Lack of respect for divers in Menorca (Son Bou)

[chris moseley]

Ive just returned from Son Bou in Menorca from a quick break away and some diving. As a sport diver i went to a company called Son Bou Scuba and the told me i could dive on Thursday and i advised i was flying 7.30am Friday morning and they said i would be fine. I asked if i could dive Wednesday as i needed 24 hours before flying. They said they would go out Wednesday instead. I asked were they were planning on going and they had no idea they would decide on the day. During Tuesday night i suffered a very bad head and blocked nose and i could not clear this even after being up from about 4am. I went to they office on Wednesday morning at 9am thinking they would be there getting the kit ready and there was no sign of them. Whilst waiting i got to meet another chap who had booked a dive and he informed me that he had only just started diving and had 2 pool dives and one at Stoney Cove with an instructor.
10am arrived and they turned up and i informed them that i was not going to ba able dive as i was unable to clear my ears and was still suffering from a very bad head. They told me i would be fine just take it easy and i just could not believe what i was hearing. After confirming i was not happy about diving i asked what happens to the money i payed after the couple talking in German for a few moments the said you loose it as its not our fault your not willing to dive after all you could take it easy down the shot line. On walking out the chap i met earlier came to me and said i could not believe what they said. He asked me would i just go for one dive as he didnt feel confident with them. I asked why and he told me they were planning a 25 metre cave dive. There was no way this chap was anywere near ready for this sort of dive. I went back to catch them on there own about the money i had payed just incase they said as there were other divers around. They confirmed i would not get it back as its not there fault. I said its a medical reason and safety reason that i didnt dive also i didnt want to have to abourt others dives. There words to this was thats upto you but there will be no refund.

AS I SAID I THINK EVERYONE SHOULD BE MADE AWERE OF THIS COMPANY, SINCE BEING HOME I HAVE GONE ON THE PADI WEBSITE FOR DIVES ABROAD AND THIS COMPANY DO NOT SEEM TO ON THERE ALSO THERE WEBSITE ADDRESS ONLY SEEMS TO TAKE YOU TO AN E-MAIL ADDRESS.

Chris

[Keith Lawrence(BSAC)]

Hi Chris

Thanks for the report, I agree with you that divers should be made aware of such actions. Do you have an email contact for Son Bou Scuba? I would like to make them aware of your comments and give them the right to reply.

Thanks

Keith L

[Steven van Leeuwarden]

I totally agree that the behaviour towards the not even certified diver was absolutely unresponsible, even a certified diver with not much experience you would not want to be diving inside caves, let alone at 25 meter.

But: I can understand that they did charge you the full price, after all it was not there fault, and it is quite common policy that there are no cancellations on the day. Because that would mean that a lot of potential divers simply don't show up in the morning after having had a hard evening out. I presume they failed to let you sign a booking form with their cancellation policy or something like that?

But if you still have to pay: contact your travel insurance, because this should be covered there.

[chris moseley]

Hi Chris

Thanks for the report, I agree with you that divers should be made aware of such actions. Do you have an email contact for Son Bou Scuba? I would like to make them aware of your comments and give them the right to reply.

Thanks

Keith L

There e-mail is sonbouscuba.com. Also one other thing was they were showing the official BSAC logo outside the office and im not awere they are registered with BSAC unless you know otherwise.

Regards

Chris

[chris moseley]

I totally agree that the behaviour towards the not even certified diver was absolutely unresponsible, even a certified diver with not much experience you would not want to be diving inside caves, let alone at 25 meter.

But: I can understand that they did charge you the full price, after all it was not there fault, and it is quite common policy that there are no cancellations on the day. Because that would mean that a lot of potential divers simply don't show up in the morning after having had a hard evening out. I presume they failed to let you sign a booking form with their cancellation policy or something like that?

But if you still have to pay: contact your travel insurance, because this should be covered there.


I take my diving to hart and i would not have a few before diving the following day as i know what could happen like the rest of us and there was no form for divers to sign.

Thanks for looking at my post

Regards

Chris

[Dave]

It seems to me that hidden in the rant are 2 things

(1) that the company refused to refund you the money you paid. This I am not surprised about and would have been more surprised if they had agreed to. If you had insurance, perhaps that will cover you.

(2) That someone who , assumedly, is unqualified given that he has done only 2 dives was booked to do a dive and they were going to a cave. What did they mean by cave? It could be an big open cavern with no real overhead environment. Also, did the company agree to take the unqualified diver on the dive. Besides that, the diver has some level of responsibility on himself not to do the dive if it is beyond his qualification level.

As it stands I see nothing in your post to show that the company has done anything wrong

Dave

[Dave]

They have a phone humber of +34 69 66 28 265 and an email address of <a href="mailto:info@sonbouscuba.org">info@sonbouscuba.org</a> ( as well as a website at www.sonbouscuba.org )

Dave

[Keith Lawrence(BSAC)]

Dave

There are two sides to every story. Chris posted his personal view, I have emailed Son Bou informing them of the comments and they of course have a right of reply. The issue of the claimed displaying of the BSAC logo when they are not a BSAC registerred school (to the best of my knowledge) I have passed to HQ for them to deal with.

Regards

Keith L

[TerryH]

(1) that the company refused to refund you the money you paid. This I am not surprised about and would have been more surprised if they had agreed to. If you had insurance, perhaps that will cover you.


Absolutly right. The school has overheads. Dont turn up or cant
dive it's up to them if they refund.

(2) That someone who , assumedly, is unqualified given that he has done only 2 dives was booked to do a dive and they were going to a cave. What did they mean by cave? It could be an big open cavern with no real overhead environment. Also, did the company agree to take the unqualified diver on the dive. Besides that, the diver has some level of responsibility on himself not to do the dive if it is beyond his qualification level.


