SSI Class - Failed

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was there any classroom time? any pool time? if I had an instructor like that working for me he/she would be out of a job. How is the instructor going to be able to show that this student has the knowledge to dive? I would suggest retaking a openwater course from a different qualified instructor and report this one to his/her agency. This is a accident looking for a place to happen.
 
I wanted to read the book and watch the dvd but I got lost on the way home from swimming and didnt get home till 12. Then I had to be at the springs the next day at 9 fr my last day of dives and it was a 2 hour drive away. My instructor didnt ask if I had studied and didnt ask for a test back so how was she gonna grade it. Its not the instructors fault my gps sucks the highway was closed and I didnt have time to read up but it is her fault for not checking about my test and passing me anyway. The most important things I learned in the book and not what little she showed me while diving. I didnt know youre not suppose to hold your breath when coming up so I did and could have damaged my lungs. Didnt know about equalizing my ears either but here I was diving in 30 feet of water.

If you don't want to take the course again, it would be helpful if you hired a DM or Instructor to go over some things with you during your first few dives. Equalizing is very important, miss up your ears and you may not be able to dive again, if you feel comfortable get in some pool time and practice, practice, practice.

My instructor would have advised you to take the next class if you didn't have your book until the day of the class.

Are you sure you're OW and not SD certified? How would you do class, pool, and dives in 1 weekend??
 
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Haha, i'm not picking on HOG, but as a retailer, I was waiting nearly 3 months for HOG regs that were/are back ordered. I wanted to see what all the hype was about, but was unable to get one in my hand to test it out.

Also, I used to work for a very large company (more than 10,000 employees) who used to sub out 20% of it's production to India. Guess who had the lowest turn around times and customer satisfaction year after year in the company? Yup, you guessed it. India. We tracked it piece for piece for years, tens of thousands of examples. The data was undeniable. We terminated the contract.

I was 8 years old in 1980. Stuck in the '80's perhaps, but every business I've ran made profit after profit and my customer satisfaction ratings were the highest in the industry every single time, every single industry. From my first business, to my last business, I wasn't the cheapest, but I was the best. Everytime. If it aint broke, don't break it.

---------- Post Merged at 10:30 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 10:27 PM ----------



The problem is that with technical classes, space is at a premium. We can only allow 3 students in a cave class. Quite honestly, 3 students isn't nearly as fun and productive as 2 students. So, adding them to the next class doesn't really work so much.

So, lets say they have one day of diving to repair their inadequacies.... By the time I load gear, fill tanks, drive to the site, make the dives, unload, yada yada yada, I've killed money for gas, time I could have used in my other business, or time with my family.... You see where I'm getting here? My time has value. Maybe it's not valuable to you, or doesn't have the same value to you. But I promise it's valuable to me and my family. I can't just give it up.

I am not defending HOG but what you are describing is not poor customer service but rather inaccurate inventory forecasting. Other companies have had similar problems, Apple with the iPhone and iPad, Nintendo with the Wii, Sony with the PlayStations, Microsoft with the Xbox, etc.

Your experience with the large company rounds counter to other company's experience when offshoring. Maybe because that company was using them for manufacturing rather than service or maybe the operation was not run correctly. The amount of offshoring is increasing so companies must see a benefit for doing it.

Well I am sure your professor was older than eight in 1980 and was teaching you the same stuff he learned in the 1970's. Different customers place a different weight on quality, service, and price, so a company should position itself in the niche it is most competitive. Not everyone shops at Walmart, some people prefer Nordstrom's or Saks Fifth Avenue.

I know very little about cave diving but to me it would make sense to evaluate the students before the course begins to see if they are able to complete the training successfully. If their skills are not up to standards then tell them their probability of passing the course is slim and suggest they wait to take the course. This may sound like a money loser but it need not be. You could charge a nominal fee for the evaluation and then charge for the remedial work. If you don't want to do it yourself or if it would be too expensive for you to do it then have a divemaster do it. I think most people would be more understanding of the extra charges for remedial work when they're dead on the dock because they can't do a valve drill or find themselves hopelessly tangled up in cave line.
 
When I was certify my instructor didn't get paid until we passed the class and did our check out dives. Myself took longer than others because I wanted more practice and my instructor had no problem with that.
 
