Diving in Phuket, Similan Islands, Surin Islands
- Thread starter bleesr
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
stevenl
Contributor
As you can imagine, I meant Ross, and I expect the same answer. 
Competition is fine, but it has to be done legally of course.
Competition is fine, but it has to be done legally of course.
Are you asking if Ross has a work permit and TAT license? If so, the answer is yes; he's been working legally in Thailand for about 2 years. I don't know what all these other people who replied to my comments about my vacation experience are all about, but I was flabbergasted by the comments they sent to me -- very rude I thought. I had never been to this site but thought I would put in a few good words about Ross and the experience I had which was outstanding. I didn't think I embellished too much, I was trying to be honest, and I think I said at the beginning that the way I did it was just one option, not the only option, but one which worked very well for me. I will never use this site again if it's just full of other dive instructors, dive masters, etc. who monitor this stuff and get their noses bent out of shape because someone posted a good experience about a particular dive instructor. I couldn't believe it!
Batfish
Contributor
Ross/Bleesr: I ask again:
you said you had made contact before you left with Ross and he made all your arrangements... so, please explain why you then say "Two of the "dive centers" you spoke about told us we would have to pay more after we had finished our boat trip and dives -- even after having made arrangements and paid up front!!!" - now surely if you had already arranged everything with Ross, then he would be the one to pay extra for you or he had undercharged you, or give you an incorrect price ...
you said you had made contact before you left with Ross and he made all your arrangements... so, please explain why you then say "Two of the "dive centers" you spoke about told us we would have to pay more after we had finished our boat trip and dives -- even after having made arrangements and paid up front!!!" - now surely if you had already arranged everything with Ross, then he would be the one to pay extra for you or he had undercharged you, or give you an incorrect price ...
Batfish
Contributor
PS If people have sent you insulting private messages you can report them to the moderators. Competition is fine, but it has to be done nicely. You can mention to Ross that as he's such a nice guy he might want to visit a few dive centers if he's available for freelance work. He'll need to bring a copy of his work permit.
Ringo
Contributor
Sorry Bleesr that is not the point. It is great that you had such a good experience. However I am curious about this statement you made. This does not sound positive for the Phuket Diving Industry as a whole and I would like to know how this happened??:
[/QUOTE]Two of the "dive centers" you spoke about told us we would have to pay more after we had finished our boat trip and dives -- even after having made arrangements and paid up front!!! Two places -- not just one, so even the dive shops are corrupt!!![/QUOTE]
Otherwise please do report the bad PM's you received to a mod. They will sort it out very quickly.
Bowmouth
Contributor
Batfish, Ringo;
I don't think Ross/Bleesr will give you an answer to your questions. I think this alone already says enough about how serious we should take this person...
I don't think Ross/Bleesr will give you an answer to your questions. I think this alone already says enough about how serious we should take this person...
Batfish
Contributor
It's OK... by the way Bowmouth... some of us corrupt dive centers will be having a little drink together on Friday at Ringo's. A shark of your stature is very welcome to join 
I have routinely recommended to my customers that they use SCUBABOARD to find buddies, plan trips, evaluate equipment, et cetera. For the third time, I have gotten an e-mail from a customer telling me that following my suggestion was a bad experience. Because it has happened repeatedly, I am sharing this one with SCUBABOARD members with the hope that it might cause some reflection that will improve the community.
Ross, I don't know if I have caused a problem for you -- I went to SCUBABOARD, registered and posted a paragraph stating what a great vacation and experience diving and having you make all the arrangements and dive, etc. I got a bunch of emails back criticizing me and saying I'm advertising for you and I must be you in disguise, etc. I was flabbergasted about the comments I got back. Does this surprise you? I responded to one because I thought he was so rude and said I thought his comments were stupid, etc. Now I don't ever want to visit the site again. My comments are in the Thailand section, forums, with my username as bleesr if you want to look at them. Maybe you already have. I'm not going to respond to any more of them. Tell me if I should do anything else. Sorry -- hope I haven't caused a problem for you. Bonnie
The two people that wrote to me previously had similar experiences. They found members of SCUBABOARD to be unkind and offensively critical. Each of them told me they would not participate again.
Moreover, in this case, Bowmouth, and perhaps others, seem to have concluded that I am (likely) not working legally in Thailand, unreliable, (may) carry no insurance, may get in trouble with local authorities, am mainly interested in reaping a quick profit, and contribute nothing to Thailand and its people.
How Bowmouth could have knowledge of this is unknown to me. I would be grateful for a PM from Bowmouth explaining the source of this misinformation.
I am properly incorporated, have a work permit, a TAT license, have posted a consumer protection bond, and provide insurance to protect myself and my customers. I make all of these documents are available to customers who want to inspect them.
