Did PADI Keep Money And Not Issue Certifications?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – There is a consumer alert involving PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) and a Jacksonville company that teaches people to dive.

According to the Better Business Bureau of Northeast Florida, as many as 180 people who paid hundreds of dollars through what they believed to be PADI and Groupon to take scuba lessons at Scuba Lessons Jax allegedly haven’t received their certification cards.

The warning comes after numerous complaints from customers poured in to the BBB about the alleged PADI/Scuba Lessons Jax deal.

Matt Hayes said he was looking for affordable scuba lessons and found PADI – Scuba Lessons Jax on Google.

“It was more affordable than the rest and there was no fee to rent gear,” Hayes said.

Hayes is now frustrated because he, like so many others, is complaining about not being able to get his diver’s certification card from PADI.

“They informed us after we passed the class, which was the weekend of Dec. 3, 2016, that it (certification card from PADI) would take three to four weeks to get to us, and it’s now March of 2017. What happened? I don’t know. I reached out to them at the end of January and could not get ahold of them, could not get ahold of the owner,” Hayes said.

But Hayes never got his card and is now out $399.

“If I could resolve this, I would like a refund or get my certification so I can be certified officially,” Hayes said.  It sounds like PADI needs to step up and either issue the certifications or help get Mr. Hayes and others their due refund.

PADI may have dropped the ball in issuing these certification cards as it can take a while for them to process c-cards when they are busy.  Also, PADI has supposedly gone through an ownership change not too long ago.  Maybe PADI’s systems are not as well functioning as they were before the ownership change?

Scuba Lessons Jax’s website is down for maintenance at the time of this article submission.  While searching Google for that website, we found this…

http://www.scubatampa.com/padi_sucks.html

https://www.change.org/p/padi-replace-cheryl-gilmore-or-have-her-examined

https://www.facebook.com/PADISux

https://padi.com

 

 

 

 

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line Handing Out Scuba Certifications

 

Royal Caribbean is now the only cruise line out there with onboard Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) Five Star Dive Centers, where guests can become certified scuba divers as part of their cruise vacation.

Program Details

Royal Caribbean’s partnership with PADI offers a range of programs; from a 30-minute Try Dive program ($29) for those who just want to get their feet wet, to PADI’s Reactivate Program for certified divers who want a refresher ($59).  Those who want to center their vacation on diving can enroll in the Open Water Diver course to earn their complete certification, which starts at $599 per person.

The course begins at home, with an online course that will ultimately leave more time for actual scuba diving while on the cruise.  Once on the high seas, divers will test the waters in the ship’s pool before heading out to complete the four mandatory, open-water training dives in some of the world’s most beautiful waters.  The training dives will be split among two ports, and upon returning home guests will be certified divers that will be able to plan and execute dives on their own.

How to Book

Guests can book their PADI course before boarding through the Cruise Planner, or while onboard at one of the PADI Five Star Dive Centers found on ten ships across the fleet: Oasis-class, Freedom-class, and Voyager-class ships, as well as Anthem of the Seas.

Featured photo: Flickr Creative Commons

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