Aldora Divers Review: Two Tank Solo New Diver Experience Coming off a Cruise Ship

[Jayfarmlaw]

Not kidding anyone, did not neglect to post the entire post, and I believe the apology was in the original post (but not sure). I posted the relevant portion of the post that included the apology after multiple posts were made saying no apology was given. That was the reason for my post.

We dive Aldora, and have had excellent service even when there were minor issues. While I always recommend Aldora based on our personal experience, I also recommend Blue Magic and Dive Wth Martin based on that same experience. While I have not dove with them, I also recommend 3P's and Blue XTSea based on their reputation on this site and Christi's support and frequent contributions to Scubaboard. I'm not married to any particular operation but will continue to Dive Aldora because they work best for us, based on multiple factors.

if this thread has persuaded potential customers away from Aldora, so be it. If one internet thread will convince divers not to dive what is arguably one of the best operations on the island due to the service provided and what sets the apart from other dive ops, its not going to cost me a dime. One customer with 2 admittedly great dives out of thousands of dives conducted per year on all boats had an issue. After the communication mistake, the op did what was necessary to get both divers in the water, albeit one without the requested private DM.

If you can find a dive op that dives steel 120's, gives a 10% cash discount, has at least 6 boats including one large boat, makes arrangements when possible to dive when port closures shuts all the rest of the operators down, does a long surface interval at a beach club with full facilities, has great DM's (all operators we have dove with have had great DM's), and picks up a block from Casa Mexicana, then dive with them.

I'll see you on the reefs.
Jay

 

[Snoweman]

A sincere apology has 3 components: taking responsibility for the mistake, an apology with NO “but”, and an offer to make it right. Most often making it right doesn’t require anything more than some common decency and a simple acknowledgement and apology. Not a list of excuses that include blaming the other person.

That is exactly correct. I had an issue with a hotel in CR. I complemented them on their hotel. I bitched about their restaurant staff and the handling of a particular situation on TripAdvisor. They responded with a thank you for giving them four out of five stars and stated that I was completely correct in my complaint (and why). The manager (owner?) then requested I ask for her on the next booking. I have not been back to that area since my review, but I would go back to the hotel.

She did all of the three components that made me feel justified in my review, and want to return to the same establishment.

 

[Wookie]

Reviews are an interesting thing. They are so subjective and based on the "expectations" of the beholder. In this case, the OP had an expectation that his emails were read, his reservations would be honored, and that his business was important to the operation. On the other hand, it is obvious that those expectations were not important to the operation, and that they had a completely different expectation. And the operation will meet their expectations first. As always happens. It's a beautiful thing when everyone's expectations line up, but it isn't always that way.

When I was a dive operator, many people came to me with the expectation that they would have fun, that they would go diving, and some came with the expectation that the boat rules didn't apply to them, because, well, rules, I guess, they aren't fun. I had one expectation, with a caveat. I expected to bring you home alive, and if you weren't alive, it wasn't something I or my crew did to cause your demise. There was no other expectation of me. Guess whose expectations had priority? It wasn't the person who didn't think that the rules applied to them. So the expectation of the operator and the customers didn't always line up. That resulted in some less than stellar reviews.

After I learned my lesson, I never responded to a negative review, and in fact, refused to be reviewed on yelp, Facebook, or Tripadvisor. In fact, I made Tripadvisor think that we were a cruise ship and they refused to take reviews of us. Reviews on ScubaBoard were met with stone cold silence by me, because I knew there was nothing I could say to make the OP satisfied, and anything I said would be used against me later. If you note, very few are bashing Dave for his shops initial action, they are bashing him for his second post in the thread "I'm sorry your expectations weren't met..."

Dave is probably sorry the OPs expectations weren't met, and as some of you all said, he isn't going to lose any sleep over it. Hopefully he learns a lesson that @The Chairman beat into me. If you're a good operation and run a good show, your loyal customers will do a far more effective job of defending you than you can yourself. In this day and age of internet warrior, there are more than a few internet divers who are happy to twist your words into a truncheon and beat you senseless with them. I learned that lesson after trying to explain my first and second boat fatality on the internet. No good comes from trying to explain what went wrong.

