What to do when an instructor is out of line?

[redacted]

Isn't OP from Houston?

You're right. There are a couple more PADI shops in Houston but if you match it with shops that do FGB, it looks like 3 again.

 

[SC_Hoaty]

You're right. There are a couple more PADI shops in Houston but if you match it with shops that do FGB, it looks like 3 again.

If you saw the thread about the found camera (Originated in Aruba, recovered in FL) then you will know what I mean when I say this is a case for Aquahound! Or maybe he should recruit you onto his team

 

[Andy077]

Now THAT'S an insult!

( I'm a lifelong NJ resident, and insulter)

And I live downwind!

 

[NorthSoundDiver]

I'm not an instructor either, but I think it's only common sense to say that you should never risk an injury on a dive. Ear injuries can be serious, so you're right to ascend if you can't equalize. PADI's policy on separation is to search for one minute, then surface...that's taught as far back as Open-Water class, so the instructor should have known/followed this.

Regardless of who's right/wrong in this situation, there's no call for an instructor to treat you that way. In any class, they should realize that you're not a professional diver, and that there's a high likelihood that things may not go smoothly.

I hope you got your money back, filed a complaint with PADI, and got your deep-dive-cert elsewhere.

 

[seaducer]

Yes, we are only hearing one side. But, according to the OP, the shop knows of this thread and apparently has opted not to correct any misrepresentations. If your BS meter also has any doubt about the shop being notified, there are only 3 shops listed as PADI shops in Austin. Perhaps you would like to make sure they know of this thread. .

At this point any participation by the shop or instructor would make things even worse for them. People have already decided that they are 110% wrong and unsafe and all that. Even if they come on and say the reports are not really accurate and things didn't happen quite that way.

If they stay out of it, nobody knows who they are. Since they can't win by posting, why on Earth would they want to come on here and identify themselves so they can be crucified by name?

 

[Hotpuppy]

On the one hand we have an account of an incident from a very well spoken individual which portrays one party as having done nothing wrong, and behaving extremely honorably given the circumstances.
... The LDS owner apparently is willing to lose such a lucrative customer without much of fight, if any.

Does that make ANY sense to anybody?
...
Is it at all possible that things did not transpire exactly the way they have been presented to us

I agree with what you've posted..... except...
- I never said I did not do anything wrong. I was absolutely out of line to rip this guy up verbally.
- Anything else I did that was "wrong" was probably within the scope of what you should expect from a scuba student or scuba diver. I don't consider deviating from the plan when the plan places me in a situation I'm not comfortable with to be "wrong." Provided that I do not jeopardize the safety of myself or another, I have the right to choose where I'm at above and below water. On dive 1 there I deviated from the plan by repositioning myself to deal with a crowding and later an entanglement issue. If that was an issue it should have been addressed in the context of the student-instructor relationship so that it could have contributed to the class.
- Encountering an equalization problem and becoming separated is not a "wrong". If anything I did the right thing by recognizing it and promptly reacting to it. There are certainly things that could have gone better... such as making noise and having had a separation plan that accomodated temporary separation..... Although the universal thumb rule applies. Any diver can thumb any dive at any time for any reason..... without recourse. So we still might have wound up on the surface.

As for the LDS owner.... I'd love to hear that side of the story. Regardless of right or wrong I want to know why the instructor reacted the way he did.

 

[Hotpuppy]

The shop clearly has the right to remain silent. I guess they believe that is in their best interest at this point.

They certainly know about the thread as I made sure to tell them about it Monday verbally and in writing. I also made sure to set the expectation that I had adhered to a high-road policy of no instructor or shop name.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I know of people like this too, but IME this is the exception, not the rule. I am not saying that what the OP is reporting is not true, but I have to be honest the needle on my BS meter is pegged. The only hard facts we have, is that the whole story is being reported by one biased source. I can not indict a dive shop or instructor based on anything we have seen in this thread.

Perhaps ... but I've had independent confirmation that at least some of the suppositions I made in earlier posts were, in fact, correct.

That sounds like an idiotic shop owner for sure. But that also goes both ways. If you were spending $20K, would you even NOTICE a $5 discrepency? And if you did, honestly, is it worth arguing over?

The $20K he lost wasn't from the person he shortchanged ... it was from a bunch of other folks who heard about it and decided to take their own purchases elsewhere. As I said, this exchange played out rather publicly on TDS over an extended period of time. The $20K figure only takes into account the loss of sales I'm aware of ... as someone who was at the time an employee of the business. It may have been much higher. Nonetheless, if it were my business, I'd have sent the guy his $5, an apology, and perhaps even a gift certificate for his inconvenience. Sometimes it's better to take the high road, even if you think you're in the right.

True. But being a businessman can also make you a horrible customer. I suspect if we had all the facts in this story we might see a little bit of both types...

I can appreciate that there are at least two sides to every story.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[seaducer]

I agree with what you've posted..... except...
- I never said I did not do anything wrong. I was absolutely out of line to rip this guy up verbally.

Attacking the guy verbally is not really an issue. FWIW in what you wrote in the OP the only things I see that is glaringly obvious is you made a stop after seperation. IMO you should have gone all the way up. Perhaps this is what the instructor was upset about, maybe he noticed you were missing, searched, surfaced, then really panicked and went back down to search again. That is something you should know about, right from OW. And remember, to this guy you are not just a student, but a DMC as well, I am sure he had certain expectations. But this is simply speculation on my part. I prefer not to choose sides at any rate.

Regardless, this does not excuse the instructor as you have written about it. My points have not been about what you wrote, but rather what you didn't.

And I am not calling you out, but trying to remind others, some of which have clearly starting lighting the torches, that since we were not there, we do not know enough to begin the lynching just yet.

You could be 100% accurate. You could have it all backwards. For all I know you sat at home all day thinking up ideas for great SB posts and this is all fiction.

Either way it has been entertaining and educational.

 

[seaducer]

The $20K he lost wasn't from the person he shortchanged ...

Sorry, I completley misread this the first time. I thought maybe the guy was buying a couple rebreathers and thought he should get a discount on shipping...