I am responding to Ron, Owner, American Pro Diving Center. I have never posted on a board before, so please forgive the length of this post. My integrity and honesty has been called into question in his response. I have been told that people figure this is a "he said, she said". So not true!
Yes, Ron, I admit we were late! I do, though, take great exception to many of the statements you made in your response to Stine.
"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."
We arrived at the shop at 07:22. Two of us exited the car and quickly proceeded to the entrance realizing we were very late. The third person stopped to retrieve his reading glasses. We were met at the door by an employee, who we later learned was Ron, stating that we were very late. I appologized and quickly went to the counter. By this time the third member of our party had joined us. Ron then informed us straight out that we would be unable to dive at Kings Spring because we were late. Check-in sheets or waiver forms were never presented to us at any time. Shocked, I asked why there was still not time to get onto the boat, I was told that tanks needed to be loaded on the boat which was sitting right outside the door. It does not take but a few minutes to put 3 tanks on a boat. Providing the company knew how many divers were booked, the said tanks would have been prefilled and waiting. These were Air tanks, not Nitrox. As both my husband and I have all our own gear, except tanks, there was no discussion what so ever. My daughter said she needed regulator, as that is the only piece of gear she did not own. Rons response was "oh, now you need gear, too". No other equipment was required or discussed. Ron then accused us of getting out of our car, yawning and stretching. This was complete with a demo of Ron yawning and stretching behind the counter.
"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 whole time we were in the store the other clients were watching the video. No other employee was in the store at the time, so no intro, briefing, or orientation was happening. Again, check-in sheet or waiver forms were never presented to us. We were never asked for our C-Cards. Had Ron asked, he would have found that we all carry them in our wallets. Again, we were never presented with any forms to fill out.
"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. "
Ron did not find out that we had been out with them before until I called him in May. Our C-Card information could not have been on file, as we were students at the time we used their services (booked through our DI).
"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."
When we left the shop, after 10+ minutes, the video was just finishing . No one but us was heading out of the shop. Unless American Pro was transporting these folks to the docks, they all had to get into their vehicles, find their way to the docks, find the parking office (not in plain sight), pay for the parking, collect their equipment and load it onto the boat. We had done this before, so we knew what to expect. Had he asked, Ron would have found out we had our bathing suits on, as we always travel with them on when we are diving, as this saves time.
"The manatee portion of the tour is snorkel
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."
Ron did not know this fact until I spoke with him in May. It was then I discovered Ron was the person I had dealt with at the shop. This very rude person would not allow me to finish my sentences, and whenever I asked him a question, he would answer back in a disrespectful manner. When I tried to ask him why, when we did our final check out dive (February 25, 2007), we, along with several others who were late, were not informed by his employees, our DI, or he himself, that this was not acceptable, his response was "oh, so you're habitually late". That mornng, everyone was laughing and chatting. Why would we think anything would be different on April 18, 2007?
"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."
Yes, we decided to go elsewhere, but never mentioned a morning dive. He said he didnt understand the reason we cancelled the afternoon dive. When I asked, incredulously, that he didnt know why, he replied, "no he didnt".
Why, when I booked the trip, was I not told there would be a charge for a dive cancelled by the dive shop. We did not cancel the dive, Ron did. I completely understand the need not to inconvenience the other people on the tour, but I really believe we would not have made people wait, had we been allowed to register from the first moment we entered the shop.
Ron has failed to mention in his post other things I tried to clarify on the phone in early May.
I wanted to know why Ron has a double standard. On the morning of March 4, 2007, we booked at trip through the dive shop we did our OW course with to Rainbow River. A DI had 5 students doing their final check-out. We were all waiting for the boat from American Pro. The DI phoned to find out where the boat was. It was at least an hour late. Rons answer was that the un-named dive shops divers are always late, so the DI makes everyone come really early so they can be ready. As I stated, the DI had to phone, well after the expected boat arrival time, to find out where the boat was. This can be confirmed by the DI and the 5 students.
He accused us of sleeping in the car before coming into the shop, and suggested I find Dive Operators that start at 08:00 so we could sleep longer. I have worked in the retail/service industry throughout my lifefime. I have dealt with rude, unyeilding customers. Never have I mimicked, or treated customers the way I and my family were treated by American Pro Diving Center.
Ron, you need to specify when bookings are made, that there is no accomodation for lateness, a fee witill be charged for seats if you do show up, but are late. The dive community, I am discovering, is very small. I will not be back to your establishment, and I certainly will not recommend you to any divers I meet in our travels.
Oh yes, when I spoke with Ron on the phone and mentioned that now I understood why American Pros approval rating on the board was only 50/50, he said that all the negative things were said by people who were late, didnt have their C-Cards.
On a final note: when I wanted to end my frustrating call with Ron, rather than just hanging up, I made an innocent comment that the call was "eating up my cell phone minutes". Rons answer to this was, "now youre blaming me for using up all your minutes"
I apologize to all the other divers out there. I realize this is a forum for and about diving, but I just wanted to set the record straight. We are an honest dive loving family, and it really irriates me that one person would distort the facts in order to keep from losing customers, due to his arrogance and ignorance.
Jean
