Dive Review of
Aloha Dive in
The Continental USA/Woodland Hills, California

[Unspecified]

Dive Conditions

[Unspecified]  

[None]  

Overall Rating

I am an experienced diver with over 20 years of diving both locally and on
far away trips.  My two children have long wanted to go diving with me, and
I enrolled them both in a certification course at the local dive shop to
get their training prior to our trip to Bonaire in October.  The owner of
Aloha Dive promised me he would personally train the kids, and that he had
many years of teaching experience with youngsters.  I had to pay $1,000 for
the course, which included no equipment or discount on equipment.  The
course was to include two boat dives.  When I brought my children to the
first class, I was told that another instructor had been brought in because
the store owner was too busy.  The switch was disarming, but we went
forward, as we were on a very tight schedule to get the course done and get
some practice diving in before going to Bonaire for a week.  The instructor
was good, although newly certified in teaching, and he was very patient but
firm with the kids.  Both kids passed their written exams.  My youngest, my
son, became frightened on the first boat dive because the water was very
murky at the surface, and he wanted to come up after just a few minutes. 
It wasn't the boat we were promised, which was a boat operated by the shop,
and I think the crowded boat with lots of strangers contributed to his
anxiety.  My daughter did just fine,  and did her dive without any
problems.  In spite of promises to get another boat dive, my phone calls
and e-mails went unheeded, and finally, it was determined that my daughter
would have to do a beach dive, and that my son would not be able to finish
his certification before we left.  I wasn't pleased, but we were leaving in
short time, and there was no instructor and no boat available to finish his
training.  I was promised they would finish him up upon our return from
Bonaire.  The trip was nice, but we felt sorry for Jaymus, as he was
relegated to snorkling only while his sister went diving with me.  Upon our
return, I called the shop many times to schedule the  rest of Jaymus'
training, and these calls and messages were ignored.  Finally, I sent a
letter stating that I wanted to get the training done and to also enroll
Jenna into Openwater II.  No response.  Jaymus was asking me constantly
when he could get back into class, and more and more time was going by
without him having any continuity of training.  I placed a stop payment on
my credit card for half of the tuition, $500, and the owner of Aloha Dive
disputed this, providing the credit card company copies of Jaymus' written
tests.  The credit card people obviously had no idea that the in-thde-water
part of training was never completed.  The owner refuses to give a refund,
and I will have to enroll Jaymus in a separate course.  He has lost
enthusiasm for diving because he feels he somehow failed.  What recourse do
I have?  This is not only a loss of money paid for certification that never
happened, in spite of many promises that they would "finish him
up", and, worse, a loss of my son's enthusiasm for diving.   

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