Puffin diving

[Pikey Dave]

ADMIN NOTE - Split from ERR Cruise Thread

Originally Posted by Xk59D

suffice to say i'll not be going to puffin dive centre again though.

Why? Do tell

[BruceB]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Why? Do tell

Whatever happened it will hardly be shocking or surprising, they aren't known as being the most popular facility on the west coast.
Tis a pity though, someone with a good sense of customer service using the fantastic facilities there would be a Carling type of dive centre............

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Xk59D

suffice to say i'll not be going to puffin dive centre again though.

Originally Posted by BruceB

Whatever happened it will hardly be shocking or surprising, they aren't known as being the most popular facility on the west coast.
Tis a pity though, someone with a good sense of customer service using the fantastic facilities there would be a Carling type of dive centre............

I've had my run ins with them before, I just wondered if Xk59D had a similar experience. They are without doubt the most unhelpful, miserable set of people I have dealt with in the boating/diving world. They don't deserve the stunning location that they have.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

I've had my run ins with them before,

Did you try to get green shield stamps on 49L of fuel then Pikey?

Boating Services available at Puffin Dive Centre

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by willk

Did you try to get green shield stamps on 49L of fuel then Pikey?

Boating Services available at Puffin Dive Centre

No, I wanted the Hi-ball glasses & they only had the whisky tumblers
Like the man says, pay up or fk off to Tescos. Hmmm Jerry cans

[jambo]

For the sake of ten minutes Tesco wins every time!!👍


Sent from my iPhone using RIB Net

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by jambo

For the sake of ten minutes Tesco wins every time!!👍


Sent from my iPhone using RIB Net

Yup, and it's fresh fuel


.....sh1t happens.......

[M.Thornton]

Originally Posted by BruceB

Whatever happened it will hardly be shocking or surprising, they aren't known as being the most popular facility on the west coast.
Tis a pity though, someone with a good sense of customer service using the fantastic facilities there would be a Carling type of dive centre............

Fuel fill Puffin Quick Exit petrol £600
Fuel fill Croabh haven Fast Forward diesel £250
Nuff sed

[Xk59D]

hey all,

I wasn't going to say too much about this in case the locals need to use them and i don't want to annoy them.

i'll copy and paste a PM to save re-typing as it annoys me "we" give people like this money.

this is quite a wee story so bear with me

I arrived there at roughly 6.30am, i couldn't sleep the night before so i set off at 2.30am thinking i'll put boat in water and goto the camp site i was booked at for some kip before meeting up with some of the lads midday friday. the general consensus was there was a pontoon/dinghy at puffin so we could use that or a mooring and row in.

anyways, problem numero uno, they wouldn't allow me to launch until the shop opened at 8am even though they were awake and walking about the place when i arrived. i pleaded with them that i damaged the boat last time out and wanted to catch it before low tide, it was roughly 3/4 tide when i got there and on the way out. i was leaving the boat/trailer etc there so not like i was going to bugger off.

eventually they let me launch about 7.30am.

next problem, i asked can i leave the boat against the wall and climb up one of the set of 3 ladders to go get a couple hours kip.....nope you can't do that.

ok, can i borrow your dinghy sitting there so i can put it on a mooring....nope, can't do that.

i asked how i could get back to shore and they suggested, i kid you not....swim.

my mrs is disabled (brain tumour/really bad eye site because of it) and she can't drive nor helm the boat. i asked can i leave it there 10 mins while we nip in to town to get a couple of bacon rolls (it was circa 9am by this time)....nope, need to stay with the boat. the place was EMPTY, i was only boat there and only one in the water, none on moorings either. so i had to leave my mrs sitting outside puffin on a bench with the keys to the boat for HER to move (no chance she could) as they demanded we remain with the boat or take it out water as in case it needed to be moved.

time passed on and we sat basically at the boat waiting until 11am to meet up with geoff off the forum, we went out for a few hours and headed back to easdale. i said to the lads i'll nip back up to puffin and see if anyone else is there as we were awake about 34hrs by this time and....well....FEEKED. there was no one at puffin still at about 2.30pm ish so i again went and asked if i could please leave it there for a couple of hours or borrow that dinghy....nope...need to take it out the water....so i did.

i refused to give them more money and put it back in the next day which ultimately meant i missed all of saturday, i picked the boat up out their yard about 11am saturday and headed home.

the owner is a complete tool who would have got a smack on any other occasion for the way he spoke to me and the staff unhelpful in general.

in the whole time i spent there i seen ZERO other people other than maximus from the forum so not like they were busy etc.

anyways, thems the breaks.

cheers

p.s fuel was 1.45 per litre at puffin, tescos was 1.19 on the same day. i only needed about 50l to top up so i probably would have paid the extra if they were helpful.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by M.Thornton

Fuel fill Puffin Quick Exit petrol £600
Fuel fill Croabh haven Fast Forward diesel £250
Nuff sed

In fairness though - even assuming they were the same volume its hardly fair to compare diesel and petrol prices. Obviously there are many pro's and con's of diesel v's petrol that have been repeated here over the years.

fuel was 1.45 per litre at puffin, tescos was 1.19 on the same day.

