification by the committee there and that they would bring the dive shop and DI up before 'the board'. I paid $500 for the course and tipped the DI $100. This has really ruined the trip for us. It's not like I lied on the application. It's literally a matter of a few days. Any suggestions? I appreciate your thoughts...

My thought is that you already did the best thing by contacting PADI. I bet that the arbitration will be successful and she will be certified. No matter what, there will be trouble for the shop and the instructor. There is a possibility that the problem could be cause by mis-writing the date of birth. PADI requires it to be done in the International format--day/month/year, and people frequently screw that up. If someone was born on July 6 and writes 7/6/02 (June 7 in the PADI system) instead of 6/7/02, that person will appear to be a month older than she really is. If that was not the case here, then it really is inexcusable to make that error--when dealing with a child of that age, you always check that carefully to make sure it is OK.

No matter what, there is no way you should be charged for a second certification class, even if she is required to take one.

 

[supergaijin]

Your kid is 9- not 10.
The minimum age for the Jnr OW is 10.

I feel sorry for your kid. But as a certified diver yourself, and seeing as you've gone through the Bubblemakers and Seal Team with your daughter, I think it's unlikely that you didn't realise the minimum age requirements for the Jnr OW.

IMO
1. The DC should never have agreed to certify your daughter.
2. You should not have tried to do the Jnr OW course until your daughter was 10.

Sorry to continue the hijack but I recently had to spend over an hour explaining exactly the same thing to a customer who wanted me to certify his son who was also 9- not 10. Who then wanted to change his DOB to make him 10.

 

[boulderjohn]

Y
Sorry to continue the hijack but I recently had to spend over an hour explaining exactly the same thing to a customer who wanted me to certify his son who was also 9- not 10. Who then wanted to change his DOB to make him 10.

If the shop had looked at her age and said she could not be certified but she somehow insisted, I might agree with you. In this case the shop not only did not spend an hour telling her that her daughter was not yet 10, the shop in effect told her it was OK by teaching her the class. It was the shop that allowed the student to be certified a week early. I don't blame the parent for this mistake if no one told her what the rule is.

 

[Doubler]

Maybe this is just me but...... She is ten now. Certification is the issuance of the card after completion of the course. She has completed the course and is now of age so issue the card. This was stupid in so many ways, the shop should have just held up sending the paperwork in by a week after explaining to the parents about the shops error and oversight. The training was already done, tossing it out and then re-charging for another coarse is not the way to do business.

 

[frostfire]

When the DI called me yesterday, I suggested that she just hold the paperwork a couple of days and then send it in. She declined to do so and basically said sorry you wasted your money. What seems completely ridiculous to me is that the child started diving on the 3 hour discover scuba course at 8. How is it possible that Padi feels kids of 8 are capable of diving with 3 hours of instruction, but a child of 9 years 11 months and 3 weeks is too young for the padi diver course (not jr OW), which had many more hours of instruction?

 

[Wookie]

I haven't taught a DSD in 15 years, but I think that 8 is too young for that, too. I assume the shop gave you something that said she was certified, either a temp card or her signed blue logbook? That's really all you need, especially she is now 10. I'd be willing to bet that PADI will issue the card based on your proof that your daughter is certified, the instructor and shop will get the chance to retrain on making sure course prerequisites are met, and you'll all dive happily next trip. Tell your big guy to take a chill pill, calm your daughter, and be calm and cool with PADI. You have done nothing wrong.

 

[Hawkwood]

Wookie, you are correct, DSD's can be done starting at 10 years old.

Bubblemaker and Seal Team can be done starting at 8.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Was the course a private course or group? Large groups people can make mistakes. But on the other hand you should not have signed her up until she was ten. The guidelines are very clear and while the shop is in the wrong it all could have been avoided by a little patience and proper planning. And yes this would be considered part of the overall dive plan in my book.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I find it hard to believe that when signing the kid up, the parents were not made aware that the minimum age is 10. On the other hand, the dive shop operator sounds really, terrible. If I were running the shop, and I made the over-sight, I might not forge the documents and I would not issue her a temp card until she was 10, but you can be damn sure that I would give her a personalized, "accelerated" class when she turned 10 and of course there would be no fee for this....If the schedules allowed it.