He haven't signed up yet for a class, we've only purchased the PADI eLearning package and we are about done with it. Ive visited a couple of dive shops that also do certification, and people were super polite at each one, but totally different vibes.
One seems bigger and has a ton of stuff on display, but they are an SSI facility and we already started PADI. And it felt more like a dive place that wants to sell you a really expensive gear setup. And that is totally fine and they were super helpful and answered all of my questions.
The other shop, quite a bit smaller, seemed more customer focused and run by a nice guy who likewise answered all of our questions and you could tell really lives the sport. Had a pretty chill mascot dog in the place too.
I would assume that tells you where I/we have been. We've also been lucky to either know a close friend with some near new gear that fit my wife or find some pretty nice, good quality used gear for myself from a really cool guy who is getting out of the sport and had recently bought new gear.
We will be looking to service some gear and tanks, or at least have them checked out, so we would be looking for a shop for that.
Hopefully that helps