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

[Bubblesong]

I am not yet ready to blame Dave D. for anything...
The original poster's original post appears to have a conflict. First he says he "was by myself" then he says that they "had newer divers with us. Then Dave D. says that he showed up with a discover scuba friend. So did the OP actually sign up his buddy and expect two (2) DM's or did Aldorra promise the guy a DM and then reneg and give the only DM they had available to the discover scuba diver in order to add more divers to their boat?
I feel like Judge Judy here, but I really want to know.

 

[DevilEyeDog]

I'm going to go out on a limb as well. The best bet for novice cruise ship divers is Dive with Martin.

Dave:. I'm going to put this out here. I have 42 dives. No, I'm not bragging about that. The thing is, there are plenty of people who feel that 42 dives is not a novice or even a new diver. They brag about it. Those same people will tell you they've been diving for years and only wrapped up maybe 20 dives.

This has absolutely nothing to do with the cruise ship or my ability. It's sad you don't see that.

So in order to dive with Aldora do people need to inform you of inflated dive history? Would that then allow you to offer better service to them if you thought they had over a 100 dives?

Just because I like to deal with facts and you insinuated I surprised a discover scuba dive on you, I have an email confirmation confirming the Discover scuba on December 9th. We go with you on February 28th. I'm sorry. Was that not enough time?

I booked my personal two-tank dive on August 23rd. Was that still not enough time? I mean, that's a little over 6 months from when I requested it.

Is it because I'm new and came off of a cruise ship that you failed to provide a service that was confirmed 3 times?
No, it's not.

I have more than supported you throughout this post. At no point did I say I wasn't going to use Aldora in the future. I have continued to say very nice things.

The fact is, your company messed up. And you've yet to make it right. You keep digging a hole a bigger and bigger for everyone to see.

Let me tell you what a good business owner who cared about their customers would do. For those of you laughing, yes, my PC posts have taken a dramatically infatic turn because it seems that our Dave is lacking an understanding of what good customer service is.

I'll start from the point where you made an inappropriate response on this forum to me.

1). You should have reviewed the customer's concerns by checking on emails and confirmation dates and seeing where the ball dropped happen.

2) . You should have publicly apologized and stated that you value your customers opinions and would work to ensure it didn't happen in the future. You could also thank the customer for continuing to say nice things about your company.

3) .Lastly, you could have sent a private message to the customer apologizing yet again and saying that you were happy I had a great time and truly hope that you would consider using Aldora in the future again.

Unfortunately you have done none of those things. And to add insult to injury you then throw in a line about how I gave you a last-minute Discover Scuba. I'm sorry, but I don't think two months is a last minute reservation.

It's so sad that something so small has been blown out of proportion by the owner. This was a tiny little thing against Aldora which was easily fixable.
Instead, you felt the need to attack skill level, my location and then proceeded to lie.

Dave: .I've defended you over and over. I still think that Aldora is a great dive company. However, if anyone wants to ask me about what I think about the owner, well... That's a completely different story. He does not care about his customers who lodge a complaint. It's quite obvious.

Again, this was not a big deal. And it's a shame that the owner made it one.

Be sure you ban all cruise ship divers. Also, you may want to make sure that you asked to see every divers dive log and that they have an adequate amount of dives for you. You might as well never offer a discover scuba class again. Apparently, two months is enough time for a reservation.

Oh, Dave... I don't want to tell you how to run your business but since the skill level of your divers apparently matters to you, you may want to know they never checked whether or not I was even certified. No one asked to see my dive card.

I think making sure the person even has a dive card is important. But hey, that's just a new person being a stickler for the rules.

Sad Dave. Just sad.
And yes, dive community of the world, Aldora is a great dive center. Will I ever use them again? No. Because it's quite obvious their owner doesn't give $0.02.​

 

[DevilEyeDog]

I am not yet ready to blame Dave D. for anything...
The original poster's original post appears to have a conflict. First he says he "was by myself" then he says that they "had newer divers with us. Then Dave D. says that he showed up with a discover scuba friend. So did the OP actually sign up his buddy and expect two (2) DM's or did Aldorra promise the guy a DM and then reneg and give the only DM they had available to the discover scuba diver in order to add more divers to their boat?
I feel like Judge Judy here, but I really want to know.

