Paid for dive lessons, but shop closed up. What do I do?

[REDEYE1978]

My wife and I paid for scuba dive lessons in Feburary and took the classroom and pool lessons in March. Open water was scheduled for April 17 and 18 but the weather was too bad. Then May 1 the instructor closed his shop up. I called him and found out that he contacted all of the class but me and my wife to go and do the open water dive. He said that I was suppose to call him if I was interested in the class. I asked him when he would do our open water class and he said that he did not know that he had a new job and that he was very busy.
I called another dive shop in our area and they want 75 dollars a piece for me and my wife to take the open water class. Plus they need a letter from my other instructor.
So I called my instructor and told him that they wanted 150 dollar for the open water class and he said that he would not pay it. He said that it was my fault for not calling him for the class.
He has known all along that we wanted to go to Key West with about 10 other people in the class June 8th. We planned a 3 day dive at Key West.
So I would like to know what you guys would do about this.

 

[Bratface]

Report him to the Chamber of Commerce in your town? Report him to whatever agency he was affiliated with (PADI, SSI)?
If you really want to go diving in Key West, pay the $150 and get certified. Put the incident behind you (yes, I know it sucks).
There are good business people and bad business people. Be glad his shop closed and it didn't cost you more money.

 

[smorneau]

Sorry for your loss but there is not much you can do except pay the extra cash to finish your cert on time. Like you said he closed his shop and proberly does not have insurance anymore. Good luck!

 

[vshearer]

Hey, find somebody with references!!

 

[driftwood]

From your post it sounds like you hit him up for the $150 to complete the class, perfectly reasonable request. Tough to get money from a person whose shop just closed (probably due to lack of funds). Get the letter, pay the $150 and get on with your life.

By the time you file in small claims court, get affidavits from other students and pay to file the judgement, assuming you win, you get to chase what is essentially a ghost. Life is too short.

 

[CoconutDiver]

IMOH ...

1. The BBB and the CofC are for Member Businesses, and they can do nothing for you once a company ceases to exist.

2. PADI, SSI, et cetera are only concerned with Standards violations, not business failures.

3. Liability/Dive Shop insurance generally covers losses due to negligence, malpractice, et cetera, but usually not for business failures.

4. It is disappointing that you will not get what you paid for (the 3-day trip with 10 of our closest friends) to warm waters, but I think that others have posted some very good advice ...

a. Pay the extra $75.00 and "gitterdone" ... what a DEAL !!!! 4 open water dives for $75.00 ... quitcherbitchin.
b. Put it all behind you and realize that while you may be out-of-pocket $75.00 (each) ... the ex-dive shop owner is probably DEEP in debt and either will loose or has already lost his life savings as well as his future earnings.
c. Put it behind you ...
d. Get certified ....
e. Move on ...
f. Enjoy scuba diving !!!

Just my opinion.

PS. The "letter" that you need is a referal form, and your ex-instructor should be able to put that together for you without too much trouble. In fact, you probalby already have what you need in your dive log books !!! Without it, you may have to repeat some of the coursework, but it's good practice and you will be a better trained diver at the end of it all !!!

PPS. On the other hand ... think about it from the Instructor's perspective ... people schedule classes and dives and then don't show up and don't want to pay ... or they show up but can't complete the course (or completely "stop" and refuse to continue) and THEN blame the Instructor and file a dispute with the C/C company. None of it's fair ... but it happens.

Best wishes and enjoy the splendors of God's underworld creations !!!

 

[Necklinsberg]

Seems to me that the 'other dive shop' is really doing good by you since they are willing to cut their price for the certifications very significantly.

Sorry that you go hosed by the shop that closed, but not much that I can see that can be done about that.

 

[tstormdiver]

Overall, I'd say you're probably out the money. I would ask for a refund for the OW dive portion of the class & get the referral. Use the $ towards the referral dives. I say try to get that portion as a refund, as the instructor has not finished the course of instruction. What I find odd is he contacted everyone in the last class except you & your wife.... yet expected YOU to contact him?!? Sounds like he's trying to get off the hook. How would you know what his plans are, if he didn't say anything to you before or during the class? Or perhaps he did & you missed it. There may be no standards violation on this, but there does seem to be an ethics violation for most agencies. You can try a complaint, the most it will cost you is a few minutes of writing (most agencies require formal written statement). Keep it factual, not what you think. Regardless, don't let this episode leave a bad taste in your mouth. I wish the best for you.

 

[oly5050user]

when you paid for the course,were the ow training dives actually included? Many facilities/instructors charge for the dives seperately from the course. Pay the $75. and get certified.At $75. for the 4 training dives that is dirt cheap..facility I teach for charges $239 for the certification dives.(includes rentals)here in NY to do the dives at a quarry.

 

[snowdog]

Focus on remedy first (getting your OW cert)…
Get the referral forms from your instructor (don’t wait on this, or you might miss out) for you and your wife, and book a week in Cozumel, Aruba, hell anywhere there are dive operations.
Most (if not all) of dive operations at destination locations get referral forms and help you complete your open water certification. But make sure they are accredited with the same organization (PDAI etc) that you started with, and do some reference checks on “sucbaboard” or the web in general.
One great benefit in this approach while you are there, get a few more days (and maybe nights) of diving in.