Was sitting here today finishing up an article for our quarterly journal when the phone rang. It was someone asking me about a price for certification. I told them my price and they then asked if there was a discount in they already had all their own gear and books. What books I asked? I have my PADI manual. I'm not a PADI instructor and require our own materials that are included in the price of the class. Then he informed me that he had already done all the skills and "stuff" and was pretty good with them. Where did he do this I asked. With XXX from YYY Scuba Club. We did some pool work and some OW dives and they said I just need to find an instructor to take my test and check me out on a couple dives and give me a card.
Gosh, Jim, it's clear that this has riled you up. I doubt I'd have been as suspicious of the motives of the dive club if it had been me answering that phone call. Here's what I would probably have concluded:
1) The student who phoned is confused about certification requirements and as a result misunderstands exactly what training he needs to get from an instructor.
2) The student is coming to me having done a DSD in the pool followed by one or more optional open water dives (this is permitted according to PADI standards). It would never occur to me to check the credentials of the person who conducted the DSD.
3) The student is asking for a discount on an Open Water course because he doesn't need rental equipment or a manual. Yes, I'll give him a discount, as long as the manual is the one he's required to use (obviously I can't give him credit for an SSI manual, for example), and as long as the equipment is what he's required to have.
4) Assuming the student and I reach an agreement on what training needs to be done and what the cost is, I'll teach the course as I always do, building on whatever skills and understanding the student has acquired during the DSD, and helping him to overcome whatever gaps there are so that working together we make him a safe and competent diver. I would also be glad that this student has a positive outlook coming into the course since he feels he is already "pretty good" (I'd take this to mean that he's comfortable in the water on scuba). It's always so much easier and more fun when the student is relaxed and confident that he'll be successful.
The whole rest of your original post (the part I didn't quote), describes detective work you did, repeats gossip about feuding business partners and hearsay about standards violations, and suggests that some shops in your area engage in unethical business practices--all nasty stuff for sure. I can't comment on any of that since in fact, I tend to think that there must be at least one other side to each of these stories.