My first experience of diving was in the Canaries in 1997. I was 18 at the time and on a lads' holiday in Tenerife. We were walking along the road by the beach and a bloke approached us. He was English and he asked us if we fancied diving. None of us had ever tried it but we all fancied giving it a go. We booked a try dive the next day.
I really loved it and fancied taking it up but at the time I didn't realise I'd be able to do so much in the UK and thought it would all be expensive foreign travel which I couldn't afford. Having learned to dive a few years back in England and now knowing better, it frightens me how poor the standards of this cowboy outfit was. At the time I never thought anything was amiss. It looked like a well run, well equipped shop with official looking logos on the signs.
We were helped into our kit and then told to follow him to the beach. There was one dive centre employee (I say 'employee' because I have no idea of his credentials) to four total novices. He inflated our BCDs and got us to float in the shallow water. He told us how to equalise our ears, how to purge our regs and how to clear our masks. He then said
"You press this to go up and this to go down".
Everything went well and we booked a second dive. We went a bit further out on the second dive and a bit deeper. I cannot emember exactly how deep either dive was though.
An insurance company that doesn't at least TRY to reject a claim on some spurious grounds isn't really doing its job properly. (See some of the recent threads on insurance for some Scrooge-like examples.) However, the vast majority of normal travel policies that cover recreational diving don't make any reference to the dive outfit; they're only condition is that you're not diving below your "qualified" depth.
An insurance company trying to reject a claim on spurious grounds is not doing its job properly - it is acting improperly and potentially illegally. It does still happen though without a doubt. I haven't seen the threads you mention but I would be interested to see them if you have a link. I work in the major and complex loss division of a large loss adjusting and claims handling company. I am an engineer and advise the loss adjusters on claims involving damage to mechanical and electrical services in buildings such as fires, floods and light-fingered pikey types looting them for copper etc. We have other departments that handle the high-volume low-fee stuff like motor insurance and home contents etc. They work under an agreement with the insurer and in the event of a claim, your call goes straight to them. They will answer the phone as that insurer so you will have no idea you are dealing with a separate company.
I have had to complete numerous courses on treating customers fairly and the various rules and regulations we have to abide by. We are legally bound by the Financial Services Authority and voluntarily to our industry's professional body, the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters.
When we receive a new loss from an insurer, we will first establish policy liability, adequacy of sums insured, undertake background checks (claims history, criminal activity etc.) and establish the particulars of the loss. If there is a problem, (such as non-compliance with the terms of the policy, inadequate cover, suspicious claims history etc.), we will look to reject a payout, or report it to the fraud team if we suspect foul play. Assuming all is okay, we will look to ensure the payout is commensurate with the actual loss. We do not try to unfairly limit or reject a payout as it would lead to complaints to the FSA and CILA which are harmful to the business.
I have a travel insurance policy with my bank. If I was to call the claims helpline, the call would be answered in the call centre on the ground floor of our offices as we are their contracted claims handler.
I have been through the policy booklet with a fine-toothed comb and it clearly states dangerous activities are not covered. It then gives a list of what is not considered a dangerous activity. On the list it says:
"Scuba Diving: Providing you are diving with an instructor OR you are a qualified diver AND you are diving no deeper than your certified depth, to a maximum of 30 metres."
If your policy wording is similar to that, you are covered. Simple as that. If there is no stipulation that you must dive with a licensed dive outfit, you are covered irrespective of who you are diving with.