You took my reservation over a week ago for a refresher course today at 10am. I took time off work. So did my wife. We paid for an all day baby sitter. While I was sitting in your parking lot at 9:45am, you posted on your Facebook that you're closed and that's how I found out! Why did you confirm my reservation if you were going to be closed?! Or if this was a last minute thing why didn't you check the books?! This is not ok! read more

This was probably the worst retail experience I have ever had in my life. The man behind the counter made up prices for items that didn't have price tags on them including trying to charge me $20 for a non-O2 cleaned SPG Spool, priced under $5 everywhere else in the world. https://www.divegearexpress.com/dgx-air-spool-w-viton-o-rings-for-spg-swivel Only redeeming quality of the whole store is a nice shop dog. read more

Approx. 3 years ago, Matt, Emily, Linda, and myself decided to visit Loves Park Scuba for "Snorkeling Training". A very good idea, we learned how to surface dive very efficiently, and to hold our breath for a complete pool lap. Dan and company were very friendly and encouraged us to try scuba diving. Late December this year we completed our Certification eLearning and pool work. The LPS shop was transitioning from old text pamphlets to the Scuba Diver International eLearning, some students got pamphlets or online training. It was made very clear that the training was going to be very repetitive through all phases and that there would be a class review of all text book/eLearning final exam. Dan and Anna did the pool and class reviews with us and Remi did our Open Water Training. The LPS Team showed us each skill required, we repeated each skill, and repeated again and again, until we were very comfortable and proficient. Most important take away, pay attention to the instructors and demonstrations. We all had a little trouble at first, but Dan and Anna worked with each of us, and according to Dan, our group was the best group of the year. My family joined LPS for our Open Water Dives in Fiji at the end of Feb. 2019. Best trip ever, it is easy to see why so many of their friends return years after year for the many Diving trips they offer. First class operation in all respects. I think Dan and Remi had 27 individuals travel to Fiji. I must say that we enjoyed every moment of this great adventure with our new found friends. I encourage anyone thinking about Scuba Diving to take your lessons from LPS and enjoy a very special Dive vacation with specialized attention from two of the best, Dan and Remi. When I get a little more time, I plan on providing my review of our Fiji Trip. read more

Loves Park Scuba - The 2019 LPS Fiji Dive Group, thanks to all for your support of my families First Dive Experience! - Scuba Diving Near Me - Loves Park, Illinois

This is a small, family owned fully operational scuba instruction service and dive shop. When you are here, you are family. They are very busy for a small shop and you may need to wait for a return call, but it is worth the wait. My husband and I got our open water, advanced, and dive master certifications here. We also volunteer to assist with open water classes...for free! Because we like it here. This is not a big, glitzy place. You will know the owner, his wife, and Ruby II (the dog...we even knew Ruby the First) Perfect? No. But then again, whose family is perfect? But we know we are loved! read more

Loves Park Scuba - Scuba Diving Near Me - Loves Park, Illinois

wow, I like to test others' reviews to ensure the business isn't falsely accused...so I called and within 3 seconds, the guy who answered the phone said let me call you back a customer just walked in. What am I then? Yeah I think I'll shop around. read more

Dan is hands down the best instructor! He's so knowledgeable and made learning so easy. He has been diving for over 35 years and has successfully taught so many students - including the worlds oldest scuba diver! I felt very safe learning from him! Highly recommend! read more

What a great experience! Dan, the owner, is thorough and friendly! We did a refresher course this morning in preparation for an upcoming trip and it was well worth the drive from Chicago! read more

This place has the rudest person working there, and I think it's actually the owner. Their phone # is a cell phone I believe so be prepared for a bad connection. Don't ask to many questions because if you do they'll just hang up on you. Also whatever is listed on the website it's not true so don't go by what's advertised. Save yourself the trouble and just don't even bother with this place. I'm giving it 1 star only because I have to, to post this. read more

