PADI 5 Star Rating???

[DevilDiver]

I have always wondered what a dive operation had to do to get the PADI 5 Star rating. Was it an outstanding safety record? Was it a history of great service? Could it be all about $$?

I found this article that addressed this question and felt I should post for anyone who has ever questioned what the basis for rating was.


Written by Sheldon Hey

Recently we at Dive The World have been considering upgrading our PADI Dive Center rating to a PADI 5 Star Center. So I took the time to take stock of the situation and weigh up the pros and cons of the PADI system and to decide if there is any benefit in us being members and of us upgrading our membership. PADI is the global leader in dive certifications and the most widely recognized dive agency name in the world. More than 70% of divers worldwide are taught through the PADI system. However, the PADI system is open to wide-scale abuse and membership has its serious drawbacks.
Believe it or not PADI, unlike other similar professional regulatory bodies, is a limited company registered in USA, not an association. Although PADI stands for Professional Association of Diving Instructors, it is a company limited by shares, not a registered association. This means that its directors must act in the interests of its shareholders to make profits and pay dividends, not in the interests of its subscribers (instructors, dive masters and dive centers).

Shareholders want profit so the company can satisfy them by certifying as many dive masters, instructors, divers and dive centers as possible. Diving professionals (subscribers) want standards maintained and their incomes maximized. This can be achieved through limiting the number of professionals and offering them protection. It seems clear whose wishes PADI, the limited company, is more keen to satisfy.
PADI does not control the number of dive centers that it licenses. As long as you pay up your money, send in some photos and sign an agreement stating that you comply with certain regulations, then you become a PADI Dive Center. This leads to the ludicrous situation in popular tourist spots where seemingly every second shop is a dive center: Phi Phi Island has 30 dive centers. Phuket has over 70, and Bali 110! How can this be in the interests of the members?

With the large amount of dive centers comes cut-throat competition with price under-cutting, each dive center bidding to survive in the dog-eat-dog industry. Consequently, dive centers must find ways to cut costs to maintain profitability, and here lies the rub. Teaching standards are cut, by-passed or ignored.

There are breaches of standards everywhere. Open Water course skills are often abbreviated, sidelined, missed, and certainly not mastered. No surprise then that we often hear from customers that some Australian dive centers have even stopped recognizing PADI Open Water licenses earned in Koh Tao, Thailand - notorious for processing vast numbers of students in very short time frames. That's quite some indictment of the level of course training and proof that PADI has lost the confidence of its conscientious members.

PADI 5 Star Centers using ropy dive boats, having no oxygen on board and using regular under-qualified divers as 'Dive masters'. What is 5 Star about that? The legal implications are horrific. Apart from that, customers are paying for a professional level of service implied by the PADI name, but being given something quite different.

(Entire article located here: http://www.scubaherald.com/?c=124&a=1484)

[RoadRacer1978]

My understanding is that a PADI 5 Star facility can take you through the level of instructor and any PADI facility that is not a 5 star cannot go that far, unknow where they actually stop whether it be divemaster or can't even go pro.

That is a great article. I have often wondered about PADI. I am a PADI certified diver, but mainly because there are so many, that is what is convienent. Wish I lived closed to Scuba Toys and could get trained there. I'm sure there instructio is top notch like everything else they do.

And the article is right, PADI is out for the money, not the best insterest of its consumers ie. Students and Instructors and that is a sad state of affairs. Luckily there are some really great PADI instructors that go above and beyond.

[DevilDiver]

Today, 09:27 AM #2 RoadRacer1978

I am a PADI certified diver, but mainly because there are so many, that is what is convenient.

I received my OW and AOW from PADI. I had heard of PADI and thought since it was the biggest it was the best (Windows vs. Mac).

My real concern with this was traveling........
If you plan to go to a remote destination you would like to believe the operator you have chosen to dive with based on the "5 Star Rating" from PADI actually had a standard that had to be maintained to achieve this rating...........

[ScubaToys Larry]

To "take someone to instructor" all you have to do is have a course director listed as staff. Now he does not have to be in your shop - he can be 300 miles away... but if someone wants to do an instructor class, he will come do it. That and a pile of cash... and you can put 5 stars on your door.

It's kind of funny, when I went to Australia for my talk on the scuba business, I pointed out that I was not doing Padi... (and the CEO of Padi was the other guest speaker... ooops!) and when I started my store over 10 years ago - staring at every other ship listed as a 5 star facility... I decided to change my yellow page ad.

The original name of the shop was 2 Dive 4 before I changed to ScubaToys when I hit the net..

So I decided I was a 6 star facility.... why not? It meant just as much! But cost me less!

[RoadRacer1978]

I agree completely. I would be ticked off i I booked a vacation and showed up only to find that my diving credintals were not accepted there.

At what point is PADI ging to step in and do something? My guess would be when divers quit using their organization and the sharholders aren't getting their pay day. Unfortunately PADI is drivin by the almighity dollar as are most business. This is good info you have put out. I was unaware that PADI is a business rather that an orginization, but that does clear alot of things up.

You've got me thinking and luckily I can always switch. I may begin looking for another LDS in the area to a least get some type of certification from and see what the differences are for myself. I know the biggest is not always the best, just the biggest.

Another thing the original post stated that they were not recognizing the OW cert. I wonder if one had AOW if they would still not recognize it.

I don't think any skills were missed in my OW course, but I know that they were not mastered. You usually demonstrated it once in the pool and once on a checkout dive. There was just not time to master any skills and this to me was troubling. OW cert to me was ore like a permit to drive. You have a license that says you can, but not that you know how. And not without someone who is supposed to know what they are doing.

[RoadRacer1978]

Originally Posted by ScubaToys Larry

To "take someone to instructor" all you have to do is have a course director listed as staff. Now he does not have to be in your shop - he can be 300 miles away... but if someone wants to do an instructor class, he will come do it. That and a pile of cash... and you can put 5 stars on your door.

It's kind of funny, when I went to Australia for my talk on the scuba business, I pointed out that I was not doing Padi... (and the CEO of Padi was the other guest speaker... ooops!) and when I started my store over 10 years ago - staring at every other ship listed as a 5 star facility... I decided to change my yellow page ad.

The original name of the shop was 2 Dive 4 before I changed to ScubaToys when I hit the net..

So I decided I was a 6 star facility.... why not? It meant just as much! But cost me less!

Why not make it 10 stars

Doesn't seem like PADI does much checking anyways.

Can I start taking specialties with another organization such as NAUI? I thought the would recognize my OW and AOW cert if I wanted to take say rescue diver from them.

Just wondering, I think that I might not want to be apart of the PADI machine anymore if they care more about shareholders than students and standards.

[ScubaToys Larry]

Originally Posted by RoadRacer1978

Can I start taking specialties with another organization such as NAUI? I thought the would recognize my OW and AOW cert if I wanted to take say rescue diver from them.

Just wondering, I think that I might not want to be apart of the PADI machine anymore if they care more about shareholders than students and standards.

Not a problem... You can do a Padi OW, a SSI advanced, a YMCA rescue, a Naui DM, then anyones instructor.... they all accept each other at face value - and any speciality is no problem.

[RoadRacer1978]

Cool, that is what I had thought, but sometimes assumptions will get you in trouble. I wish I leved closer to you guys. I am sure that your level of instruction matches your level of service. A 3 hour drive is not possible for many classes, but I am thinking about doing the Nitrox class with you. Is it just one class night and no dives? I think I could manage driving down for one night.