Trip Report *live* Indo Aggressor Komodo deep South trip quarantine @ LBJ March 2024

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I noticed when we had entered our room that there was a piece of duct tape covering the door switch latch. I thought this was strange, but didn’t pay much attention. The next morning I tried to leave the room and was locked inside. I pulled and tugged for 10 minutes, trying to open the door, but to no avail. The knob would turn, but the door latch was in permanent lock position. I proceeded to pound on the walls, having to awaken other guests to help us get out. They went and got the crew and it took them 20 minutes to get the door open. Fire hazard, I think so!!!
This is really concerning!
 
@tsuyoshi The email just said that the license had been terminated. I've not been able to discover anything else yet. Full refund and an offer to pay up to $400 towards airline penalties if not covered by insurance
Unfortunately for those of us on this trip, Aggressor franchise's only firm response is to have us attempt to make insurance claim of this trip they would not consider cancelled. "So that there will be no exceptions for it because it would not be 'fair' for their customers." They look forward to provide more adventures in the future! (excuse my french, ROFLMAO!). This was quickly related by Liveaboard.com as end of conversation for now. What can I say besides buyer beware.

Some of the travelers on this trip had been blocked in Facebook by Aggressor.

Btw, when I booked w liveaboard.com. they send multiple friendly reminders to make ensure payment as well as direct phone call from perhaps someone from Asia when the deadline gets close.
 
Unfortunately for those of us on this trip, Aggressor franchise's only firm response is to have us attempt to make insurance claim of this trip they would not consider cancelled. That there will be no exceptions for it because it would not be "fair" for their customers. They look forward to provide more adventures in the future! (excuse my french, ROFLMAO!). This was quickly related by Liveaboard.com as end of conversation for now. What can I say besides buyer beware.

Some of the travelors on the boat had been blocked in Facebook by Aggressor.

Btw, when I booked w liveaboard.com. they send multiple friendly reminders to make ensure payment as well as direct phone call from perhaps someone from Asia when the deadline gets close.
I believe SB should put these two threads in a prominent place so everyone is aware of this unscrupulous practice by both Aggressor and liveaboard.com.
"Buyer beware".
 
Sure, there is no excuse for how the Indo Aggressor, Aggressor Adventure, or liveaboard.com have handled the situation. Maybe Aggressor grew too fast, maybe they became greedy and put business over quality & service. I don't want to defend them but we have to consider they probably have over 300 guests on their liveaboards at any given day and I think most of them are quite happy and returning guests.

Things do go wrong sometimes, how it's managed makes the difference. Also, I have nothing against the franchise business model if they can keep up the quality. In such situations, they have to refund the trip, no questions asked, but we also do not know the fine print in their Indo Aggressor contract, that they terminated it is a clue.

When I had my first trip to Cocos with them it was absolutely amazing, my 2nd trip was to Socorro, the weather was harsh, the dives tough, the raw nature was pretty amazing, besides that some dives were borderline risky. The boat already quite old in 2020 (by now history as I read), and two cabins had broken showers, I happily took one of them, had a cabin for myself, used the deck bathroom, I argued for a bit and was able to claim a 50% refund as a voucher which I used for Raja Ampat in 2022. The Raja crew is amazing but the boat again, was a slow piece of crap, but meanwhile, they changed back to the Ocean Rover.

Getting into a bit more serious diving, learning a lot about risks and human factors, I must say they really have to improve their safety approach. The Iron Diver program, for example, is really dangerous if you think about it.

Anyway, I hope such incidents can create awareness, especially for Aggressor, who has to release a public statement on this f.u.

Keep Pushing and Good Luck!
 
I was booked for a trip on the Indo Aggressor in May and just got a notification this morning that the Indo Aggressor license has been terminated and my trip has been canceled.....
 
It’s horrible that they directed you to insurance, without a cancellation how do they think you will make a claim?
Not being able to dive is not a typically covered reason with regular trip insurance .
On the positive side I posted this on a FB page full of self identifying nuts and now thousands of people have read it and a few have even emailed Aggressor.
Others have said that they no longer trust the brand.
It’s shocking that Aggressor is willing to subject itself to all this reputational damage.
 
Unfortunately for those of us on this trip, Aggressor franchise's only firm response is to have us attempt to make insurance claim of this trip they would not consider cancelled. "So that there will be no exceptions for it because it would not be 'fair' for their customers." They look forward to provide more adventures in the future! (excuse my french, ROFLMAO!). This was quickly related by Liveaboard.com as end of conversation for now. What can I say besides buyer beware.

Some of the travelers on this trip had been blocked in Facebook by Aggressor.

Btw, when I booked w liveaboard.com. they send multiple friendly reminders to make ensure payment as well as direct phone call from perhaps someone from Asia when the deadline gets close.

Have you tried reaching out to them since the contract was terminated?
 
Well, the more I read, the more poor reports I hear on Agressor. If they don’t stand behind their product, there is plenty of competition in the field.
This incident is in a lot of FB scuba groups and it’s triggered others writing about their experiences. When things are going right, it’s easy for people to write happy reports.
When things don’t, like last week, we can see the companies that handled this same event in a way that their customers were satisfied with the outcomes.
The fact that Agressor won’t give these clients a letter for insurance says everything you need to know. Other companies arranged for diving and refunded money.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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