Key largo dive operators

[Capt Gary]

Ditto. Laurie and Tony on Scuba-Do are nice people with a well set-up boat. I dove with them six times a few months ago.

Laurie and Tony sold Scuba-Do a few weeks back. You'll like the new owner Mark, he's a real nice. I met him the other night at one of our Upper Keys Association of Dive and Snorkel Operators meetings.

Good Diving,

 

[del_mo]

Tried SilentWorld this summer. They have fast, smallish boats. Will take you to sites that many other operators out of Key Largo won't/don't go, and check their prices. Proof that it is still possible to get more than what you pay for.

Wouldn't hesitate for a second to use them again and again and again.....

 

[HappyFunBoater]

Laurie and Tony sold Scuba-Do a few weeks back.

Wow. That's too bad. It has to be tough running a business where you're the only two employees. And they didn't seem to be as busy as the other boats in that channel. I wish them luck where ever they went.

 

[DiveMaven]

Hmmm, we were going to book with Scuba-Do next year.....guess we'll wait and see what the new owner is doing. Either that or just book with Brent at Blue Water Divers.

 

[deepstops]

Regarding Scuba Do and the new owners - I work for a large medical instrument company with an office in Kendall (South Miami) and a co-worker went out w/ Scuba Do the weekend prior to Labor Day weekend and liked diving with them. She proceeded to book two spots for the afternoon of Saturday (9/2) the following weekend (Labor Day weekend) for herself and a friend that was flying in from LA on Tuesday August 29th.

Then we had Ernesto arrive on 8/29. The friend from LA had her flight cancelled and the airline was unable to re-book her on another flight for a couple weeks without charging her some significant money. In addition, my co-worker friend was flown to Atlanta on Tuesday morning as part of our storm response so we don't interupt our customer's ability to get technical support (customer service).

On Thursday morning, she remembered she'd need to postpone her dive reservations (on 9/2) w/ Scuba Do. When she called (48+ hours in advance at this point) and explained the situation of her being sent to Atlanta and her buddy's flight being cancelled, etc., she asked if she could push the reservation back to the weekend 9/16 and Scuba Do told her we're sorry but our cancellation policy is 72 hours firm, we're going to have to charge you for both spots.

She ended up posting the spots and found one interested party who was willing take both spots if he only had to pay for one spot (2 for 1). She took that deal rather than lose the entire $140 plus taxes but I thought Scuba Do was being a bit of a hard *** given the situation and based on the fact she started out by asking them to simply postpone her reservation for two weeks. She didn't like it and she won't be diving with them again....

 

[HappyFunBoater]

When I booked with Scuba Do two months ago their policy was 24 hours, and I was certainly changing reservations right up to that 24 hour cutoff. Even if they changed their policy to 72 hours in an attempt to try to stay in business it's unreasonable for them to not allow rescheduling. This behavior practically guarantees that you will never book with them again, and you'll probably tell your friends not to book with them either. I admit I found Laurie a little "rigid".

 

[fda483]

The email from Laurie on the change in ownership went out on 9/1. Looks like this cancellation occurred at that same time. Laurie always honored the 24 hour cancelation policy. I had to cancel a weekend of diving in early Aug with about 25 hours notice and had no problem at all.

Sorry to see them move on, always had a good time on Scuba-Do, Will give the new owner a shot on my next trip.

 

[mike_s]

Here is an excerpt from their website. (see below) It says 24 hour cancelation. If they adverise that on their website and then screw a customer out of $140, I wouldn't use them again either. The only exception would have been if they told you 72 hours verbally when you booked it.

If they have new owners and a new policy and haven't updated their website with the new policy, then that's the new owners fault. Not the customers.

Sounds like to me that they have "double standards". (see below for their posted policy)

http://www.scuba-do.com/pricing.html

Pricing for Scuba-Do
Scuba-Do offers two daily half-day, four hour charters at 8am and 1pm. It is our pledge to not put more than 10 divers on board to avoid a crowded boat! (Even though we are USCG certified to carry 14 Divers)With that in mind, we have a firm 24 hour cancellation policy for dive charters and a 48 hour cancellation policy for Instruction and charters during holiday periods! We do not offer refunds for seasickness, or for unused dive equipment and tanks! We appreciate your cooperation when scheduling your dive charters!

 

[deepstops]

Here is an excerpt from their website. (see below) It says 24 hour cancelation. If they adverise that on their website and then screw a customer out of $140, I wouldn't use them again either. The only exception would have been if they told you 72 hours verbally when you booked it.
If they have new owners and a new policy and haven't updated their website with the new policy, then that's the new owners fault. Not the customers.
Sounds like to me that they have "double standards". (see below for their posted policy)
http://www.scuba-do.com/pricing.html

Pricing for Scuba-Do
Scuba-Do offers two daily half-day, four hour charters at 8am and 1pm. It is our pledge to not put more than 10 divers on board to avoid a crowded boat! (Even though we are USCG certified to carry 14 Divers)With that in mind, we have a firm 24 hour cancellation policy for dive charters and a 48 hour cancellation policy for Instruction and charters during holiday periods! We do not offer refunds for seasickness, or for unused dive equipment and tanks! We appreciate your cooperation when scheduling your dive charters!

Thanks for doing some legwork there Mike S. I will definitely tell my co-worker. While it was a holiday weekend, she called them on Thursday morning to cancel a Saturday afternoon charter, and that's 48+ hours. I think she (at least) has grounds to dispute it with her credit card company.

 

[mike_s]

Thanks for doing some legwork there Mike S. I will definitely tell my co-worker. While it was a holiday weekend, she called them on Thursday morning to cancel a Saturday afternoon charter, and that's 48+ hours. I think she (at least) has grounds to dispute it with her credit card company.

Have your co-worker print that page if they are going to dispute it with your credit card company in case they change their web page.. (most likely she'll have to fax it to them anyway.) But I'm betting that page will change quickly if they start getiting credit card disputes and the credit card company references that in the conversation.

When your co-worker booked the trip, did they tell her 72 hour notice verbally? just curious since they have new owners it seems. BTW... looks like hte "old" owners (Laurie and Tony) are listed on the web page still if you click on "crew". So it doesn't appear the new owners have updated their page yet.