Dive Card, not our instructors name????

[Road Guy]

My son received his junior open water certification last fall for his 13th birthday..

After almost 9 months of asking we finally received the dive card in the mail last week (another story all together) but he kept saying the issue was with SSI on their end and offered us temporary cards..

So I finally get the card and it's not the same name as the instructor who certified him? I know this may not be huge deal but just curious if this is a big deal? Say when he goes to get his advanced or other cards when he is older?

 

[Wookie]

It's not a big deal as far as your son is concerned. It is a big deal as far as the shop is concerned. The questions might range from "Where is the original instructor?" to "Why did it take 9 months to get my card?" to "Who is this person whose name is on my son's card who has never met my son, much less evaluated his diving ability?" to "SSI instructors must be affiliated with a shop. What the hell shenanigans is this shop pulling?"

 

[boulderjohn]

The hidden message in Frank's comments is that you should contact SSI, tell them who your instructor was, and ask why his name is not on the card.

 

[Road Guy]

Roger!

 

[Wookie]

The hidden message in Frank's comments is that you should contact SSI, tell them who your instructor was, and ask why his name is not on the card.

As I've said before, I'm a social media retard.....

What John said is correct. You should call SSI and ask those pointed questions. Don't expect anything back other than platitudes, but rest assured, they will be chewing butt in the background.

 

[tstormdiver]

With SSI, the initiating (classroom & pool) instructor's name goes on the card. Not the one who does the Open Water Evaluation or referral dives.

 

[ffdiver]

With SSI, the initiating (classroom & pool) instructor's name goes on the card. Not the one who does the Open Water Evaluation or referral dives.

WHy do they do it that way? It makes more sense for the evaluating instructor to say this person is certified.

 

[Wookie]

With SSI, the initiating (classroom & pool) instructor's name goes on the card. Not the one who does the Open Water Evaluation or referral dives.

Apologies. My mistake. With PADI, it's the final evaluator for dive 5.

 

[boulderjohn]

WHy do they do it that way? It makes more sense for the evaluating instructor to say this person is certified.

That's PADI's position. They feel that if there is any kind of a problem after certification, the instructor who made the evaluations and saw the diver actually dive should be the one doing it.

The problem comes when a diver does the pool work in one place and then gets the certification dives done in another place. What if there is no shop for your agency in that location? You may have a different agency doing the checkout dives. If that agency did the certification, then there would be a lot of instructors in landlocked areas that would do a whole lot of instructing without getting credit for many certifications. Consequently, most agencies, including SSI, use something called the Universal Referral System, whereby the instructor and agency who did the initial work get credit for the certification.

PADI instructors are allowed to use the Universal Referral System when students come to them from other agencies, but it is discouraged, for the reasons stated above.

PADI solves the problem of landlocked instructors not getting referrals by giving these landlocked instructors (and I am one of them) credit for half a certification when they complete the confined water portion of the course.

 

[Divejones]

as far i see ! it's money honey! SSI card costs less for the Dive Shop than PADI Card (And for you if they extend that advantage to its customers), the instructor who gave your son the lesson may have been PADI, obviously he can't certify SSI, so they looked for a SSI instructor (Affiliated or not doesn't matter, couple of $s does the trick) and gave your son a cheaper option (For them). no big deal as far as you are concerned (PADI and SSI cards are cross recognized for furthering your diving options), however, ethically it is so very wrong.

IMHO