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February 2024 by Chantel Oah
My partner and I got our very first Scuba certification (Open Water) at Pacific Wilderness and only have positive things to say! Every single person we came into touch with through their business was knowledgeable, thorough, and super supportive. Everyone from my in-class/pool instructor (Josue), the people who helped me at the shop (Chabo + DJ), and all the dive instructors (Matt, Jacob, Linden, Mark, Andrew, Josh) that assisted us during our first ocean dive were so genuinely kind! You can tell everyone is passionate about diving - they all had such great stories to share. I had challenges and a lot of fear with the mask clearing skills and the instructor was really understanding and patient with me. I felt like we were in good hands the whole time. If you’re thinking about getting your certification or are hesitating going for it, I would definitely recommend coming here! I feel like you’re coming to a community here. We’ll be coming here for all our diving needs!Also, I’m a bargain hunter and I’m pretty sure the prices for all the items they sell in store are the lowest you can buy them compared to anywhere else so that also made me happy :)
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November 2023 by Gugu Tian
I recently had an extremely disappointing encounter with this dive shop. My friend and I booked a drysuit class with them and had been dealing with an instructor named Spencer, who was completely professional and never indicated any particular policy about picking up the required drysuit booklets in person.
Given the distance of the shop from where we live, I asked my boyfriend to do us a favor and pick up the booklets. However, the staff at the shop treated him with an incredible level of rudeness. They outright refused to release the booklets to him, despite my attempts to verify our identity over the phone. Their behavior was extremely disrespectful.
Upon calling the shop directly, I was met with the same abrasive attitude. I was informed that their policy dictates we must pick up the gear in the shop. This seemed odd since we were explicitly told by Spencer that he would provide us with the gear on Saturday. When I relayed this, the staff member expressed no concern and, in a condescending tone, referred to my boyfriend as an "Uber driver" picking up an order, showing blatant disrespect towards his profession.
To make matters worse, I was then rushed off the call with the excuse of the staff member being busy with other customers. It was as if they couldn't care less about addressing our concerns. When I later spoke with Spencer about this, he seemed unaware of this so-called policy, which only added to the confusion and frustration.
I have been a diver for six years and have dealt with various dive shops and companies across different cities and countries. This encounter with this dive shop, however, ranks as the worst experience I've ever had. I was taken aback by their lack of professionalism and the condescending manner in which they treated us. I strongly advise against using their services.
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November 2023 by TB 6942
Called about their advanced diving classes. They only offer diving classes to locals. If you don't live close enough to pick up books they won't ship them to you. I guess fedex doesn't exists in San Pedro yet. Customer service seemed short and not very friendly. Was looking forward to a fun weekend finishing some dive certs. Will finish dive certs with more accommodating dive shops in SD, Monterey, SF, and Seattle.
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August 2023 by Matt Bakers
After 10 years of being a customer and getting certified here I go in to rent a tank coming home from work and realize I don’t have padi card. They can look up in computer as they have done once for me in past but Jason who I have been diving with and knows I am padi certified refuses to take a few minutes even with no other customers in shop as if it would be too much trouble. I tell them their customer service sucks and threw the rental paper back on the counter. Go home get my card and come back. Then mention I won’t buy anything there again so then they refuse to rent a tank to me. I have been to a lot of dive shops and PW is the always worst customer service like your privileged that they allow you to be a customer. I can rent and buy elsewhere. Won’t be back as if you care. A friend of mine was going to be coming in signing up for certification but not now.
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August 2023 by Icarus 6942
Called about their advanced diving classes. They only offer diving classes to locals. If you don't live close enough to pick up books they won't ship them to you. I guess fedex doesn't exists in San Pedro yet. Customer service seemed short and not very friendly. Was looking forward to a fun weekend finishing some dive certs. Will finish dive certs with more accommodating dive shops in SD, Monterey, SF, and Seattle.
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June 2023 by Guzi Tian
I recently had an extremely disappointing encounter with this dive shop. My friend and I booked a drysuit class with them and had been dealing with an instructor named Spencer, who was completely professional and never indicated any particular policy about picking up the required drysuit booklets in person.Given the distance of the shop from where we live, I asked my boyfriend to do us a favor and pick up the booklets. However, the staff at the shop treated him with an incredible level of rudeness. They outright refused to release the booklets to him, despite my attempts to verify our identity over the phone. Their behavior was extremely disrespectful.Upon calling the shop directly, I was met with the same abrasive attitude. I was informed that their policy dictates we must pick up the gear in the shop. This seemed odd since we were explicitly told by Spencer that he would provide us with the gear on Saturday. When I relayed this, the staff member expressed no concern and, in a condescending tone, referred to my boyfriend as an "Uber driver" picking up an order, showing blatant disrespect towards his profession.To make matters worse, I was then rushed off the call with the excuse of the staff member being busy with other customers. It was as if they couldn't care less about addressing our concerns. When I later spoke with Spencer about this, he seemed unaware of this so-called policy, which only added to the confusion and frustration.I have been a diver for six years and have dealt with various dive shops and companies across different cities and countries. This encounter with this dive shop, however, ranks as the worst experience I've ever had. I was taken aback by their lack of professionalism and the condescending manner in which they treated us. I strongly advise against using their services.
