Lake Rawlings Customer Service

[telemonster]

TELEMONSTER
please forgive me if Im wrong but did you say yhat you had a ssi sticker on your padi ow card.and the ssi card you had was also a ow card? I am looking at my ssi nitrox card that clearly says nitrox . I often fill nitrox tanks .and if you brought me a ssi sticker on a padi card I wouldnt take it either unless I looked at a ssi card that clearly said nitrox. and please rember that any breathing gas over 21 percent is considered nitrox and if I was to knowingly let someone dive with even 22 perctent and anything happned I would be accountible in court if there were a problem. so in one of you previous posts he asked you and you just wanted a top off. I would have done the same and not filled or would have drained the tank just to meet the responsilibilty of not knowingly letting a uncertified person dive nitrox. now that is only my take of my interpretationand once again if i misread the post i apoligise. however I agree with you partially about the parking thing It may be a small thing if nobody was around but if it was busy and I parked blocking the road if only for a minute and something was to happen what if I had trouble finding my keys?? I myself have bee asked to move over on a few occations and really It is not very hard to pull over a few feet to the side. I even never park in a handicap spot and would not park in the no parking zone at the local food lion even for a minuite I have seen cars with the windows broken out and a fire hose running thru. they only parked there for just a moument. just a few thoughts.

jay

Heya, I emailed SSI and have inquired about it. I have no idea what other people have in their wallets, just what was issued to me. It wasn't just a top off, it was a full fill but there was air in the tank. Like I said, I didn't make a stink about it and was nice. I didn't care, and in my mind I knew that he was just trying to be difficult for fun.

But when he started to give my friends crap over nothing, thats when I knew something was up.

One could carry the silly nitrox argument to no end. What if someone has a Fargo or Zebra or any other full color ID card printer? They too could print a SSI or PADI card. So maybe a written test should be required before every fill.

And if someone worked to trick you into giving them a Nitrox fill, and somehow managed to injure themselves, then you probably would not be liable (IANAL). On the other hand, if you didn't maintain the filters on your compressor that catch the oil particulates or had the intake near a source of contaminants then I would imagine neglect could be proven. If you gave a Nitrox fill as air, that would be bad.

 

[dmjay]

as I stated eirler that I cant understand why you would put a ssi sticker on your padi card . I believe the sticker you refer to is a small football shaped sticker that most people put in their logbook. I actually have a nitrox card from ssi it is mostly green and states nitrox in large letters and has a space for a small sticker on it and if you put a ssi sticker on a padi card and brought it to me I really woud not take it for liability reasons. it would look like you borrowed it from someone else.and furthermore I would definatly bleed off and nitrox that you had in your bottle one again for liability reasons
and also if you had other people with suspect bottles (those with a nitrox band )I would check and empty them as well, if noboby had proper nitrox certs. that would be in accordance with dot rules and regulations. you should have studdied these in you nitrox class and should have known that a ssi sticker on a padi card would not fly.
If you brought your bottle in and it was clearly marked above 21 percent for an air fill I would check your certs as well, however if your markings on your bottle said Air
I would fill it with air with no questions asked. this point of veiw is from a blenders point of view taking into standard proceedures as set out by the dot and common sense and not intended to piss anyone off.

 

[JimmyC]

Teledude,

Rawlings banks thier mix, and as for the c card ...contact your dealer and get one...problem solved. Please note that everyone from OW Diver to Course Directors read this board. You ain't all that dude. If you don't like things as they are then get the rating and change it, Until then play by the rules. It's simple. Personally ..I like Kevin and Erol. They ROCK and they have always treated me and my students with the utmost respect...know why....because we give it up front. It's thier sand box. Don't like it go elsewhere!

 

[JimmyC]

DMJAY,


YOUR FREAKN' ROCK OLD SCHOOL STYLE DUDE! Any time let's dive bruddah! Keep it safe and keep it real.

