1-Star Review -- Extremely Disappointing Experience
Our experience with Scuba Dogs in Puerto Rico was extremely disappointing, and the biggest issue was the complete breakdown in communication and the way the situation was handled afterward.
A week before our scheduled dive, Scuba Dogs contacted us and changed our dive time from 9:00 AM to 8:00 AM. However, 24 hours before our dive, we received another confirmation email from Scuba Dogs clearly stating that our scheduled dive time was 9:00 AM. Naturally, we relied on the most recent written confirmation sent directly by the company.
The morning of our dive, the staff began calling us around 8:15 AM telling us we were late for our 8:00 AM dive. We explained that the confirmation email they had sent us the day before stated 9:00 AM. At that point, instead of acknowledging their own conflicting communication, they began discussing trying to reschedule us.
We were traveling through Puerto Rico traffic and remained in communication with them by phone throughout the morning. We arrived later than expected because of traffic, but still within 30 minutes of the 9:00 AM time stated in their most recent confirmation email. Despite knowing we were actively on our way, they had already sent our dive guides home.
They then refused to provide the dive AND refused to refund our money.
What made an already frustrating situation worse was the response from the owner and staff. Rather than acknowledging that their own confirmation email contained the 9:00 AM time, they argued with us and insisted that we were outside the scheduled window. It is incredibly frustrating for a business to send a customer a written confirmation with a specific time, communicate with that customer throughout the morning, and then refuse service and keep the customer's money because the business claims a different time applied.
We understand that dive operators have schedules to maintain and that customers have a responsibility to arrive on time. But customers also have every right to expect a company to honor the appointment time stated in the confirmation email it sends 24 hours before the scheduled service. If 8:00 AM was truly the final scheduled time, then the confirmation sent the day before should have said 8:00 AM--not 9:00 AM.
The poor communication could have been an understandable mistake. Refusing to take responsibility for that mistake, sending the guides home while knowing we were on our way, arguing with us about their own conflicting communications, and then refusing to refund our money is what made this experience unacceptable.
We planned part of our Puerto Rico trip around this dive and were genuinely looking forward to it. Instead, we lost our dive experience and our money because of conflicting information sent by the company itself.
Based on our experience, I cannot recommend Scuba Dogs. If you do book with them, I strongly suggest saving every email and confirmation you receive, because apparently even the appointment time shown in their most recent written confirmation may not be the time they expect you to follow. read more