Blue Angel Staff Changes

[diveprof]

I was in Coz last month and diving with Dive with Martin on a.m. dives. We decided to do a 2 tank afternoon dive trip and booked with Blue Angel as I had heard good things about them and wanted to give them a try. I was not impressed. The level of service was definitely not the same as DWM. With DWM the DM help you get your gear on the boat (help not offered by Blue Angel) and assembled your gear (yeah, I'm not really crazy about that as I like to assemble my own and do recheck what they have done, but it is a service), and assisted you into your gear (you are pretty much on your own with Blue Angel). During the service interval, with Dive with Martin they gave us bottled water, fruit, and cookies for the SI. Blue Angel had water in a cooler (though they never offered it, I guess it was self service) and fruit. The DWM boat was much superior to the Blue Angel boat (at least the one we were on). The Blue angel boat rode like a flat bottomed boat. It was very bumpy even in fairly flat seas of 6-8". It was a challenge setting up gear in the moving boat (I have a much easier time setting up my gear on the Narcosis in W. Palm in 6-8' seas). This contrasted greatly with the DWM boat. Blue angel was also $20 more per two tank dive than DWM .This experience made me decide that Blue Angel was not for me. Sorry, a bit off topic, but I wonder if what I experienced (with the exception of the bumpy ride) was due to the departure or impending departure of the staff.

 

[ski-diveSteve]

Sorry you did not enjoy your experience diveprof. Perhaps the afternoon dives are not run as efficiently as the morning dives, though it should be the same. I stayed and dived with Blue Angel last November and had a great time. Jorge was the divemaster and always helps me with gear/tank setup if needed. He is wonderful, a funny reliable guy and amazing underwater. There was fruit, water, and muffins brought out during every surface interval. The boats are fast, amazing how many we passed going to/from the divesites. Pricing was very competitive, one of the best on the island in my experience especially if you stay at the hotel. Overall a great operation.

I wish the new op the best but what a day for them to announce this and then go from tres pelicanos to dos pelicanos. It does seem they are trying to poach business from BA client lists, not a great idea but not the first time its ever happened business. I'm sure Eva is not thrilled about that. I was going to be torn if Jorge left for somewhere else, but as someone else mentioned the overall experience at BA outweighs any particular divemaster. I do wonder what is going through Jorge's mind right now, as he was set to leave and is now staying. I wish him all the best whatever happens.

 

[prosdog]

I feel better after having read some of the posts. From what I'm reading, some seem to think that the BA client lists were "poached" by the folks that started their own place. I don't know if that's true, but I've been on the mailing list from when I made next weeks reservation for BA 4 months ago, and I didn't receive anything from the Pelican people. If they were poached, props to Eva for being classy and not calling them out on it, as well as wishing them well.

 

[Brodydog]

Someone correct me if I am wrong...as I am sure you will...but I think Jeanie quit booking for them over a year ago. She probably has the client list from back when she was booking for them.

Blue Angel is a great place to stay and dive. Whether Jorge left or stayed I would still book with them in the future, but I am glad he is staying. And thank you Martin for your post. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

 

[Christi]

facebook says this

re: all the "jorge" excitement

hello. this is eva. i was going to keep silent on this and just watch things unfold, i have learned that sometimes silence is golden... but i think i must speak now.

i feel i need to say this:

what i see here is, that as great as jorge is, a dive shop and a resort is so much more than one person. all the employees at blue angel are valuable to me and together we make a pretty good team, (dare i say family?)

jorge has told me personally that he is staying at blue angel resort, and i see that his picture has now been removed from tres pelicanos. i only wish good for steve and his new shop. perhaps, though it would be cool if he can find some other resources for employees and clients haha but whatever. people come and go in our lives, and we wish them all well.

blue angel will continue to move ahead, the team has great plans for the future and blue angel will just keep getting better and better...and i guess the plans include jorge too..

all i know is, i think i am the luckiest employer in the world.

as for the other shop, i guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.. i gotta say this... i am feeling pretty flattered right now!

everyone have a great day, and be happy!

sincerely,

eva kristine rasmussen

[/h]

Handled with true Eva grace and class!!!!

---------- Post Merged at 02:08 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 01:14 PM ----------

This concerns me. I'm staying at BA in 5 days and I'm wondering if they are going to be shorthanded by this.

Nonsense! Blue Angel, under Eva's ownership and management has a respected, solid and proven reputation for customer service. She has a much larger staff and the loss of one or two people is not going to affect any of that for her guests.

As has been confirmed, Jorge is STAYING at Blue Angel, Jeannie was let go quite awhile ago, and Pony left a couple of weeks ago.

