Silent World Key Largo, Not everything you could ask for

[Stratusphere02]

In mid September I booked a trip with Silent World for 10-13. When I called I spoke with Pat and booked a morning trip for my girlfriend, brother and myself. I explained that my girlfriend was working towards her advanced certification through PADI and had already completed 3 of the 5 dives locally. We were advised by our local dive shop that we could complete the deep dive on a trip where the water would be warm instead of in a local lake where the water would be 50 degrees at that depth. When I booked the trip for 10-13, I requested an instructor from Silent World to complete the deep dive for the advanced certification. Pat informed me that the dive could be completed with no problem, it would just be an additional $50 for an instructor to complete the requirements of the advanced deep dive. A week before the trip, I called and confirmed again with Pat, all of these details for the dive including the instructor for the advanced deep dive.

We arrived in Key Largo at the Silent World dive shop, where we picked up our weights and were charged for the entire trip prior to getting to the dock. We then drove to the dock and met with Captain AJ and the Instructor Joe, who explained the details of the dives to Spiegel Grove and the Banana Reef. Joe explained to my girlfriend the details of the deep dive and as far as I could tell he was giving her the instruction that was needed to complete the deep dive for the advanced certification. The instructor was with my girlfriend on the deep dive and accompanied us on the second reef dive as well. Overall, the boats were in good shape, Captain AJ was extremely helpful and friendly and our diving experience itself was great.

After returning to the dock, my girlfriend gave Instructor Joe her dive log book so he could sign off on the deep dive, he then informed us that he would not be able to do so. We did not understand why and he explained that he had been told he was just a guide for my girlfriend on the trip. We then returned to the dive shop to return our weights and find out why we were provided a guide and not an instructor for the advanced deep dive as I was promised. Chris, the owner, attempted to tell me that I had booked a guide and not an instructor for the deep dive. He showed us the schedule book, which had notes from Pat containing our request for an instructor for the deep dive; and below a different note for a guide to be booked and not an instructor. Chris tried to tell us that we had in fact booked a guide, even though the note written from my conversation with Pat specifically said otherwise. The guide and instructor word seems to be used interchangeably, which is what led to my girlfriend receiving and being charged for something different than what was requested and confirmed prior. Chris confirmed that the dive could not be signed off by the instructor because the instruction portion for the deep dive had not been completed. Chris did offer to allow the dive to be completed the following day, unfortunately our flight left the following day from Ft. Lauderdale and we would not be able to accept this offer. Chris asked what we wanted to be done, and we explained that because we were given a guide, instead of an instructor for the advanced deep dive, we wanted our $50refunded because we did not get what was promised.

As a group we would have been content with two reef dives or a shallower wreck dive, and the only reason we did the Spiegel Grove was so my girlfriend could do her advanced deep dive with an instructor. Chris refused to refund the $50 and tried to suggest that we should have been charged more because only the 3 of us were on the boat and that could be considered a private charter, even though we never requested a private charter. Allison also suggested that we should be charged an additional $25 because my brother and myself were probably in the "vicinity" of the "guide" on the dives. After having both owners blame us for their failure to book and provide us with our promised requests we left the shop.

Our issue with Silent World is that what we requested and what was promised by the dive shop was not provided and we were instead blamed for this "miscommunication" and they failed to rectify the situation.

Outside of our dealings with the owners, our dive experience was great thanks to Captain AJ, who ran a great boat and Joe who was a very thorough and safe guide/instructor.

Due to this experience, it is unfortunate, but we are not able to recommend Silent World. However, after speaking with other divers in Key Largo about our experience we are going to use Ocean Divers because of local recommendations and my brothers past experience with them. We look forward to visiting the Keys again soon. It was just disappointing that my girlfriend and myself had to leave our first trip to the keys on a sour note.

-Ryan

 

[deeper thoughts]

Thats unusual because SW has an excellent reputation on this board and in the upper keys

 

[RussR]

Well - You should have confirmed everything in the shop before paying. But they
should also have worked with you to resolve the problem. I dont understand how shops can refuse to accept any part of the blame because they will lose a little money, instead of gaining a customer for life.

I plan on returning to Key Largo and it is possible when choosing an operator i will remember this and book with one of the many other operators who get good reviews here

 

[Chris Brown Tech]

A guide was booked to accompany this group on a dive to the Spiegel Grove. When the group checked in, no mention of an Advanced Open Water course / Adventure dive with PADI or any other agency was mentioned.

The group were asked to sign boat waivers and we confirmed which of the three required a guide. (Ryans girlfriend showed us an open water card)

At no point was a student record card, medical statement, Safe Diving Practices form or an assumption of risk form completed by the posters girlfriend. She did not have an AOW manual with her, or a completed Knowledge review. My instructor did not provide an adventure dive briefing or any other instructional briefing prior to the dive. Ryan and his brother both have advanced open water cards and should have done all this on their courses. They both seemed unaware as to any of the processes of obtaining an advanced diving certification.

When the group returned to the shop and mentioned that they didnt get what they wanted, I asked them about the lack of paperwork / discussion surrounding the desired training dive and was told that it had all been handed in to their instructor back home, who would be finishing off the course.

I explained that signing off the adventure dive would be a breach of PADI standards, however I was prepared to do the dive free of charge on another day as a good will gesture.

The poster refused any suggested resolutions, demanded money back for the dive and threatened to Quote: "Cost me thousands of dollars" by posting negative comments on internet forums. Once I am threatened in my own store I usually end the discussion there and then, and unfortunately due to their behaviour I am now retracting my offer of completeing the adventure dive free of charge in the future.

