VIP Inspectors: Identifiable vs Identified

[Marie13]

And @Marie13 you are pretty well known to both shop a & b, no? It's not like you are a complete stranger walking in with tanks to fill. Heck, didn't you even buy the tanks at shop a?

So not too much off topic of the current flow of the thread but i recently called a different dive shop to get in some pool time to get a little refresher ahead of a trip with my JOW diving daughter. There was a modest charge for the use of the pool but they did want to have an instructor in the water with us.

We are both certified so I did think why do I need an instructor in the water with us but I figured the cost was the same either way so no big deal.

We get there and brought all of our own equipment and tanks - already filled. The instructor then inspected our gear, to him a little too techy unless we are cave divers, which we are not, but still ok to dive with. Long hose only good in caves, blah, blah. No ****, I know that.

When he got to the hydro date and VIP date he had a pause. VIP was out by a year or so but I fill my own tanks and came there with them full. He wasn't sure if we would be able to dive our already full tanks as they were out of VIP. He checked and they did allow us to dive

I mentioned that I brought my drysuit and wanted to try it as I recently put dry gloves on it and haven't used it since. He asked if I was drysuit certified; I am not but do have dozens of dives in this suit. I did not dive the drysuit that day.

So, we did get in the water, with our out of VIP tanks, but no drysuit allowed. At least in the Philippines things are a bit more relaxed. Not sure which one is better, though...

Thinking of taking a drysuit certification course so I can get pool time on it... might be about as valuable as a tank inspection course.

Half of my tanks were bought new at shop a. The other half are used but mostly pretty new. Freshwater seems to be kinder to tanks. The owner at shop b always wows over my dedicated cold water diving.

Take the drysuit course. Something similar happened to me at another shop’s pool the winter after I was certified. Good thing I had my drysuit card on me. I didn’t own a wetsuit at the time and it was a practice session with a buddy. Would have sucked if I couldn’t have dived that day.

 

[lowviz]

So there is no pure profit in the scuba industry. The shop that you are paying for your VIP has rent, utilities, insurance, tank monkey salary...plus the incidentals involved in cylinder inspection (tools, cleaners, o-rings...) I am not saying that there is no profit in VIPs, but there are always costs. I will also say, as a former tank monkey, pristine cylinders are rare...

Yeah, OK. I'll admit I spoke very loosely, I'll clean up my post up a bit:

First, as a newbie inspector, it takes me about a half-hour from rubber mallet to finished paperwork for a routine tank. Most of that is fussing with lighting. I've come to like an adjustable intensity fiber optic light. So, yes, time is money for a dive shop. O2 cleaning is a bit physically demanding, wouldn't want to do them all day long...

But to my intended point, if a shop is all set up and efficient, there is profit in doing VIP's.

 

[rjack321]

Ah, WTF for the latecomers. DRIS doesn’t fill tanks VIP’d by individuals without you jumping through hoops. Inspector name and cert number must be on the tank. If it’s unreadable for any reason at time of fill, no fill. They have to have a copy of your inspection sheet on file for each tank. Doesn’t matter if you’re bringing in your personal tanks you’ve inspected yourself.

Another option is you can is inspect your tanks at the shop, using their tools and stickers. Cost is $5 and includes a fill ($10 by itself). You have to schedule this beforehand with the repair department. Once you’ve done your tanks, then the shop’s tank inspectors will look at it themselves. This is for the first 12-20 tanks you do yourself.

Doesn’t matter if you’ve taken the VIP class through them or not. Still have to jump through the hoops. I say screw it. I’ll get my single tanks done at the shop by work. $16 and usually done in a day or two, although it doesn’t include a fill. Much closer though.

There’s another place in the region that won’t fill independently VIP’d tanks at all unless the inspection is done in their presence.

The class (with abnfrog and Lowviz) was a good experience and very educational, but I’d not expect to save any money by doing tanks yourself unless you have your own compressor. I doubt I’ll renew when that’s due in three years.

This is exactly why most of us long time "home-based" inspectors got compressors.
The number of catastrophic tank failures caused by the recently trained home VIP inspectors doing it themselves is zero. This is all about them being pissed you aren't forking them over money. So they made up a new revenue stream watching you VIP tanks.

 

[Marie13]

This is exactly why most of us long time "home-based" inspectors got compressors.
The number of catastrophic tank failures caused by the recently trained home VIP inspectors doing it themselves is zero. This is all about them being pissed you aren't forking them over money. So they made up a new revenue stream watching you VIP tanks.

You do realize that some “home-based” inspectors aren’t going to get compressors? I just love the SB mindset of “gotta get a compressor.” It goes along with “gotta do your own regs.” Try telling us urban/suburban condo/apartment dwellers to get a compressor. Ain’t gonna happen. Especially for those of us with no mechanical aptitude, even if we did somehow find a place to keep a compressor.

