It seems more like a pissing match, in my opinion.
I mean a padi dive shop issue'ing a c-card with little regard to who actually taught these people who are refering them. To Wreck chick, it isn't you right to make a student to choose to accept the difference in train agencies. It is the store job to make sure that the student is good enough to be a diver and send that paper work back.
Why can't all these agencies quit this pissing match and for one just realize that people diving is the goal. No more stealing students and issues c-cards that clearly should be issued by the instructor who taught the most.
In the end, might as well beat my head against a wall on this one as padi people will say one thing and everyone else will say another thing.
A couple things, first, it's not me that makes the student do their dives with me or my shop, that's the student's decision. Second, the training agency I teach for is the one who tells me what I can and cannot do with regard to non-PADI referrals and their stance is clearly outlined in my instructor manual. Third, my shop does not in any way tell me who I should or should not certify, that decision is mine and mine alone. The shop signs nothing. It is my signature and my liability from start to finish. The only time that the shop would be held liable for negligence if if they knew I wasn't performing to standards and made no effort to stop me or encouraged me to continue practices that blatantly broke standards. Lastly, it's not "PADI people" that say anything. I am following standards that are handed down from PADI proper. I don't make these decisions, I am informing the less informed what I am bound by based on my training agencies decisions.
As far as the UR program, it is up to the referring instructor to set up the OW dives with an instructor. That part is clearly outlined in the program. If a student chooses to seek an instructor on their own or if the referring instructor fails to establish a relationship with an instructor that will be receiving the student, that is breaking standards of the URP.
R