Wow. I didn't realize that I would wad up so many panties with on short post.
Where to start? First of all, I put up this post as my experience, and posted it as coming form a new diver's perspective. Whatever anyone else feels or has experienced with DP, makes no difference, this was how my trip went. Maybe it was indicative of how DP operates, maybe I just got unlucky a few times.
This was my 2nd experience with a dive op, the 1st being in PV when my wife and I got certified. That is my frame of reference, and it was a better experience.
This was not my 1st trip to Mexico, far from it. I am well aware of how things work down there. Just like the US, there are good and bad companies in any industry to deal with. But a dive op is a SERVICE. A service which I paid for. I don't care were I am, service is service, and it will be good or bad. I do not accept bad service because of the country I am in, I'll go elsewhere, good service can be had no matter where you are.
Regarding a price break, I didn't expect a diving discount, but a show of good faith would have been nice. There were 6 of us diving all week, almost all of us had our own equipment, 2 people were renting. Throw in a rental of something for God’s sake, even throw in a free light rental for the night dives maybe, a little show of appreciation goes a long way, and a lot of businesses forget that. And before somebody tries to jump all over me about being in business to make a profit, I own and operate 2 businesses myself so bark up another tree.
Cowboyneal. My wife had a new BCD. It has a bit of a tricky lock on the weight pouch. She must not have had it clasped all the way; of perhaps it was defective, who knows. Mistakes happen sometimes, and hers was pretty minor.
Reefhound. The Tripadvisor post was my wife's, I just saw it when you linked to it and had no idea that she put that up. Thanks for noticing though...
Haggling. In my opinion you are forced to do it in Mexico. Less than in Jamaica, more than in the US, but its there. Regulated cab fares my ***... All in all I was kind of joking with that comment though, to haggle is to be in Mexico, and I know that when I go there.
The language barrier. Bring on the flames for this one boys and girls, because I am about to become even more unpopular. I understand that the language in Mexico is Spanish. I also understand that the dive ops there cater to a mainly English speaking clientele. Speak the language of you customer. I live in the US. If I owned an Arab grocery store, you'd be damn sure that I spoke Arabic. It's all a service issue to me really. As I said, a dive op is a SERVICE, you are selling yourself and you're company's service, you better know what that takes to service you're customer. I don't care where you are in the world, take care of you’re customer or they wont' be back.
That’s enough for me, I hope I've explained myself sufficiently for everyone, if not, as was said, take my reviews and comments with a grain of salt. I'm happy to have found this board and the people on it. There seems to be a wealth of information and good people on it.
Mike
