How much would you be willing to pay?

[TwoBitTxn]

With all the threads bemoaning poor quality training, skills left out, divers who can't dive, short fast training, etc...

It is repeatedly said that shops lose money on instruction so,

How much would you be willing to pay for a longer more thorough open water course?

I am asking this of non-professionals please. We all know most instructors are poorly paid, AIs and DMs worse if paid at all.

Instruction is generally about $300 around here. Plenty of shops also bemoan that if they raise their prices, then the bulk of thier customers will just go somewhere else. Which is probably true.

I'm just curious...

TwoBit

 

[Dralspire]

I got my dive training in college. Having said that, I do not think people will spend more than a couple hundred dollars to get licensed, regardless of the quality of training.

 

[fusioncruiser]

My two 13yr old daughters and I are going out for the open water dives for our C-card this weekend. We did all our training in land locked Winnipeg where the going rate is $450.00 each. So I guess my answer is that for the 3 of us, I was willing to pay $1,350.

The dive shop that we are doing ours through (underworldscuba) has been really good and they don't have a limit on how many pool dives you use to get your pool sessions done. We only used the normal 5 but it was nice to know that we could come back if we had missed some skills before we went out to do the open water dives.

I know that we could have found a cheaper way to do it if we did it in conjunction with a trip down south but our thinking was that we wanted to take our time and do things until we really felt like we knew them.

Hope that helps someone making a decision on it.

Shawn

 

[ucfdiver]

Let's see, I've paid
OW- $375
Nitrox- $125
Cavern- $275
Basic Cave- $500
Apprentice Cave $300 (taking it in 2 weeks).

And I plan to take Fundies ($500) and NAUI or GUE tech 1 (between $1000-$1500) within the next year. Seems to get more expensive as time goes on.....


I really think $500 is the limit for an open water class. Combine OW with Nitrox and AOW.

 

[Thalassamania]

I'll give you a stawman: one course that integrates O/W, A/O/W, Rescue, Peak Buoyancy, Nitrox, Red Cross First Aid, DAN O2, Night Diving, Boat Diving, Deep Diving, Fish ID, Free Diving and a few other specialties ... say, 14 open water dives. What's a course like that worth, would you take it if the price was right?

 

[Kevua]

Mine was $350 and unlimited air and pool time while a student. Normally training will take 4-5 weeks BUT they can make it quicker (schedule more classes during a week) if you have a trip or what not coming up.

So I guess you can say I paid 350 for the class, and with the class you would normally need to have your own Fins, mask and Snorkel, so probably around $500.

 

[tomboyy]

I paid about 249.00... included everything... but I bought fins,mask,snorkel (package at about 100.00) got a c-card. The class took 2 weekends. Four days, three hundred fifty dollars and I could dive*.

I thought it was a good deal. Today the price is something like 299.00 for everything. It's still a good deal.

* Doesn't mean I was good at it .. it just means I could

 

[Winterpeg]

The dive shop that we are doing ours through (underworldscuba) has been really good and they don't have a limit on how many pool dives you use to get your pool sessions done. We only used the normal 5 but it was nice to know that we could come back if we had missed some skills before we went out to do the open water dives.

I know that we could have found a cheaper way to do it if we did it in conjunction with a trip down south but our thinking was that we wanted to take our time and do things until we really felt like we knew them.

Hope that helps someone making a decision on it.

Shawn

Hey Fusioncruiser - you made the right decision. I am also a customer of Underworld in Winnipeg and the instructors there really are fantastic. I originally did my pool training with them and my OW dives in Mexico, which turned out to be a disaster - the dive op down there was too rushed with tourists to test me properly. I ended up repeating my OW dives here at home to "do it right".
I am also one of the people who took way more than the "normal" 5 pool sessions before my OW dives (I think I needed 8 but I lost count). I had big trouble with mask clearing and then even more trouble with the thick wetsuit/hood/gloves and heavy weights needed for the cold water here. It took the instructors a lot of time and patience to get me through the course. I am glad I did it and the instruction was probably was worth more than I paid.
However, the trouble with charging more for instruction at the entry level is that it would likely deter potential divers from ever starting the course. Once you have started and like it, that's when you're likely to be willing to pay more. It's a catch-22 for the dive shops - if they charge less for the initial lessons they are more likely to have future customers.

 

[TwoBitTxn]

Maybe I made a bad assumption. (Maybe I didn't)

Would you be willing to pay more for a class if there was more value? Thass understood what I was asking (I think).

It took the instructors a lot of time and patience to get me through the course. I am glad I did it and the instruction was probably was worth more than I paid.

So how much was that instruction worth?

However, the trouble with charging more for instruction at the entry level is that it would likely deter potential divers from ever starting the course. Once you have started and like it, that's when you're likely to be willing to pay more.

That's hard to judge. I wonder what the point is where people stop being willing to pay for a lack of perceived value. I really don't think the market knows.

It's a catch-22 for the dive shops - if they charge less for the initial lessons they are more likely to have future customers.

This is absolutely not true. I have seen this.

TwoBit

 

[fusioncruiser]

Hey Fusioncruiser - you made the right decision. I am also a customer of Underworld in Winnipeg and the instructors there really are fantastic. ....

Hey Winterpeg, I agree that the time they allow sure made it easier so far and the instructors are great (especially Peter, Don and Rick)! I had a similar problem when it came to mask removal.... I was fine with all the floods up until then but i bought a new mask just before the pool session where we did the removal/sit for a minute.... Removal was fine, sitting was fine, putting the mask on shoved what felt like a liter of water straight up my nose. I tried it 3 times and each was the same. Then I finally said 'let me think about this and try it next time' to which the instructor said "sure thing, no rush at all". I went home and compared masks... My old one was a purge valve mask and my new one wasn't. When I was putting my new mask on and pushing it to my face, I wasn't letting any air into it until after I had squished it to my face so the water had no-where to go but straight up my wide open nose. With my old purge mask I guess it was compensating for my rookie screwup by allowing the extra water to go out the valve when i pushed the mask to my face. To make a crazy story somewhat shorter... The extra time that their system of training allowed me, let me figure out my problem in a comfortable manner (in my living room of all places) with ZERO STRESS.

My living room lesson taught me to not cram the mask against my face but rather to hold it out until I had breathed some air in it first.... then when I did put it more fully against my face, the water could have some air in there with it. Now, mask removal/ replacement is easy peasy!! gotta love it.... I thought I was going to have to quite before I even got certified as this problem really had me freaked out when I couldn't get it on the third try.... but now we are off to Westhawk for our open water dives!! Cool! 12 tanks loaded and we are just strapping it all down now!

Shawn