PADI Card renewal ripoff

[Midnight Star]

I think that's the going rate for cards now - I feel your pain ... I had to order another card also, and thought that $30 was just a bit of a stretch - $10 maybe for a replacement, and $30 for the original sure (since info has to be input the first time etc.,.). Interestingly enough though, with SSI, it cost more to order the card directly from them, instead of going through the dive shop ... interesting indeed.

Maybe we could recommend this ... an online page where we upload our pictures, then use a credit card to place the order. Automation will rule the roost and send the printing job to the printer, with the picture we submitted and kick out something that just needs to be mailed off. Cutting costs save us in the long run, right? riiiiiigggt?

Yeah, I know the inherent flaws in that type of system, but heck, ideas are free. Riiiiggghht?

-----

Mike.

 

[DiverBeth]

Hmmm everybody needs their processing fee. Nothing's free anymore. :shakehead

 

[vimaldude]

Good suggestion about doing the Rescue class. That way, we get to learn something new...

The point was, that if I lose a card, then I don't mind paying a fee to replace it. This is just to upgrade the card to from Junior to adult (and we already paid the fee for the course). I don't think the plastic costs more than $0.50 so the rest is pure overhead (or profit!!)

 

[fairybasslet]

It cost $30 for me to replace my son's nitrox card that he lost. That was from SSI. What really ticked me off about his AOW was that he completed the class 2 months before he turned 15 so he only qualified for the jr. AOW. And then I had to pay for a new card 2 months later because he couldn't bear to be a Jr. AOW anymore.

 

[DandyDon]

I think you can do the nitrox course too and get a combined card.

If you do the Nitrox course, they only want to give you the Nitrox card - which is not actually a Dive card. Then they want to charge another $30 to get the combined card! Ripoff plus insult.

When I got my last Padi card, I phoned, got a supervisor, griped, and she finally agreed to issue the combined card.

 

[Cacia]

yea! Don...I am with you..gripe.

Sort of related.....I took all my cards and color copied them front and back, on photopaper and don't carry my cars on trips. That way if you lose it...you have the originals.

I think just waiting till you get the next step and using the JR. Card like Ron said would be what I would do.

And if you are really cheap..and don't have a card just have the operator or resort call PADI for verification.they are online and I think that is free.

 

[Nemrod]

I made my own card, I made my own VIP stickers, I never pay the piper, I don't do buisness with PadI Poodle Inc.

BTW, copied cards and laminate them is a good idea accept I have run into places that will not accept a color copy for an airfill or charter.

CatalinaCanuk, what regulator and mask are you diving there?

Nemrod
W------s, Aircraft, Lawnmower, Tractor and Scuba Repair

 

[Walter]

I think just waiting till you get the next step and using the JR. Card like Ron said would be what I would do.

Oh the shame of it all, a 15 year old using a junior card............of course there are things that are more embarrassing..........

 

[vimaldude]

And if you are really cheap..and don't have a card just have the operator or resort call PADI for verification.they are online and I think that is free.

It's not a question of being cheap. $30 is not going to kill me. It is a question of paying the right value. I don't think a card should cost $30. If PADI's main goal is to promote scuba, then they should not be making big profits on small things like replacement cards.
In fact, I would not mind paying higher for a more thorough course than what they have now (OW and AOW).

 

[Midnight Star]

...they should not be making big profits on small things like replacement cards.

These kinds of things IMHO are what de-humanize us, one to another, and turn us into just "nickel and dimes" for the next "idea person" looking venture into the lucrative chain of human existance. We could be doing so much more ... oh so much more.

You'd think after thousands of years of putting a price on life itself from every angle and aspect possible, we'd finally come to the conclusion that it's priceless and stop trying to cash in on something we've only come to know in the briefest moment of human history; our own existance. Not to rant on too much - But I have way too much respect for myself to cash in that much on someone else's need ... heck, I don't even patronize pawn shops for that very reason ... the ring I just bought, might be from someone else's failure ... i'd rather they'd have succeeded and I do without, than come to gain in this way.

-----

Mike.