So I neither read nor do I write reviews from a subjective viewpoint. I have reviewed (Here on SB) some of my favorite dive ops, hopefully from a completely objective stance, but yelp and tripadvisor are for the folks who can't think and research for themselves, IMO.

 

[RayfromTX]

snip If you're a good operation and run a good show, your loyal customers will do a far more effective job of defending you than you can yourself. snip

This is really the most important thing to learn if you are on Scubaboard and also offer goods and services to divers. It is painful to repeatedly watch what happens to those that deny and get defensive.

It may appear to work in face to face interactions to be a bit aggressive with customers to shut them down because they will often avoid confrontation and you won't know that your tactic didn't work. Online there is less reluctance to give it back and criticize the response. Then the piling on occurs that would never happen in real life. Online really is just better at illustrating the bad customer service approaches that never worked in the first place. Anita got a bad customer service response in real life. The owner and the rest of the world found out that it was a bad response because of her thread. Without the internet, the bad approach would have gone unnoticed.

In my life I have learned that it is valuable to be wrong. I benefit constantly from saying I effed up. My boss and my clients will spend their energy defending me as soon as I point out my mistake and the level of trust that it creates when they know I don't hide things from them and that I'm honest about my errors is invaluable. I will admit to claiming responsibility for mistakes that weren't mine simply to avoid the perception that I might be prone to shifting blame. It has served me well.

 

[tridacna]

In good news, this thread has really blown out the Anita one. And looks like it still has legs to go on for a while. Irony is that it could have been halted by post two. The OP has dropped out; Dave only posted twice. Bottom line: SB members incite quite a reaction to being dissed by an rude operator.

I'm sure his usual fanboy team will rush to his defense again generating a few more pages of negative publicity.

 

[Wookie]

The other lesson I learned from the chairman is that the only negative publicity is that that you generate yourself. Other folks talking about you is good.

 

[NDL_Diver]

This thread is



Time to flame another thread

 

[The Chairman]

Hopefully he learns a lesson that @The Chairman beat into me. If you're a good operation and run a good show, your loyal customers will do a far more effective job of defending you than you can yourself.

Yes, yes, yes. Cultivate fans and let them do the "dirty work".

No good comes from trying to explain what went wrong.

I'm not sure I agree with this. In fact, I don't. However, you don't have to explain it personally. You should have one person you can trust to put out your version of the story. The truth is powerful. However, if you want to make a statement to clear the air, get someone like myself to help you craft it. Thinking that you can do it on your own is hubris. You're always too close and will probably come across as a yutz.

In addition, when a mistake is made or an expectation is not met for whatever reason, give us a solution. Do what Frank aka @Wookie does: underpromise and overdeliver. Stretching your resources to accommodate a person is great, unless your resources fail you at the last moment. If you promised to do it and can't, then you look bad. If you refuse to do it, you look smart. If you don't make the promise and yet succeed in meeting their wants, then you look great.

The other lesson I learned from the chairman is that the only negative publicity is that that you generate yourself. Other folks talking about you is good.

Indeed. Apologies should never have a caveat.

In my life I have learned that it is valuable to be wrong.

I hate to disappoint you, but you're right. You can't improve without negative feedback. Negative feedback won't be useful if you won't accept it on face value and learn from it.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I don't give Tripadvisor reviews much weight when doing research, but one thing I do look at is whether the negative reviews are met with a "response from management" (or whatever Tripadvisor calls them). I appreciate that all kinds of things can happen, and customers can have unrealistic expectations, but the mere fact that management says "Thanks, we heard you and we're looking into it" weighs toward me using that business over one that seemingly ignores complaints. Nothing would irk me more than having an email that I took the time to write ignored.

 

[Wookie]

I don't give Tripadvisor reviews much weight when doing research, but one thing I do look at is whether the negative reviews are met with a "response from management" (or whatever Tripadvisor calls them). I appreciate that all kinds of things can happen, and customers can have unrealistic expectations, but the mere fact that management says "Thanks, we heard you and we're looking into it" weighs toward me using that business over one that seemingly ignores complaints. Nothing would irk me more than having an email that I took the time to write ignored.

Yes, and I always responded to a personal email. But in a forum when your dirty panties go on display, lots of uninteresting folks comment on why they are dirty, usually from a position of ignorance.