Buddy Dive - bad attitude?

[ScubaSteve]

.....but I sure do wish that so many people had not attacked the OP as rabidly as they did......

Overly dramatic much? Questions were asked, ignored, asked, deflected.....there were attacks from both sides IMO. Actually, I would say that Sue set the tone of the thread by attacking awap by implying he is the rude BD worker in post # 11 just because he asked a question (and his question was really just a question the way I read it). I think you claiming the OP was attacked just perpetuates the sissy cycle. Just my opinion though.

 

[Mossman]

In the past year I have seen several threads in which one or two posters made comments about a dive operator that were not well received by some of the people who really liked that operator. In those threads, the issues were more serious than merely a perception that someone was rude. For the most part, those threads went the same way as this one, with those friends of the operator ripping apart the posters who were viewed as being negative. Tempers flared, and in several cases the "negative" posters were completely driven away. In those cases, though, it eventually turned out that the negative posters were perfectly correct, and there were indeed some very serious issues involved that needed to come out. Now, there were indeed threads in which the negative posts turned out to be not well founded, but in the threads of which I speak, the people blasting the negative posts almost succeeded in suppressing the truth.

Now, I haven't the foggiest idea about this particular situation, but I sure do wish that so many people had not attacked the OP as rabidly as they did. As I said in an early post, threads like this can provide a real benefit by seeing (as the OP asked) if others had observed the same sort of thing. Unfortunately, this thread will really not serve that purpose because it got so sidetracked by the attacks. Anyone who wanted to agree with the OP, any one who may have felt badly treated there, would be very, very hesitant to speak up for fear of getting the same treatment.

Can't speak for anyone else, but that sure doesn't describe me. I'm no friend of Buddy Dive and probably would never stay there again unless they put me up for free to make up for last time.

But I do know an overweighting issue when I see one

 

[gypsyjim]

Last July we were at Buddy Dive for a week; my wife thought the folks at the reception desk, fill station, and restaurant were nice, and the dive professionals rude.

I merely thought them European....

 

[Ump06]

Wow. My first journey into the world of Scubaboard and I see a question posted and 500 lawyers do their magical bob & weave. It appears I was there at the same time as the original poster as I witnessed a couple of the items discussed. Before I go into that magical curtain, let me say that this was my 4th visit to Buddy Dive in the last three years and I don't repeat visits to places that are not friendly. This time, certain aspects of Buddy Dive were definitely not friendly, and that is being kind. With over 50 years of aquatic instructions in swimming, diving, boating, and scuba, I have seen fat people sink like a stone, and skinny people bob like a cork. Not normal, but it happens. Now as to Sue's question. I read it as she was asking if anyone else saw a different attitude at Buddy Dive. Well, Sue, I certainly did. I witnessed the confrontation (can't think of a better word) between the gentleman asking for 24 lbs. and Irene. From what I could see on later boat dives, the 24 lb weight wasn't a hindrance. Irene could have questioned the amount in a much more civilized manner instead of the confrontational manner observed. The question was valid, the manner not valid. I also found the new practice of not checking your own tank before the boat dive to be fraught with problems. At one time I had to check 3 tanks on the boat before I found one that had 2900+ psi. As far as Nitrox on the boats, the numbers were low, even with recalibrated gauges. I also witnessed the (again) confrontation between the dive master on the boat and someone asking that the tanks be checked before we shoved off. That sounded like a big problem between the boat crews and the land crews. Again, these are things that I have never experienced at Buddy Dive in all my trips there. Was it an anomaly or is something else afoot? I will be interested in feedback from future visitors to Buddy Dive. I certainly hope it was an anomaly as after visiting a number of resorts on the island, I found Buddy Dive to be the best of those visited.

