should i get ssi and padi cirtified
- Thread starter dvoodoo83
- Start date
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Call your local SSI shop and ask.
H2Andy
Contributor
now why didn't i think of that
(please don't answer)
(please don't answer)
mech
Contributor
My family and I do a b it of traveling and this has actually come up more than once I'm sorry to say.
The first time was in Victoria BC. I only had an SSI OW card for a year and for some stupid reason I didn't know that Vancouver Island was an excellent dive area.
I ended up calling my SSI OW instructor at a PADI shop and he faxed in a letter stating my qualification (Tim if you're reading this I owe you big time...Thank you) and I was good to go.At this time I was also told that SSI didn't have the same option as PADI.
The second time was last Christmas in San Diego.My Daughter and I were the only ones qualified for the diving we were going to do.As luck would have it my wife and son also wanted to dive on like our last day.Shelley is both SSI and Padi trained and we went into Sports Chalet (which says it's a 5 strar Padi shop) and we found out after our nice salesman went way out of his way for us that PADI's reference check is an 800 number that has business hours and we just missed it.I later went to Kinko's to get on line and searched PADI"s site and confirmed what my salesman told me. After Kinko's we went out to dinner with one of my PADI instructors and Dennis also confirmed that it takes more than an internet access to get verification.
Hope this experiance might help some one...but your milage may vary.
Mech
The first time was in Victoria BC. I only had an SSI OW card for a year and for some stupid reason I didn't know that Vancouver Island was an excellent dive area.
I ended up calling my SSI OW instructor at a PADI shop and he faxed in a letter stating my qualification (Tim if you're reading this I owe you big time...Thank you) and I was good to go.At this time I was also told that SSI didn't have the same option as PADI.
The second time was last Christmas in San Diego.My Daughter and I were the only ones qualified for the diving we were going to do.As luck would have it my wife and son also wanted to dive on like our last day.Shelley is both SSI and Padi trained and we went into Sports Chalet (which says it's a 5 strar Padi shop) and we found out after our nice salesman went way out of his way for us that PADI's reference check is an 800 number that has business hours and we just missed it.I later went to Kinko's to get on line and searched PADI"s site and confirmed what my salesman told me. After Kinko's we went out to dinner with one of my PADI instructors and Dennis also confirmed that it takes more than an internet access to get verification.
Hope this experiance might help some one...but your milage may vary.
Mech
PADI does have a phone verification system as well as their web based lookup. Of course I wouldn't absolutely rely on either method, since web sites sometime crash and other problems may occur.mech:
I do PADI chek's on a daily basis. It is available 24/7. The only think I have ever encounterd is that in Latin America they have two surnames, and this confuses the californian computer.
I'm confused. Are you saying that your PADI cert couldn't be checked over the internet? If that is what you are sazying, I believe your instructor made a mistake. With your name and date of birth, any PADI DM or above can quickly check it on PADI's website.mech:
mech
Contributor
Yes I'm saying that we couldn't get my wifes PADI cert checked on the internet.
The date was 1/2/04. We were in San Diego Sports Chalet about 7:00 pm and two counter guys and their manager couldn't get it done.The site said a phone call was needed for that function.
I left the store and went directly to Kinko's to verify this for myself and that was my finding as well.
There could be several reasons for this one being that PADI's comuter system had issues, another is that you might need a password to access that section of their site, or the fact that the guys at Sports Chalet and I were just not smart enough to get this done.I got to admit I'm not the most computer savy person around.
Seriously though I spent at least an hour and a half trying to get this done and I couldn't get the system to work for me at that time.
The date was 1/2/04. We were in San Diego Sports Chalet about 7:00 pm and two counter guys and their manager couldn't get it done.The site said a phone call was needed for that function.
I left the store and went directly to Kinko's to verify this for myself and that was my finding as well.
There could be several reasons for this one being that PADI's comuter system had issues, another is that you might need a password to access that section of their site, or the fact that the guys at Sports Chalet and I were just not smart enough to get this done.I got to admit I'm not the most computer savy person around.
Seriously though I spent at least an hour and a half trying to get this done and I couldn't get the system to work for me at that time.
The name must be entered exactly as it appears in PADI's records. First name, middle initial, last name, and date of birth must match exactly.mech:
PADI uses the international date format on its paperwork. An American student with a date of birth of March 4, 1963 might commonly enter 03/04/63 on their course paperwork. PADI would read that date as the 3rd of April, 1963. Similar reversed birthdates are common.
Another problem issue is for people with suffixes attached to their names such as Jr. or III. Sometimes this is appended onto the last name seperated only with a space. Sometimes it follows the last name with a comma and a space seperating. On a few occasions I have found one where the suffix was appended to the first name. There is no consistency in the data entry and if it does not match exactly then the search comes up empty.
So a John Q Public, Jr. born on March 4, 1963 might have a few dozen possibilities to try in their record search. Try all combinations with and without: middle initial, correct and reversed birthdates, suffix on last name , etc... Easy to keep at it for a long time without results.
Of course, that is sometimes when the customer comes back and says something like, "I just remembered. I certified with XYZ agency."
mech
Contributor
After I typed my last post I realized that I wasn't satisfied.
I wanted the real answer,so I tried to search for my PADI cert and had the same negative results.
I then called PADI to ask them how this works.
PADI said this is possible and very easy IF you are a PADI dive center. They also said that the average diver could not access that information.
Being that I was in a retail sports store and probably a new one ,I can see this happening.
mech
I wanted the real answer,so I tried to search for my PADI cert and had the same negative results.
I then called PADI to ask them how this works.
PADI said this is possible and very easy IF you are a PADI dive center. They also said that the average diver could not access that information.
Being that I was in a retail sports store and probably a new one ,I can see this happening.
mech
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