 

[Marie13]

I’ve been in contact with the shop again this morning. What I’m being told is that there was a really bad batch of tanks that seem to have made them revise policy to something stricter. Whether that’s what actually happened, I don’t know. All I know is that’s what I’m being told.

I do know that someone in the not too distant past was able to get a fill on a newish aluminum tank he inspected himself, and just had to show cert card.

They did agree that a notice on the website is needed about fills for independently inspected cylinders, but what that will consist of and when it will be posted, I don’t know.

 

[guruboy]

Another option is you can is inspect your tanks at the shop, using their tools and stickers. Cost is $5 and includes a fill ($10 by itself). You have to schedule this beforehand with the repair department. Once you’ve done your tanks, then the shop’s tank inspectors will look at it themselves. This is for the first 12-20 tanks you do yourself.

I’m glad you self censored your original post. Your left out details and made DRIS sound completely unreasonable.

It doesn’t “cost” $5 for you to do a self VIP at DRIS. It’s FREE for the price of a fill. You went there for the fill, right?

They’re letting you use their equipment and give feedback on your VIP skills for FREE. To me, that is a huge benefit. VIP equipment is not free (even the cheaper “DIY” versions) and access to someone who has seen countless more tanks in a variety of conditions is awesome.

having to do this for 12-20 tanks sounds like just enough for a person to gain some proficiency in the process. Instead of only doing your tanks, maybe they might even let you VIP other customer tanks for variety.

For the number of tanks I have and go through, getting VIP certified was a no brainer for saving money in the long run.

Im jealous of the “hoops” you have to jump through. Having to schedule it seems like a minor inconvenience, but not terrible. Just make sure you plan ahead if you need both a VIP and fill before a trip.



I don’t know how many tanks you have now. 5? More? You already paid for the course, but maybe you should crunch the numbers again before you decide not to renew. If it doesn’t make sense to even renew, it didn’t make sense to take the course to begin with. But at least now you know what to check for when you buy tanks.

 

[guruboy]

DRIS doesn’t fill tanks VIP’d by individuals without you jumping through hoops. Inspector name and cert number must be on the tank. If it’s unreadable for any reason at time of fill, no fill. They have to have a copy of your inspection sheet on file for each tank.

these are not “hoops”. These are reasonable requirements to protect themselves that are easy to fulfill with little effort on your part. This kind of policy also protects you.

PSI/PCI does not require name but does require an inspector number on the PSI/PCI VIP sticker to validate the sticker. It’s being accountable for something you did. Otherwise someone could pass stickers out for a quick buck and endanger a bunch of divers.

you obviously fill out and keep a copy of your inspection results for each tank you VIP, right? Is access to a printer a hardship in your area?

 

[guruboy]

Interesting. My shop uses generic PSI stickers as the shop sticker.

I would not call PSI generic.

 

[Marie13]

I’m glad you self censored your original post. Your left out details and made DRIS sound completely unreasonable.

It doesn’t “cost” $5 for you to do a self VIP at DRIS. It’s FREE for the price of a fill. You went there for the fill, right?

They’re letting you use their equipment and give feedback on your VIP skills for FREE. To me, that is a huge benefit. VIP equipment is not free (even the cheaper “DIY” versions) and access to someone who has seen countless more tanks in a variety of conditions is awesome.

having to do this for 12-20 tanks sounds like just enough for a person to gain some proficiency in the process. Instead of only doing your tanks, maybe they might even let you VIP other customer tanks for variety.

For the number of tanks I have and go through, getting VIP certified was a no brainer for saving money in the long run.

Im jealous of the “hoops” you have to jump through. Having to schedule it seems like a minor inconvenience, but not terrible.

I don’t know how many tanks you have now. 5? More? You already paid for the course, but maybe you should crunch the numbers again before you decide not to renew.

The fill is included in that $5 fee. Fill cost by itself is $10.

I have 8 HP80s and 2 AL40s for deco tanks. 4 of the HP80s are doubled up. I’ll let DRIS do those as they break down and reassemble doubles for $25, on top of VIP fee ($25/tank). I consider that a bargain. The AL40s will be done by the shop as well since they also need O2 cleaning, which I’m not certified to do. So that leaves me with 4 singles (currently).

I have a buddy who wanted me to do his 3 tanks - a pair of AL80s and an AL19, both which he bought from me, and will be in good shape. Not sure if I could do tanks I don’t own with the “hoop jumping.”

My tanks are in very good shape. I had a very good class and don’t doubt my training - unlike the person I know who had a 2 hour class and has someone check tanks they’re unsure about. That person seems to have not known how bad their class was until after the fact.

 

[Wookie]

I would not call PSI generic.

They are if not printed with inspector number and shop name..... Any PSI inspector can use them. The very definition of generic.