What to do about HORRIBLE instructor?

[Jax]

Assuming (and we all know what happens when one assumes ) the OP is every bit as new as an OW student would be, then Fred:

- Hasn't a clue of the structure or authority of the Agencies
- Doesn't know what or how an instructor belongs to one or more agencies
- Won't understand the impact of saying "someone was injured" (hey, could've sprained an ankle )
- Not even sure of what question to ask or how to ask it . . . .

Let's give Fred the benefit of the doubt -- at lease he is wise enough to know that maybe he shouldn't post details when he really doesn't know how bad or otherwise it is . . .

 

[DevonDiver]

Amazing. I read through these three pages and found that only two people (below) came even close to answering the OP's questions......
......
(2) Do NAUI and PADI do anything when they get these types of complaints?

I cannot answer this question, but I think the instructors in this thread have indicated the agencies will investigate and take action as warranted.

Nope... the instructors in this thread have requested further information/clarification on what happened, so that they can accurately answer this question.

It all depends on what "types of complaint" the OP is intending to send. There seems to be two "types of complaint"... (1) a factual valid complaint, or (2) an emotive unsubstantial complaint. One will be successful and the other will go nowhere.

The point being that if it was an inaccurate, sensationalised, but factually sparse, drama akin to what he posted here on the thread..... then it would probably end up in a filing cabinet marked 'Trash'.

If it was factual, accurate and detailed.... picking up on key safety and standards issues, then it might be taken seriously and investigated further.

Judging by the responses of the OP thus far... he looks likely to send PADI/NAUI some dramatic vague rhetoric, which will lead to the agencies possibly being bothered to ask him the same questions that have been asked here on the board. If he takes the same attitude with them, as he did here, then they'll write him off as a nut (which is what some people are starting to do here also).

I've never seen such a difficult and abrasive request for assistance here on the forum. It just makes me wonder, even more, what the other side of this story might me....

 

[doctormike]

Why remove the identifying information? Would it not be important to those considering diving to know who they may want to stay away from? I wish I had research instructors before we signed up for our first class.

Exactly, but apparently (according to the thread above), this is a significant issue with the OP, and we should respect that. I'm not actually sure why, since the OP also seems to want to provide the same sort of warning that you point out would be a good idea.

However, since they are not willing to identify the instructor, at least it would be nice to get some details.


M

 

[doctormike]

I've never seen such a difficult and abrasive request for assistance here on the forum. It just makes me wonder, even more, what the other side of this story might me....

Exactly. Although I have seen this pattern a number of times here... Righteous indignation in response to reasonable questions often suggests the presence of a

 

[David_57]

Pure conjecture and assumption on my part, but the OP sounds like he or she was pissed off at the instructor for whatever reason and grossly exaggerated the facts (if you can call them that).
The additional posts by the OP seems to enforce this.

 

[SoccerJeni]

My guess is he just wanted help knowing how and where to go with his problem. I'm thinking going into details on this board wasn't really necessary. I'm sure he'd rather put a lot of thought and energy into writing his information in his letter to the agency than give everybody the "low down" on what happened. His post probably wasn't aimed at hashing it all out on here.

Completely just a guess.

 

[adurso]

If an instructor is "yelling" and acting in an "abusive" fashion during theory; why stay for the remainder of the class?

If people are paying for that sort of abuse nowadays I may put out a shingle....

 

[jar546]

Thanks for the advice.

I will write a letter to the agencies.

In the meantime, is there a place to write a review/rate an instructor that other potential students can read? Similar to Yelp or any of the other other online services for reviewing restaurants, hotels, etc.?

Maybe you should only write a letter to the specific agency in which you were training under. You are not the police for other agencies that had nothing to do with your training.

You should have done this from the beginning if you felt there were problems.

 

[jar546]

Question on using assistant. I will give you a specific example:

When my step-son was getting certified I saw it as a good time to get some more dive time. I am not an instructor or an assistant. My buddy and I stayed down along the platform during the class and simply used air bags to send the weightbelts to the surface after they were ditched during training. This allowed the instructors to be literally almost 1 on 1 with the students. There were 4 instructors/assistant instructors and 5 students. I, nor my buddy had any interaction with the students whatsoever. We just hung around the area until it was time to send weight belts to the surface.

I don't see how that is a problem but I can see how someone in the class may think that I was involved as an instructor or assistant even thought I clearly was not.

 

[iHeartScuba.com]

I don't know about NAUI, but PADI for sure takes complaints very seriously. And if there is a pattern or multiple complaints an instructor won't last long. After each class there is an evaluation sent directly from PADI, but the OP should probably also follow-up with a letter in this case.