Fishndive, I don't really owe you this explanation, but for the benefit of others, I will provide one.
You don't know me and have never met me, so you have no idea what I would or would not have done. I refunded the credit card and fired the captain as soon as I heard what happened, not after the scubaboard post. And, as I said and meant, I had every intention of contacting them. Perhaps I should have tried harder to find them on Saturday, perhaps I should ave hung around the hotel waiting for them to return, but I knew that they would not be hanging around the hotel all day on their last day and knew that they were leaving Sunday morning. Maybe it was a flaw on my part in some opinions that my plan after not reaching them on Saturday was to wait until they got back home when I knew I would be able to reach them.
Yes, I could reply from my phone had there been an e-mail and had I had my phone on the dinner table with me on Thursday evening while at dinner with my other divers - but there was not an e-mail and I did not have my phone on the dinner table with me , it was in my purse. I did have 2 phone messages when I checked after dinner one from Steve, and one from Dan - again, it was after 10pm and too late to call. Still no e-mail on Thursday evening. I am sorry if you or others feel that I (dive op owners) am not entitled to a few hours of personal time and that my failure to be on call after 7pm for a check-in is a character flaw or considered faulty communication. I'm also not perfect, so that complicates things a little bit as well.
I was at dinner with divers/friends on Friday evening when the boat came in, and DID have my phone with me at the table because the boat had not come in when I left for dinner. At 7:38pm, I received an urgent message from Pedro and called him immediately! At that moment, I said "he (referring to the captain) is not taking another trip out - we need to find someone to cover him immediately - there is absolutely no acceptable excuse for this." I did not have the number to the hotel with me, and we don't have directory assistance here, so I planned and did go to the hotel Saturday morning, but they were already gone. I figured that I would get a call from them when they got back, but I never received any phone calls from them or any e-mails either. I am not passing blame, but I was surprised not to hear from them after the incident. Again, I should have tried to go by there again later, but here comes that part about me not being perfect - the day did get away from me because we had a very busy day on Saturday as well.
Steve and I have spoken and as mentioned from both of us, we had a very nice conversation aside from the topic itself.
As far as the BCD, that BCD was taken out of service, we certainly did not intentionally send out a non-working BCD - it worked on the first dive and obviously had no problems with the previous renter, or it would have been reported and taken in for service. Our equipment is regularly maintained and we keep a log of all equipment maintenance but as most people know and understand, equipment problems happen and without warning most times.
Again, I don't know what else I could have done to make this right. I could have tried harder to reach them on Saturday, yes - but for you to say what I would or would not have done is actually what is off base here.
Pete - what flavor kool-aid do you like, I'll make sure to have some for you! haha!