Padi instructor complaint and suggestions

[dbulmer]

To DRegg,
I agree with Tony Chaney - you should report this instructor to PADI without hesitation or delay.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I'm not surprised one bit by this story, I believe every word of it.
This is the kind of crap that's putting diving into the toilet.
I would absolutely report this clown before someone else gets hurt or killed.
Hang in there, find a different instructor somewhere else at some point in your life, preferably sooner than later.
That's definitely NOT the way it's supposed to be.


By the way, I love your accent, I can hear it as I read your posts. My father was from Russia and it brings back memories of that type accent.

 

[boulderjohn]

As everyone has said, by reporting things like this you help make scuba better for everyone.

 

[Colliam7]

I want to ask you if is it normal or not, because everyone is experienced here and got trained maybe for different many courses.

As you describe it, the situation certainly does not appear be be 'normal', or 'usual and customary', or 'professional' or 'safe'.

But, there are frequently two sides to a situation, and we only have yours. I am not doubting your account, rather there may have been some mis-communication and mis-understanding that played a role here - language may have contributed to that mis-communication, your lack of familiarity with what the process should be may have contributed, etc.

You don't specify what you meant by 'somewhere in Asia', or if you did I missed that in your two posts. But, I would echo the recommendation from others that your best course of action is to contact PADI Asia Pacific, located in Australia (PADI ASIA PACIFIC, Unit 3,4 Skyline Place, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 Australia). Specifically, you can call them (+61 2 9454 2848), or (easier) send an email to the Training and Quality Management Department (traindep@padi.com.au). If you do, they will want to know the name of the shop, the name and PADI member number of the instructor, the specific dates you were there, and a succinct summary of what took place. It will probably be helpful to include a summary of any separate communication you had with the shop - before, during, and after the incident. I suspect that they will want to follow-up with you after receiving your email, to clarify the exact sequence of events. PADI takes QA very seriously.

What you experienced - based on your description - certainly does not appear to be normal, for PADI, or for any other agency.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

My question for you is at this point, why didn't you then toss him off the boat and then drown him for sure? (kidding)

Every PADI dive instructor has gone through the rescue diver course where they are trained to deal with panicked divers. You were not panicking of course, his excuse was just BS regardless of whether you were panicking or not.

 

[Doomnova]

No this is not normal or correct. This is one reason why I think all agencies need to have in the back of their (or front w/e) manuals a copy of the rules and regulations and requirements for certification and not just your obligations but the requirements of the instructors. I know from working with my friends who are instructors that the person who did my OW violated a few regulations including truncating my OW checkout dives into 2 dives not the required 4. Had i know this I would have reported them. This all I have to say is simple report the bum before he gets someone killed...

 

[dwhthediver]

Normal? Not by any stretch of the imagination! Report this menace, it is this kind of ass clown that gives instructors a bad name. As has been said earlier, email PADI give your account including the name of the dive shop, instructor, and his his 6 digit number. There is classroom, confined water classes, and skills on open water dives REQUIRED!

 

[dregg]

Thanl you for helping me by showing the right way out. I wrote the whole story letter by letter to Padi Qa.

I wrote "somewhere in asia" for anonymity but i can say here is malaysia. I hope it makes sense to Padi and they take it serious. I wouldnt like to walk away after taking my money and life and let other people experience same things. The instructor was Brazilian and his english was ok. Mine is also ok, at least better than the english in my posts. I might have said we had communication problems leading that eveny if we had some serious conversations but we didnt.

Again thanks for every single suggestion and support, if i knew here before it may be different. I am going to look for s professional divecenter after now when i have time.

 

[supergaijin]

Sorry to hear about your first diving experiences. I would also suggest you look for an instructor teaching in your mother language. There are certain things in diving that you really want to totally understand.

 

[Freewillow]

To dregg and wetb4igetinthewater, I am sorry to say so but somewhere you deserve a bit what happenend to you . I am happy you came back all right but let me explain myself. There has been a lot of discussions on this forum about the choice of Agency for scuba learning. For the vast majority it boils down to "the teacher is more important than the agency" :kiss2: When I certified, a zillion years ago I knew I was going to make an OW in the Maldives, but I knew with WHOM i would certify. I had references on them and I had talked to people that had known them personally. :cool2:

Since then I have dived all over the world, I have seen all sorts of teachers and Divemasters. To go to Malaysia ( just as an example , I have nothing against this beautifull country ), and to expect that you will get garanteed first class attention and first class safe education, is a bit of playing Russian roulette. Especially from a guy that cannot even reply tu emails. Buy the way, I dived in Sipadan, Malaysia. We had a funny divemaster that maneged to dive AT LEAST 10 meters above his group. I guess in order to absorb less nitrogen, but I have been in Layang Layang wall diving with one OUTSTANDING divemaster. You can never tell in advance, so CHECK REFERENCES BEFORE YOU LET YOUR OWN LIFE IN THE HANDS OF OTHERS.:blinking::blinking::blinking: