No PADI Cert Card yet. Help!

[Divedoggie]

Grover, a lot of people on here have offered to help you if you pm them with info. I'm not sure if you have taken them up on their offers.
Did you do all classroom, pool, and open water sessions with the one Instructor?

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Grover, keep a divelog and take temp cert and divelog, find an instructor to take your advanced from another shop.

When he can't get your card, Padi will have to give it to you, your already passed open water.
Don't pay again, hold the shop responsible, record all conversations, take video, youtube, your story, you'll get thanked by other cert agencies.

As someone stated reveal the instructor's name so as he will not be able to go on.

Remember an instructor is a sub contractor to the shop, you have the right to sue the shop.



Happy Diving

 

[Grover48]

I have replied via PM to several of the instructors who have posted. Monday will be a day of determination to see what happens with this. I am already enrolled in a AOW class and am scheduled to go diving in January. My temp cert expires Jan 5 so technically I would be diving in the AOW class without a valid OW cert.

My wife is currently taking the OW class through our LDS. I could continue the class with her, but would have to postpone my AOW class. I made 8 dives while in Mexico on vacation. Unfortunately, I don't know what I don't know. I have read the book and watched the video and find things I have not practiced while in class or on my certification dives.

 

[rstofer]

Please continue to post on the trials and tribulations of getting this resolved. You might even talk to the local District Attorney re: fraud on the part of the LDS. They may claim they 'didn't know' they were using an unqualified (if that is the right word) instructor but they should have. It's their business to know.

You may even be able to go back to your credit card company and reverse the charges. I think you have 90 days to begin the process. It's worth a call today to see what the process might be.

I would certainly keep this HIGHLY VISIBLE on ScubaBoard. That kind of publicity will wreck a business, no matter how large they are.

Remember that your business transaction is with the LDS. They employ the instructor to provide the training. It is their responsibility to use qualified instructors and provide their end of the transaction.

Richard

 

[wreckchick]

One thing no one has mentioned is the PADI experienced diver program. I think if you show 20 logged dives (certified or not) you can just take the exam, do a scuba review type skills review in the pool and retake your open water dives. I know that isn't an ideal solution, but if Sports Chalet will (and they should) let you do an open water weekend with an existing class to redo the open water portion, you should be able to get actually certified with little trouble.

R

 

[CaptBill]

I have been going back to the Sport Chalet store since I got back from my dive trip to Mexico. While I was there, I dove several times with an instructor to bring my skills up. I was cetified on October 5, 2008 and left on vacation October 21, 2008.

I have contacted the store several times and been given the generic "Your infor was sent in, be patient" to "We will look into it" and now "Yes there is a problem and the instructor has been blackballed by Sport Chalet".

It will now be Monday before I can continue my quest. The store has offered to let me join in another class to do the classroom part again. Nothing yet on who pays for the open water dives. I am still without a cert and have dive trips booked for January.

The answer is very simple. The Sport Chalet, as the employer of the Instructor that is no longer certified to teach, is responsible for covering any additional costs to fully certify you.

 

[SteveAD]

It will now be Monday before I can continue my quest. The store has offered to let me join in another class to do the classroom part again. Nothing yet on who pays for the open water dives. I am still without a cert and have dive trips booked for January.

I've got mixed feelings on this. While it is certainly the best "by the book" solution, and most certainly should be done at no charge to the OP, the simple fact of the matter is that it will cost TIME.

The shop screwed up by employing an instructor who was not authorized to teach. Whether the instructor lost his teaching staus before or during his employment is unknown to us on the board, and frankly irrelevant at this point.

If a similar situation were to arise at my shop, I would not require the student to attend another complete class, rather I would have them retake the final exam, run thru a skill circuit in the pool, and re-do the open water dives.

The instructor may not have been authorized to teach, but that doesn't mean the student didn't learn. I just can't put my name on a card unless I have seen the students performance in open water.

 

[I Dive]

I would certainly keep this HIGHLY VISIBLE on ScubaBoard. That kind of publicity will wreck a business, no matter how large they are.
Richard

I would also recommend filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. The BBB doesn't have teeth to force a business to do anything, but at least this way if another future diver decides to check this shop out before paying them, they will have a chance to learn from your nightmare and take their business elsewhere.

 

[I Dive]

If a similar situation were to arise at my shop, I would not require the student to attend another complete class, rather I would have them retake the final exam, run thru a skill circuit in the pool, and re-do the open water dives.

I just can't put my name on a card unless I have seen the students performance in open water.

THAT is the sign of a responsible business owner and SCUBA instructor! Unfortunately, you can't always weed out boneheads before they cause problems. Some times, as a business owner or manager, you just have to live with the mess a bonehead made and clean it up to the best of your ability. The fact that this shop didn't immediately respond in a manner similar to what SteveAD posted above is more than a little troubling in my view...

 

[Coldwater_Canuck]

If a similar situation were to arise at my shop, I would not require the student to attend another complete class, rather I would have them retake the final exam, run thru a skill circuit in the pool, and re-do the open water dives.

The instructor may not have been authorized to teach, but that doesn't mean the student didn't learn. I just can't put my name on a card unless I have seen the students performance in open water.

Well said

But would you even have to do all 4 open water dives? Assuming that this is a rare situation (since it is going to cost the shop a bit of money), as a shop owner couldn't you (if as owner you are also certified OW instructor) just go out to open water and one-on-one do one or two dives? For someone who already knows how to dive, this is all that would be needed to check the skills (mask removal, OOA, buddy ascent, etc.) and do a basic dive to 60 feet.

A lot of OW open water time is wasted because no one knows what they are doing so simple tasks take forever. All the "tests" could probably be completed in one or two dives for someone who's already been through it, I'm thinking.