I'd like to share my Groupon OW experience. Apologies for the length
Back in 2010 a Sydney dive shop offered Padi open water classes for $169. Included in the deal was all learning material, a log book, Aquatec Mask and snorkel, Aquatec Duo-vortex fins, booties, 1 theory class, 2 pool dives and 4 ocean dives.
I lived on the Gold Coast (900km away) but the deal looked amazing and having walked into a dive shop in Brisbane a couple of months before to inquire about becoming certified and told $550 for certification, plus I'd have to buy my own mask, snorkel and fins beforehand, they then proceeded to try to sell me a set for $250... I left with the realisation that a single mother with a part time job was never going to become a scuba diver.
It took me 4 months from purchasing the Groupon before I could secure a booking and I headed off to Sydney. I arrived at the shop at the arranged time and it was closed, but about 15 other students were there also. After an hour or so we gave up, but returned the next day to more students waiting and the shop still closed. I contacted Groupon who promised to get back to me. A day later they called and said there was a problem with the booking system and to be at the shop that evening at 7 to do our theory. At 8:30 pm, someone turned up... appeared annoyed that 8 of us had decided to wait, then unlocked the door, handed us all a Padi book and told us to read it and be at the pool tomorrow morning at 9 am. It was tough getting through the book that night but I managed it and got myself to the pool at the time specified.
The attendant there then informed us that we would have to pay entry, $15 for divers because the tanks chipped the tiles. We weren't told this at all beforehand and I had to chip in on 2 other students entry because they hadn't brought enough money. Our instructor arrived at 11:30am. He seemed really annoyed that we hadn't done our exam or watched the Padi videos we'd never even heard of. By 1 pm he had sorted out enough dodgy gear to get us into the pool. One girl couldn't swim so he put a bcd on her and pumped it up like a life jacket. We stood in a circle in waist deep water and he led us one by one to the deep end and back. We got out and waited, expecting a second dive where we'd learn some skills. Nope... that was it. He told us to meet him at La Parouse the following morning.
Our ocean dive 1 & 2 were done on a single tank. I left the water with 165 bar after dive 2. I was maybe under the water a total of 6 minutes for the whole 2 dives. I got to a depth of 5 - 6 metres when the weights fell out of the bcd and I started floating up. The instructor grabbed my tank and pushed me down, then tried to get me to take my reg out of my mouth... I had no idea what he meant and shook my head and he let me go. I popped up at the surface and waited for the class to come up. They stayed down about 10 minutes. I was told I would have to pay for the lost weights and they are $10 a kg. The second dive that day was only marginally better. I dropped down to about 7 metres and we swam a short way. Vis was about 3 metres so we stayed pretty bunched up. Somebody kicked my reg out of my mouth but I managed to get it back in... breathing a load of water because I didn't know to purge. We surfaced, and did the surface nav part back to the exit.
I was scared. That night, I told my buddy I didn't think scuba was for me afterall. She felt the same. We called a classmate who was coping a little better than us because he had done a discover scuba through a different shop recently and had some idea what should be happening. He asked us to come down to the dive site the next day and he was stay with us. The next day only 4 out of the 8 in the class showed up. The instructor didn't show. I was still incredibly nervous and wandered over to a different scuba school getting ready for their class to discuss my nerves. Their instructor had a chat and gave me some confidence... his parting words though were once you have your licence, please go find a reputable dive shop and get checked out. He must have called our dive shop then because half an hour later a different instructor turned up, angry because it was his day off, and angry because someone had complained about the way the instruction was going.
Dive 3 was about 20 minutes and we did actually do some skills - mask clearing, pivotting on our fins and ceaser is all I really remember. Our 4th dive was more recreational, lasted 25 minutes (same tank) and I saw a grouper (the only fish I actually remember during our whole course.) I came up with 15 bar left because we were told that there were boats overhead and we couldn't come up anywhere but near the shore. I had advised the instructor several times that I was getting low but only turned back when things were getting dire. One girl came back with less than me, nobody other than the instructor had more than 30.
I was certified but completely unprepared to dive. I called Padi and told them exactly that. Nobody had ever checked if I had done a medical, I had but they didn't even ask. I dive with a fantastic shop on the Gold Coast. They took me back to the pool and only charged for the tanks... they'd heard about the shop I had been with and without them, I would probably have never dived again. I have done my Advanced with them, and rescue and have just started my Divemasters. I have been to the Philippines purely to dive and currently planning a dive trip to Jean Michel Cousteau's dive resort in Fiji in 4 months time.
Back to the groupon... although it was the catalyst to getting into the sport, I would be very hesitant to recommend getting your licence that way. On the light side, through our near death open water experiences, I made 4 great friends who I remain in regular contact with. All of us still dive but were retrained elsewhere. Padi took the licence off the dive shop not long after this experience but they still offer the course through Ausi... which isn't recognized anywhere despite what they tell you.
