Diving instructor Stole our money!

[Zen Diving Inc.]

I would like to name and shame him but at this point I still trying to be nice and hoping that PADI comes to the party and takes some sort of action

If you have made it this far, i'm sure concerns about shaming him are past tense. There are always two side to a coin. I'd like to hear what the instructor has to say about it. If that takes you naming him so he can be tracked down so be it. Then he will have the opportunity to come here and defend himself. Or would you prefer this to stay a one sided story, with no means of proving you are right? Whats the end goal here? Do you just want to vent or do you want a resolution?

 

[SeaCobra]

Remember, we only have one side of the story, before we gather the lynch mob, I would wait to hear both sides. If what you say is true, this really is not a matter for the training agency or strangers on an internet forum. It is a civil or perhaps even criminal matter, no different from a carpenter that takes a deposit for a job and then never shows up. Contact your local authorities, be sure to have all documentation, and follow their advice. In my area it usually starts with a certified letter sent by traceable means, followed by a waiting period for response.

Good luck

 

[Hawkwood]

.... but basically our Diving instructor insisted that we pay him up from and then cancelled the course on 24 hours notice and has since then has refused to refund us. (this all happened about 3 weeks ago)....

AndrewMel,

Just so we are all clear on understanding....the course was cancelled and no refund offered. That is clear from your post. However, was there an offer to reschedule the course?

Bill

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Agree with Sea Cobra on this. A service was contracted for. It was, presumably, not delivered. I'm from the same US state as Sea Cobra and here they put people in jail for that. It's called theft. Civily it might be more like breech of contract. That PADI did not get involved in this more than they did is not unexpected. And frankly they should not as they are not a law enforcement agency. They are a for profit corporation that in essence allows a person to use their name and materials for a fee. Your beef is not with them.

Did this instructor exhibit unprofessional behavior? You say he did. Ok. You filed a complaint, they slapped his hand and said "bad boy. Don't do it again". As he has not killed anyone that's pretty much all they are going to do.

Is it right? Of course not. But this is not about right or wrong. It's about money. Your money that you gave the instructor. You did not give it to PADI. So now it's time to get a lawyer or the police involved and file whatever charges are possible in your area. And the reason it's come to this point is because you didn't do that in the first place and neither did anyone else he ripped off.

So don't blame PADI for getting screwed over. Blame the people he did this to previously as the next person he does it to can blame you for not stopping him when you had the chance.

Years ago and to some extent now where conservatives are involved and still blame the victim, women would rather not testify against a rapist. Leaving them free to attack others. Now that the tide has shifted and they are testifying, filing charges, and persuing the filth, so that these soul murderers are getting locked up.

And hopefully getting some "treatment" in kind from other cons. The women are victims yes but they don't have to be that for the rest of their lives.

As long as you complain to an ineffective and disinterested agency about this you will be a victim.
Let the law and the courts shame him by doing the right thing and putting him in jail.

 

[Blackmore75]

First off, welcome to the site and I'm sorry you had this experience. As it has been said, there are a lot of fellow divers on here that can offer assistance. I would continue to poke PADI on the issue, and also contact the authorities in the area and file a complaint with them. It's too bad that there are scumbags out there that will do something like this and sour your diving experience. It was already asked, but if he is associated with a LDS in ANY way, they will need to be notified of this issue at hand. They won't want to have someone working for them that will do that, and if they allow that to happen, that is yet another point to relay to PADI.
You may get a lot of angry responses, and some will be pretty irrational, but I personally feel you have done the right thing so far. Continue to press for answers, and please keep us updated on the situation.
I hope this hasn't completley ruined your appetite for diving, as there are MANY other instructors out there that WILL treat you right and can hopefully assist in erasing this experience from your life.

 

[AndrewMel]

Hi again to everyone - and thank you for all your comments, all valid and very helpful.

I will try to reply personaly to your messages later today but just so that you know it does seem that the diving instructor has now refunded me (three weeks later and literally while I was busy giving a statement to the local police - we are just waiting for the payment to reflect) Crazy that it had to come to that and really not a pleasant experience. But maybe as one of you said, I should have just gone that route in the first place instead of expecting PADI sort it out. I'm relieved that it looks like this issue is going to be resolved and hopefully the instructor will think twice before doing anything like this again to anyone else.

Once again thanks for all your comments

Andrew

 

[Scott L]

What I don't understand is why you don't go to the police. There is a word for what that instructor did, and that word is "fraud". It's an indictable crime in many countries, including, if I'm not mistaken, in your country. Go to the police and get a lawyer.

Apparently, you have never visited S.A. Beautiful country and wonderful people though...

 

[robertarak]

.... Your money that you gave the instructor. You did not give it to PADI. ...So don't blame PADI for getting screwed over. ...

Thank you Jim!

 

[Hawkwood]

Thank you Jim!

Seconded!

 

[AndrewMel]

Hey Andrew , hope that all this incident with the bad Instructor and padi uk not helping u out correctly . Hasnt made u stop divin now.

Not so far, it did get pretty nasty but will not let it put me off diving ;-)