I researched scuba instruction in the Chicago area. Loves Park Scuba came up as one of the best deals for the money and I can say that is definitely an understatement. They were (are?) running a 2 for one special and when I told my wife, she said she would do it with me. (She has always said that she would never dive.) Dan Johnson, the owner and our instructor, was so knowledgeable, friendly, supportive and helpful, that we breezed through the class. Dan is also very conscientious and careful to ensure our safety during the class and when we our on our own as certified scuba divers (like we are now.) He is very attentive and can be stern at times when needed for safety. Even at those times, he keeps his easy-going ways about him. He was a great instructor! The open water dives are done at Pearl Lake which is only 20 minutes from the dive shop. Since it was the 28th of May, I was expecting a freezing cold greenish brown lake and not looking forward to our open water dives. I was very pleasantly surprised to find the lake a Caribbean blue, relatively warm with 25 ft. visibility. Because they have their own pool and the lake is only 20 minutes away, they are able to certify you in a single weekend, starting at 6 on Friday night and finishing by 4 on Sunday. It was great for us because we had to work around the 7 to 4 work week. Dan is also very knowledgeable about the full range of the sport, having a diving museum attached to the dive shop. He gave us a tour and it was very impressive, including many items he recovered himself from wrecks in the area. I can't say enough about the experience. It was so much better than I anitcipated, and I anticipated a great experience. read more

I brought my class to Loves Park Scuba for an Introduction to Scuba class. Dan and I had several conversations about the goals to be addressed for this group of students. They had an awesome time and keep asking me when we can go back for another lesson!!! My students spent 90 miuntes in the pool area with the very patient scuba instructor who guided them step by step on the use of the equipment and they were well supervised. The parents were invited to sit on the deck of the pool or in the lounge and watch the"action" on a large screen tv. After the pool instruction, we were treated to a tour of the museum and pizza. What a great time had by all!!! Dan and his staff made sure that all were safe and comfortable. The Intro to Scuba cards are a great keepsake idea! We will be back! read more

robert k 54 Reviewed 1 week ago A Pig He made comments to my 14 yr old daughter that a 70 yr old man should not be saying to a young female. Scuba is a risk inherent sport. Check out the places you are going to train with. Does the person teaching your class hold an instructor certification, ask them to show you're their credentials? Look at the gear and other equipment you are going to be training with. Is it old stuff or are the tanks 20 yrs. out of Hydro inspection. There is no such thing as not needing a hydro inspection for pool use only. Ask them to show how they sanitize the regulators or clean masks. Closely inspect the gear you are using before it needs to support your life. Just like in school, they should be cleaned in a UV sanitizer or you are getting what ever germs the last person had. If you buy gear, look on the internet and see if that model is old stock they have had sitting around or some cheap private label stuff that no other place would be willing to service. If you can't find it on the internet, its probably knock off junk or old stock that's been sitting in the back room for years. Is there chlorine in the pool? Is it nasty and dingy water or is it sparkling clear? Do some research before you put your life into someone else's who is just out to make a buck vs teaching you safely. Look at prior reviews and also see if their website claims can be backed up. If the claim they found ship wrecks, you should be able to back it up with the state historical society. If they claim they are a college professor, call that colleges HR department and see if they are truly a professor for them. As far as advertised pricing goes, ask them if that advertised price, they show gets you completely through your certification or are there additional fees and costs associated with it. Don't get taken with a false advertised price. Make sure you get things in writing! Don't get taken and ruin the experience of a lifetime. Scuba is a great time, just do it safely and smartly before you plunge in. If you do have a problem once you begin, not only leave it as a review, but contact the training agency directly. You can find contacts to both PADI & SDI on their websites. read more

Simply the best dive shop in the Midwest! Dan and his team are passionate and extremely knowledgeable. His training methodology produces confidence and measurable learner retention. I have thousands of dives under my belt - I trust Dan and his team implicitly. read more

Loves Park Scuba - Diving with Loves Park Scuba - Scuba Diving Near Me - Loves Park, Illinois

Loves Park Scuba is the best way to get certified in Northern Illinois - that includes Chicago and we should throw in Southern Wisconsin too (Madison and Milwaukee) Your time here is well spent. Dan Johnson and his wife run a great shop and he's been doing scuba since 1972 - you're not dealing with a newbie here at a strip mall Diving shop The best part is the pool is right inside his shop - you take the class and "boom" you're in the pool. This is so much more efficient than a shop that takes you to the "Y" or other pool. You waste your time schlepping gear and driving instead of learning. At LPS you get kid glove treatment - they take their time to explain everything and you're not rushed. We ran late on our lesson (one of my kids took a little longer than normal) and when we came out they had pizza for us. Wow! Go see Dan - he'll make it fun! read more

Dan agreed to place an order for me, two days prior to pick up he cancels my items. Why even go through the whole thing, he finalized the transaction a few days prior. Then he insults me for doing consumer research. read more