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June 2023 by Mo-Ra
My encounter at this dive shop was disheartening, to say the least. I drove down to pick up an order for my girlfriend and her friend, only to be met with rudeness and disrespect. On arrival, I interacted with a man named Jason.I informed Jason about the order I was there to pick up, providing the full names associated with the purchase to aid his search. However, he seemed uncertain about the order I mentioned. To clear up any confusion, I called my girlfriend and asked her to specify the items I was supposed to collect. She suggested speaking to Jason directly, but he flatly refused, insisting she should call the shop directly. Despite my ongoing conversation with him, he walked away, leaving me without even the shop's phone number for her to call.Subsequently, when my girlfriend managed to reach the shop by phone, Jason stated he couldn't hand over their items to a random Uber driver. Despite my girlfriend's clarification that I was her boyfriend and not an Uber driver, Jason continued to refer to me as "the Uber driver". It's worth noting that I do drive for Uber in my spare time, and my car does bear an Uber sign, but I hadn't anticipated this resulting in a condescending attitude when seeking services. Yet, that appeared to be the case with this establishment.When my girlfriend attempted to arrive at a resolution, Jason claimed he needed to put her on call hold as he had "other customers to help in the shop", although the shop was visibly empty.Though I didn't end up using their service, and I do comprehend the policies surrounding third parties picking up items, the unprofessional conduct demonstrated throughout this incident was absolutely unacceptable. I strongly discourage anyone from utilizing their services. The likelihood of being treated with a significant lack of respect, especially if you're an Uber driver or if you're from a profession this shop doesn't deem deserving of equal respect, seems alarmingly high.
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January 2023 by Martha Foster
The best place to learn diving, enjoy diving trips, and make friends in Southern California. Gabriel and his crews are very patient and super nice. Dove with them in Channel Islands, Bay Islands, Baja, Indonesia and many beautiful places in past 20 years. They always make extra efforts to ensure the diving safety, teaching underwater knowledge and skills. Look forward to diving with them on the coming live aboard on the classic Arenui to Forgotten Islands in 2023.
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January 2023 by Silva Duarte
Best place in the LA area to get all the Padi certifications. And also the overall cheapest place. The instructors (especially Josh) are great. I'll go there again for my Padi Advanced open water certification. I felt very well taken care off
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November 2022 by Kevin Tadlock
This is such an awesome place. My buddy got Dive certified here and it was a great experience. They have all the gear for any diving need! definitely a full service dive shop. Friendly staff, awesome service great place to go! ????
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November 2022 by Anonymous A.
Why are there Entitled Trump supporters running the SCUBA sales and rental area........ I would not recommend this place to any beginners novice or people just learning about scuba. The short round sales person with the Napoleon complex has a real issue with people. Having to go back-and-forth during class between the instructor and the sales people because of poor quality equipment that I bought in there shop! Doesn't make for easy learning. also learning with new equipment walking into the ocean to dive I think is a major issue for beginners! And singling out divers by giving some poor outdated equipment just because you can! Not cool! And quite dangerous! Do yourself a favor and go somewhere else!,!!!!! I'm sure almost anywhere else will offer a better experience!
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November 2022 by scubafever282828
Thank you for leading me to my SCUBA certification
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November 2022 by Kelsi Rutledge
Took a scuba refresher class with John. It was really great and would recommend to anyone who needs a refresher. John was super nice, patient, and very helpful. Thank you!
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October 2022 by Dino A.
Replying to owners long desperate message, as his "investigation" into what day I came in. I am not the person who u say I was in the camera. Yes ur employees were rude and uninformed. Again, just from that long reply further proves my point of how this place is discriminatory and biased. I'm truly impressed on the efforts of ur response. Had that same energy been match throughout my years of trying to come here and buy gear only to be reminded why I don't, definitely would have had a life long customer. But the tone of the this response is laughable at best. I really can't get over how long that response was. It comes off so desperate. The only wilderness this place is capable of, is the homelessness that camps outside the establishment every so often. Don't waste ur time going here people. A lot of stuff is out of date, over priced and the gear is from last century. Big 5 has better options.
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September 2022 by lax44
Swung by yesterday to pick up some things for Rescue. Corey was super helpful and took the time to explain the differences in equipment between brands, what options I had, and what his recommendations were. Can't wait for class to start!
