I live in Marina del rey, equidistant to Splash, OA, and Sports Chalet. I'm really interested to see how this drama plays out. Is anyone calling the dive shop in question to get their side of the story?
Regarding where to get instruction, I received my NAUI open-water from Mark Artusio, one of the co-owners of West Side Aquatics on Pico and Overland. A really great instructor and a really nice guy, I highly recommend him. I'm also been in the Malibu dive shop, and Carter was very helpful with a regulator issue I had. And he filled my sports chalet tank 2x today, no problem.
Wherever you get instruction, I would recommend a place that has smaller classes. I've heard some places try to train 8 or more students at once, keeping them kneeling on the sand for long periods of time. A place like west side aquatics (and probably other dive shops) will not have more than 4 students in a class, for the same price.
Scott