Kudos to a local shop

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Warhammer

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Mississippi
My wife spent this past weekend reviewing her skills. We thought this was best since it had been so long since she had certified and the fact that she hasn't dove much lately and had forgotten a lot of the principles. I inquired about her taking a refresher course with the dive shop, Dive Sports, that I do business with. The owner, Phil, told us of an upcoming OW class that he was having and invited us to sit in on it, free of charge. In the meantime, I told a friend of mine, who had been wanting to take the class, about the class and he signed up as well. When the 3 of us arrived there Saturday morning we were informed that everyone else had cancelled. But Phil told us not too worry, he had promised us a class and that was what we'd get. So my wife and friend got a private class at no additional cost! I had expected my wife to just observe and ask questions, if she had any questions. I didn't expect them to put her back through the whole course for free, but that's just what they did! Minus the Open Water dives of course, which we may go on as well. I was pleasantly surprised and I commend Phil, Brad, and Tony (her instructor) for taking the time to reteach the whole course to her on their time. Little things like this are what will keep me going back to Dive Sports for years to come. Tony is an excellent instructor and was happy to spend as much time as needed with both students. And he wasn't happy until they were both completely comfortable with each and every skill. He also told both of them not to hesitate to request a review of anything they felt they needed more time on in the future. Great job guys!
 
What a refreshing story to counter the horror stories we all hear about! I've got a similar shop here in Michigan, along with an instructor that truly cares about his students. I took a private with my son-was supposed to last 3-4 sessions. Completed that in January. We've been back to the pool at least 6-7 times since then-all at no charge. Of course, I will take care of the instructor in some way for his time-he won't hear of letting me pay him for the extra time.

Just to give you an idea of how this guy cares about diving, he has brought on different occasions the following to let us play with and be exposed to:

Doubles w/ manifold
Backplate/wings
Underwater music-very cool!
UW video camera
His own regs-(we wound up buying Apeks because of this)
Lift bags/sausages
Full face masks (AGA)

I guess the point of this post was to give kudos to those in the field that truly give a sh*t, and to remember when we see the posts about the nasty ones, that there are truly good people out there that care. You just have to look for them, or at least get lucky!
 

a shop in my area is also dedicated to customer service.
whatever 'extra' i might pay due to lack of discount is
MORE than offset by the service and friendship.

when my wife expressed an interest in being certified we
decided to go with that shop. it was a bit more expensive
due to the private lessons but she had a great time,
learned a lot and, as her instructor pointed out, is now
considered "family". the pool is available for her practice and her instructor will take her diving if she so chooses.

i look forward to diving with my wife when the weather
warms. the only caveat is that she refuses to allow me
to "carry all that stuff you carry when you dive with
your other buddies"

dive safe

G_M
 

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