Bay Area Scuba

DO NOT GO TO BAY AREA SCUBA. This is the worse diving school.
The owner wasted our time in name of theory sessions by telling his own stories,
He canceled and rescheduled our pool sessions without telling us,
He «forgot» to give paperwork to many people in our group for the dive in Monterey. They got to know about it after they reached Monterey and had to go back or wait half day to get the papers,
We had to pay more money to the dive shop in Monterey and they said owner will refund it.
It took us 6 months to get the refund from him. After many calls and visits we managed to get the refund check.
The whole experience was a nightmare and will highly recommend not to waste your money here!

The whole experience from beginning to end with Bay Area scuba was a hassle. My husband really liked Scott however the way he runs his business is not so «likeable». When I initially called scott quoted me a price for the Open Water Course & said that everything was included. He gave us a time for the pool dive and assured me that we could get certified before our vacation three and a half weeks later. The most we’ve ever heard from Scott was the very beginning of the transaction where he told us where and when to meet for the pool instruction. Other than that we never heard from scott or received any type of communication, follow through, etc. until we contacted NASE, contacted the pool instructor who gave us our first instruction, the dive shop he subbed us out to in Monterey and our credit card company. Scott said we could take the pool instruction and dive the following weekend in Monterey which would have given us more than enough time to complete everything before our trip. We didn’t know until last minute that the Monterey dive had been canceled after we had already cleared our schedule. We made plans to go diving the following weekend which ended up being Labor Day. Come to find out last minute again that the trip got canceled. We had to move our vacation around in order to accommodate the certification because we wanted to complete everything here. Finally, the third time around we were able to dive in Monterey but Scott never told us was that we would have to pay for the instructor in Monterey AND the gear rental. We spent $ 421 in Monterey and when we asked scott for a refund– he said he would send it– 3 weeks later we still hadn’t received it. We had to contact the dive shop in Monterey and our credit card company. Finally scott returned my call and said that he had been waiting on some checks or something. There was always an excuse. The dive trips were apparently canceled because somebody got sick or hurt, he didn’t return our phone calls because his voicemail got hacked, he didn’t send us our money because he was waiting on some checks or something. It was just hassle after hassle. I could have overlooked some of this if he had had the courtesy to reach out to us when the dive trips were canceled, when he didn’t send our check, when he didn’t send us our certification cards, etc. He never reached out to us one time. My husband and I have a lot of patience and we are understanding people. Maybe all of these things he said were true but at the very least this business is not doing customers any favors. You are expected to do all the follow through, all the calling and all the research in order to make all this stuff happen. If you’re interested in doing something like this then you’re welcome to try but I wouldn’t recommend getting certified here.

Scott is a super nice guy however he has a lot on his plate. I got my pool stuff out of the way right away with Dennis. Which was great. Getting my open water done took some time to figure out. The first time, I scheduled my open water dive Scott must have forgotten to write it down. I had to wait a month to work it into my work schedule. Once I get my gear from him and he sends you down to Bamboo Reef Enterprises which they do the open water dive with you. They were great.
My over all experience with Scott was okay. Once again, he is managing two businesses and I think by himself. If he had someone helping him organized all the paper work and times. It would have been a better experience.

I love this place– Scott rules (I would literally pay money to hang out with this guy), and Dennis (who has been doing the pool portion) is a great teacher, too.
I feel confident in what I learned and am taking the open water portion this weekend in Monterey.
Everyone who has a problem with the way Scott is can shut it. Just because his personality is a bit more abrasive and he has no filter doesn’t mean you need to get all butt-​hurt about it. Learn to cope with people having different communication styles than you. He seems rude on the phone but the second you meet the guy you understand he’s not rude at all, he’s just busy as hell and to the point– no time for nonsense. Lastly, he has been through some serious injuries while diving and he will make sure that you understand exactly what you need to do so that you don’t experience what he did. Good teachers don’t baby you through programs, they challenge you.
Anyway, good place, stoked I found it, would def come here again whether for an advanced diving course or for shooting certifications. You’re coming here (and paying) to learn how to not die while underwater, and to enjoy yourself while experiencing the underwater world… remember that when you read these shitty reviews of people having problems with Scott’s attitude– you aren’t paying for conversation. You’re paying for expertise and Scott has it. He’s certified out the ass and if you want top notch, he’s your guy.

Wow. All better

And still no refund. Also, I’ve been contacted by others who’ve had the same thing happen to them. So, I am not the first or last. Do not give them your credit card number!