Hello All,
I am hoping someone can shed some light on my situation. I recently took the SSI open water dive class with the hopes of being certified at the end. Everything was going great, the class had 7 people and we were meeting every Sunday at 9am. On the very last class at the end, the instructor told the entire class that we weren't ready for the quarry/cert and should re-take the class. We were all quite shocked, he didn't really provide any indication that we weren't doing well or missing something. Is the class that challenging to pass?

(Unfortunately I have a theory, but this is pure speculation. Almost the entire class (except 1 person) registered via groupon and paid half of the regular price. Also the majority of the students purchased their gear online rather then through his shop. I would speculate that he didn't make enough money on the class.)

What should I do?

-Sad diver

HMMMMMM, sounds awefully familiar. Although we didn't fail, he just didn't have enough time to get us certified in 2 1/2 months since he was so busy with all of his other groupon students. We paid full price by the way. And I don't know how to provide feedback to groupon. I think it's a bad idea all around. I will never patronize this shop ever again. He has the same opinion about purchasing equipment. But it was SDI, not SSI. Shop is in NC.
 
If you don't want to take the course again, it would be helpful if you hired a DM or Instructor to go over some things with you during your first few dives. Equalizing is very important, miss up your ears and you may not be able to dive again, if you feel comfortable get in some pool time and practice, practice, practice.

My instructor would have advised you to take the next class if you didn't have your book until the day of the class.

Are you sure you're OW and not SD certified? How would you do class, pool, and dives in 1 weekend??

Im open water certified through Naui. There was only 2 dives and no classroom. I called them to set up a class and they asked if I could do it this week and I said ye. So I show up they hand me the book and gear and take us to the pool. Next day we went to the springs and that was it. I thought there should have been more dives too but theyre just in it to get your money and get you out. Pisses me off they got my last name wrong on my card and wont change it and Naui wont even answer my emails about this anymore. 349 dollars for 1 hour of diving in a pool 2 hours diving in springs and a card with someone elses name on it. Then go home and read my book and find out all the things I really need to do.
 
First, addressing the OP, when I teach an open water class, you do the skill right, or you do it again until you do the skill properly, no ifs, ands or buts. If you struggle with a skill myself or a CA will keep helping you until you do master it. We will then do an extra pool session to catch you up to the rest of the class before the next session. This has happened 5-6 times in over 200+ students. You would have known exactly what skills you were failing because you would still be doing that skill until you did it right. 7 students in a class may have all had a skill they needed extra work doing, but 7 failing? No way, we would have been in the pool till they did skills properly, period!
 
I know very little about cave diving but to me it would make sense to evaluate the students before the course begins to see if they are able to complete the training successfully. If their skills are not up to standards then tell them their probability of passing the course is slim and suggest they wait to take the course. This may sound like a money loser but it need not be. You could charge a nominal fee for the evaluation and then charge for the remedial work. If you don't want to do it yourself or if it would be too expensive for you to do it then have a divemaster do it. I think most people would be more understanding of the extra charges for remedial work when they're dead on the dock because they can't do a valve drill or find themselves hopelessly tangled up in cave line.

Most of my students come from out of state. There's no way for me to see what their proficiency level is prior to them arriving. I strenuously convey exactly what I expect prior to them booking with me. But, once they book, that deposit is gone forever. They pay for class on the first day. After the first day I can advise them as to whether it's hopeless or just going to be tough. It's up to them whether they continue or not. They have paid for X amount of days. They can have them now, or have them later. It's up to them.
 
Im open water certified through Naui. There was only 2 dives and no classroom. I called them to set up a class and they asked if I could do it this week and I said ye. So I show up they hand me the book and gear and take us to the pool. Next day we went to the springs and that was it. I thought there should have been more dives too but theyre just in it to get your money and get you out. Pisses me off they got my last name wrong on my card and wont change it and Naui wont even answer my emails about this anymore. 349 dollars for 1 hour of diving in a pool 2 hours diving in springs and a card with someone elses name on it. Then go home and read my book and find out all the things I really need to do.
NAUI certification requires 5 OW dives - if you only did 2 you did not actually complete an OW course - this should be addressed to training at NAUI as your instructor/shop that you did the class with seriously violated standards.
 
Jstein86, whats the latest? have you talked to the LDS and confronted them about this yet? spoken with SSI? do you have the contact info for your classmates so you can all make a coordinated complaint with SSI? I went diving this afternoon, but this is even more fishy than everything I saw today while I was down...
 
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