Guys do NOT, I repeat DO NOT, do business with Ali Tabarsi (Diver down Iran)!!
I have been a member of Scuba board now for years and have dived and snorkeled at many sites. From Latin America to Europe and Middle East. I have made friends through this great and FRIENDLY discussion board with people from Australia, Philippines (who both were in Amsterdam and dived with me here), Dubai and Europe. People have TRUSTED me when they came to my home. I have made good friends. When I went to the people I knew here and dived with them I trusted them. But this time I was too easy in trusting people's words.
I have NEVER EVER experienced such a thing like this.
This year I was in Iran and contacted Ali Tabarsi. The whole endeavor was a DISASTER. I lost more $120 traveling and hotel money PLUS he RUINED my holiday and a big chunk of my vacation days.
I called Mr. Tabarsi 7 !!!!! times before planning this trip. The first time a friend of mine called who lives in Iran (Mind you I am Iranian and speak the language fluently too but I live in the Netherlands).
Ali Tabarsi: he makes 1001 promises and says come by ANY time you like and we can start IMMEDIATELY, I will do ALL that is in my power bla bla. Well we thought he this is a nice guy. He sounds like he means business.
Then I call again my self to get more detailed information: now he says no no you have to wait I cannot do dive course with less than 8 persons.
This goes on and on. Every time the story is changed a bit. Anyways after a couple of calls we decided to rearrange my vacation, cancel some of the trip arrangements that I already had ( just because I wanted to dive badly! and mind you cancellation costs: $$$$), and to go to Qeshm (divers down Iran). I asked: is this story final? Yes this is final.
What happened next:
He canceled me at the last minute. And I do mean LITERALLY the last minute: I was boarding in the plane (after I had booked a flight and hotel etc..). And the scary part: he did NOT even call me to cancel. All morning I had a bad feeling and my friend told me to call Ali Tabarsi and talk to this guy one more time.
Well I called: he was a sleep and 900km away from Qeshm in the capital Tehran, Qeshm is the diving Island in the SOUTH of Iran, and he told me yeah well we possibly have bad weather and you can go but it is not certain if the dives will go on or not. I am like what the hell? How can you do this to me?
Why did you not tell me this a little earlier? I am like what am I a supposed to do now? Come or not? He says its your choice I don't know. How do I know if the weather will be ok or not? What are you the dive leader/dive school owner or not? Who is responsible for the planning and safety here? What are you exactly if you don't know? He is like I don't know. I kept asking but he was totally uninterested. Then he hangs up.
Then his cell phone is unreachable for like 15 minutes. These are critical moments: I have to decide to board in or not and he just turns off his phone! Me and my friend calling like mad mans just to get more info. At the end I decided to cancel the whole thing. After 15 minutes he turns, I told him before I was boarding and had to decided WITHIN 5 minutes! so he knew that the critical moments were over, on his phone again and I told him I had to cancel the whole thing.
Later I contacted a friend of my family in Bandar Abbas who are from Bandar Abbas and have lived all their lives and know the environment as no other, a well known port 15 minutes away from Qeshm (Ali Tabarsi's dive spot), and what do you know: there was NO!! Bad weather AT ALL. Big BS thus.
My experience with these guys in Iran is that MANY of them have a LOT of talks but there is a HUGE gap between TALKS and DEEDS. BE AWARE.
Later back in Tehran I called Ali Tabarsi and wanted a damage refund. He had now twice ruined my planning (which had cost me a lot of $$$) and I think I deserved at least some damage refund. He promised he would at least pay my ticket: again HUGE GAP between TALK--DEED. I have not seen any money until now.
I am not in the mood of explaining where and with who you can do good dives right now, Thanks for ruining my day today again Mr. Tabarsi/Divers down Iran, but I will do a full review on all the information that I have found. Actually I have now some very GOOD information on where to go. Which I will do in August I think.
If you want a good RELIABLE and SAFE contact for diving contact me. AFTER ALL WHEN YOU GO TO A DISTANT COUNTRY YOU WANT A SAFE AND RELIABLE PERSON.
I will also put all the information that I have online soon. I just got back from my trip and have to sort stuff out but be aware! and warned for Ali Tabarsi.
regards,
Xerxes
