SSI Can't Issue Me a Replacement Card

[jsisemore]

This is a long one, so there's a TL/DR at the end. Thanks for any advice you can provide!

I got OW certified in 1990 and did Stress & Rescue, AOW and MD in 1991 - all through SSI. When I got married in 1995, I submitted a copy of my marriage license and only paid to have my OW and MD cards reissued under my new name. I still have the cards, but they're pretty worn out, so I recently submitted a request for replacement cards.

Unfortunately, even though SSI has a record of my certifications on their website, they won't reissue me replacement cards unless I provide logbook pages from 1991 signed off by my instructor for each specialty dive that was required to meet the requirements. I located the verification my instructor filled out stating that I have met all the requirements, but it doesn't look like he signed off on the individual logbook pages for each specialty. The SSI rep was very nice, but apparently their system won't allow them to issue replacement cards without entering in this information.

So is there any possible way to get a replacement copy of my C-cards? It seems odd that if I have a valid C-Card issued from SSI with my name on it, and they have a record of it on their website, that should be sufficient proof that I must have met the requirements at one time....?

TL/DR: SSI has proof on their website that they issued me a certification but won't provide me with a replacement copy unless I provide training records from 1991.

Thanks for the help!
June

 

[Divin'Papaw]

This is a long one, so there's a TL/DR at the end. Thanks for any advice you can provide!

I got OW certified in 1990 and did Stress & Rescue, AOW and MD in 1991 - all through SSI. When I got married in 1995, I submitted a copy of my marriage license and only paid to have my OW and MD cards reissued under my new name. I still have the cards, but they're pretty worn out, so I recently submitted a request for replacement cards.

Unfortunately, even though SSI has a record of my certifications on their website, they won't reissue me replacement cards unless I provide logbook pages from 1991 signed off by my instructor for each specialty dive that was required to meet the requirements. I located the verification my instructor filled out stating that I have met all the requirements, but it doesn't look like he signed off on the individual logbook pages for each specialty. The SSI rep was very nice, but apparently their system won't allow them to issue replacement cards without entering in this information.

So is there any possible way to get a replacement copy of my C-cards? It seems odd that if I have a valid C-Card issued from SSI with my name on it, and they have a record of it on their website, that should be sufficient proof that I must have met the requirements at one time....?

TL/DR: SSI has proof on their website that they issued me a certification but won't provide me with a replacement copy unless I provide training records from 1991.

Thanks for the help!
June

That's ridiculous. The instructor ALREADY PROVIDED that documentation in order to issue you the c-card in the first place. Why don't they have that on file? Sounds like a first-class runaround to me. A "rule" that makes no sense.

 

[Brodydog]

If all else fails, laminate or re-laminate the old cards.

 

[Vicko]

I mean, what's stopping your from signing the logbook yourself?

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Scan your old cards and carry electronic copies.

 

[Subcooled]

Unfortunately, even though SSI has a record of my certifications on their website, they won't reissue me replacement cards unless I provide logbook pages from 1991 signed off by my instructor for each specialty dive that was required to meet the requirements.

They must be the first certification agency ever not to accept certifications they issued themselves

 

[Subcooled]

Jokes aside, I believe they just have a software problem there.

 

[VikingDives]

This is a long one, so there's a TL/DR at the end. Thanks for any advice you can provide!

I got OW certified in 1990 and did Stress & Rescue, AOW and MD in 1991 - all through SSI. When I got married in 1995, I submitted a copy of my marriage license and only paid to have my OW and MD cards reissued under my new name. I still have the cards, but they're pretty worn out, so I recently submitted a request for replacement cards.

Unfortunately, even though SSI has a record of my certifications on their website, they won't reissue me replacement cards unless I provide logbook pages from 1991 signed off by my instructor for each specialty dive that was required to meet the requirements. I located the verification my instructor filled out stating that I have met all the requirements, but it doesn't look like he signed off on the individual logbook pages for each specialty. The SSI rep was very nice, but apparently their system won't allow them to issue replacement cards without entering in this information.

So is there any possible way to get a replacement copy of my C-cards? It seems odd that if I have a valid C-Card issued from SSI with my name on it, and they have a record of it on their website, that should be sufficient proof that I must have met the requirements at one time....?

TL/DR: SSI has proof on their website that they issued me a certification but won't provide me with a replacement copy unless I provide training records from 1991.

Thanks for the help!
June

Wow. I'm not SSI, so I can't provide any help there, but if you have your logbook and 50 dives, you can get an SDI card... It would only be open water, and I've never done it, so I am not entirely sure of the procedure. If that's something that you wanted, there's a bunch of SDI folks in Florida. I'm attaching the relevant portion of the standards and procedures...

You might want to bring those with you if you talk with an SDI instructor about it. I'm not sure how many know or remember this from training.

Good luck!

 

[Belzelbub]

TL/DR: SSI has proof on their website that they issued me a certification but won't provide me with a replacement copy unless I provide training records from 1991.

How’s your relationship with a local SSI shop? They may actually be able to help.

At some point after 2003 or so, SSI changed their database, and it seems that only partial records made it to the current system.

I ran into something similar with my EAN cert. I had completed EAN in 2003. Then, in 2019, I also did Deep, Night/Limited Vis, and Navigation. With the EAN, that would be 4 specialties, which would mean I would also get AOW. However, since the EAN was so old, the system wouldn’t let my instructor print the AOW card. He was able to manually enter a cert.

Now, in the SSI app, I actually see two EAN certs. The first just has the graphical image of the course title. If I swipe to the next page where the full info should be, there is just a graphic that reads:

Image Not Available
This card was used prior
to our digital archive. No
image exists in our
database.

The other cert has my name, and original instructor info, etc. It also states that it was added to the archive manually, and lists the info of the instructor that added the record manually. It also lists verification method as scan/photo of original card

 

[jsisemore]

Jokes aside, I believe they just have a software problem there.

I agree. The rep I spoke with seemed very nice but just didn't have a way to submit the request without the extra info.