Discover Scuba Two Tank Dive in Waikiki

Dishonest operator

Spoke to the operator and booked the dive weeks in advanced. I planned my trip around this activity and then less than 12 hours before the activity, they called me to cancel. On top of that, they did not refund my payment. If you don't want your vacation to be ruined, book with someone else. Now, thy are arguing that they will not process a refund because the cancellation was the night before. I completed all the forms they required and had plenty of time to review them. However, they decided to wait until the night before to review it and cancel the dive. Because they took until the night before to do so, now they conveniently say the cancellation was before 24 hours of the reservation. Why did they not review this before? I have more than 50 dives logged in different countries. I know what the physical requirements are to have a safe dive (my own safety always comes first). They cancelled because I had a minor surgery (they didn’t even asked what kind) 8 months ago. The operator called at 7pm the night before with this concern and offered that his wife (who happens to be a doctor), could clear his concerns. I asked about the cost and he quoted $200-250 for the “consultation”. They were just clearly looking for an excuse to cancel at the last minute and keep the payment. STAY AWAY FROM DISHONEST VENDORS!!

Response from the operator: M C, we understand how disappointing it is to plan part of your vacation around a dive and then be unable to participate. However, we need to correct several statements in this review, particularly the suggestion that Ocean Therapy created a medical issue as an excuse to cancel your dive and keep your payment. The health and safety of our guests is our number one priority. Every diver is required to complete the appropriate waivers and dive medical questionnaire before being allowed to dive with us. Upon review of your completed DAN dive medical questionnaire, you answered “Yes” to multiple questions that required medical review and clearance before participating in scuba diving. This was not a medical requirement created by Ocean Therapy Charters. The questionnaire itself clearly explains that certain “Yes” responses require evaluation and clearance by a physician or other appropriately qualified medical provider before diving. As an Advanced Open Water diver with more than 50 logged dives who has dived with multiple operators in different countries, you are also familiar with the dive medical screening process. Your experience as a diver does not allow us—or any responsible dive operator—to disregard the responses on a medical questionnaire. Whether someone has 5 dives, 50 dives, or 500 dives, the same medical screening requirements apply. We also want to clarify your statement that we offered only the operator’s wife as an option for medical clearance. That is incorrect. We offered you multiple options in an effort to get you diving safely. We offered to provide a list of medical providers who offer expedited dive medical consultations and clearances so that you could select a provider and potentially still participate in your scheduled dive if medically cleared. One of the available providers is affiliated with Ocean Therapy and provides dive medical consultations, but you were not required to use that provider. We also offered to reschedule your dive to a later date so that you could have your own primary care physician review and complete the required medical clearance without using an expedited medical service. Our goal was not to prevent you from diving. We provided both an immediate option and the opportunity to reschedule so you could obtain clearance from your own physician. You declined the expedited medical-clearance option because of the additional cost. We also disagree with the characterization that your dive was cancelled simply because you had a “minor surgery” eight months ago. It is not the role of the boat operator or dive crew to independently decide that a medical condition, procedure, or surgery described by a guest is “minor” and therefore disregard a medical screening requirement. That determination belongs to an appropriately qualified medical professional. Once your answers triggered the requirement for medical clearance, we could not simply override the questionnaire and put you in the water. Regarding the timing, identifying a medical-clearance requirement close to departure does not give us the option of ignoring it. Once the questionnaire was reviewed and we determined that the required medical clearance had not been provided, allowing the dive to proceed was no longer an option. We attempted to help you resolve the issue by offering multiple medical providers for expedited evaluation as well as the option to reschedule your dive so your primary care physician could complete the required clearance. Had you obtained the required clearance, our goal was to get you diving—not prevent you from diving. Our cancellation policy states that reservations cancelled or unable to proceed within 24 hours of departure because required documentation, including required medical clearance, has not been provided are non-refundable. We absolutely understand your frustration and disappointment. What we strongly disagree with is the accusation that Ocean Therapy was “looking for an excuse” to cancel your reservation or acted dishonestly. There is no advantage to us in preventing a paying guest from diving. We would much rather have taken you out and shared Oʻahu’s incredible marine life with you. However, no amount of diving experience, vacation planning, or financial consideration will cause us to disregard a medical screening requirement. We will not apologize for cancelling a dive when required medical clearance has not been provided. Our responsibility is to bring our guests back to the dock safely. Given the same circumstances, we would make the same safety-first decision again.

via Tripadvisor