I was a solo diver. I booked a two-tank dive. I had a non diving front with me and convinced her to take a discover scuba class. The discover scuba class is completely separate. She went off with her instructor at a different time and finished at a different time and a different location.

I booked my two-tank dive back in August of 2017 for January of 2018.
I only requested one private DM. Not two or three or five. Just one. For myself.

I gave Aldora divers more business by booking a discover scuba class in December of 2017. I confirmed 10 days before for both.

I was so specific in my confirmation that I wrote I was confirming a two-tank dive, full rental gear, private guide and I was confirming, insert my friend's name here, a discover a discover scuba class.

I can't be more specific or communicative then that.

I, the customer, didn't do anything wrong. I reserved, checked in multiple times, confirmed multiple times.

I know that everyone is looking to find something I did wrong and I'm not saying I'm a perfect person, but as far as a customer goes I'm a hundred percent in the right.

 

[DevilEyeDog]

Okay scuba friends (and maybe some new enemies), this was fun at all but much like Dave... This is my last post.

Who knew that a review could be so dramatic?

I would like to thank the Dave would personally reach out to me and apologize and maybe even apologize on the site. As the owner of the company I would want to see my confirmations and emails and figure out what went wrong to help prevent it in the future. But, I gather that will not happen.

Good news for Dave is that I'm a very realistic person. I'm laughing so much at the ridiculous nature of this entire post. At this point I want to beat the Anita post and I don't even know what that is!

It started with a review that had one tiny thing wrong in it and escalated because the owner lost his marble and simply couldn't apologize.

Sometimes people it's the most simplistic things in life which become the most difficult.

Thanks for the entertainment on my very first review to scubaboard.

 

[morecowbells]

This is ridiculous.


If you want to continue I'll go ahead and post every single email with the confirmations. Just say the word.

I agree with you DevilEyeDog that the customer service and handling of this incident by Dave was poor form. I think you were right to post your experience here on Scubaboard. I would have been upset as well. However, posting private e mail correspondence (unless threatening etc) is crossing the line and enters into the territory of poor taste.

 

[Lorenzoid]

This is ridiculous.
Honestly, I don't even know what to say that is appropriate.

Dave:. I booked two things with Aldora.
1) Two tank dive with a private DAM.
2) Discover scuba for a friend.

I think I am confused along with Bubblesong. Did you book this as two separate groups that would be diving separately?

I once inquired with a Coz dive op--not Aldora--about a booking involving two couples, one experienced and the other inexperienced, with the idea that both couples would not necessarily be on the same boat or at least not accompanied by the same DM, so that the less experienced couple would not limit the more experienced couple. The dive op's reply was clear that my booking would be for a single group of four, on the same boat, and that the less experienced couple could very well limit the more experienced couple. Kudos to the dive op for making that clear to me. At that point I suppose could have insisted on two separate bookings, perhaps paid for separately, etc. But the point is, the dive op was very clear in their reply what the structure of the booking would be.

 

[kmarks]

Who knew that a review could be so dramatic?

Welcome to the internet, where anonymity reigns and there is no civility. You've been on scubaboard longer than I was (or at least made more posts) when an innocuous comment about cost in a tech forum led to people berating me for everything including have the audacity to want to dive despite living in the midwest, driving me to delete the comment in question and almost everything from my account and step away for a while.

I think you were in the right to post your honest (and overall very positive) review here and Dave's initial response was unacceptable. People post Cozumel trip reports all the time, and as long as they loved everything, especially the food at every restaurant on the island, nobody bats an eye. Whether somebody had a great experience with a dive op everyone else hates or a terrible experience with one everybody loves, you still should feel comfortable sharing your experience. There's no need for the attacks you've gotten from other members, either, but emotions run high when people want confirmation bias that the thing they love is beloved by all.

 

[Tool Belt]

For a while this thread was like driving past a train wreck. Now it is

perseverate - Wiktionary

Peace, out!

 

[Bubblesong]

For a while this thread was like driving past a train wreck. Now it is

perseverate - Wiktionary

Peace, out!

This thread has many posters b!tch!ng
About a DM "bait and switching"
Some say, "End it!"
But others append it.
Thread ain't dead if it's still twitching.

 

[Dogbowl]

This thread has many posters b!tch!ng
About a DM "bait and switching"
Some say, "End it!"
But others append it.
Thread ain't dead if it's still twitching.

Scubaboard has very talented people. Thanks for making me LOL!