I am posting to this forum as my poor experiences with local dive shops have kept me from progressing past "new diver" status.
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I am very curious as to fellow diver's lds experiences. Perhaps it is just the luck of the draw, but I have had great difficulty in locating a lds that treats me in a fashion that would engender good will and keep me as a return customer. In the interest of fairness (which in my opinion these businesses do not deserve) I will not specifically name any particular lds. I'm not just looking to vent: I am also interested in good experiences people have had with shops in the nj / ny area.
An overview:
1. When my wife and I were first certified NAUI OW I some sixteen years ago, we did out training through a NYC-based chain of dive shops. Attracted by the enormous sign in the window advertising "SCUBA CERTIFICATION - ONLY $99!!!," we signed up and left the shop about eight hundred bucks poorer after masks / fins / snorkels / logbooks / gear bags, etc. No biggie, we're city folk and used to such scams. During the pool sessions we discover that one of the instructors has obvious anger management problems and screams and yells at students for not mastering skills as quickly as he thinks they should. We're talking borderline psychosis here. It got so bad that my wife wanted to drop right out of the class. Our beach dives (Rockaway Inlet) were a nightmare: every other group present that day called the checkout dives, except for our shop, which insisted that we proceed with our dives in what I now know to be extremely dangerous conditions. Our boat dives were worse. The instructor tied my wife up in monofilament and had her cut herself loose - I now know that this is nuts at best. On the same dive: a) one divemaster came up with my wife's knife (she lost it cutting herself loose) tucked into the sleeve of his wetsuit (he denied that it belonged to my wife); and b) one divemaster didn't make it back to the boat and needed to be rescued. At least we were certified, though my wife had already lost any desire to continue diving.
2. After many years away from diving (disgusted and landlocked), I picked a lds at random to do a refresher with. The refresher went fine, I actually liked the instructor, and the shop had a nice vibe so I signed up for AOW and the drysuit specialty, which they pushed on me. This course was an exercise in pure misery. The lead instructor was an insulting witch from the get-go. She ridiculed students, pushed all sorts of unnecessary gear on the class and refused any additional help and clarification for those students that needed it. The weekend long checkout dives were a nightmare. The instructors had a terrible habit of bad mouthing (I mean really nasty stuff) individual students with little concern as to who might be listening. It got so bad that I finally turned to the three instructors and asked them if they understood that I was standing three feet away from them and heard every last insult. They ignored me and continued. Their extreme lack of planning (and rental of faulty equipment) resulted in the separation of me and another diver during a night dive and a long surface swim for me in a flooded drysuit - an experience so terrifying that I quit diving for another several years. Finally, upon returning my rental drysuit (they wouldn't let me return at the dive site, but made me drive the suit back the following day) they demanded extra payment because the suit was wet. I informed them that they were lucky I didn't sue them for providing substandard equipment and instruction. I once again gave up on a hobby that I otherwise enjoyed due to the high concentration of flakes and greedy jerks that seemed to characterize the sport. I have never run across an activity with a higher a$$#013 quotient, except perhaps the music industry. I didn't dive again for several years.
3. Determined not to let a couple of bad apples spoil my fun, I once again attempted a return to diving this past summer. Thinking the problem may be related to geography, I did a refresher dive with an out-of-state lds that would have been a bargain at twice the price. These people struck me as motivated first by a love of diving with only a secondary interest in making bank. Unfortunately, this lds was too remote from me to pursue any training. Instead I concentrated on doing as much diving as I could - finding a buddy on another diving board and hitting the quarry several times. As I acquired the gear necessary to make myself self-sufficient and no longer dependent on any rental equipment, I needed a visual inspection and valve installation on a new cylinder. I figured that this would be a good opportunity to check out yet another lds not too too far from where I live. I fully expected a good experience at this shop in light of positive feedback that I read on SB. I had hoped that this was something that could be taken care of as I waited as it was not convenient for me to make another trip. That wasn't possible as the owner and most of the staff were away on a diving trip and wouldn't be back for several days. I explained exactly what I needed (vip and din valve installed) to the hapless yet friendly fellow manning the shop for the day. When I called back five days later, nobody was able to tell me the status of my job. I called back the next day and was told that I could pick up my tank over the weekend. When I returned to the shop to pick up my gear, I was met with the surliest, rudest jerk-off that I have run across in quite some time. Seriously, it would have been a smoother transaction had he just flipped me the bird and told me to "screw off" as soon as i entered the store. A few weeks later I discovered that the shop didn't even punch the vip sticker correctly resulting in my being refused fills. Great. Rude and incompetent.
Having decided that I did want to do some training over the summer, I once again began to search for a suitable lds. As I work in Manhattan (and have had terrible luck with nj lds's), I decided it would be more convenient to study with a nyc-based shop. This weekend I completed my rescue diver checkout dives and had a really good experience. The instructors were down to earth, approachable and qualified. I just wish that the shop was more convenient for my regular lds needs.
Am I the only one to find that the lds industry is largely composed of rude, money-grubbing, sleazemerchants? Care to prove me wrong in the form of a recommendation of a decent lds operation in nnj? I'd love to have my opinion changed.
