PADI Card renewal ripoff

[Cacia]

30 dollars, Dan, are you kidding?

I couldn't live with myself.

 

[rawls]

Ya mean that even a non-profits can be scum-sucking, greedy, rip off scam artists.

I guess it wasn't clear from my earlier post that I don't consider "profit" to be a 4 letter word.

Charlie...You know Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson/Roberson? and the other venerables are all altruistic in their endeavours...repent, repent
Ok...I know...stay on the subject...

 

[Christi]

On a dive trip I temporarily lost my wallet that had my c card, etc. in it. I was at the dive shop booking a dive and they needed my c card. I called PADI and asked them if they could fax my info to the LDS. They told me they would but would have to charge me a fee. They asked for my credit card # to do this. Of course my credit card was missing also so I was in a bind. I told them I did not have my credit card as it was gone also. At the time I was a PADI assistant instructor and PADI had made a lot of money from me getting to that level . I told them that I would send them a check or they could bill me but that I needed them to help me out and fax my info so I could dive. I was already getting ready to get P.O.d as this was day was not going well. They hemmed and hawed but then they faxed my info and at no charge. I actually got something from PADI free!

Why didn't you just have the dive shop look up your certification online? It's free and takes all of 2 minutes. As an AI you could have even done that.

 

[Christi]

(Do PADI instructors have to pay a portion of their training fees back to PADI?)

We pay for the certification fees for each diver we certify (PICS or online submission), we pay annual membership fees, and purchase PADI materials...just like every other agency.

As far as the rest of this issue goes, some people get so caught up in "card carrying."

The truth is that you only need to show one card to a dive op/shop 95% of the time. If you are diving nitrox, that's the only card you need to show because in order to be nitrox certified, you have to have at least an OW certification. Otherwise, show your highest level or whatever level you want for that matter. On some occasions a dive shop will require a certain certification level to do specific dives, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

This may surpise some of you, but dive shops are rarely impressed or influenced by how many cards or what level certification you have...they want to know that you are certified and hear about your overall diving experience. This is where log books can be very helpful as well. Your c-card in no way tells anyone what kind of diver you are. As I always say, "show me (in the water) don't tell me." I can have an OW diver with 500 dives all over the world, or a rescue certified diver with 20 dives under his belt. DO you think the rescue diver is more qualified than the OW diver because he carries a card? Not a chance! The card is a technicality unless you use the certifications to work your way up to DM or instructor, in which case they are required.

To the OP, I say get your son certified for nitrox (as long as he is over 15) or rescue and then the JOW and JAOW cards won't be an issue.

 

[daniel f aleman]

Christi states:

To the OP, I say get your son certified for nitrox (as long as he is over 15) or rescue and then the JOW and JAOW cards won't be an issue.

Exactly right.

Your kid needs to just dive. There's no hurry; I started diving when I was fifteen. The nitrox card/education will allow him to dive with others using the same gas; and, the Rescue course will help make him a better diver. The rest is up to his interests and skill levels.

 

[DandyDon]

Christi states:

To the OP, I say get your son certified for nitrox (as long as he is over 15) or rescue and then the JOW and JAOW cards won't be an issue.

Discussed in post #15...

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.

 

[uspap]

Just be thankful PADI doesn't make your son do an upgrade course and charge a lot more. Did I say that out loud. I don't want to give them any ideas. By the way my NAUI card cost the same. $30. That's not even 1/2 the price of a video game he will beat in a week.

 

[DBailey]

My son just turned 15 and I get a letter in the mail from PADI to change his OW and AOW cards from Junior OW to normal OW cardsand the would do it for ONLY $30/- for each card!!! Is that a ripoff or what??? What does it take to print a new plastic card?

I know that, at this point, I don't have an option but to shell out the money but a guy needs a place to vent:light:

Are SSI and NAUI also equally greedy? I may just get my next speciality cert from them instead of PADI!!

I know that a lot of the other posters have said that you should skip updating your son's cards by taking another class, or that a lot of places would still let your son dive on the junior card.

Have you asked your son if he wants the cards updated? Maybe it will be a sense of accomplishment for him. Maybe it will be something "adult" for him (i.e. no longer diving on a "junior"/kid card). Maybe he has been wanting to get the grown-up version of the card ever since he was certified.

$30 isn't very much if any of the preceding applies.

 

[Christi]

Discussed in post #15...

Don, I saw your post, but your information is not accurate, which is one reason I posted what I did.

A nitrox card IS a dive certification and it proves that you are at least open water certified. You can use it to dive air or nitrox...and there's absolutely no reason to pay PADI (or any other agency) to get a combined card. Furthermore, it doesn't need to be presented with any other card to be valid so your gripe about PADI only wanting to give you the nitrox card doesn't make sense...what else would you expect them to give you? You do a nitrox certification, you get a nitrox (Enriched Air Diver) card...you do a rescue certification, they give you a rescue card, etc.

In fact, when people throw down multiple cards at my shop, I just pick one of them up...if they are diving nitrox, then that's the card I need to see...if not, I take the first one available. As I said, a certification card gives me absolutely no indication of the divers skills in the water or what kind of diver they are, so my only concern at that particularly moment is to verify that they are certified divers. From there, we have other ways of determining how "experienced" they are and which boat to put them on...a c-card sure isn't going to tell me that.

 

[DandyDon]

Don, I saw your post, but your information is not accurate, which is one reason I posted what I did.

A nitrox card IS a dive certification and it proves that you are at least open water certified. You can use it to dive air or nitrox...and there's absolutely no reason to pay PADI (or any other agency) to get a combined card. Furthermore, it doesn't need to be presented with any other card to be valid so your gripe about PADI only wanting to give you the nitrox card doesn't make sense...what else would you expect them to give you? You do a nitrox certification, you get a nitrox (enriched Air Diver) card...you do a rescue certification, they give you a rescue card, etc.

In fact, when people throw down multiple cards at my shop, I just pick one of them up...if they are diving nitrox, then that's the card I need to see...if not, I take the first one available. As I said, a certification card gives me absolutely no indication of the divers skills in the water or what kind of diver they are, so my only concern at that particularly moment is to verify that they are certified divers. From there, we have other ways of determining how "experienced" they are and which boat to put them on...a c-card sure isn't going to tell me that.

Okay, I could have been wrong; it hapens - all too often.

I thought it'd been established elsewhere here that a Padi Nitrox card no longer required dives and did not actually require OW - therefore was not a proof of OW. I'll have to look into this further.

Padi is touting the combination card, and while this may not be as important there where all dives are DM escorted - many Ops I've dived with require an Aow or better for certain dives, seperately - a Nitrox card for Nitrox, so the combo card has appeal, but they generally won't issue it except as a replacement.

Btw, when I am wrong in a post, go ahead and quote me, then correct me.