Really disappointing. Class consisted of the students taking turns reading answers from a workbook and the instructor telling pointless stories that had nothing to do with the material. Instructor didn't do a lot of teaching during the skills portion either, for example when my wife kept getting water up her nose and asked for advice he told her to suck it up. I would not recommend this place. read more

My friends and I wanted to get our advanced open water certification before going to dive in Australia. We were looking for a good deal and came across Loves Park Scuba online. We called and booked the class and that was our last organized dealing with Loves. First off, they ran out of training books so even though we already booked the class they didn't have enough materials. Secondly, we specifically asked for PADI certifications and not SDI but once we got to Loves we were told PADI is an additional $50. After our classes were over we were given SDI cards even though we had paid extra for PADI. We then filled out the paperwork and were told that Loves would mail it in and we would get our PADI cards in the mail - 3 months later we still hadn't received our PADI cards and after calling PADI they had never received our paperwork!!!! I had to call LOVES over 10 times before they acknowledged they never sent in our paperwork to PADI which sounded to me like they were just trying to take our $50 for PADI certification and just keep it. I just got my PADI card a little while ago but my friend got the wrong card because Loves sent him the wrong paperwork. Next, we live in Chicago and had to drive to Loves Park for the class, which was completely fine - but not okay if they cancel the class with only 30 minutes notice and then say it is our fault for not calling to confirm that class was still on before leaving. Since we were already on our way we decided to go to the shop and see if we could still have the class - and after 2 hours of standing around waiting for someone to acknowledge us they agreed to have the class. We had 1 hour in Pearl Lake and were supposed to do 3 skills - needless to say we didn't have time to learn anything. Loves is extremely disorganized and is definitely a shady business (taking your money for a service and then never doing that service). They are more interested in making a buck than actually teaching you how to dive. If you want to learn to dive do NOT go to Loves Park! read more

My wife and I did our certification course 3 years ago and booked a refresher course after talking directly to Dan two weeks ago. We showed up and immediately he was giving us attitude for not having our online course certificates printed (we were never told to). After some back and forth he realized we had been scheduled for a new diver courses. I expressed that I had spoken directly to him two weeks before about doing a refresher course and was clear we had already done a new diver certification with him and he asked to show him the call to prove it. I told him I knew it was him and he asked how that was possible. My response was that I took his course previously and remembered his voice! He told me I was wrong and that I told him the incorrect information. He finally agreed to do the refresher course which is $40 and I asked him to refund my 250$ I had paid for the new diver course and his response was that they had to pay for the online course and was refusing to refund me! (I had no idea if you have to do or don't have to do an online course for a refresher). He then spent a good 5 mins trying to figure out who's handwriting was on the booking calendar and once realizing it was him exclaimed with a smirk that it wasn't his fault. Our money was refunded and the course proceeded without incident. As we were leaving he explained to me that he figured out what had happened: He was driving when I called him and he then called his employee who incorrectly booked us. He never apologized and never took responsibility. He called me a liar and blamed his employees. His attitude was present during our initial course and friends that have been here agree he is very self centered. As the owner of a business everything that happens is your responsibility. I was not expecting a big grand apology but a simple "I'm sorry our fault, let's straighten this out" without making me feel like an idiot would have been fine. read more

Worst customer service I have ever experienced. The crew is very knowledgeable, however, they do not provide a positive learning experience. The girls that were running part of the class would tell us to do something and then Dan would come in and either be frustrated with the class or yell at the girls in front of us. He wasn't very clear on instructions at times which led to our frustration and then he would be so frustrated with us. The common theme was talking down to someone if they didn't understand what was being told to them. This was an introductory Open Water course. One of the girls was the worst, she would use an accusatory and condescending voice, roll her eyes in disgust, and talk about some of the students badly to other students. I would never go back. But the price may be right for you if you take advantage of the 2 for 1 deal. read more

If it were possible to rate a "zero" than I would. Walked in and the owner seemed rushed, even though no other customers were in the store. And when I asked to look at some gear he said "No, not until you`re ready to buy. (I had told him previously I was wanting to look at some gear before I purchase.) How am I suppose to buy gear or know what I want without first looking at it?! Absolutely TERRIBLE customer service and instead I decided to spend my $1300 at Forest City Scuba on 20th St instead! DO NOT spend your hard earned money here, go where someone appreciates it. Unless you come driving up in a brand new BMW and have money just falling out of your pockets they won`t take you seriously and will not give you the attention and customer service that they should. Thank you Loves Park Scuba for driving me to the guys down at Forest City Scuba, you all could learn a thing or two about customer service from them. read more