Socal Chartered Boat Dive Protocol

[Codyjp]

John, It does amaze me how people don't realize the power of bad press. they say people tell 10 others when the are pleased, but they tell 100 others then they are upset with service.

 

[ItsBruce]

If 6:00 is the drop-dead time, then there is no reason to say 6:00 is the check-in time and 7:00 is the departure time. However, I'd like to hear what the shop owner has to say. Until then, I'll reserve judgment and reserve making a reservation with the shop.

 

[Oside Jimc]

I called up American Express right after the conversation. They'll be doing an investigation on this whole ordeal. It's a shame all this had to ruin a perfectly good weekend of diving.

AMEX is pretty agressive in these types of situations so hopefully they will take care of you! They saved my bacon when I had a dispute over a condo rental in Mammoth.

Good Luck

 

[CompuDude]

Good luck. Check in time is NOT supposed to be the same as departure time. Seems pretty clear to me, esp since the owner KNEW they were leaving people behind. No excuse for leaving 45 minutes earlier than the stated departure time when they knew people were missing.

That said, I can somewhat sympathize with the shop's apparent wish to give a credit instead of a refund, since there is a contrary argument, albeit not a great one.

 

[EricJ]

I actaully had the opposite experience when diving on a Bottom Scratcher trip through Wiley's Scuba Locker.

On a trip to LA, my wife and I had scheduled a couple of dive trips. I got mixed up on the board and departure time and thought the boarding time was 7:00 A.M. with an 8:00 A.M. departure. It was actually a 6:00 A.M. boarding time and 7:00 A.M. departure.

We showed up right about 7:00 to find everyone already on the boat. The deck hands/divemaster began helping us load everything up. They said nothing about us being late; instead, they just started helping us load. I then told one of the crew members that I thought we weren't leaving until 8:00. That's when he very politely told me of the 7:00 A.M. departure time.

We apologized to the crew and other divers, and NO ONE made a big deal about. Their attitude was that we were only leaving 10 minutes late, and it was no big deal.

In my opinion, we deserved to get left behind; nevertheless, we were pleased that they waited for us and were so nice about our error. Yes, I'm a big

 

[Bobyjimmie]

I would love to hear your follow up on this, if you get your refund via AmEx or if the dive shop owner comes on here and makes ammends etc.. I know I wont be recommending them at this point to anyone. Diving is my way to relax and this kind of added stress isnt in my design.

 

[scottfiji]

that's really a shame, they should have refunded your money. actually, they should have just waited for you. its too bad the dive shop hasn't responded.

thanks for posting so we all know what happened, and keep us updated.

Scott

 

[Choyster]

Can someone please tell me what benefit the LDS adds to the boat diving experience? Whenever possible, I try to avoid the LDS charters and book directly with the boat. It's generally less expensive and my hope is that the boat operator actually makes more money on the open boat trips anyhow.

Just my 2 cents....

 

[covediver]

Can someone please tell me what benefit the LDS adds to the boat diving experience? Whenever possible, I try to avoid the LDS charters and book directly with the boat. It's generally less expensive and my hope is that the boat operator actually makes more money on the open boat trips anyhow.

Just my 2 cents....

I have worked boat open boats and charters, although it has been a while.

The boat operator makes more money only if the boat fills.

This is a strategy of chartering spreads the risk while giving a degree of certainty to the boat owner and the shop owner.

The shops charter the boats generally because they have classes they need to put on board and want the certainty to have the boat available for their schedule of classes. these charters are made month or up to a year in advance. It is then up to the shop to fill the excess spots. If the shop cancels a trip, the boats I dealt with in Socal charge a pretty hefty fee $600 for a $800 charter (that was more than a few years back). Sometime shops split a charter to minize their exposure.

In the case of the boat owner, he gets the certainty of a charter and does not incur the incremental costs of selling individual spaces (transaction costs can be quite sizeable if done in person, but on-line reservations have lowered these). The boat operator also does not incur the costs of organizing or looking after the needs of individual divers.

The boat operators I dealt with would not charter more than a certain percentage to any single LDS. If the shop went under, it really blew a hole in their schedule.

 

[merxlin]

Can someone please tell me what benefit the LDS adds to the boat diving experience? Whenever possible, I try to avoid the LDS charters and book directly with the boat. It's generally less expensive and my hope is that the boat operator actually makes more money on the open boat trips anyhow.

Just my 2 cents....

In my case my local LDS offers a lower price than the open boat price. Downside is that there are almost always students on board which restricts some of the dive sights available. Upside is if I am alone I usually know someone else who is there and can dive with them.