Padi Card

[Wayward Son]

Well, if you do have to take it over, look on the bright side: You have the basic skills. You could easily take a weekend vacation class consisting of the written exam & checkout dives & not be harmed by the lack of training bc you already have it.

And most places don't charge $700. Down here an OW course tends to run more like $200 to $250.

Oh, and be sure to give the 1st guy a world class ***-kicking

 

[TCDiver1]

I agree with what Diver0001 has said. I know this doesn't help you now but it might help someone else later.

An easy way to insure this doesn't happen is to ask the prospective instructor for their "renewed sticker" and a current insurance cert (for the USA anyway.) Both should be good for the dates you are taking your course. Both should be easily available for your inspection with a current, renewed and insured instructor.

You get an instructor who waffles at this request .... find a different instructor.

 

[Wayward Son]

Was this class taught through a dive shop? If so, what does the LDS have to say?

 

[Brand0n]

Yes im not going to do anything tell i find out for sure. he was supposed to return calls about advanced class im half threw... and he never did for about 2 months now.I know he is still in town i see his truck around and i know where he works. Im gonna wait for padi to respond before i do anything

Edit: there is no local dive shop here. He is the only gear provider in town and he orders everything as you want it. I must have orderd about 500$ worth of gear threw this guy also.

 

[rhlee]

Slightly orthogonal question...

Is there an automated way, generally speaking, short of calling PADI, to determine whether an instructor is valid/current (i.e. other than the suspended/expelled list on the website)?

 

[The Dive Bum]

Good luck on this one. You have alittle more patience than I do. If I knew where he worked I would have at least confronted him to find out his side. As I said good luck.

 

[TCDiver1]

Slightly orthogonal question...

Is there an automated way, generally speaking, short of calling PADI, to determine whether an instructor is valid/current (i.e. other than the suspended/expelled list on the website)?

Yes, its called "Prochek".

Problem is, you have to be a PADI instructor, resort or LDS to access it. You would need to get the instructors member number and first two letters of their first name and have one of the above check it out for you.

 

[markfm]

The only reason I would try one more personal contact is that, for instance, sometimes you get an honest clerical error. My AOW card, and PADI records, clearly state that I'm AOW cert as of 7/03 -- cool since I just did OW in April of this year
In my case it was totally harmless, but somewhere along the way a "5" became a "3". If a similar mechanical error occured keying in an Instructor ID, it could come up bad, even though the person was indeed current. I always try to assume an honest whoops first.

 

[Whatgoesdown]

Slightly orthogonal question...

Is there an automated way, generally speaking, short of calling PADI, to determine whether an instructor is valid/current (i.e. other than the suspended/expelled list on the website)?

Other than ProChek (which you would need an instructor for). Every instructor should have a certification card with a renewal decal on it. In remoter locations the decals can take a while to reach the instructors, so if he/she still has last year's sticker in March it shouldn't be a problem. If they have a two year old sticker, question it. In North America, PADI does a good job of sending renewals out on time, as long as the instructor renews on time (not always the case). That said, I have taught hundreds of people and nobody has ever asked to see my card! The front cover of the manual should have "Ask to see your instructor's c-card" written in big letters!

 

[PerroneFord]

I'd hazard a guess that most people taing PADI OW know very little about checking on their instructors. In fact, I never really thought much about it myself until just recently when I read about another poor guy who's instructor was bogus.

I know in some agencies you can check on the instructors easily. NACD for instance, publishes their instructors with their level, in the NACD journal. Also lists their address, and home/work telephone number. No special access needed to check. I think this is a great idea. NACD is small so this works in print, but PADI could easily do this online.