Refunds for Students who Can't pass O/W?

[Otter]

on track for the refund issue. The issue of oral inflation has been resolved with some additional remedial work. The short answer was working on her kicking style, increase repetition of coordinating blowing and releasing the button, and drop some weight. Yes, in real life, should she have problems at the surface, dumping the weight would have made her plenty buouyant.

I am pleased to see that common logic on refunds seems prevalent. Basically, if there are costs that can be avoided, those savings should be returned to the student. Otherwise, they are paying for instruction, not a guarantee of certification.

As I said, the idea for the poll was from an unrelated thread where a casual comment was made that if the person didn't pass, then they would get a refund. I was wondering what the general concensus was..

Thanks

 

[ktarlecky]

generally i think that refunds should not be issued exspecially if direct expenses were incurred by the instructor/organization. I also think it is important for the instructor to quickly identify students who do not have strong potential and/or fail the basic water assesment tests. In these cases, I would issue partial refunds or credits for a future classe after having an opportunity to strenghten water skills. The refund /credit policy should be spelled out to all potential students as well as class expectations before they decide to register so that there are no questions later on.

 

[PhotoTJ]

GQMedic once bubbled...
A whole bunch of great stuff, followed by...

Hense, get her back in the water after some counseling, calmly and firmly say "Diver, do it again".

The best post in the thread.

 

[DameDykker]

On a side issue:

fins wake once bubbled...


A diver in trouble at the surface should ALWAYS drop the weights!

I strongly believe this general rule would save hundreds of lives annually! I base my firm conviction on many hours of study of dive accidents and incidents and discussions with first-hand witnesses to diving fatalities. I once spent a whole car ride from a dive site talking to a guy who witnessed a diver drowning in a mere 10 metres of water after surfacing and then getting in trouble. The weigh belt was never dropped but would likely have saved the diver's life.

I spent the (non-diving) parts of this very weekend talking to the national safety officer and pouring over last year's incident reports with her. A great number of the fatalities we discussed occurred with the diver regaining the surface and not dropping the weights.

I strongly believe the weight-belt dropping exercise is one of the most important ones - perhaps even the most important one - taught to newbie divers.
[/B]

I completly agree with you on this. For exscatly that reason our diving club has a lead insurance so you won't hesitate to drop you new fancy weight belt in case of a tight spot. ;-0

 

[Beach Bum k10]

Otter once bubbled...
Should students who are not capable of passing certification requirements be refunded their tutition?

While this question was triggered by an unrelated post, I have a real-time interest. I have a new student who 'appears' to be unable to kick strong enough to keep her head above water to orally inflate her BCD (i.e., in an OOA situation). Assuming we aren't able to correct this situation, what if any refund should she get?

A college student fail a class. Should the university gave her school fee back?

 

[Pez de Diablo]

No credit. If you are hesitant before signing up, talk to the shop and see if you can do an intro - freebie. But if you sign up and fail the class, your out of luck.

I think the LDS I deal with is too generous, they keep putting the student into other classes (if the student wants) till the pass the course. Though they do charge $25.00 for any additional ow dates that are required beyond the original 2 days.

 

[GQMedic]

Big-t-2538 once bubbled...
I think there should be another option....

Such as not pass the 1st time, but got a big discount on round two....

I also agree with Genesis....if the boat for check-outs and agency fee was included in the original price, then that should be refunded...

Other than that, a class is just that, a class...it is not a license...how many of you failed your driver's test on try 1 and had to go re-take it? Did you get a refund....?

Charge her again, but at a discount? What for? You've already got her money! Just cycler her through another class. She's already paid. It's not like you're creating a one on one private lesson for her where your losing money. You're just sticking her in another class you've already got formed! It's simple remediation.

I'd definately not ask for more money, I'd certainly persist in training her to master this skill for as long as she was willing to work on it.

This is coming from a position that I am in the ocean, with students, every weekend. There is no extra effort on my part for me to cycle a remediating student into an OW session. I'm already there!

Bet she'd return for my advanced class and so on, having persisted with her.

 

[devilfish]

Interesting topic. Many valid opinions. Here's my 2 cents.
There are several reasons why students fail, here are some.
inadequacy of the instructor. In that case full refund to the whole class and instructor should hang up the regs.
inadequacy of the student, in that case additional instruction.
inadequacy of both, in that case both should hang up the regs.
Ahh, here's the problem of refunds, why in the havens name does the student have own equipment prior to certification? Of course they got their arms twisted in loading up their charge card. That's the problem. What refund policy does a shop have in case a student fails? None! They just issue and enjoy the occasional sale. If the student knew any better they could say, " I don't need to know how to dive, I have gear and a "C" card.

 

[Otter]

Thanks.

Otter

 

[SARmedic]

No refund, but where I used to work you got to participate in another class if there was space available for no additional cost.

It was a good policy and we would allow you to join another class and go through the skills if you wanted to. Along with that you had the pool to practice in as long as you wanted, even after your class was completed.