July 28-29 Dives - Orange Beach, AL - Or, I think I should start seeing someone else

[paulwall]

I'm not out to hurt their business, based on my opinions and verifiable experiences. I'm sure others have had excellent service from this shop, as have I, in the past. Hopefully it is just a temporary staffing issue. If and when the owner gets back to me, I'll give them another shot later in the summer and hopefully post a better report. If he never does get back to me, well, I'll post that here, too.

 

[MRXRAY]

There is a new shop in OBA called the REEF which can do custom blending, nitrox and tri-mix. They have very knowledable staff and my expereince is that they will give you great fills at a great price without the hassle. Give them a call next time you are in OBA at 251-981-1001. Here is also a link to the web page: Reef OBA

 

[mike_s]

I'm not out to hurt their business, based on my opinions and verifiable experiences. I'm sure others have had excellent service from this shop, as have I, in the past. Hopefully it is just a temporary staffing issue. If and when the owner gets back to me, I'll give them another shot later in the summer and hopefully post a better report. If he never does get back to me, well, I'll post that here, too.

Sounds like they are hurting business on their own.

Hopefully their owner gets back with you and straightens things out.

There is a new shop in OBA called the REEF which can do custom blending, nitrox and tri-mix. They have very knowledable staff and my expereince is that they will give you great fills at a great price without the hassle. Give them a call next time you are in OBA at 251-981-1001. Here is also a link to the web page: Reef OBA

Interesting and good to know.

glad to see that there is another shop in town that can give hassle free fills


When did they open?

do they have a boat? couldn't see anything on their website indicating as such.

 

[paulwall]

There is a new shop in OBA called the REEF which can do custom blending, nitrox and tri-mix. They have very knowledable staff and my expereince is that they will give you great fills at a great price without the hassle. Give them a call next time you are in OBA at 251-981-1001. Here is also a link to the web page: Reef OBA

Thanks, Barry! That's actually closer to Perdido Key. I'll stop in and check them out next time I'm in the area. (June 25)

 

[Vicksburg Diver]

H2O Below is the way to go !!!! We drive 4-5 hours to dive down thereand we always use Captain Douglas !!!!

 

[Weschap]

I work at The Reef. We are in Orange Beach next to Dairy Queen. We can generally do air fills while you wait and most of the time can do Nitrox very quickly. We opened just before the oil spill last year. We do not have our own boat "yet". However, we book with most of the local captains in the area. Capt. Doug, Capt, Gary, and Capt, Jim will all do a great job on a charters.

 

[MRXRAY]

The Reef is a great shop. Come and give them a look at meet some Dive friendly Divers that are knowledgeable!

 

[mike_s]

I'm not out to hurt their business, based on my opinions and verifiable experiences. I'm sure others have had excellent service from this shop, as have I, in the past. Hopefully it is just a temporary staffing issue. If and when the owner gets back to me, I'll give them another shot later in the summer and hopefully post a better report. If he never does get back to me, well, I'll post that here, too.

Sooo... it's been about two weeks.


Did the shop in question owner ever get back to you? Or did he just blow you off?

 

[paulwall]

No, I haven't heard anything back from them. I may stop in this weekend to see if the owner is around. I may even post a link to this thread in the "Contact Us" box of their website.

Will post again next week.

 

[paulwall]

So, after posting my OP in the "Contact Us" portion of the web page -which works now, I almost immediately got a call back from one of the senior shop employees who had a meeting with the owner to discuss my issues.

1) It is shop policy to only fill with Nitrox tanks that have nitrox bands. I explained that I understood shop policy and would rather take the tanks somewhere else to fill than have an employee violate their policy. This person also stated that it was Alabama law that Nitrox tanks have the Green/Yellow band (I sense B.S. unless he's talking about shop tanks). However, the shop policy has been amended to allow the filling of personal tanks with a Nitrox VIP sticker. The newly trained blenders have been counseled in this change. Also, they agree that there is no excuse that my tanks were not ready after two weeks. I was offered free nitrox fills/air cards upon my next visit.

2) the shop will no longer promote inshore sites, as there are only 3 diveable sites within 9 miles of Perdido Pass (their words, not mine). If someone asks, they'll still schedule a trip there, but for the season, if you book a trip, it will be offshore (which generally promises better viability, and a greater selection).

3) There was lots of explaining about the seasonal employees, and the inability to have enough staff available, etc. They promise to provide better service in the future. We should have been allowed to take the rental gear with us when we checked out, and it was improper for the 2nd associate to demand additional payment for that privilege, and to interject into the conversation at all. They've offered my buddies rental gear on the next trip - not an insignificant amount of value.

I received a heartfelt (I feel) apology from the owner and the manager for the short fills, and Nitrox misunderstanding. I told him I would be back later in the summer to give them another chance.