Stephen Ash:
Is it because you don't think we run a safe, solid diving course or is it because you don't want to loose a student to a direct competitor.
I think you've hit upon it right there. No business wants to lose a student to a competitor. After all, that's lost income (immediate AND future). So it's not the fact that SS doesn't want to lose their customers, it's the
method by which they keep their customers
Most shops in any industry I know reward their steady customers, be it reward points, sales, etc. The LDS is a special case, where you might get priority service on a regulator 2 days before you go on your big trip, or a good "unadvertised" deal on a bundle of equipment.
Scuba Sciences, on the other hand, seems to use intimidation and fear to keep customers around. The idea of raising one company by putting down others, especially in this industry, isn't right in my book.
It's not the 'no lake diving' rule, nor is it not the attempt to keep customers that puts a bad taste in my mouth. What turns me off is, by proclaiming all other AZ dive operations unsafe in an attempt to "scare" customers into staying (rather than letting divers freely "choose" SS for its stellar operation or good service), SS is inadvertently saying that the shop has never made a mistake, nor will there ever *be* a mistake. The assumptive claim that SS is the safest shop in the world and Everywhere Else is Dangerous, when surely they must know there are other shops which are every bit as safe, is pompous and misleading.
There is a saying in Japanese, which translated means "even monkeys fall from trees". I wonder what may happen should there ever be an emergency in the "safe" ocean, and another inexperienced diver innocently says that they "thought SS was the only safe operation, so how could this have happened in the safe ocean?"
What makes me smile is that should there ever be an emergency with an SS operation, and there would so "happen" to be another AZ diving party nearby who were the only people who could help, I'll bet you anything they would, and could. Even though the helping party was trained by an "unsafe" dive shop.
I've learned it's important to not burn bridges in any line of work, and even in setting up a business, it's important to form cordial relationships with your competition. SS's dive shop, though, has a moat around it. With fire-breathing dragons and pirahnas which only eat other LDS owners.
Scary...
I don't care who you are that's just funny 
Garrett
