High rated dive shops

[divezonescuba]

On the subject of website pictures, there is actually a shop in Cozumel that has a tiny picture of "their" boats on their website. If you blow the pictures up, you will realize that the boats are actually from a picture of another dive shop's boats from their website. The boats have the actual diveshop's name on them. Of course in the copied and shrunk photo you can't tell that. Too funny.

 

[Christi]

I used to be a big fan of Tripadvisor but no longer will contribute to their forums. Tripadvisor has different levels of memberships for their listed business. The more costly the membership, the more say you have in which reviews get posted. Don't like review? Problem gone, bad review eliminated. It doesn't take a doctorate in statistics to realize how bogus these reviews truly are. How is it that a dive op which has been open for approximately 15 years, a fleet of 2 boats yet has 1191 glowing reviews on Tripadvisor; while others which have more boats, longer business history and are highly rated have a fraction of that number? Sure, they may have many satisfied customers who wish to voice their accolades, but it is way out of proportion to the competition.

That's interesting! I've never been asked for or paid money to be a member of Trip Advisor - maybe that's why I'm #38 haha

 

[Mark IV]

How do you travel these days? You don't book lodging and diving before arrival?

I don't think you can say it's just the internet that can present false and misleading information, to show you what they want you to see. Case in point, your time with the hustlers selling out of Pro Dive. Hustlers and scammers existed long before the internet.

In fact, I think the internet has made it much easier for those who do their due diligence to avoid the lies and scams. If I want to dive with a new op I can go online and find recent diver reviews, maybe even divers who were on their boat this morning. Maybe see fresh pics of their boat, gear, facilities, and owners.

Oh, calm down, LOL! . As I said, i was just rambling a lttle (even apologized for it), and waxing nostalgic a bit. Obviously, the internet provides certain advantages, no kidding, I was just grumbling about one of the downsides, as I personally saw it, and how it negatively affected our walk-in buisness as the internet really took off.
And my reference to the couple that owned the Pro-Dive concession as being hustlers, in no way made any connection between them and the internet. i don't know where you dredged that up from.
And were i to go back to Cozumel, or similar place, i would not pay their retail asking price for dives via the interwebz. I'd go down, check into my hotel, grab a beer, and cruise the area, talking to the shops, because some of them are for sure going to cut me a nice cash-money deal.

 

[ReefHound]

And my reference to the couple that owned the Pro-Dive concession as being hustlers, in no way made any connection between them and the internet. i don't know where you dredged that up from.

Dood, that's the point. You were whinin' about the internet and how you only see what the scammers let you see and I was pointing out that game been going on long before the internet. Sorry the net wiped out your glory days, and maybe you really did hook folks up with gear that works in boats that float, but most of the time the street hawkers are just fast talkin' hustlers and that's why people were so quick to dump them once the interwebz came along.

 

[49north]

At one point, we were up to #12 and were in the top 15 for quite while until one punk wrote a 1 star review about Pedro relieving himself off the back of the boat - it dropped us immediately to #40 - overnight!

I think that was the most ridiculous review I have read on Trip Advisor.

 

[ggunn]

At one point, we were up to #12 and were in the top 15 for quite while until one punk wrote a 1 star review about Pedro relieving himself off the back of the boat - it dropped us immediately to #40 - overnight!

That's just stupid. I have been on a boat where one of the pinnacle DM's on Cozumel who is talked about in here all the time (no names) peed off the stern during a SIT and no one made a big deal out of it. He turned his back to the divers and no one saw his wiener.

 

[cicopo]

It's not exactly a rare thing nor something to shoot down a dive op over. The person who wrote the review is going to see more of it if they continue diving from boats too small to have a potty.

 

[AdivingBel]

Sorry but that type of action shouldn't happen mainly because it's so easily avoidable. Just hop over the side or hang on the ladder like virtually everyone else does in that situation. If it's the boat driver/captain where he's not dressed to hop in, he has ample opportunity to take care of his business while the rest are diving. Then it's a non-issue. It's the call of nature. For a DM to relieve himself over the side (even if you don't see his wiener) is lazy, base, shows a lack of decorum, and a fundamental lack of understanding of customer service where you should at least have some care concerning the feelings of your customers even if you don't share those concerns. If I was the owner I would see it as a lack of respect for my operation. We aren't monkeys that just fell out of trees. A rec dive boat in a resort locale is NOT a guys locker room. All IMHO. And no I didn't post the TA review.

 

[Christi]

Sorry but that type of action shouldn't happen mainly because it's so easily avoidable. Just hop over the side or hang on the ladder like virtually everyone else does in that situation. If it's the boat driver/captain where he's not dressed to hop in, he has ample opportunity to take care of his business while the rest are diving. Then it's a non-issue. It's the call of nature. For a DM to relieve himself over the side (even if you don't see his wiener) is lazy, base, shows a lack of decorum, and a fundamental lack of understanding of customer service where you should at least have some care concerning the feelings of your customers even if you don't share those concerns. If I was the owner I would see it as a lack of respect for my operation. We aren't monkeys that just fell out of trees. A rec dive boat in a resort locale is NOT a guys locker room. All IMHO. And no I didn't post the TA review.

Well - for what it's worth - I DID have a discussion with Pedro about it and told him just that. Some people don't find it offensive, but others do - and it's just not professional regardless of whether people find it offensive or not and regardless of how many DM's do this on board other boats and regardless of whether it's "part of the diving culture" - I don't want him doing that from the boat. My DM's don't smoke, but I find a DM smoking in front of customers offensive and unprofessional and I wouldn't allow that either. I did address that in my reply to the review and with my crew . However, the entire review was ridiculous, not just that point -especially based on the circumstances.

 

[mikeycanuk]

Decorum over bodily functions tends to go out the window while diving. I always have to blow my nose when surfacing, there ain’t tissues around.

Some of us might, but I don’t pee my pants on a regular basis either.... diving...well

Lighten up.