In Reply to: Re: dixie divers, of utah stay away, a long ways away posted by Eric S on October 14, 2010 at 20:26:09:

Yes, there is more to this story.

I am not affiliated with the Great Escape, but I am a friend of Capt. Tim. We talk often.

The way Tim explains it to me is that during a July charter with Dixie divers there was discussion and confusion regarding the pricing of their trips, and the pricing on future trips, Tim provided them with pricing for all future charters at that time.

As this recent October charter date approached Tim had some discussions with Dixie divers and Dixie expressed to Tim they might not fill the boat, possibly losing money on the charter, talk about their cash flow issues, etc.. There was no talk by either party that the trip was cancelled. Tim had hope that they would obtain more customers and did not cancel the trip nor change the pricing.

In light of these recent conversations, Tim became concerned about Dixies ability to pay for the trip and as the charter date approached he did not want to incur the cost to prep the boat for the trip (buy fuel, buy food, pay the crews wages to help prepare the boat) without payment in hand. So very close to the departure date Tim informed Dixie Divers that they would have to pay the agreed charter price either via a bank wire transfer or a Paypal payment instead of by check on the boat. Tim wanted to avoid a check “bouncing” after the charter.

Earlier this week, about three days prior to departure, I personally called the Dixie divers shop and inquired as a prospective customer on this very same GE trip. I was told that “the trip was full” and they suggested that I contact some other dive boats in the area. They did not tell me the trip had been cancelled. Just that the trip was full. This didn’t seem right to me. Something seemed fishy.

Tim tells me that at no time was the price of the trip ever “raised”. There may have been some miscommunication about rates back in July, but Tim states that he tried to remedy that in July. Sure.. the payment terms might have been changed a few days prior to departure, (payment via a wire or Paypal instead of by check). That’s the only thing that he changed at the last minute. I would have done the same if I were him.

Dixie Divers went out this weekend on a competing dive boat instead! Talk about adding insult to injury!

It's my opinion that Tim tried to be a “good guy” , tried working with this group up until the last few days…only to be “screwed” by them. Tim made a mistake for trying to be a “nice guy” and working with these folks.

October is a bad time for a dive boat to lose a charter. If Tim had been given sufficient advanced cancellation notice he might have advertised an Open Boat instead. Instead he has the weekend off with no trip and no revenue.

I suspect that it was Dixie Divers plan to attempt to back Tim into a corner, show up last minute with x number of divers and x amount of monies and and to say “take it or leave it”.

Dixie divers got a sweet deal and took advantage of Tim.

The moral of this saga is simple: Nice guys finish last, and no good deed goes unpunished.

• Re: More to this story I think Joe B 17:55:52 10/18/10 (1)
  • A lesson learned? Mike M 11:12:09 10/19/10 (0)
• Thanks for clearing that up seahunt 17:09:48 10/16/10 (0)
• Re: Nice guys finish last Eric S 14:14:04 10/15/10 (1)
  • Re: Re: Nice guys finish last Mike M 11:01:55 10/19/10 (0)