I decided to take my scuba cert through Bay Area Scuba because of their flexibility with my schedule. Unlike most students, I preferred to take my classes during the week instead of the weekend. Scott Jackson (the owner) was very flexible and was very good at communicating with me. Despite some last minute changes I was able to get the class and pool work done before my trip to the Philippines.
Step by step here is what to expect:
Online course work — best for those who want to study at their own pace and are good at self-​study. Give yourself a good amount of time — the modules are easy but you need to pay attention — scuba is super technical! I got to work the day after I signed up with Scott.
In class refresher — with Scott — he’s very knowledgeable and walks you through everything you studied online and the dive tables. He will give you a dive table to keep.
Pool — I did the pool work with one of his instructors — he was awesome, very good at keeping me calm and comfortable through both pool classes. I successfully got through all of the skills by the end of the 2^nd pool session.
Open –water — Do this while on a tropical trip — Scott can help you find a referral dive shop if needed. I did all 4 of my dives in Anilao, Batangas Philippines. 84+ degree water, visibility at 20 ft, and the most diverse coral reef and marine life habitat in the world. It was beyond amazing.
Best tip I got from one of my instructors — BREATHE LONG AND DEEP — this will allow you to save air and will help keep you calm in the ocean.
Got my NASE c-​card 1 week after I got back — now how is that for service?

Even though Scott had certified me a million years ago, he obviously made a big impression because he was the first person I thought of when my boss called me into his office to ask about scuba courses. My boss had a big Hawaii trip scheduled this last year and needed to get his kids certified before they left. Scott was great about making time for them and rushing them through the certification as quickly as he could so that they could finish their certification/​do their open water dive on their Hawaii trip! Scott was a job saver with the small amount of time my boss allotted me to get his kids certified! He has always been really responsive to my scheduling needs as well as any questions or concerns that my boss had. I would definitely recommend him to anyone else who wants to look into scuba.

Scott was very helpful an accommodating when I need to get my dive certification at the very last minute. I called him on Friday, said I was leaving on Monday for the Dominican Republic and wanted to go diving. I had no prior experience and this was a total spur of the moment decision. I asked him if this was even possible and he got me going on it that very afternoon. Easter weekend, mind you! After a few minor setbacks, we got it done — Scott made sure of it! I’m now on my way to the DR with my diving referral in hand and can wait to do my first open water dive over there!

I have tried and tried not to leave a review here for BAS but the fact is I have been trying to get a refund from them for almost a year now without success. My doctor would not sign off on me doing scuba training and this is the one reason BAS will issue a refund. I have provided this paperwork many times — over email, attempted over the phone, etc, only to be ignored and given excuses.
As I sit here with bandages around my neck from yet another cancer surgery I am disgusted that I now need to spend my time and energy pursuing a BBB complaint and a small claims court proceeding — but it is either that or just accept that I have given $ 384 to BAS, which I refuse to do. Scott is an expert at dodging emails/​calls when they involve him having to refund money — I am sure that is not the case when people are trying to send it.
This company deserves ZERO stars and should not be in business at all.

It’s taken me a LONG while to get up the nerve to write a review, after reading the threats Scott has posted on others’ reviews of his business.
I did my scuba certification with Bay Area Scuba in July 2010. My pool dives were at the end of July, with divemaster Tony. Tony was a good teacher and I never felt unsafe, as others have said they felt.
My open-​water cert was in August 2010 in Monterey. I did this through Bamboo Reef (as a referral since Bay Area Scuba had no open-​water certs available when I needed it). BAMBOO REEF WAS AWESOME AND I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM — KEITH IS THE BEST. Moving on…
I received a temp card from Bamboo Reef following my open-​water cert in Monterey. I went diving in Maui a couple weeks later. Came home. Waited for my hard card, for which Scott at Bay Area Scuba was responsible for getting the paperwork together and sending the card to me. I didn’t get the hard card.
Got ANOTHER temp card and dove Kona in November 2010. Still no hard card.
Kept calling about my hard card. «Did you lose the paperwork, Scott?» «No, NASE lost it.» Okay…
February, SIX months later: no hard card. Scott said he’d been in the hospital. I ask if he’d been in the hospital for the last SIX MONTHS? I mean, I’m a compassionate person but come on, dude.
I called Awesome Keith at Bamboo Reef asking for guidance. I just wanted the card. He suggested I get the paperwork from Scott and send it to NASE myself, even though that’s not the way things are supposed to work. So that’s what I did in April, as it had become abundantly clear that Scott completely lost my paperwork and gave me the run-​around for half a year.
In order to get the proper paperwork, I had to drive to Burlingame TWICE more. I live in Berkeley, which is not close to Burlingame.
June 2011: I had to get ANOTHER temp card to dive San Diego.
July 2011: I finally received my hard card, ELEVEN MONTHS AFTER BEING CERTIFIED. Two weeks later I dove Kauai, got my Advanced Open Water Cert (through PADI — the way to go) and received THAT hard card three weeks later. So I used my NASE hard card for a total of two weeks, even though I had been diving for almost a year.
In short: Customer service here sucks ass. Go to Bamboo Reef. The ratings here should be a dead giveaway, and I only wish I had checked Unilocal before booking my certification through Bay Area Scuba.

