Trip Report: My Experience in a Koh Tao Diving Factory

[funrecdiver]

I find this very odd indeed. Every OW Student would have been issued with the OW Manual which clearly defines their stutus as an OW Diver once the course has been completed. If the instructor is lying to a group of seven or eight students I would have thought at least one of them would have have noticed?

Hi RussBKK,

The students *did* notice. (I mentioned this many times in this thread). The students discussed it among themselves. They mentioned it to me after the class was over.

I know it is hard to read all the details in the thread (and who would want to); but I am now responding (repeatedly) to comments that have little to do with my original trip report, or the facts.

I already mentioned that the students discussed the issue and were unhappy about it. Most of them did not care that much (I mentioned that too), as they were most "full moon party cert card students" happy to get an OW cert between various island parties.

They were a great bunch of students. I could easily recall how I was many years ago when partying was more important than worrying about a PADI standard. Most had no intention of taking the AOW class anyway, they were exhausted from days of full moon parties and their first diving class! Most wanted to relax on a beach for a few days after completing the class. (Or hanging with friends, both new and old friend).

Like I said earlier, I liked Koh Tao. I only reported on one experience with one dive factory there, what I experienced and saw first hand.

Cheers.

 

[RussBKK]

Sorry, I didn't read that in your previous post.

Personally I have much better experiences in Koh Tao. I dive occasionaly with 'Big Blue' who could be described as a '"Dive Factory". However the staff are vey attentive and always seem to place customers in groups of the same or similar ability. I have never found myself diving with an Open Water class when paying for fun dving. Maybe next time you could ask these sort of questions before commiting to dive with any particular dive centre.

 

[RussBKK]

I also dive regularly with Dive S.E.A. in Pattaya. If you enjoy nice big comfortable boats with great food you should give them a try. Certainly the best boat that I've been on in Pattaya.

 

[funrecdiver]

Sorry, I didn't read that in your previous post.

Personally I have much better experiences in Koh Tao. I dive occasionaly with 'Big Blue' who could be described as a '"Dive Factory". However the staff are vey attentive and always seem to place customers in groups of the same or similar ability. I have never found myself diving with an Open Water class when paying for fun dving. Maybe next time you could ask these sort of questions before commiting to dive with any particular dive centre.

Actually, I liked diving with the OW class. I never mentioned anything negative about it. Again, you are (accidentally) projecting your own thoughts as my opinion.

I was clear on the issues which I did not like, the main one being the instructor misrepresenting PADI standards to student due to what I perceived as 'sell, sell, sell' pressure, and how my gear was broken (more than once).

I wish I could close my own thread, this one, because, frankly speaking, I am responding to comments that have nothing to do with my post or experience. I have praised the management many times, and never said I did not enjoy the OW class, in fact, in another thread, I praised the experience.

Also, I was happy to "learn" what I did, even from "bad experience".... I simply made a trip report.

However, I now admit, that I regret having ever created a SB account. What a waste of time posting here!

 

[RussBKK]

WOW... I didn't mean to offend anyone. I certainly had no intention of projecting my own thoughts as your opinion. I was simply offering friendly advice and my own opinion on a public forum. Isn't that what Scubaboard is all about?

 

[lord khram]

I also dive regularly with Dive S.E.A. in Pattaya. If you enjoy nice big comfortable boats with great food you should give them a try. Certainly the best boat that I've been on in Pattaya.

Yes I agree D.S.E.A do have a good big boat with nice food, just a pity it seems to go almost every day to the same two dive sites. Certainly the times I have been, this has been the case despite being promissed otherwise.
Of course I dare say that has nothing to do with them being the closest to Pattaya's pier?
In my experience not the best boat in Pattaya but I must say the boat its self is better than any I have dived from in KT.

 

[Centrals]

I can still remember my two liveaboard trips to Queensland 13 yrs ago. As I was travelling alone, another diver(tourist) was asigned as my buddy. All the dives we did were not supervised. The dive supervisor on board just told us where to go and came back to the boat afterwards. We would have to buy a round of drink if we needed to be pick-up by the skip!!!!
As someone had already mentioned, any certified divers(ow to...) can dive without supervision.

 

[DevonDiver]

That is not what happened. I stated clearly what happened.

English comprehension 101. You may note the strange '?' symbol at the end of my sentence. This indicates that I was asking a question, not stating what had happened.

