Refunds for Students who Can't pass O/W?

[gazzahawkes]

Hello

do you get a refund if you cant finish your food in a cafe?
How about if you fail your driving test?

As for dive tuition here we break the course down into modules academics and water work,if a student pulls out before they board the boat they pay for what they done.

This approach seems to be fair for those that realise that diving is not for them.

Whats the alternative instructors feel they must finish the course to get paid.this is not in the interests of either dive safety or the parties involved.

So NO to a full refund yes to partial providing notice is given before tanks are pumped boats and staffed prepped to go.

sorry if you dont agree but logistics cost time and money.

happy diving
Gary

 

[scubadooba]

what if the student cant clear her ears because of some kind of medical condition she didnt know about until she tried to dive? Ear infections as a child, perforated eardrum, etc.
FYI when you take a college class you always have an option to withdraw.

 

[lakesdiver]

Like any college/trade school/etc the student is paying for the opportunity to learn. If said student fails to make maximum use of the opportunity, oh well.

It's why we had to invent letters other than "A".

Physical inability should have been uncovered in a pre-class physical exam.

Further, as others have posted, all the instructors I know will work with the student well beyond the class to help them get that certification.

 

[Gill]

Do you get a refund if you fail a certification for architecture, law, electrical engineering, or for other professional certs? No.

Do you get a refund if you fail your driver's test? No.

 

[Northeastwrecks]

scubadooba once bubbled...
what if the student cant clear her ears because of some kind of medical condition she didnt know about until she tried to dive? Ear infections as a child, perforated eardrum, etc.
FYI when you take a college class you always have an option to withdraw.

You have an option to withdraw from scuba classes. I'm certainly not going to chase you down if you don't show up. I'll even give you a "W" if you request a transcript.

What you don't always have is the opportunity to receive a refund after classes start.

In the case you suggest, I'd consider the request as a matter of good business practices. However, I'd want to see some medical documentation of the problem.

 

[RichLockyer]

scubadooba once bubbled...
what if the student cant clear her ears because of some kind of medical condition she didnt know about until she tried to dive? Ear infections as a child, perforated eardrum, etc.
FYI when you take a college class you always have an option to withdraw.

Sport Chalet makes allowance for that.

 

[zeN||]

The Instructor isworking for beans anyways, and deserves to be paid for his time zeN

 

[5615mike]

O-ring once bubbled...
Do you get your money back if you enroll in a course at a university and fail? IMO, the instructor/shop was paid to teach the student how to scuba dive. If that was done, the money was earned...the student is NOT paying for a certification, but for a class. If the student is paying for a certification, the shop deserves to lose the revenue for running classes like that. Student expectations should be set up front so they know this is a class and passing and getting a certification is not guaranteed.

Just my 2 cents..

O-ring, don't know that there is a more applicable analogy than the one you made above. I can't understand why anyone would believe that they would be entitled to ANY refund. There can be many reasons for not completing the course but I believe that many times it is due to the lack of attention. Understandable there are many people who just wig out under water and that is at no fault of anyone but that would not require a refund IMO

 

[california]

I’ve had students take up to six months to be certified. My learning agreement states quite clearly that certification is not guaranteed.

As far as the original thread, in my course the student must be able to perform CESA and orally inflate their BCD at the surface. It really sounds as if she is overweighed. I thought floating at eye level was obtained on the first dive?
:doctor:

 

[RichLockyer]

california once bubbled...
I thought floating at eye level was obtained on the first dive?

It is. Then one of two things happen....
The student finds that at the end of the dive as they cross through 20ft they pop to the surface like a cork, or the instructor says "now you need to compensate for the air in the tank", and hands them another 10 pounds (instead of 5).

One of the local instructors admitted to intentionally overweighting students so he would have no trouble holding them on the bottom on their knees to perform their skills.

The buoyancy check should be done prior to the first dive, and it should be done with a spare tank with 300psi.

An issue that I had with my class was that the weight check was done in the pool. Maybe okay for lake and quarry divers, but not for ocean divers. Perfect weighting in the pool = barely able to swim it down with a full tank in the ocean and unable to hover above 30ft.