Stick with the KNOWN quality operation who operates with honesty, ethics, professionalism and concern for the enjoyment of their guests!

---------- Post Merged at 02:15 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 01:14 PM ----------

What bothers me the most is that Jeanie used, what appears to be, property of Blue Angel Dive shop to send the email. My email address was given to Blue Angel as part of my various reservations -- it was not given to Jeanie personally. Obviously, if she acquired my email through some other method where I've made my email public that is fine, but if she used the list of previous Blue Angel reservations as her source, that alone would keep from trying the new shop, as I find that pretty unethical.

It is probably a question I'll never get answered.

AMEN Illini_Fan! Based on my 10+ years of being in business here, those who try to ride others coat tails and hard earned reputations vs. investing their own life savings, blood, sweat and tears don't typically last long. Starting/owning/running/maintaining a dive shop takes far more than buying a boat (not even sure if they've done that) and opening a storefront. Poaching others client lists and trying to capitalize by hiring away their most popular employees is cheating and not well looked upon around here or in any ethical business community.

I support ANYONE that wants to start their own business, as long as it is done ethically and with the hard work it takes to make it successful!

 

[driftin' by]

What bothers me the most is that Jeanie used, what appears to be, property of Blue Angel Dive shop to send the email. My email address was given to Blue Angel as part of my various reservations -- it was not given to Jeanie personally. Obviously, if she acquired by email through some other method where I've made my email public that is fine, but if she used the list of previous Blue Angel reservations as her source, that alone would keep from trying the new shop, as I find that pretty unethical.

Ditto but we've seen this happen before.... Think Papa Hogs --> Scuba Mau --> Opal's Dream

You have to question who owns the customer contact information. I know of some scenarios where the employee is entitled to this information but I wouldn't think Jeanie's role would have warranted such ownership. YMMV.

 

[nimoh]

From reading these posts, it is fairly obvious to me that the client lists were stolen, and that will keep me from diving at the new place.

However, I don't see anything wrong with recruiting employees. It is ultimately the employee's decision on whether or not to leave, and if they think it is a better opportunity for them, they should leave. This isn't the same thing as stealing employees, since employees are not owned.

 

[Chug]

From reading these posts, it is fairly obvious to me that the client lists were stolen, and that will keep me from diving at the new place.

I received the email and I was curious about how and why I received it and who these people were that sent it to me. After finding this thread and finding out what was going on I was still wondering. I have been to Cozumel several times but never stayed at or dove with Blue Angel.

Then I went into my email history and found an email I had sent Blue Angel in February 2009 inquiring about rates and availability for my April 2009 Cozumel trip. I received a reply from Jeanie Buscher letting me know there was no room at the hotel but I could still dive with them. I went elsewhere but they clearly kept my contact information. Don't think I'll be diving with Tres Ladrones either.

 

[diveprof]

Sorry you did not enjoy your experience diveprof. Perhaps the afternoon dives are not run as efficiently as the morning dives, though it should be the same. I stayed and dived with Blue Angel last November and had a great time. Jorge was the divemaster and always helps me with gear/tank setup if needed. He is wonderful, a funny reliable guy and amazing underwater. There was fruit, water, and muffins brought out during every surface interval. The boats are fast, amazing how many we passed going to/from the divesites. Pricing was very competitive, one of the best on the island in my experience especially if you stay at the hotel. Overall a great operation.



I wish the new op the best but what a day for them to announce this and then go from tres pelicanos to dos pelicanos. It does seem they are trying to poach business from BA client lists, not a great idea but not the first time its ever happened business. I'm sure Eva is not thrilled about that. I was going to be torn if Jorge left for somewhere else, but as someone else mentioned the overall experience at BA outweighs any particular divemaster. I do wonder what is going through Jorge's mind right now, as he was set to leave and is now staying. I wish him all the best whatever happens.

I have been diving in Coz for 25 years (some years multiple trips) and have tried over 10 different ops. Maybe my experience was just a "bad day". I will say this, the bar is set very high for dive ops in Coz. I've found the service offered by the best of them to be better than that found on most any carib islands. What I experienced with Blue Angel will not encourage me to try them again. There are just too many good ops. I drift back to Dive with Martin for value and good service or Aldora if I am wanting to dive steel 120s. Going to have to try Christi's op though.

 

[ski-diveSteve]

I would like to hear Jeanie's take on all this, of course she's not here to defend herself but perhaps she'll post here, or on the new ops site, or FB. Surely she had to know the issue of where she got the contact list from would come up. I've always had good experiences dealing with her, so it might be best to see how this plays out before we throw her under the bus for the emails.