If you are very sure of what was said, then that is ok. However, it is not beyond the realms of possibiliy that the instructor concerned failed to fully clarify the meaning of his statement - or that you failed to fully comprehend what he was saying. Especially as Thailand has a very multi-cultural and multi-lingual instructor population.

I felt that was worth clarifying. Thanks for the clarification.

Since I was there, and I heard it repeated, and other students talked about it with me after class, and you were not there, and you have no idea what happened, I can tell you that your reply is off target and inaccurate. The Instructor did not say "this is not a PADI standard it is our dive center policy, yadda, yadda, yadda).

I asked a question and raised a 'possibility'. Please don't feel that you need to 'reprimand' me for raising that possibility....

Yes, that not really correct. The main reason I decided not to dive there was the "sell sell sell" dive factory business model and the fact an Instructor lied to students (misrepresented PADI standards) about the OW certification. What you are saying is not completely true. Yes, Koh Tao is cheaper than most of Thailand. Yes, I did experience poor quality of service, but only from a few of the "lower level" (not management) staff. I reported that I received great service from the management team; hence your "cut to the quick" is a complete distortion of my trip report, LOL.

But the 'sell sell sell' model is indicative of the 'mass market' economy dive center. That was the point that I made. You went to a low-cost / high-volume dive center. A dive center that pitches itself into the economy bracket has to rely on minimising its operating vosts (Burmese staff, taxi boats etc) and also has to maximise turnover per customer (continued education, bar profits, kit sales etc).

THAT is the dive center model. The fact that the dive center is managed by nice, professional and well-meaning staff has no bearing. It is neither a good nor a bad dive center....it is just a dive center that is tailored to cater for a particular clientel.

Yes, there are two sides to this discussion. As I have mentioned before, it is my personal "policy" never to "name names" when I am reporting a negative trip report. This is my choice. My "personal policy" is to only "name names" when I have a very positive experience. Some people call this "sing their praises".

And yet this policy would disadvantage and/or penalise every dive center on Tao. Without specifying the culprit, you are casting uncertain doubt on every scuba operator on the island. People do use these forums to search for information on possible holiday destinations. Your critical, yet unspecified, post caused unnessary concern about Koh Tao dive centers.

Others are certainly welcome to visit dive centers and publish trip reports and "name names" when they are very unhappy (as you have done in Pattaya, LK). However, that is not my style, for better or for worse.

Could I just ask if you have ever visited other scuba destinations?

Did you ever write other postitive or negative trip reports?

Is this your first trip report of many future editions?

Or was your post just a new method of Koh Tao bashing, disguised as a solitary trip report?

Also, another poster mentioned earlier something about "why are people afraid to name names".... which I thought was interesting. I am not "afraid" to "name names", I simply don't like to "name names" when I post something negative about a dive center.

Maybe because the dive center concerned might read your allegations and care to defend themselves or offer a rational explaination?

I think it'd be fair to allow them to do that....

Even PADI HQ has asked me to "name the center and instructor" who repeated told OW students they could not dive without a DM or Instructor until they were AOW certified, but I kindly refused. Maybe the instructor was under a lot of pressure to pay his bills? I don't know. To me, it was seriously wrong, but I don't want anyone to get in trouble over violating a PADI standard.

And yet...PADI would happily take responsibility for enforcing their standards and would definitely want to ensure their customer contentedness.

If you had reported this 'minor' standards issue to PADI, then nobody would have gotten in 'trouble'. PADI would just make sure to communicate to the instructor and dive center concerned what the standard was...and ask them to not make that 'mistake' again. No drama involved...

 

[marinediva]

Maybe a CD can correct me if I am wrong, but during my IDC, I swear I received points during my presentations for mentioning a PADI product, like an AOW course, rescue etc. I am the first to admit that giving incorrect information is not kosher, but, sell sell sell, is actually the PADI way, as I suspect, it is the same for a lot of other agencies, but definately not all.

Recently working in Sydney, it was my job to encourage students to continue with further training. My hourly rate increased, as well as recieved commissions.

My point is this, sell sell sell is how dive shops make money and keep instructors employed.
Just as it is the job of a waiter to ensure you buy an entree and main and if they are lucky a dessert or a computer salesman selling you a computer that is beyond your needs, but has scard you enough to believe you really will need it in the future.

 

[stevenl]

Don't agree with you there. You sell what the client needs, not more. or maybe even better, you advice him.
But selling something beyond ones needs is IMO not a good business practice, even though your boss may be happy with you.