I don't think that is an unusual premium to pay for the convenience of "on the water" fuelling.

[Pikey Dave]

Poly, can we split this off to a separate thread so we don't spoil the ERR thread please.


.....sh1t happens.......

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Xk59D

I wasn't going to say too much about this in case the locals need to use them and i don't want to annoy them.

I don't think many of the locals use them, the facilities they provide are very much targeted at the diving community (and really at people using their facilities for instruction/refills etc). They are not a "ribbing" centre.

I'm not sure why anyone who wasn't diving would choose to base themselves there rather than at Easdale.

Its a shame that when they upset you you didn't pop to one of the other slipways in the area Ganavan? Drumstaffnage or even Easdale!

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Poly, can we split this off to a separate thread so we don't spoil the ERR thread please.


.....sh1t happens.......

Customer service is a pleasure

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Poly

Customer service is a pleasure

Cheers


.....sh1t happens.......

[Xk59D]

No I would suggest it was the "normal," the clyde is 1.34.

Anyways, I only mentioned it as someone else queried.

I've never been there before and I'll goto easdale next time. Easy saying just go here or there but didn't know the place.

Cheers

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Poly

In fairness though - even assuming they were the same volume its hardly fair to compare diesel and petrol prices. Obviously there are many pro's and con's of diesel v's petrol that have been repeated here over the years.



I don't think that is an unusual premium to pay for the convenience of "on the water" fuelling.

The cost of the fuel isn't particularly the issue, you pays your money & takes your choice. My problem ( of many&#128526 is the downright unhelpful attitude of the place in general, both as a diver & a ribber. They have a " can't do" approach to all aspects of their business. I had cause to fill some diving cylinders a couple of years ago from the self service air station. I did all the procedure & the process lasted about 30 sec before the supply cut off. I knew there was no way that the cylinders could have filled in that time, for a start they were still cold. I went into the shop & asked to borrow a pressure gauge " haven't got one" err! Ok do you have a regs with a gauge in I can borrow "no" hmm, something's not right with the filling panel then, "nothing wrong with it, you must have done something wrong" well, can I bring the cylinders into the shop & you can stick a reg on to see how much is in them then? "No" why? "not allowed" why? "policy" :errm:




.....sh1t happens.......

[The Gurnard]

Sorry to hear of your bad experience with Puffin Dive Centre Xk59D.

Im not a local but I have never had an issue with them.. probably because I have never used their facilities though.

I have heard some folk damb them and others praise them.

However..it would have been easy for their staff to say..no sorry..you cant do that because its against our rules..but hey..do you know there is a public slipway right beside the Cal mac terminal..pull up there and get your rolls from the van. ..save you driving down

Its a long time since I heard someone in business say.."customer comes first".. business seems to be all gimmie or if you dont like ..go else where.

Glad to hear the rest of the weekend went well at ERR despite the predicted weather

[GordyP]

Puffin are shocking, not surprised to hear of your experience with them.

The guys at Craobh Marina tend to be helpful, might be worth thinking of next time round.

[BruceB]

I wouldn't worry too much about the locals, I used to be one and wouldn't spit on them if the building was on fire and most of the folk I knew in the area looked at them either the same way or as a necessary evil to get air and servicing.

This could run and run, the number of "customer service" stories about their attitude could go on and on. If I told you some of the stories that I either witnessed, was part of or were told to me by folk that they happened to, and I believe you would think I was making it all up.
However I am not going to add to this as you can read all this on various diving forums written by a multitude of folk if you are really interested.

Funnily enough the cylinder fuelling story above could be me talking from years ago except I didn't get policy quoted at me, I got threats from the owner from questioning his panel not working, which I actually hadn't as I just wanted to check the pressure due to the short time they filled.

So rather than tell lots of stories I will say one thing which illustrates the place perfectly as far as I see.
I was told by the owner, face to face, that they have a lawyer that watches the diving forums to see if anybody is saying anything that is negative. They will then pursue legal action against that person if they can be traced.
You might think this is a bit far fetched but I once said on a dive forum about 10 years ago that I thought they must be quieter as the boats weren't seen out as much as they were and was subsequently personally threatened by the owner in the shop and my employer, at that time, called to try and trace me to take action.
This was the last straw after previous incidents and have never set foot or used them since, despite them being my local shop for most of the last ten years until moving away.

If they want to make an issue of the above they are perfectly welcome to try!

[willk]

Originally Posted by BruceB

If they want to make an issue of the above they are perfectly welcome to try!

I wonder how his Legal Beagles got on with TripAdvisor?