Owner Scott Jackson at Bay Area Scuba Diving is freakin’ NUTS. Stay clear from this business.
Let’s just say this guy now claims the #1 spot for worst customer service experiences. Absolutely dreadful. Rude, disrespectful and untrustworthy.
Update: A fellow Unilocaler asked my to elaborate on this business, oddly just seconds after I posted it, so here’s some details:
GF signed up for open water course prior to reading Unilocal reviews — big mistake. Guy was very short and insulting on phone. Received no instructions or documentation, just single sentence emails with link to online training course. Training website was unbelievably amateur as it was filled with typos and it didn’t work with any browsers (had to constantly reload pages and login.) The experience we had completely underwhelmed us and genuinely concerned us to the point that we would not receive proper instruction in a safe, comfortable environment. He completely took the fun out of something we were both looking forward to for quite some time.
Look, just read the other reviews, there is something fundamentally wrong about this individual and how he conducts business. He shows no respect or concern for his customers which is a huge mistake as a business, especially in today’s tenuous economy.
On the bright side, we found a fantastic group fairly close by that has been a real pleasure to work with so far. I’ll have a another review when we finish.

DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH SCOTT. Literally, the worst experience of my life. He is horribly rude and disrespectful, and completely illogical and unreasonable.
He failed to send us the necessary paperwork before the lesson, so we were disqualified from diving without a doctor’s note. We weren’t told this until we were in our wet suits on the the side of the pool.
We were told to reschedule, but we can’t. We’re getting married and going on a long honeymoon and were trying to get certified before then. Also other life circumstances prevent us from having the time to do it.
So we nicely asked for our money back (explaining that he screwed up), and these were the responses we got from Scott. Word for word, pulled out of his emails:
«What a bunch of garbage.»
«We are all victims no one is accountable for their own neglgence. You need to stop blaming other and be big girls and big boys and read the data on the website.»
«You need to grow up and we set private instruction for you. As any educated persons know that all info is always on the website. «
I do not wish to be treated like this by anyone, especially to someone I gave nearly $ 700 to.

I have to change my original review because I just now got my certification.
Here are the facts:
1. Scott is an excellent instructor
2. I finally received my certification 10 – 11 months after I completed my open water certification.
I called Scott multiple times and he blamed NASE for being understaffed and slow. My girlfriend called NASE and they blamed Scott citing that «they have had problems before». We also had to send Scott our pictures multiple times which made me lose faith in Scott’s claims that it was NASE’s problem.
Scott and the NASE can blame each other all they want for the delay, but the fact remains that it took almost a year to finally get my card. Placing blame helps nobody.
Receiving our actual Open Water Diver certification cards was an unexpected hassle that I would not like to go through again.
My final observation was that Scott was an excellent instructor and the time spent in the pool and the classroom was fantastic. The hassle of trying to get my actual certification card definitely diminished the excellent experience that I had with Bay Area Scuba early on.
My hope is that this review will prompt Scott to work out his issues with the NASE in order to provide a better service.
Again… I want to reiterate that up until the hassle of trying to get my certification, I had an excellent experience.

I did my Open Water Cert with Scott (owner) and Tony. Although I will agree it was chaotic the first day getting the equipment and scheduling the Open Dive in Monterey, I liked that is was small enough to give more individualized instruction. The shop was close to my house and the price was definately right. When one of the tanks I took to Monterey was leaky Scott promply refunded the cost of the air refills. He even gave me a little gift when I went by today to pick up my card. I recommend this shop because as with anything else in life, you can attract more flies with honey than you can with vinegar! Oh and the dog onsite is pretty cool too :)

The owner seems to have cleaned up the fraudulent claims on his website, and either responded to BBB and given them no hope of resolving his issues so they administratively nixed the bad stuff — that does not speak to how the issues were resolved, but at least he isn’t ignoring them anymore.
This, by the way, is how Unilocal should work. Naughty little shop keepers are forced to clean up their act when the light of public awareness and scrutiny shines on their naughty little thieving ways. I had such a bad experience with this fellow, however, that I’m keeping my rating the same as before. He will need to put extra effort into customer service to see his ratings here improve.