 

[bvmjethead]

Well - You should have confirmed everything in the shop before paying.

From what I read he did. Should have got it in writing though.

But they
should also have worked with you to resolve the problem.

Agreed!

I dont understand how shops can refuse to accept any part of the blame because they will lose a little money, instead of gaining a customer for life.

As a business owner myself I see this attitude more and more and cannot for the life of me understand it. In this modern world with all the competition and internet wildfire spreading the report, why would you not be more pliable in satisfying a customer?

I plan on returning to Key Largo and it is possible when choosing an operator i will remember this and book with one of the many other operators who get good reviews here

Vote with your wallet..... Good for you.

 

[Rainer]

A guide was booked to accompany this group on a dive to the Spiegel Grove. When the group checked in, no mention of an Advanced Open Water course / Adventure dive with PADI or any other agency was mentioned.

The group were asked to sign boat waivers and we confirmed which of the three required a guide. (Ryans girlfriend showed us an open water card)

At no point was a student record card, medical statement, Safe Diving Practices form or an assumption of risk form completed by the posters girlfriend. She did not have an AOW manual with her, or a completed Knowledge review. My instructor did not provide an adventure dive briefing or any other instructional briefing prior to the dive. Ryan and his brother both have advanced open water cards and should have done all this on their courses. They both seemed unaware as to any of the processes of obtaining an advanced diving certification.

When the group returned to the shop and mentioned that they didnt get what they wanted, I asked them about the lack of paperwork / discussion surrounding the desired training dive and was told that it had all been handed in to their instructor back home, who would be finishing off the course.

I explained that signing off the adventure dive would be a breach of PADI standards, however I was prepared to do the dive free of charge on another day as a good will gesture.

The poster refused any suggested resolutions, demanded money back for the dive and threatened to Quote: "Cost me thousands of dollars" by posting negative comments on internet forums. Once I am threatened in my own store I usually end the discussion there and then, and unfortunately due to their behaviour I am now retracting my offer of completeing the adventure dive free of charge in the future.

Was there or was there not a note in your log that the OP had requested an instructor? Simple question.

 

[oly5050user]

A guide was booked to accompany this group on a dive to the Spiegel Grove. When the group checked in, no mention of an Advanced Open Water course / Adventure dive with PADI or any other agency was mentioned.

The group were asked to sign boat waivers and we confirmed which of the three required a guide. (Ryans girlfriend showed us an open water card)

At no point was a student record card, medical statement, Safe Diving Practices form or an assumption of risk form completed by the posters girlfriend. She did not have an AOW manual with her, or a completed Knowledge review. My instructor did not provide an adventure dive briefing or any other instructional briefing prior to the dive. Ryan and his brother both have advanced open water cards and should have done all this on their courses. They both seemed unaware as to any of the processes of obtaining an advanced diving certification.

When the group returned to the shop and mentioned that they didnt get what they wanted, I asked them about the lack of paperwork / discussion surrounding the desired training dive and was told that it had all been handed in to their instructor back home, who would be finishing off the course.

I explained that signing off the adventure dive would be a breach of PADI standards, however I was prepared to do the dive free of charge on another day as a good will gesture.

The poster refused any suggested resolutions, demanded money back for the dive and threatened to Quote: "Cost me thousands of dollars" by posting negative comments on internet forums. Once I am threatened in my own store I usually end the discussion there and then, and unfortunately due to their behaviour I am now retracting my offer of completeing the adventure dive free of charge in the future.

Not knowing either party in this dispute I tend to agree with Chris.Reason is there was no knowledge reviews gone over and no med/liability/statement of understanding done.The original instr. the girl had should have advised student that these materials would have to be gone over to referring instr.The other divers in group should have also know this being that they are already aow and should have known the process.I applaud Chris for offering a fix to these people.Threats are totally not acceptable.
Also to complete a aow deep dive for a private (1) student should be more than the $50. the divers though it would be.More like in the $125. range is more reasonable.People think that just doing the dive is enough to get the aow rating..Reputable instructors/facilities do not see it that way and ask for student to complete required objectives.

 

[wreckchick]

I'm not going to take absolute sides on this one because I wasn't there, however, if the student thought she was going to be under instruction and no instructions were given regarding paperwork or knowledge reviews, it is understandable that she assumed that the paperwork filed with the original instructor would be sufficient and wouldn't have thought about having to redo everything once she got to Florida.

It isn't the student's responsibility to understand the paper trail, the onus for that lies with the instructor.

Now the student should be aware that there are some skills that have to be performed on the dive and the lack of any mention should have sent up a red flag.

As a business owner it is probably the right thing to do to refund the $50 since the divers did not receive the expected service. That does not make the dive shop wrong, it's a way to soothe someone who does not believe they got what they thought they were paying for.

I have dove with Silent World and had a perfectly fine experience but when it comes to misunderstandings, it's probably wise to err on the side of customer service instead of risking an unhappy customer.

Rachel

 

[trigfunctions]

Thanks for the warning Stratusphere.

 

[Divergirl4U]

Sounds like they had a good dive ... that is what counts

" We arrived in Key Largo at the Silent World dive shop, where we picked up our weights and were charged for the entire trip prior to getting to the dock. We then drove to the dock and met with Captain AJ and the Instructor Joe, who explained the details of the dives to Spiegel Grove and the Banana Reef. Joe explained to my girlfriend the details of the deep dive and as far as I could tell he was giving her the instruction that was needed to complete the deep dive for the advanced certification. The instructor was with my girlfriend on the deep dive and accompanied us on the second reef dive as well. Overall, the boats were in good shape, Captain AJ was extremely helpful and friendly and our diving experience itself was great. "