How to choose a divecentre

[rjvencken]

As an instructor people ask me which arrangements to make and how to pick a dive centre for their OW-courses when at their specific holiday destination. Unfortunately I don't spend all of my days checking out diveschools and when I did my own initial courses I just signed up with the first thing I ran into and survived. I can come up with quite a few general recommendations (see below for the topics I think I should cover) but would love to have your input on this one:

1. making arrangements in advance
2. first impressions are usually right
3. financial considerations
4. choosing an agency
5. organizations with apparent staying power
6. course length in days /nb students/language
7. guarantee in advance full package of dives/skills will be covered in those days
8. price all inclusive? (course materials , instructor, admin fee, dive equipment, insurance)

(AND OH YES, PLEASE DO NOT TURN THIS INTO A "WHICH AGENCY"-thread)

 

[RU4SKUBA]

#4 is like the shiny red button that says 'Push ONLY In Event of Catastrophic Emergencies' and should be replaced with "communicates effectively with customers/students in a timely fashion."

If they can't communicate with you at sales pitch time, I can't imagine it will improve AFTER the bill has been paid. Those that get frustrated with questions should be avoided.

 

[rjvencken]

#4 is like the shiny red button that says 'Push ONLY In Event of Catastrophic Emergencies' and should be replaced with "communicates effectively with customers/students in a timely fashion."

If they can't communicate with you at sales pitch time, I can't imagine it will improve AFTER the bill has been paid. Those that get frustrated with questions should be avoided.

Yes I was planning on saying something along those lines but this is a topic that cannot be avoided. Hence the last line..