As usual, we have the "scuba professionals" rallying around the support your local dive shop flag. I do understand that as that is where your activity is based and supported.
But your responses are tainted by the obvious bias.
Shop around. Find the deal that is best for you.
I would suggest that this response is tainted by an equally obvious bias.
Value is the key to good business in the dive industry. It's odd how people complain how much they are being charged for a service and yet those very same people often complain about shoddy training crammed into a three day recreational course and they feel their instructor was not paying them enough attention. Cheap is cheap.
Before I continue - I will say that many instructors fully appreciate that they will never earn a lot from the dive industry because like me, it is a passion and a vocation, not something to make us financially rich. I work underwater in one of the most amazing environments on the planet, and that is wealth enough for me.
But, the demand for lo-cost budget diving is exactly what has bred the sausage factory dive centre - churn them in and churn them out and hope nobody has an accident because some of those instructors, by taking 5 days to do an Open water course, are effectively pressured into doing the sausage thing because they can fit three open water courses into 10 days instead of only two, and that might mean a substantial difference in their income, and it's not an easy industry to exist in before people say "well quit and find another job".
It is a market, and lo-cost dive centres are the first to go bust because they try to undercut an established market by driving the price down which earns a quick buck for the owner and leaves instructors unemployed and divers very poorly trained.
Value is the key. I work for a well established and well respected dive centre and we are by no means cheap but I defy anybody who has visted to say they received poor service. Most people appreciate that if you want quick and cheap that is exactly what you get but many of our customers come back again and again because they know we provide quality in a professional, safe and friendly diving and training environment and whilst they might pay a bit more than some of the local scumbags, they know they are getting value for money, with proper after-sales support if necessary.
Going back to an analogy my original post - if you want a quick fix burger you go to a fast food restaurant and pay a couple of bucks, if you want a really good burger you pay a bit more, and if you want to pay $100 for a burger there are some posh restaurants that will do exactly that. All three will provide you with food, and if you can afford luxury you go for the $100 burger but most would agree that the really good burger is better value for money, because it provides you with a better culinary experience, and doesn't give you diahrroea in the morning, without causing your bank manager to sweat too excessively.
I encourage people to shop around, look for what suits you best, but if you want cheap diving, then that is exactly what you will get. In my location that means poorly maintained boats with inexperienced crews, poorly maintained equipment and badly trainined and inexperienced dive guides and instructors.
If all the dive centres go out of business you can buy all the gear you want on the internet and there will be nobody to teach you how to use it. You will be confined to shore dives unless you can afford your own boat, or potentially, going to extremes, you will die because nobody told you not to hold your breath underwater.
Of course I'm on the side of the dive centre, it's my life, and I think I provide excellent value for money to the customers we have. None of us are perfect, and we make mistakes, but the number of people who lecture me about this and that and how it was better here or there is amazing. Two days ago I had two beautiful dives and I signed a logbook for a customer who had logged his dive as "just another reef"... I mean, he was diving in as close to paradise as you can get, but was dissatisfied because it wasn't a world war II shipwreck.
Value, I guess, has different meanings to different people. For some, that will only be perfection and watching the whale sharks humping; for the cheapskates, that will only mean rock bottom price. Thankfully, for most divers, they understand the meaning of quality service for the price they are paying. I'm sorry if people have had bad experiences with their local dive centre or resort, but ultimately, somebody somewhere in the dive industry has to take a paycheck to provide the service that all divers - including myself - require.
This is not a rant, it's as objective as I can make it, given that I am an employee of the industy. Also, I got paid today so I can afford two cents now
*plinkety plink*
C.