If you could change one thing about the dive industry, what would it be??

[TRUETEXAN]

I was thinking about this the other day, and I thought it might be interesting to hear what everyone thought.

 

[Walter]

Improve the quality of training. Unfortunately, the trend is in the other direction and is not likely to change.

If a frog had wings, he wouldn't bump his butt jumping.

 

[ScubaBaby]

The constant rivalry in the UK between divers trained with PADI and divers trained with BSAC!

And also the improvement of trainig standards!

 

[DivingGal]

Another "vote" for improvement on training - less focus on the $$$ and train divers properly. Get the training standardized across the agencies.

Also on the wish list:
- less finger pointing between all the agencies
- easier "pro" cross over certification/work

 

[Rick Murchison]

Somehow, some way, someone devise a waiver that would make it impossible for lawsuits to be brought by those who want to assume sole responsibility for evaluating and using equipment, selecting boats & crew, etc...
That'd enable the "suit-proof" entrepreneur to drop prices for those folks on everything by about half.
Rick

 

[fredk]

Make it a level playing field for stores, online brokers and consistency amongst training agencies. That would help to promote the sport and bring more diver's in to it instead of turning people off it.

 

[BigDiver]

Again it would be nice to have so consistancey between the LDS and the online stores. More emphesis on the true quality of a product and not so much on what the big companys are pushing.

 

[ucladiver]

I don't intend to offend, but you guys sound like socialists..

Somehow, some way, someone devise a waiver that would make it impossible for lawsuits to be brought...

I fully agree that too many people think "SUE!" the second something bad happens, but they really have no idea how much money, time, and stress are involved in lawsuit. Nonetheless, you can't take that right away. I'm not sure how much suits affect prices out there anyway.. remember that's what insurance is for .

Make it a level playing field for stores, online brokers and consistency amongst training agencies...

The competition between LDS and Online stores has benefitted all of us. Prices have gone down and LDSs are forced to improve customer service, because thats all they can do to bring us in. People complain all the time on this board about poor service at their LDS... well competition might help improve that.


Now as for training. Any self-imposed training requirements from the agencies would be great. I'm all for it. But don't forget that there ARE good instructors still out there.

 

[ChrisF]

Ditto on the training. The only way it will happen though is if divers demand it. As long as there are people out there willing to pay for incomplete training, there will be individuals and organizations out there that will take their money.

Putting the focus on the instructor and not the agency's training standards is fine, but it's a tough problem becuase new divers are not typically in a position to evaluate whether a particular instructor is any good. You either have to know an experienced diver who can refer you to someone or just get lucky and stumble on someone who's good.

If I could change one thing, I'd like to see training, especially for new divers, be less of a crap shoot.

 

[BigDiver]

After reading what you guys said I really am happy about the difference in LDS and Online. I know I have taken advantage of the great deals online and I also do see the change in LDS. They have steered more toward what the diver needs other than what the companys want to sell.

Thanks