Mike Newman:
The issue of bad service is one that should be taken up, courteously, with the manager or owner of a dive centre. They will usually go out of their way to help, once they become aware of problems - and they hate being blindsided by an Agency enquiry over an issue they had never heard about.
Spectrum:
I find it hard to believe that the shops certifying agency would care about rental QC.
Spectrum may well be right about the rental gear issue. But, Mikes point is still spot on. A courteous, dispassionate but detailed, communication to the manager / owner, is in order. They need to be informed of your experience. If that doesnt produce any reasonable response We are very sorry about your negative experience. Thanks for sharing, as we will take this message to heart. blah, blah, blah, then an additional letter to the affiliated agency is not inappropriate. Although the facility web site mentions certifications available through multiple agencies, it appears they are primarily a NAUI shop. Agencies are most likely to be concerned with training standards violations (and, even then, not always as concerned as perhaps they should be, as Spectrum mentions). But, it doesnt hurt to let them know that a shop advertising its NAUI affiliation appears to be providing substandard rental gear and a poor service attitude. NAUI, PADI, SSI, etc. do not want bad press by association with this kind of situation. They may not do anything. But, they may ask questions of the owner, which accomplishes the goal.
He got the first BC - the dump valve string was cut off.
The guy at the shop said, all the dump valve on all the remaining rentals have the string cut off.
I told him to manually inflate his BC. It wouldn't inflate. Then we found a loose inflator hose elbow. ... Then we pull the butt dump valve, and the string was frayed, and had a ball of knot that keep it from closing. ... We check his reg cap to make sure they are tight. The octo cap was soooo looose, it required at least 3 complete turns to tighten.
My nieces BC had such bad corrosion on the inflator hose valve, that it took 3 of us multiple tries to remove the inflator hose from it after the first dive.
We all acknowledge that rental gear is often not well-maintained. Gear in resort areas, with high use and lots of one-time visiting users may get even less attention. But, even by the usually marginal rental standards, your experience falls toward the very poor end of the spectrum.
Then we boarded the boat. Of the 5 divers in our boat, 3 encountered bad o rings on their tank (30% bad tank O ring).
This one may have just been a chance occurrence. O-rings fail, it is not a big deal. I am not aware of rental operations that pre-emptively change their O-rings on any regular schedule.
the dive shop equipment guy refused to give him 20 lbs of weight, and insisting that he needed only 16!
Many beginning divers use too much weight lots of reasons, and not the point here. How the equipment guy handled it is the issue. He could have asked if your nephew was sure about the amount. He could have said, Here is the amount you asked for, but let me suggest you try diving with only 16 lbs. For us to debate the proper weighting for your nephew from afar seems a little pointless. Rather, how a competent operation might handle a request for an unusually large amount of weight is a more useful discussion. Your description certainly creates the impression of a poor service attitude in this individual. Definitely communicate the experience to the manager / owner. The facility makes their money on visitors to the area, many of whom will rent gear.
The moral of the story - a predive check is absolutely essential on all dive gears, and you are responsible for your own proper weighting before a dive.... Even new gears have loose inflator elbows, dump valves.... And sand and vibration can cause regs to stick or come loose.
And, that is the value of posting - this is a reminder to us all, in case complacency creeps into our diving habits. Thanks for the post.