I have not seen any posts that claim that I know any dive sites better than anyone else, so maybe I misunderstood Bowmouth's comments on that issue.
Ringo asked for an explanation of BLEESR's claim that we were asked to pay more after paying up front. Since she does not plan to visit this site again, I will explain for her.
We went on a daytrip on a boat owned by a well-known Patong dive center. I paid the usual fee in advance, and got a receipt. After returning to Chalong, we were on the pier when I got a call on my cellular phone from the dive center telling me that I needed to go to the dive center to pay 300 baht more. I don't know if this was "corrupt" or not, but because I saw and heard everything she saw and heard, I can understand why BLEESR has that impression. I suspect there might be some facts unknown to both of us, and because I don't have all of the relevant information, I am not going to publicly criticize that dive center by name in this forum. The shop and I will work out the problem privately.
Later the same day, BLEESR was scheduled to depart on a liveaboard trip to the Similans. When I arrived to load her gear, the manager of the shop told me that she would not honor the fare that she advertised and we agreed to. Suddenly and without explanation, there was a mysterious price increase. In this case, I think the shop was dishonest. I have spoken with former employees of the shop that say shady practices such as this are routine. I don't intend to find out. I will use other boats in the future.
In reacting to posts such as the one submitted by BLEESR in a venomous way, and misrepresenting facts such as those about my legal status, people who could otherwise be valuable contributors to this site are lost. If more caution is exercised, the resources of this community can grow to the benefit of all users.
Ross
Ross, I don't know if I have caused a problem for you -- I went to SCUBABOARD, registered and posted a paragraph stating what a great vacation and experience diving and having you make all the arrangements and dive, etc. I got a bunch of emails back criticizing me and saying I'm advertising for you and I must be you in disguise, etc. I was flabbergasted about the comments I got back. Does this surprise you? I responded to one because I thought he was so rude and said I thought his comments were stupid, etc. Now I don't ever want to visit the site again. My comments are in the Thailand section, forums, with my username as bleesr if you want to look at them. Maybe you already have. I'm not going to respond to any more of them. Tell me if I should do anything else. Sorry -- hope I haven't caused a problem for you. Bonnie
The two people that wrote to me previously had similar experiences. They found members of SCUBABOARD to be unkind and offensively critical. Each of them told me they would not participate again.
Moreover, in this case, Bowmouth, and perhaps others, seem to have concluded that I am (likely) not working legally in Thailand, unreliable, (may) carry no insurance, may get in trouble with local authorities, am mainly interested in reaping a quick profit, and contribute nothing to Thailand and its people.
How Bowmouth could have knowledge of this is unknown to me. I would be grateful for a PM from Bowmouth explaining the source of this misinformation.
I am properly incorporated, have a work permit, a TAT license, have posted a consumer protection bond, and provide insurance to protect myself and my customers. I make all of these documents are available to customers who want to inspect them.
I have not seen any posts that claim that I know any dive sites better than anyone else, so maybe I misunderstood Bowmouth's comments on that issue.
Ringo asked for an explanation of BLEESR's claim that we were asked to pay more after paying up front. Since she does not plan to visit this site again, I will explain for her.
We went on a daytrip on a boat owned by a well-known Patong dive center. I paid the usual fee in advance, and got a receipt. After returning to Chalong, we were on the pier when I got a call on my cellular phone from the dive center telling me that I needed to go to the dive center to pay 300 baht more. I don't know if this was "corrupt" or not, but because I saw and heard everything she saw and heard, I can understand why BLEESR has that impression. I suspect there might be some facts unknown to both of us, and because I don't have all of the relevant information, I am not going to publicly criticize that dive center by name in this forum. The shop and I will work out the problem privately.
Later the same day, BLEESR was scheduled to depart on a liveaboard trip to the Similans. When I arrived to load her gear, the manager of the shop told me that she would not honor the fare that she advertised and we agreed to. Suddenly and without explanation, there was a mysterious price increase. In this case, I think the shop was dishonest. I have spoken with former employees of the shop that say shady practices such as this are routine. I don't intend to find out. I will use other boats in the future.
In reacting to posts such as the one submitted by BLEESR in a venomous way, and misrepresenting facts such as those about my legal status, people who could otherwise be valuable contributors to this site are lost. If more caution is exercised, the resources of this community can grow to the benefit of all users.
Ross
Hi Ross. Maybe your customers misunderstand you when you tell them to post here. Bleesr may think I am stupid but I really really really do not like people coming onto the board simply to post adverts. I stand by my comments - 4 posts; 4 adverts. Read them yourself. If that is all your customers do, ask them to do it in the Asian Diver forum. No one will be bothered there.
Similar threads
