PADI has been sold to another investment group. Thoughts?

[rigdiver]

I Googled and didn't come up with much.

My memory is that PADI was sued by come of it's members (the last name Dibble sticks in my mind) and found to be in violation of the 501(C)(3) rules and was ordered to reorganize and dedicate some of its resources to good works to make up for its malfeasance, thus was born Project Aware.​

• Right here on SB for starters.

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A major dive agency starts as a nonprofit, probably with good intentions in the basement of US Divers (I think) Growth happens, along come Don Dibble from Texas, problems with the agency and unfair business practices, clearly not what a nonprofit would do, and not operating as a nonprofit and other stuff. Don's business suffers due to "stuff". The nonprofit dive agency sees that they will be fined heavily, they disband just after selling the "name" to "Iname" and re-incorporate as a for profit. Disbanding a nonprofit to escape a lawsuit (if corporations are people it is like dying) is not legal (can't do it if a lawsuit is pending) but yet the corp is dead, and the 9th (maybe 11th) circut court order a 3 part remedy that the major dive agency must pay for, involving education, environment and.....I forget. That is it without all the skulldugery. Don was left twisting in the wind instead of getting a settlement.

The real problem is they sold the name to all the insiders and in effect "stole" a 501(c)(3) corporation from the public. Took it private and the public got virually nothing.

One of the parties is well connected to Republican politics and when the stars aligned, cut a deal to create a new non-profit (which it controls) to replace the one it "stole". An absolute sweetheart deal.

This is just the tip of a very large iceberg.

Some more from SB

 

[Jill from Phoenix]

The president of NAUI was not hired to be a diver, he was hired to be a business operator and he has done a fine job of that. The "for profit side" is a division owned by NAUI called NAUI Services Group and the job of that is to service NAUI HQ, NAUI members, etc., by handling the business side of NAUI such as creating and printing educational materials, warehousing, personnel.

Regarding NAUI, I wanted to add that the elected chairman of the board is a dive instructor and all nine elected board members that actually representatively control the association are active instructors in the worldwide dive industry.

Regarding PADI, I have no problems with teaching for profit or charity. My problem is that my money spent with PADI is now going to Switzerland.

On a cheekier note: Don't dem's have a problem with money in Switzerland....oh wait, PADI is republican. Sorry I couldn't help it. I still eat Ben and Jerry's as willingly as I eat Cold Stone. yum, we all scream for ice cream!

Politics this week again? *whine* But we had politics last week...

 

[Thalassamania]

I Googled and didn't come up with much.

PF told me that PADI went through great trouble and expense to get all that stuff off the web.

 

[Quero]

Oh goody! We get conspiracy theories to enliven the discussion even further.... Republicans pulling strings for fat-cat friends, behind-closed-doors deals to bury information.... I can hardly wait to see what further nefarious acts are exposed!

 

[Tigerman]

Oh goody! We get conspiracy theories to enliven the discussion even further.... Republicans pulling strings for fat-cat friends, behind-closed-doors deals to bury information.... I can hardly wait to see what further nefarious acts are exposed!

And from reliable sources as well! (I assume by PF Thal was referring to PilotFish )

 

[archiebald]

Unless you're out of the Country, PADI processes your card within minutes of getting it. Their system is pretty amazing. If it's out of the US and not for Japan, they run a batch once a week. Japan has it's own office that does this. They are immensely proud of their turn around time and rightly so. There's no doubt in my mind that the instructor is almost always the weak link here.

Spot on!!

I misplaced my OW card 2 weeks before going to Guam to do my AOW, sent a request to PADI Japan for a new one and had it in my hand 4 days later.

After I did my AOW I finished the course on 3rd August, returned home (Japan) on 9th August and my AOW cert arrived 2 days later, so 8 days from end of course to receiving the cert card.

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With regard to the conspiracy theories, what is being discussed here is ancient history. How many other corporations and companies have never been involved in shenanigans in their past...not many. No relevance at all to the current performance of PADI and possible changes, move along, nothing to see here.

 

[freeclimbmtb]

Just my $0.02

All my (minimal) training so far has been through PADI. (OW, AOW, EANx)

All my future training will be through other organizations. (Considering all options...looking carefully at whats best for me as a diver)

Ive seen a lot of talk about PADIs lousy teaching materials, when to be perfectly honest, I think they are some of the BETTER materials that I've seen. (Assuming you take the instructor out completely, and look from organization to organization based on materials alone.) That being said, I learned more from my OW book than I did from my OW instructor. (AOW, with a different instructor, was a different experience)

The number one change I would care to see is an audit of existing instructors, and tighter standards for future instructors. (Not to say than many of you out there arent excellent instructors) But I feel like if I showed up to OW class and the instructor didnt, I'd have walked away with the same education. Almost like an online class with a live demonstration of skills.

AND WHY THE CHRIST DO THEY BOTHER TEACHING THE FLUTTER KICK!

I was a swimmer for 4 years (and summers) and if theres one think I can tell you about kick drills, is the flutter drills beat the living hell out of you. Theres a reason the breaststroke (frog kick) is a RESTING stroke...because its powerful and EASY!

See? I've gone and allowed myself to get worked up. Again.

 

[DCBC]

PADI like any other privately owned company is free to change its product line, or sell equity as it sees fit. PADI instructors/divers have no say in this process, as they are simply dealers/customers and do not directly affect how the company does business. The fact that NAUI operates differently, in-that Instructor members elect and make-up the Board of Directors (which is responsible for how the organization operates) has always been a positive aspect for me. Be that what it may, PADI has shown the world how to turn diving instruction into big business. Many of the benefits that we enjoy today are a result, as is the current level of training that most divers receive...

 

[Jill from Phoenix]

Because everyone is rollin' in the dough thanks to padi.

The most successful stores I know owe their longevity to their creative, enterprising spirit, not to a plug and play business model someone said they would fail without using.

 

[DiveNav]

IMHO, one of the biggest assets of PADI is their customers email list. And I expect the PE to fully leverage it.

Since Golf was mentioned a couple of times in this thread ..... Lincolnshire Management recently acquired a majority interest in a company designing, manufacturing and marketing golf equipment.

I would not be surprised to see cross promotions: marketing scuba to golfers? marketing golf to divers?

A new discipline? Scuba Golfing? Golf Diving?

Alberto (aka eDiver)