 

[gypsyjim]

Wow. My first journey into the world of Scubaboard and I see a question posted and 500 lawyers do their magical bob & weave. It appears I was there at the same time as the original poster as I witnessed a couple of the items discussed. Before I go into that magical curtain, let me say that this was my 4th visit to Buddy Dive in the last three years and I don't repeat visits to places that are not friendly. This time, certain aspects of Buddy Dive were definitely not friendly, and that is being kind. With over 50 years of aquatic instructions in swimming, diving, boating, and scuba, I have seen fat people sink like a stone, and skinny people bob like a cork. Not normal, but it happens. Now as to Sue's question. I read it as she was asking if anyone else saw a different attitude at Buddy Dive. Well, Sue, I certainly did. I witnessed the confrontation (can't think of a better word) between the gentleman asking for 24 lbs. and Irene. From what I could see on later boat dives, the 24 lb weight wasn't a hindrance. Irene could have questioned the amount in a much more civilized manner instead of the confrontational manner observed. The question was valid, the manner not valid. I also found the new practice of not checking your own tank before the boat dive to be fraught with problems. At one time I had to check 3 tanks on the boat before I found one that had 2900+ psi. As far as Nitrox on the boats, the numbers were low, even with recalibrated gauges. I also witnessed the (again) confrontation between the dive master on the boat and someone asking that the tanks be checked before we shoved off. That sounded like a big problem between the boat crews and the land crews. Again, these are things that I have never experienced at Buddy Dive in all my trips there. Was it an anomaly or is something else afoot? I will be interested in feedback from future visitors to Buddy Dive. I certainly hope it was an anomaly as after visiting a number of resorts on the island, I found Buddy Dive to be the best of those visited.

Did you by any chance pass your observations on to Buddy Dive senior staff in either a written or verbal form? If two separate posters saw the same attitude it would benefit all divers if the powers at the top at BD should be aware, before their reputation suffers seriously.

As we will also be at BD this summer I know that I will pay attention closely because of your experiences.

 

[diveallthetime]

I would bet that if everyone that posted on this thread were all together in the same room and discussed this, it would be much milder :cool2: but such is the world of the internet and forums. And now I have added to it.

 

[designbysue]

Thanks UMP for stepping into the fray! I had hoped someone "in the crowd" had also noticed the problems. We obviously crossed paths - I may have even caught you in some of my pics.

Gypsyjim - Augusto's response was when my dive buddy tried to tell him of the issues we had had. I have not yet written a letter to BD because I posted it here first. UMP - seems you have definitely picked up on the tension I felt, are you planning on writing them?

 

[tridacna]

Wait... I'm pretty sure that the BD sockpuppets are doing a background check on UMP to check his "credentials".

 

[Mossman]

Wait... I'm pretty sure that the BD sockpuppets are doing a background check on UMP to check his "credentials".

So you're now accusing long-time posters of being BD sockpuppets, while joking about doing a background check on a first-time anonymous poster that is far more likely to be a sockpuppet of designbysue? Now that you bring up the idea, it is sort of odd that "Ump06" happened to witness every single "confrontation" experienced by designbysue, isn't it?

 

[ScubaSteve]

I for one think that this thread did in fact serve a purpose and I also think that it was what Sue wanted. People are now aware that it is very possible that the people at BD are human and are ultimately susceptible to human error and even possibly emotion.

Did the events unfold exactly as Sue has stated? It really does not matter. Sue mentioned that a staffer acted in a way that to me, sounds like they might have been caught at the wrong time and it carried forward because of how it was ultimately received and responded to by Sue's friends. These things happen. That to me, just says that Irene is a human being. There are so many glowing reports for BD, there is no question in my mind that this was an "isolated" occurrence and not the norm for them. I would still not hesitate to give my money to BD because I know that **** sometimes happens and one bad day does not equate necessarily to "biggest b!tch in the world every day".

Thank you Sue for bringing this to everybody's attention AND thank you to everybody that tried to level the scale and point out that there are TWO parties to this transaction and we really do not know how either of them acted (no matter what has been said by Sue).