Dive With Martin? Hmmm...

[Pearldiver07]

The shop that I used to manage stopped sending customers to DWM. We started to get "less than expected" reviews from returning customers.

Personally, I understand the OP's decision to decide to not use DWM, then to post his concern and his rationale.

But as has been said, everybody balance the reports and input they get and are welcome to make their own decisions.

 

[Davki]

Many of you have been wondering if Dive with Martin would chime in on this situation. After much thought and discussion, the company would like to share the following:

Juan Pablo, who spent many years as a valued employee of the company, is no longer working with Dive with Martin. He was an excellent divemaster and will be missed.

As with any conflict situation, there is more than one side of the story. Pablo was NOT fired for the incident with the tanks. He did make a complaint but it had nothing to do with his dismissal. Pablo was fired for a series of professional issues that had the capacity to hurt the reputation and financial situation of the company. It's not necessary, or ethical, to share the specifics of this personnel situation. We just ask that you trust that the decision was made after a great deal of reflection, discussion and fact-finding. Because Pablo was such a longtime employee and a good friend of Martin's, it would have been unconscionable to fire him without this.

Posted at the request of Julio Aguilar
DWM general manager & Martin's brother

And another note:
Although tanks filled with a few hundred pounds less than 3000 psi are not uncommon, it is DWM's standard practice, as it is with most shops on the island, to switch out a tank if a customer is concerned about a low fill. I apologize that this didn't happen in this case.

 

[ggunn]

Later that day I found out that the original Divemaster scheduled to take our trip had been fired that morning because he had told the manager of the business that he had a tank with an unacceptable leak and needed another. He was told not to concern himself about it. When he continued to try to get a different tank the current manager (Martin's brother Julio) fired him on the spot. The guy had been a Divemaster for DWM for ten years. I know there have been some family squabbles over management of the company since Martin died, but if this is the attitude of the new management then I am finished diving with DWM. I had already booked for the following day so I did my 2 dives, paid my bill, and went elsewhere for the remainder of my trip.

Hearsay.

 

[ggunn]

Regardless of what the diver did or did not true, the light air fill or anything else - if it is really true that the operator fired an employee of 10 years as described in the OP - then that is absolutely shameful and enough to keep me from ever using their services. I'll add DVM to my "no business with" list.

You'd boycott an op on the basis of an unsubstantiated rumor?

 

[NudeDiver]

You'd boycott an op on the basis of an unsubstantiated rumor?

It doesn't take much. Given the plethora of crappy service I've received from retail businesses of all shapes and sizes, I will believe pretty much any crappy service story that someone wants to bother telling. My initial poor experience with Cozumel dive operators with supposedly great reputations doesn't help.

 

[mrlipis]

While there may be two sides to this story I think it is important to share any concerns of any dive operation. If the OP looked at it as an isolated incident and didn't post, we wouldn't have the information to digest. If others have had similar incidents and didn't post, we are unable to see a possible trend. Maybe a post gets others involved to share similar stories. Maybe it wakes up the management. I remember some negative posts about the Baani explorer in the Maldives a few months ago. A red flag flying. Unfortunately it took the death of a diver and serious injuries to others to realize the malfeasance that was occurring within that operation.
This is not to say that DWM is unsafe but it certainly warrants the OPs decision to post.

Bruce

 

[Jinjer]

While there may be two sides to this story I think it is important to share any concerns of any dive operation. If the OP looked at it as an isolated incident and didn't post, we wouldn't have the information to digest. If others have had similar incidents and didn't post, we are unable to see a possible trend. Maybe a post gets others involved to share similar stories. Maybe it wakes up the management. I remember some negative posts about the Baani explorer in the Maldives a few months ago. A red flag flying. Unfortunately it took the death of a diver and serious injuries to others to realize the malfeasance that was occurring within that operation.
This is not to say that DWM is unsafe but it certainly warrants the OPs decision to post.

Bruce

I absolutely agree here. Part of the reason we are all members here is to find out what is happening in the diving community. When an incident occurs that is abnormal, it is important to talk about it. That allows us all to decide if it is something that causes us concern.

 

[lawofgravity]

Many of you have been wondering if Dive with Martin would chime in on this situation. After much thought and discussion, the company would like to share the following:

Juan Pablo, who spent many years as a valued employee of the company, is no longer working with Dive with Martin. He was an excellent divemaster and will be missed.

As with any conflict situation, there is more than one side of the story. Pablo was NOT fired for the incident with the tanks. He did make a complaint but it had nothing to do with his dismissal. Pablo was fired for a series of professional issues that had the capacity to hurt the reputation and financial situation of the company. It's not necessary, or ethical, to share the specifics of this personnel situation. We just ask that you trust that the decision was made after a great deal of reflection, discussion and fact-finding. Because Pablo was such a longtime employee and a good friend of Martin's, it would have been unconscionable to fire him without this.

Posted at the request of Julio Aguilar
DWM general manager & Martin's brother

And another note:
Although tanks filled with a few hundred pounds less than 3000 psi are not uncommon, it is DWM's standard practice, as it is with most shops on the island, to switch out a tank if a customer is concerned about a low fill. I apologize that this didn't happen in this case.

We've done two trips to Cozumel with DWM in 06 and 07 and on both occasions, the pleasure of having Pablo as our DM. While I certainly understand the need for confidentiality between parties, I will attest that on both our trips, Pablo was a wonderful DM and we never worried about our safety. On one of our dives, my wive's rental BC developed a bad leak on the inflator. Pablo took it back to the shop and I heard him tell whoever was in charge in the shop to inspect it. The next day, the same problem occured again. She managed to finish the dive manually inflating/deflating, and again Pablo told the charge person about the problem. As this was our last day, we never found out what happened, but after the incident and now hearing Pablo has been fired after ten years with the company, I agree with the OP that things at DWM haven't been the same since Martin passed away. I will certainly look elsewhere for a dive op the next time we visit Cozumel.

 

[Christi]

I tried to call down to Cozumel today and ask Christi (Moderator of this forum) for some advice, but got no answer.

Just for clarification, I am not a moderator on Scubaboard, I am simply a participant here. I'm not sure what advice you are looking for from me, but as I was not there to witness the incident, and I am not familiar with policies/procedures, etc. of DWM, I don't know what help I wold be able to provide for you.

 

[diveprof]

I have dove with DWM many times over the years, the last time this past August. It was an excellent trip. Their operation was run professionally and I have no complaints. Every company/corporation/operation occasionally has personnel issues that result in dismissal of employees - even dive operations. Also of note, when most companies release employees, they do not post the reasons for doing so on a message board. There is certainly more to this story, but I actually agree with the limited response offered by DWM. I would be more concerned if they were less professional and engaged in mudslinging. I would certainly not avoid an op that I've personally had good experiences with for many years based on a posting such as this.