Avoid this dive center in Koh Chang

[boblumix]

Scuba Dive Thailand, or Koh Chang Diving Center
Bang Bao, Koh Chang, Thailand.
My wife and I have completed about a dozen dives each, but we had not dived for a little more than 2 years. On our second honeymoon in Koh Chang we thought we would do some more diving. We approached Scuba Dive Thailand (Koh Chang Diving Center) and told them we hadn’t dived for more than two years, would need to be taken over the basics again and asked that they take special care to make sure we are looked after and given an easy dive. The English owner told us that we were in safe hands and that they would look after us.
On the day of the dive the owner complained that we were the only people diving with him and the dive master. Apparently he would be paying for us to dive. We were given no review of any diving practises and no assistance with getting our gear ready. The brief was certainly very brief with no mention of really anything to be careful of, and before my wife and I were even close to ready the owner and dive master were in the water about 50 metres away from the boat holding onto a float line surrounding the dive site, screaming out for us to get a move on.
As soon as we entered the water we had to battle against a huge current. We have never dived in a current and had no idea what to do. So after battling this current for some time we reached the float line and then had to drag ourselves about 50 metres along it to reach the owner and dive master.
We were obviously exhausted but the owner just said right let’s go. I politely asked for some time to catch our breath and about 10 seconds later he said “that’s enough, let’s go” and he and the dive master disappeared into the murky water. My wife and I started to descend and realised we had lost them.
We resurfaced and it took us at least ten minutes to swim back across the current to the boat. My wife and I were exhausted and quite distressed that they had not even noticed we were not with them. As we were boarding the boat the owner and dive master resurfaced and again started yelling out at us abusively.
When we reminded the owner that we had told him we hadn’t dived for 2 years and needed looking after, he scoffed some rubbish about it being our responsibility and told us to get back in the water. We told him that we did not feel safe diving with his company and would be ready to return to the mainland at his leisure. He replied that we had ruined his day and now he didn’t feel like diving either. No apology was offered, and when the dive master got off the boat he just looked at us and laughed.
On the way to our hotel we agreed to give up diving rather than risk going through such an ordeal like that again. Luckily for us we have recently had our faith in diving restored while in Fiji. The Fijian dive masters are passionate about helping their customers enjoy diving with them, and so they take the necessary steps to ensure just that.
David and Sharon Attwater
Sydney Australia

[divemunky]

Hi David and Sharon,
So glad to hear you have not quit diving as that experience you had is not the norm for sure. I am currently in Thailand and am sure that this company is in the minority as I have been diving here for a while and also teaching here so have experienced many companies and dive centres and every one I have worked for ensures a scuba review is done for anyone who feels like you guys did, only last week I had a couple who had not been diving for 7 years and 20 years so I got them in the pool the day before and then stuck with them the whole day whilst on the boat as thats the way it should be done.

Anyway glad that you have dived since, keep it up.

Colin.

[boblumix]

We have been advised to lodge this complaint with Padi and today we have done just that.
David and Sharon