Banned from Pro Dive

[Coogeeman]

I was asked by a friend of mine if I would take him through his Divemaster couse privately. It wasn't a money issue, but we dived all the time and he really wanted to do it with me. I had taken him through OW, AOW and a number of speciality courses over the years.

I spoke to him about it and we decided that due to the nature of the course he would be better going through one of the local shops. No problem.

So, and I live to regret it, I pointed him to one store where I knew the instructor by reputation and knew that if she was teaching the course he would have a good time.

The owner of the store is another story and this is where it got nasty. On his first day he was approached by the owner and asked if he was thinking of buying anything new. He dived with predominantly Mares gear and she didn't sell Mares only Aqualung/US Divers gear. He said that he was going to buy a new reg set and had set his heart on the Mares Ruby. She turned around and said that no one at Pro Dive uses Mares and that if he wanted to do the course with them and work for them as a Divemaster he would have to buy Aqualung.

Adding insult to injury she then said that if he bought the Mares reg she would call Pro Dive head office and have him blacklisted from working anywhere in Australia. I wish that he had called me when this happened but he didn't and not knowing what to do he bought the reg set that she was pushing.

On a happy note he completed the course and is now a certified Divemaster.

 

[Scubaroo]

She turned around and said that no one at Pro Dive uses Mares and that if he wanted to do the course with them and work for them as a Divemaster he would have to buy Aqualung.

At which point he should have told her if they wanted him to work for them, they would have to let him use Mares, and turned and walked out the door.

It's a common policy that DMs only use the gear that the store they work at sell - helps sell the same gear to the students. Wouldn't want a dive student finding out that the store they're doing their certification course through doesn't stock those nice Mares regs that their divemaster uses now, would they?

Australians can be such tossers

 

[scuberd]

What's the world comming to when one must lie to and threaten the customer just so he buys a reg.

 

[ElectricZombie]

What an evil LDS!!

He should have just walked out and found training else where.

 

[Northeastwrecks]

What a disgusting joke.

I am an AI. My singles reg is a brand that my LDS doesn't sell. No one has ever commented upon it.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I think they should just shut down every LDS on the face of the planet right now.

 

[dc4bs]

Planning on retiring Mike?

 

[MikeFerrara]

dc4bs once bubbled...
Planning on retiring Mike?

No, I will still have to work my day job but if I don't do something drastic here soon I'll be retiring to a card board box. LOL

The whole dive business sucks. The manufacturers suck and the agencies suck. I'm all for shutting down the whole industry. I would pay more of my own money to see some of the big manufacturers bite the dust.

There now I feel better.

 

[dc4bs]

Now that I've read the nitrox-banishment thread I can see why you got riled...

You had me worried there for a moment.

 

[Jonathan]

did her DM through Instructor at Pro Dive Sydney 18 months ago - I believe the regs she owns are Poseidon and Mares. She also has predominantly Mares kit semi-dry, fins etc.

When I was there a year ago I wanted to get some stuff as I thought it would be cheaper than Japan but they had nothing I would have wanted to buy.....

Jonathan