Dive Center Horror/Hero Stories
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DanielRJones
Contributor
Doing my helitrox course.
Getting my first heli fill 30mins before the shop shut and of the guys came across to tell me there with helium pissing out of the left post on the valve O ring.
Tanks were drained down stripped down and fixed that night for no cost with staff staying on late to sort it out and then coming in early to do my fill so i was ready to dive as soon as they opened.
I have also forgot my petrel and had one of the staff guve me his personal one for the day and have had a drysuit cuff turned around over night.
Getting my first heli fill 30mins before the shop shut and of the guys came across to tell me there with helium pissing out of the left post on the valve O ring.
Tanks were drained down stripped down and fixed that night for no cost with staff staying on late to sort it out and then coming in early to do my fill so i was ready to dive as soon as they opened.
I have also forgot my petrel and had one of the staff guve me his personal one for the day and have had a drysuit cuff turned around over night.
Scared Silly
Contributor
Short version as I think somewhere long ago on SB I posted the full story.
At the beginning of the second dive after the lunch break the dive guide got back on the boat a sternly said that he was the dive guide and that no one else was to lead the dive. Seems he was miffed that on the first dive after waiting for 10 minutes on the bottom we set off on our own while he had to surface to deal with a diver who rented gear from them that was not performing (mouth piece fell off the primary and the octo was not working well). It was a nice enough dive complete with pelagic action. The dive guide said nothing about needing to wait for him. We had other issues with the outfit and mid week I had a long talk with the owner's son who was running the show.
Not so much a hero story but my local shop will order reg parts for me. I went into the shop last weekend and gave them my shopping list fully expecting the parts would need to be ordered. He started looking, pulled one part out, and said this what you need? Yup, then he found the other. His comment about having those two specific parts - slightly random. I was happy cause I did not need to wait for them and he was happy cause he got them out of his misc stock.
At the beginning of the second dive after the lunch break the dive guide got back on the boat a sternly said that he was the dive guide and that no one else was to lead the dive. Seems he was miffed that on the first dive after waiting for 10 minutes on the bottom we set off on our own while he had to surface to deal with a diver who rented gear from them that was not performing (mouth piece fell off the primary and the octo was not working well). It was a nice enough dive complete with pelagic action. The dive guide said nothing about needing to wait for him. We had other issues with the outfit and mid week I had a long talk with the owner's son who was running the show.
Not so much a hero story but my local shop will order reg parts for me. I went into the shop last weekend and gave them my shopping list fully expecting the parts would need to be ordered. He started looking, pulled one part out, and said this what you need? Yup, then he found the other. His comment about having those two specific parts - slightly random. I was happy cause I did not need to wait for them and he was happy cause he got them out of his misc stock.
EireDiver606
Contributor
Whoever they are, stick with them.
EireDiver606
Contributor
My LDS’ owner is a nice guy at heart but he’s still trying to maximize profits. My LDS counter guy though is a friend at this point. He gives me discounts every time I go in without asking maybe 10-20% off (if the owner isn’t there), helps me with gear recommendations, lended me his own personal light when mine was broken, gives me free magazines and always has a conversation with me. He knows what it’s like to be a diver going into a dive shop especially when I was on my own at 16 intimidated by all the new gear and prices.
My first regulator was a Mares, and I brought it in faithfully for service every year. After a number of years of this, I became a DM through that shop and was hired to assist with classes. I continued to have my Mares regulator serviced through them, but now that I was with the shop, I learned that even though they sold mares regulators, they did not actually service them. When you brought a Mares regulator in for service, they sent it to another shop, whose owner did that servicing. Thus, during all the years I had been brining it in, the owner of another shop was actually dong the servicing.
On a dive trip with the shop, I had some serious regulator problems. The crew helped me out and got it functional, but they told me to have it serviced when I got back. I was a bit miffed because I had just had it serviced before the trip. The shop sent it to the guy for another service. When it returned, I began doing my IDC to become an instructor through the shop. I began to have trouble with the regulator again, immediately after getting it back. The shop decided something was seriously wrong and sent it to Mares for them to have a look at it. It came back. According to mares, it just needed servicing. They could tell when they opened it up that it had not been serviced for many years.
I left it to the shop leadership to have it out with the owner of the other shop. I sold that newly serviced regulator because I got good keyman pricing on new gear and went about my business. two years later I overheard shop management talking about some complaints they were getting about the regulator service being done by that other dive shop owner. I was stunned. I realized then that they had not only not confronted him about the fact that he had been charging for doing my (and certainly other) regulators without actually doing anything, they were continuing to use him to service the brands they did not do themselves!
Maybe we should find someone else, one of them said. Maybe??? Maybe??? I was absolutely incredulous that there was any question. How many people had paid for regulator services they had not actually received over the years? We had a very frank discussion, and they decided that, yes, they would finally have to come up with a better plan.
On a dive trip with the shop, I had some serious regulator problems. The crew helped me out and got it functional, but they told me to have it serviced when I got back. I was a bit miffed because I had just had it serviced before the trip. The shop sent it to the guy for another service. When it returned, I began doing my IDC to become an instructor through the shop. I began to have trouble with the regulator again, immediately after getting it back. The shop decided something was seriously wrong and sent it to Mares for them to have a look at it. It came back. According to mares, it just needed servicing. They could tell when they opened it up that it had not been serviced for many years.
I left it to the shop leadership to have it out with the owner of the other shop. I sold that newly serviced regulator because I got good keyman pricing on new gear and went about my business. two years later I overheard shop management talking about some complaints they were getting about the regulator service being done by that other dive shop owner. I was stunned. I realized then that they had not only not confronted him about the fact that he had been charging for doing my (and certainly other) regulators without actually doing anything, they were continuing to use him to service the brands they did not do themselves!
Maybe we should find someone else, one of them said. Maybe??? Maybe??? I was absolutely incredulous that there was any question. How many people had paid for regulator services they had not actually received over the years? We had a very frank discussion, and they decided that, yes, they would finally have to come up with a better plan.
Hoag
Contributor
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My horror story is centered on a trip last October on a LOB. The trip itself was full of the usual "glitches" that you run into, but the horror story began when I walked into my home. Within an hour of me walking through the door, I got a call from my brother. Through his tears he told me "While you were gone, your god-daughter (my niece) has taken a turn for the worse. The doctors give her anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. We didn't know how to reach you while you were on the boat."
She made it to mid-February before she lost her battle with cancer. That is a trip that I will remember for the rest of my life for all the wrong reasons.
She made it to mid-February before she lost her battle with cancer. That is a trip that I will remember for the rest of my life for all the wrong reasons.
EireDiver606
Contributor
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