 

[RAD Diver]

Well I think if DQ said it was air then it was air as they require an empty tank before they put O2 in to start their Nitrox fills, plus No Wraps stating that the tank is O2 clean means NO O2 goes in.
I definitely agree that AOW is a joke & everyone who has done the course that has more than the 10 dives most AOW divers I meet have will agree, but it is a pre-requisite for bigger & better things, plus most dive ops won't allow you on their boat in anything deeper than 60ft. DQ being on the other side of the fence as I did an 85ft dives with them as my 1st dives after my cert.
$250 is steep, but wait until you go on further in the dive studies. It gets very steep $$$ wise.
I have never had a problem with Kevin, I have seen him giving it to others, but who knows what happened before I got there.
The only time I got a fill (air) they would only fill my doubles to 2400 even though I pointed out my + rating on my tanks that should have got me to 2650. My tanks are marked as Nitrox tanks & they never asked me what was in them or for a cert. card.

 

[dalelynnsims]

All,
Some of you may have seen me around Lake Rawlings, I normally work the dock area on the weekends but also in the shop. As a member of the Lake Rawlings staff let me say that we are few in number but do attempt to provide the best service we can for all, as safely as we can. The time we spend there and in support of Lake Rawlings far exceed the monetary compensation received. However I for one find that helping others to discover and enjoy the creatorÃÔ aquatic world compensation of another kind. For me and most staff there this is a part time job.
I am sorry to hear of the issues some have had at our facility. It is true that as have increased our prices. I however you should note that we have also increased the services that you can provide to you. The Bathhouse, expanded electric camping area, continuing to provide free firewood, ice, expanded staging area, another compressor, bottles for banks, maintaining the news letter (me etc. all come with a cost and in some cases of our own time. Most of the profit margin goes back into the operation and expansion of our services. Even the NITROX has only been available a couple years and Keven and I are currently the only two blenders. We have begun to bank 32% as was stated to provide the best service possible.
There are weekends when we have ~400 people on the property and accounting for these people as well as ensuring everyone is safe to dive is a daunting task, one we take seriously. We have been able to speed up the check in process and do appreciate the efforts of many divemasters and instructors that take the time to ensure the manifest d liability release forms for their groups are in order prior to arrival or handle their students for us. We DO offer discounts to divers and groups that use us routinely. You can get these savings and pay $18.50 per entrance rather than the $25. There are discounts on air and NITROX fills as well.
In summary please note that I am not condoning rude behavior but if we all try to work together our diving will be that much more pleasurable. Please call on me if there is anything I can do for you Lake Rawlings experience the best it can be.
Dalelynn

 

[telemonster]

We DO offer discounts to divers and groups that use us routinely. You can get these savings and pay $18.50 per entrance rather than the $25. There are discounts on air and NITROX fills as well.

Neat, I didn't know about these. Is this by way of punch card?

In summary please note that I am not condoning rude behavior but if we all try to work together our diving will be that much more pleasurable. Please call on me if there is anything I can do for you Lake Rawlings experience the best it can be.

Thats cool. Originally on this thread I backed Lake Rawlings till friends and myself had a bad experience. I like the facility, don't mind paying the money, never whined about fill times or fill amounts, or rate increases. Dude was just being a jerk to friends and myself. Either temper or for the sake of being a jerk. I figure constructive criticism is best, and it's what I always welcome.

The hobby of diving is interesting because there are quite a few macho types. And in no hobby have I ever encountered businesses that crap on customers as SCUBA diving. But there are good guys out there!

 

[dalelynnsims]

Yes the discounts are via the punch cards, we have many types and if I know your going to be back with us enough to use one then I always suggest them. They are good for a year from the date of purchase, not the end of the season.

 

[jmmcintyre]

One of the things that bothered me was they posted a nice map on their website, however didn't make it clickable or downloadable. So basically you can't read it. I e-mailed the staff asking if they were going to make it functional and they said they weren't planning on making it were you can read it. Let me ask you, how retarded is that?

 

[RoosterRFD]

Last time I was there, maps were available to purchase at the shop. I think for $5 or so, not 100% sure of the cost.