Diving lessons disappointment

[Crawl79]

Not really cool you have to pay the extra money to take OW again. But you can think of the OW with a private instructor as more training and that will make you so much more comfortable in the water when you are certified. I had private intruction but that was because I got certified in the Carribean during a quite week. I am glad I did and would did it again, actually I have been thinking of doing Rescue course witha private instructor. Seems like a tough course that I could get allot more out of with one on one instruction. Good luck and welcome to the club.

 

[TxHockeyGuy]

I posted early on in this thread and have read through the rest, I agree with what everyone has said. That being said I personally think it is always best to be certified locally. It does several things for you. First you are generally trained in more difficult conditions than where you tend to vacation, by that I mean it is typically lower visibility and quite possibly colder. I dive where if we get 10 ft of visibility we think we have a great day. I have heard stories of carribean divers where the visibility suddently drops to 20 ft and they completely freak out. I also hear about carribean divers complaining about 60 ft of visibility, are you freekin kidding me? The second advantage comes in that you are not going to always be able to dive in Carribean waters and if you want to keep up your dive skills you need to be able to dive in your local conditions. I have not looked at where you are but am keeping this statement general so that it can be of use to more than just yourself.

That being said I really think you should certify locally. It will also allow yourself to really enjoy your dive vacation without having to spend two days or more doing cert dives. You're doing this to go enjoy the ocean so lets try to maximize that time. I get the distinct impression that you no longer want anything to do with the previous dive shop you have dealt with, that's fine and I have no problem with that. That being said I think you should seek out a local instructor/dive shop that is willing to work with you. You already have the benefit of going through some training so unlike most other new divers you now know some questions that should be asked before you start training. You need to find yourself another shop or instructor (and that other instructor may very well be with the shop you are already taking your lessons through) and ask them how they handle divers who have problems clearing, or what if they have problems equalizing, or what if whatever else you come up with. I think you get the picture here and I will leave it at that.

 

[drbill]

Sounds like classes run ca. 1960's. If your account is accurate, and the instructor was indeed neglecting the instruction you received, the advice to seek another instructor at that shop is quite appropriate.

 

[DandyDon]

Howdy and welcome to SB!

I followed you over here from Introductions forum. It looks like you have received lots of good info here already.

I don't know about all Insts here, but I know of a few, and if the student does not pass the first time, they get to repeat for free until they do. If you really want to go private Inst, I'd want the shop to apply your paid fees to that, even if they had to refund the Inst portion - aside from literature and supplies.

I was lucky in that I had no issues with any of the skills in OW, no challenges at all, breezed thru. Except, that may have left me a sloppy diver. I had to learn some other lessons the very hard way. I suspect that folks that have to work thru challenges in Ow may actually become better divers than I was.

If you haven't yet, click Forums above and start going thru the list - looking for those of interest to you, especially your local dive club. Always good to try a Search before starting a new thread, tho and be careful about posting Replies without reading the Stickies for each forum. Click the link in my Sig below to PM me if I can help you around here..

don

 

[WarrenZ]

I think you did get cheated and you should get another instructor. I do believe that you should not let this get you down keep going you will be able to get it.

Just remember to look up (with your whole head) and hold the top of your mask tight to your head while you exhale or else you wont be able to get all of the water out.

 

[Prostar]

I know this has been thoroughly hashed and re-hashed but I'll add my $.02 anyway.

I am sorry for the way you were treated. It is a sad thing to hear and people might get the imperssion that this is just the way the dive biz iz. Well it isn't ok any place I have ever taught. It simply would not be tolerated.

I can't speak for other instructors but I have had my share of students who had been either poorly taught or flat out traumatized by their first instructors. The fun part of teaching these students is watching them realize that they really can do this and enjoy it immensly.

No matter which way you decide to go regarding your training, I urge you to talk to the shop owner and make sure they know the story. They really want to know about this. Do ask for a refund if you plan to go elswhere. I don't care if you even consider the money to be a non-issue, ask for a refund anyway.

Now, go learn to dive and be sure to let us know how it worked out.

 

[jpsexton]

I have to agree with everyone else here. You should ask for a refund or as Don said ask for your fees to be applied toward the private instruction. I won't argue that private instruction may be better but it should not be neccesary. Why should you have to pay more because your instructor wanted to leave early?

As far as the mask clearing goes, Ber's post explains it perfectly. You'll be surprised how easy it is once you figure it out.

Good luck and welcome to Diving!

 

[Diving Doc]

Do you know, it really annoys me when I hear stories like this one. There is absolutely no reason for you to have felt harrassed or out of place just because you are a "girly" (please note I only use the term as a form of derision, no complaints please) in a male dominated course.

As a dive shop owner and instructor myself, i know how hard it is to keep course fees down, how to get a group through their course etc etc, but there has to be an element of client satisfaction involved. we want you to keep diving!! I hear so many times of how a potential diver has been put off because of these macho idiots! Sometimes, yes there must be an element of an extra charge in more pool time is needed, but that seems a little excessive in this case.

Kudos to you for carrying on after such a poor experience...if i were you i would add up how much you spend in your diving career and then take the total back to your original LDS and show them. Then tell them thats how much they lost and watch them fall over!! I strongly believe that you as a customer and a newbie to diving should get better service than that. Too many instructors forget that they were nerbous newbies themselves once!

Anyway, glad your carrying on.

Did anyone see a high horse there? I better get back on it!

 

[wallacm]

tell the LDS that you need a different instructor, that you didnt feel like you learned from him, and they should give you one without any charge, atleast I'd make sure they didnt charge me.

 

[DandyDon]

The shops are in business primarily to sell gear, not courses - with the latter offered in hopes of selling the equipment. The Inst is costing the shop business, but this would be an excellent opportunity for the shop to win a customer over by treating her with respect she did not get from the Inst.