Hi new here, going to skip the intro thread because they're all the same, to the effect of "Hi I am new to the board and look forward to participating in conversations and meeting new people and enjoying this great hobbiy with other people" and get right to the point.
I've had some recent bad experiences with several dive Ops- I won't name them because as an intro thread my motivations would certainly be questioned if I start bashing some dive Ops right off the bat.
This is a general question to the community.
What do you think of Dive Ops who have the policy that if you do not cancel within a 24 hour window of the scheduled dive, you will be charged full price for the dive, however that same dive Op reserves the right to cancel on the diver right up until the evening before a morning dive- simply because there aren't a minimum number of divers?
How many of you have had this experience, especially during an expensive vacation where your diving is suddenly canceled for no reason other than "sorry we don't make any money (or we lose money) if we go out with less than 4 divers" and you either have to scramble last minute to find a Dive Op who is even open in the evenings or start calling at the crack of dawn hoping to find a place on a boat?
If I was a dive Op, I'd either a) always run the boat even if I was going to lose money- just like the airlines do. Can you imagine United Airlines calling you the night before your flight and saying "sorry not enough passengers, you gotta make other plans" or b) try my best to get them on someone else's boat and if not available, run them out to the dive site anyway or c) at the very least not hold divers to a 24 hour cancelation window AND tell them you might cancel if there aren't enough divers.
Here's how I handle it- when I call a Dive Op initially I ask them about their cancellation window policy AND if they will cancel on me if not enough divers.
If they are "one of those" Dive Ops I call other places until I find one that will run with only 1 or 2 divers.
If that is not possible I book dives with several dive Ops, and cancel on all of them at the last possible moment except for the one that is booked up (as per their website schedule or I call last minute).
The whole policy is bad for the Dive Ops and bad for the divers.
Just curious how you guys handle it. I've got an upcoming dive trip in the Florida Keys and all the Dive Ops seem to work that way and I've got scheduled dives with about 6 shops and I'm going to cancel on 5 of them the day before- and it's THEIR fault they'll be running with less divers because of their messed up policys.
I've had some recent bad experiences with several dive Ops- I won't name them because as an intro thread my motivations would certainly be questioned if I start bashing some dive Ops right off the bat.
This is a general question to the community.
What do you think of Dive Ops who have the policy that if you do not cancel within a 24 hour window of the scheduled dive, you will be charged full price for the dive, however that same dive Op reserves the right to cancel on the diver right up until the evening before a morning dive- simply because there aren't a minimum number of divers?
How many of you have had this experience, especially during an expensive vacation where your diving is suddenly canceled for no reason other than "sorry we don't make any money (or we lose money) if we go out with less than 4 divers" and you either have to scramble last minute to find a Dive Op who is even open in the evenings or start calling at the crack of dawn hoping to find a place on a boat?
If I was a dive Op, I'd either a) always run the boat even if I was going to lose money- just like the airlines do. Can you imagine United Airlines calling you the night before your flight and saying "sorry not enough passengers, you gotta make other plans" or b) try my best to get them on someone else's boat and if not available, run them out to the dive site anyway or c) at the very least not hold divers to a 24 hour cancelation window AND tell them you might cancel if there aren't enough divers.
Here's how I handle it- when I call a Dive Op initially I ask them about their cancellation window policy AND if they will cancel on me if not enough divers.
If they are "one of those" Dive Ops I call other places until I find one that will run with only 1 or 2 divers.
If that is not possible I book dives with several dive Ops, and cancel on all of them at the last possible moment except for the one that is booked up (as per their website schedule or I call last minute).
The whole policy is bad for the Dive Ops and bad for the divers.
Just curious how you guys handle it. I've got an upcoming dive trip in the Florida Keys and all the Dive Ops seem to work that way and I've got scheduled dives with about 6 shops and I'm going to cancel on 5 of them the day before- and it's THEIR fault they'll be running with less divers because of their messed up policys.