Absolutly wrong. The whole point is that it was an unqualified
diver. That's a newbie, a greenhorn, somebody who still is
totally reliant on that school providing a safe DM who wont
take him anywhere past his cert level.

We can all talk personal responsiblity, but dont forget that
in the early days of diving we pay some dosh to a school and
presume that whoever teaches/takes us, is qualified to do so.
Our trust (and lives) are instanty put in the hands of somebody
we were introduced to minutes before.

Personal responsibilty comes later once the gloss of scuba has
worn off a bit and you have become experienced enough to become
objective.

It would be better if divers spoke out about dodgy outfits.
Of course you can have the odd bad day/bad dive, but once you
get a few bad posts on the same dive center the alarm bells
should be ringing.

Not sure if you could do it here, but something on the lines of
the "holiday truths" website might not be a bad idea.

TerryH

[Dave]

:=(2) That someone who , assumedly, is unqualified given that he has done only 2 dives was booked to do a dive and they were going to a cave. What did they mean by cave? It could be an big open cavern with no real overhead environment. Also, did the company agree to take the unqualified diver on the dive. Besides that, the diver has some level of responsibility on himself not to do the dive if it is beyond his qualification level.
:=

Absolutly wrong. The whole point is that it was an unqualified
diver. That's a newbie, a greenhorn, somebody who still is
totally reliant on that school providing a safe DM who wont
take him anywhere past his cert level.

I missed out a couple of words in my statement that might change it. I did say assumedly he was unqualified. If he was, then indeed, it is up to the centre to ensure that they treat him properly, no question. If he was a qualified diver ( there may be agencies that still qualify in 2 dives ) then both sides have a responsibility. The shop to ensure that the diver is appropriate to the dive and the diver to be happy that he has appropriate experience.

It is of course possible that the outfit may be operating in a cowboy manner, then again the OP reporting the state of the outfit via hearsay may have the wrong end of the stick.

Dave

[TerryH]

I missed out a couple of words in my statement that might change it. I did say assumedly he was unqualified. If he was, then indeed, it is up to the centre to ensure that they treat him properly, no question. If he was a qualified diver ( there may be agencies that still qualify in 2 dives ) then both sides have a responsibility. The shop to ensure that the diver is appropriate to the dive and the diver to be happy that he has appropriate experience.


Sorry Dave, but I live in the real world, not some nirvana.
It's unrealistic to expect newbies to be able to gauge if a
dive outfit is good or bad.

Bit like you checking out the legality of the last school you
dived with. You did check them out didnt you? Made sure that
they had adequate insurance, right permits, access to the
chamber and that the guide was a pro with 3rd party etc.
Cant have a DM in training, so you need to question and check
his pro status with PADI etc.
You checked the kit logs to ensure all was within the
reccomended service intervals and that they used an approved
technician. Mind you that would include the cylinders and the
filter log, cant have bad air now can we. While we are at it
did you check the O2 kit. Plus ........ Boat, VHF ....

Extreme, pedantic? Maybe. But while we do have a level of
personal resonsibilty, the suggestion that such an inexperinced
newbie would know any better and that we would expect him to be
objective, is patently flawed.


It is of course possible that the outfit may be operating in a cowboy manner, then again the OP reporting the state of the outfit via hearsay may have the wrong end of the stick.


Exactly. Which is why we need to be objective and Keith has
asked for a rebuttle.

TerryH

[SON BOU SCUBA]

Hi Chris,

Well thank you for your comment on this web site. If it was not for another client of us we would not have known what you have written about Son Bou Scuba. I'am sorry that you did not let us know your concerns while in Menorca, but this seems to be your modus operandi.
Please let me comment to your letter as follows:
- We do have a 24-hour before flying no diving policy; the sign is hanging next to the dive roster. So stating that we do not adhere to this a bit silly.
- Where we go is decided definitely in the morning as this depends on where the wind is coming from. We want to avoid our other divers having to dive the same site twice.
- Every morning our staff is in the centre and the equipment of our guests is packed already, also for divers who have their own stuff if they give us permission to do so.
- When you told us you could not dive because of a cold we did not try to talk you into the dives because we know what problems this can cause. Please do not try to give the impression that these 84 Euros are so important for us that we would risk our reputation in case you'd have a reversed block.
- There are no 25-metre cave dives in our program, and we certainly did not take "the other chap" in an overhead environment. Because -and for once you are right- somebody with 2 dives is not ready for a dive of this kind. If I'm correct you were not there on the dive so please do not assume something or refer to information you have heard.
- Son Bou Scuba does have the policy that you make an advanced payment of 10 Euros per dive as in the past we had many cancellations of people having had a hard night or just decided to change their minds, no showing up at all. We are aware that this might seem unfriendly towards the customer, but as a matter of fact we have had many positive reactions to this. In the dive centre did not make any comment about this, because if you would have, we would have given you back your deposit. You as a customer being happy with us is more important to us than these 20 Euro's.

We are sorry that you did not confront us with your problem whilst on Menorca Chris, I think it's a bit cowardly not to say anything while having the chance and than just wait until you're home and start getting active checking the PADI website et cetera.

We seem to have a problem with our .com website but we are also to reach at www.sonbouscuba.org and www.sonbouscuba.de

We were not yet a PADI dive centre this year -as we just started- but we certainly will be in 2005.

I hope this explains things from our side. I will not write anymore about this subject in this forum because I'am not the kind of person to do so, but in this case I had to make an exception.