Thanks.
______________________
I am very curious as to fellow diver's lds experiences. Perhaps it is just the luck of the draw, but I have had great difficulty in locating a lds that treats me in a fashion that would engender good will and keep me as a return customer. In the interest of fairness (which in my opinion these businesses do not deserve) I will not specifically name any particular lds. I'm not just looking to vent: I am also interested in good experiences people have had with shops in the nj / ny area.
An overview:
1. When my wife and I were first certified NAUI OW I some sixteen years ago, we did out training through a NYC-based chain of dive shops. Attracted by the enormous sign in the window advertising "SCUBA CERTIFICATION - ONLY $99!!!," we signed up and left the shop about eight hundred bucks poorer after masks / fins / snorkels / logbooks / gear bags, etc. No biggie, we're city folk and used to such scams. During the pool sessions we discover that one of the instructors has obvious anger management problems and screams and yells at students for not mastering skills as quickly as he thinks they should. We're talking borderline psychosis here. It got so bad that my wife wanted to drop right out of the class. Our beach dives (Rockaway Inlet) were a nightmare: every other group present that day called the checkout dives, except for our shop, which insisted that we proceed with our dives in what I now know to be extremely dangerous conditions. Our boat dives were worse. The instructor tied my wife up in monofilament and had her cut herself loose - I now know that this is nuts at best. On the same dive: a) one divemaster came up with my wife's knife (she lost it cutting herself loose) tucked into the sleeve of his wetsuit (he denied that it belonged to my wife); and b) one divemaster didn't make it back to the boat and needed to be rescued. At least we were certified, though my wife had already lost any desire to continue diving.
2. After many years away from diving (disgusted and landlocked), I picked a lds at random to do a refresher with. The refresher went fine, I actually liked the instructor, and the shop had a nice vibe so I signed up for AOW and the drysuit specialty, which they pushed on me. This course was an exercise in pure misery. The lead instructor was an insulting witch from the get-go. She ridiculed students, pushed all sorts of unnecessary gear on the class and refused any additional help and clarification for those students that needed it. The weekend long checkout dives were a nightmare. The instructors had a terrible habit of bad mouthing (I mean really nasty stuff) individual students with little concern as to who might be listening. It got so bad that I finally turned to the three instructors and asked them if they understood that I was standing three feet away from them and heard every last insult. They ignored me and continued. Their extreme lack of planning (and rental of faulty equipment) resulted in the separation of me and another diver during a night dive and a long surface swim for me in a flooded drysuit - an experience so terrifying that I quit diving for another several years. Finally, upon returning my rental drysuit (they wouldn't let me return at the dive site, but made me drive the suit back the following day) they demanded extra payment because the suit was wet. I informed them that they were lucky I didn't sue them for providing substandard equipment and instruction. I once again gave up on a hobby that I otherwise enjoyed due to the high concentration of flakes and greedy jerks that seemed to characterize the sport. I have never run across an activity with a higher a$$#013 quotient, except perhaps the music industry. I didn't dive again for several years.
3. Determined not to let a couple of bad apples spoil my fun, I once again attempted a return to diving this past summer. Thinking the problem may be related to geography, I did a refresher dive with an out-of-state lds that would have been a bargain at twice the price. These people struck me as motivated first by a love of diving with only a secondary interest in making bank. Unfortunately, this lds was too remote from me to pursue any training. Instead I concentrated on doing as much diving as I could - finding a buddy on another diving board and hitting the quarry several times. As I acquired the gear necessary to make myself self-sufficient and no longer dependent on any rental equipment, I needed a visual inspection and valve installation on a new cylinder. I figured that this would be a good opportunity to check out yet another lds not too too far from where I live. I fully expected a good experience at this shop in light of positive feedback that I read on SB. I had hoped that this was something that could be taken care of as I waited as it was not convenient for me to make another trip. That wasn't possible as the owner and most of the staff were away on a diving trip and wouldn't be back for several days. I explained exactly what I needed (vip and din valve installed) to the hapless yet friendly fellow manning the shop for the day. When I called back five days later, nobody was able to tell me the status of my job. I called back the next day and was told that I could pick up my tank over the weekend. When I returned to the shop to pick up my gear, I was met with the surliest, rudest jerk-off that I have run across in quite some time. Seriously, it would have been a smoother transaction had he just flipped me the bird and told me to "screw off" as soon as i entered the store. A few weeks later I discovered that the shop didn't even punch the vip sticker correctly resulting in my being refused fills. Great. Rude and incompetent.
Having decided that I did want to do some training over the summer, I once again began to search for a suitable lds. As I work in Manhattan (and have had terrible luck with nj lds's), I decided it would be more convenient to study with a nyc-based shop. This weekend I completed my rescue diver checkout dives and had a really good experience. The instructors were down to earth, approachable and qualified. I just wish that the shop was more convenient for my regular lds needs.
Am I the only one to find that the lds industry is largely composed of rude, money-grubbing, sleazemerchants? Care to prove me wrong in the form of a recommendation of a decent lds operation in nnj? I'd love to have my opinion changed.
Thanks.
