padi standards question

[rick00001967]

can anyone pls tell me what the padi standard is as far as what the time line must be between the completion of the ow course and the instructor issuing the cert card.
asking because i have a friend (no really) that did his ow in early summer and still has not received his cert.
thx
rick

 

[scoobydrew]

The instructor is expected to rocess the card within 7 days of course completion. If the card has not arrived by now then either the instructor/store has dropped the ball or the card is lost in the post.

Either way you buddy needs to contact padi, go to www.padi.com and pull up the relevant contact for certifications in Canada.

Drew

 

[sammym]

Could be that the card got lost in the post. Or sometihng else gone wrong. Call instructor and then padi and it should be easily fixed. He should have his logbook as proof.

 

[Scuba-Blue-13]

I completed my OW certification on my 1st day of vacation (a Wednesday) in Jamaica, and my Card was in my mailbox the following Tuesday.

 

[MelasLithos]

If his instructor processed his file, your friend should have at least received an email from PADI. If he did, then the card is probably lost in the post and he should contact PADI to get a new one (the card can take quite a long time to arrive depending on the efficiency of your postal service, but the whole summer is a bit too long).
If he didn't, then it means that the instructor didn't processed his file (or he gave a wrong email, you never now). I'd suggest he contacts his instructor/dive shop first, and then PADI if he still doesn't get any news of his card.

For me, neither my buddy nor I received any word from PADI (email or card) after our OW, despite our instructor promising us and email in the coming days. So after a month, we tried contacting our instructor. After not replying to several of our emails, and no news from PADI despite a couple of calls, we finally called the dive shop (should have started with that). 3 days later, we received an email from PADI with a temporary ecard (I guess that the dive shop was not happy to have unhappy customers, and kicked our instructor's a** into action). And about 2 months later (I had a problem with the letter containing my card being returned to PADI, but PADI contacted me to solve this), my card was in my mailbox.

For my AOW, our instructor decided to send our file by mail to PADI, instead of processing it online... So it took approximately one month for the PADI email to arrive and another month for the card to arrive.

 

[Colliam7]

If the card has not arrived by now then either the instructor/store has dropped the ball or the card is lost in the post.

And, although the latter is more likely, sometimes, the former happens.

Did your friend receive a Temporary card, either a paper card from the Instructor, or an email from PADI with instructions to download / print the temp card? Although an increasing majority of certifications are processed online / electronically, some are still submitted (by the instructor or shop) on paper. And, that increases the opportunity for something to go awry. It is also possible that the Instructor wrote / keyed the student's address in incorrectly, and the card ended up not being delivered properly by mail.

I agree with the advice. Your friend should start with the Instructor or shop. If that is not practical (e.g. certification was completed on a Caribbean vacation), or doesn't produce satisfactory results, call PADI directly. They will ask for the diver's full name and date of birth and can quickly determine of the certification has been processed, and to what address the card was (supposed to be) sent.

Canada is covered by the PADI Americas office:

30151 Tomas, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688 USA
Phone: +1 949 858 7234
Toll Free: 800 729 7234 (US and Canada)

However, there is also an office telephone number for PADI in Canada (Regional manager's office): 604-552-5969

 

[BazzaB]

You can check on the PADI site if the certification was processed
Just go to Certification Cards -> Replace Certification card -> Fill in the details (see below)

You don't have to complete the whole process, but at least you will know if it is there or not

 

[rick00001967]

thx for all the replies. a bunch of helpful info.

 

[Bob DBF]

I had an problem with a late card, it was an issue with the instructor being busy, and when reminded he took care of it. I did not "need" the card, so it was no big problem, but I can see how an OW card would be a larger issue.


Bob

 

[BuguSK]

I had a friend get certified here in South Korea and the instructor was terrible. He didn't register my friend for over a year when another instructor started asking about it as my friend was getting his advanced ow. Luckily for us South Korea is kind of lax (and a bit sketchy at times) and many dive shops take your word instead of checking your card, so he was still able to dive with us during that time.