Referral Dives - Do you feel guilty doing it?

[iluvscuba]

First let me say I have a great instructor and have learned alot from her. The only issue is she is not free for a while to do my certification dives. When I asked for a referral to someone who would be able to do it sooner (since I travel alot and will be in FL in 2 weeks), she got very defensive, and encouraged me to finish things with her. The person would also save me $100. However in her defense she has put in extra time in helping me and I have learned alot from her. So basically the extra cost I guess would serve as a tip?

Just wondering if its a taboo subject what I did?

 

[markfm]

It certainly should not be taboo. It's the Instructor's job to get classes done in a reasonable amount of time.

At least where I live, referrals are a pretty normal part of life. People will take classes, want to complete before the water warms up up here, so they do a referral.

Any chance that your Instructor is relatively new? At least in PADI there is something known as an MSDT, which requires 25 completed certifications. Perhaps the person is trying to build their cert count up, for something like that.

The Instructor I did my OW, Rescue, and DM with was on vacation when I wanted to do AOW -- not an issue, I did my AOW with someone else.

Instructors getting tips? Sweet -- how about just $75, giving anyone doing DM for them $25 (pretty much unheard of around here)

Good luck, and welcome to diving!

 

[cudachaser]

I get a lot referrals....End up teaching my way to be safe. I usually take the create

 

[spectrum]

First let me say I have a great instructor and have learned alot from her. The only issue is she is not free for a while to do my certification dives. When I asked for a referral to someone who would be able to do it sooner (since I travel alot and will be in FL in 2 weeks), she got very defensive, and encouraged me to finish things with her. The person would also save me $100. However in her defense she has put in extra time in helping me and I have learned alot from her. So basically the extra cost I guess would serve as a tip?

Just wondering if its a taboo subject what I did?

I agree with markfm. If your confined water and class work are complete you should expect to be in the water expediently. This is summertime and trip or no trip it's prime diving time for most of us. I'm sure if asked when signing up for the class they would not have said "we will complete your certification at our convenience".

A referral is more commonly used to make check-out dives in a more comfortable environment but I see no foul in your request. I assume that in making the request you left the door open for your present instructor to expedite things to meet your needs.

If she went above and beyond in helping you adapt to diving some token of appreciation after you are certified (regardless of where) would be a kind gesture.

Pete

 

[Damselfish]

Certainly not taboo, stuff happens, stuff needs to get discussed, and people do referrals for all sorts of reasons. If I knew up front how long it would be and had agreed I might feel a little bad for changing plans. Maybe she feels you had an agreement and you owe her the money, I dunno. But it's not unreasonable to want to finish in a timely fashion, and not to want to wait too long and feel like you'll forget stuff. If you're talking a month or months, when you might like to be out diving, and you weren't told up front that was going to happen, I don't see anything wrong with trying to get it done sooner. Getting defensive sounds like a lousy reaction, and if finishing with her means denying you a chance to dive on your trip to Florida, that's not so nice either.

What if anything had you agreed on, and how long is "a while?" Maybe she should be happy you really want to finish, and you can plan to do AOW with her later.

 

[daniel f aleman]

Do the referral - your instructor is a professional, right?

 

[chris408]

When I started my class the instructor asked upfront if anyone was going to do referrals. It's expected to happen, especially during this season. And since the class and instructor fees are already paid for, she wouldn't be losing money.

 

[rdbean]

Not taboo at all. In fact, I would think that it's better customer service to offer you a referral if you cannot be finished up in time to do your trip to Florida.

As you said, " the instructor asked upfront if anyone was going to do referrals", which means to me that they had a reasonable expectation to finish your course on a set schedule. Therefore if they can no longer meet this schedule they should offer a referral. You're not moving to Florida, they're not losing any money by not finishing you, seems like by catering to your needs they would have a better customer in the long run.

Cheers and Safe Diving!

 

[Code4medic]

I don't think it's taboo or even poor form for that matter. Referrals are common and it's a shame your instructor was so negative when she should be focused on helping you become a proficient diver- even if that means someone else has to finish it.

 

[charlesml3]

I'm in a somewhat similar situation. Over the past 4 years, 8 of my friends have gotten certified because I kept showing them photos from trips to Cozumel. All of them did referrals. Here's the situation:

-We don't want to spend the time down in Coz doing the pool and coursework. Time is too valuable down there and you want to be diving, not sitting in a classroom.

-The local spot here for doing the OW certification dives is a quarrey. Honestly, I think that place has turned away more potential divers than anything else.

SO, I have my friends do their pool and coursework here and take their paperwork down to Cozumel for the open water dives. I want their first open water dive to be in warm, clear, tropical water.

This method has worked beautifully on every occasion. I did get some static from my LDS when they figured out what I was doing. I'm pretty sure they make more money off of the certification dives than they do from the class.

-Charles