I find myself writing this review because of comments I’ve seen on this website regarding this business. And I have to say, knowing Scott Jackson and working with Bay Area Scuba Schools for 15 years, that these accusations seem unrealistic and untrue. Scott has worked with me with nonprofit organizations donating his time, services, equipment, to enrich and expand underprivileged people’s horizons. He has always been reliable and a man of his word. I and the many people who have learned and taught with Scott have had nothing but good and positive experiences. During all of this, we have developed a wonderful friendship. I would highly recommend anyone wanting to learn scuba diving to go to the Bay Area Scuba Schools.

We were promised dates that weren’t available, had to go through our credit card company to get a refund, and have been threatened with a lawsuit for posting my review…
This is the first time I’ve felt compelled to write a review, and it’s a long story, but I’ll try to be brief:
— My wife and I were promised specific training dates (confirmed by email) 2 months in advance. We double-​checked the week before our pool sessions were scheduled to take place — it was important as my mom was flying in from the East Coast to watch our son while the two of us trained together (and we were leaving on a trip soon afterward).
— The day before my wife’s training was to start, Scott told us that our dates wouldn’t work, so we couldn’t complete the training.
— Scott refused to refund the money. He eventually agreed to do so, and I tried calling him for 2 months (each time he gave some reason I should call back later) before giving up and getting the refund through the credit card company.
It is clear from the other reviews that we aren’t the only ones who have had disappointing interactions with Scott. Ask around in the diving community before committing to something that might seem more convenient!

Me and three friends were planning our trip to Belize and we wanted to scuba dive. I found bay area scuba from searching online and emailed Scott for more information. He was very direct about the process, and I scheduled the classes for our open water certification.
Scott for certain is a very interactive instructor, many of his lessons were running through my mind as we were doing our final training days in beautiful Belize.
If you want to learn to Scuba, I highly recommend Scott and his team to get the job done.
BTW, Robert who does the pool instruction is awesome…

Satisfied customer! I got SDI certified in 2 weekends!
I sent an email to the website at 10PM and got an immediate response! Now, that is service. WOW!
Scott was very responsive and I was able to get my needed pool dives in on that same weekend and schedule open water dives in Monterey the following weekend. I did my online course with through there SDI link in one night and one day… passed the next day and was able to get baseline knowledge before the pool work.
Tony was the instructor for the both the pool work and the Monterey open water dives. I will have to say that he made me feel very comfortable in the water and he is a great instructor.
Things to expect for the pool dives:
1) Shop is in Burlingame and the Pool is in San Mateo, so you need to drive to the pool, not a big deal just don’t expect to jump in the water them minute you show up at the shop.
2) You need to hall all your gear back and forth to and from the shop to the car, then from the car to the Pool once you get there… that means, 20lbs weight belt, 30lbs of tank x 2, BCD, regulator and all that other gear. Fins, boots, etc. walk up from the parking lot in the pool area; it’s a bit of hill climb. Not bad, but you need help ask Tony or whoever else is there and they will assist you.
3) Tony was our instructor, really great, really laid back… made you very comfortable in the pool and in Monterey.
Things to expect for Open water in Monterey:
1) We were late
2) The instructor was late
3) The other team members were late
4) Try and show up early for parking!
5) With a group getting into the water and a very technical sport expect delays.
6) Don’t schedule dinner plans on Sunday night thinking you can make it back to San Francisco in time… just too much to fit in and you don’t want to be rushing.
6) The other folks were there but were not really coordinated on our EXACT times for getting in the water and being at the shore
7) We waited 30 minutes or more for one person, I found this frustrating. I even let Scott know when I got back that it would be nice to have ground rules for those that are late so they don’t hold up the team. Not sure if they will do this but it is worth asking about if you go.
Overall rating is four stars ****
*****Great service
****Good instruction,
*****Good people
Areas for improvement: They could improve on having better estimations for times it will take for the Open Water part.
They are a smaller shop but you will be able to get your dives in «last minute» if you need to
Great Flexibility to your schedule.
As a side note, they also teach firearms instruction, I thought this was a fun combination.