Lynn L.
Yelp
Just like Russ wrote below... we had a nice time with our family BUT a terrible experience with the houseboats (we rented 2 for July 4-7) and customer service.
From the beginning, we should have known we were going to have problems. As we were driven off by one of the employees, we noticed our AC was not working properly. When we asked the employee, he said to flip the breaker when we parked, and if that didn't work, to call them on the radio and they would come out and service the boat. WELL, it didn't work and despite numerous distress calls, NO ONE CAME AND NO ONE ANSWERED. Not only was our AC not working, our fridge was barely working. Most of the raw meats and all the milk all went bad!!!! My 2 year old vomited for a day because I was giving her spoiled milk! 2 grandparents and 3 babies were on board, along with toddlers and kids all under the age of 12 were split between 2 boats, and unfortunately, all the babies were on the boat that was not running properly. The AC went on an off from that point on but never fully worked- we never got over 88degrees and at the highest it was 97degrees indoors and that is not acceptable! We had to keep everyone in the waters and outdoors until very late every night when it would cool down to a bearable temperature.
Another big issue was the engines. Within 1.5 hours of us taking off, one of our houseboats right engine went out, and then the second houseboat had an engine go out as well. So we had to dock our boats and we never got to move from that position after. We were stuck in that place for all 4 days! We never got to drive our houseboats around to explore the areas that were recommended to us by the staff member who had drove us off the dock.
On Friday early evening, after dozens of radio calls that were ignored, we finally had 1 of our family members (my brother in law) drive the only jet ski we had out to dock to speak to someone about helping us repair/replace the boats, buy more food and to pick up bags of ice to keep our (new food and) remaining perishables that had not gone bad, cool. James, the manager, came out and told our family member that someone would be sent out that day. NO ONE CAME UNTIL THE NEXT DAY, LATE AFTERNOON SATURDAY. Mind you, we got there Thursday and left Sunday.
When we returned the boats today, I asked to speak with the manager to let them know about all our issues, and more importantly, the lack of care and customer service provided by this company. The response and attitude we got from the "manager" James, was the most shocking and disappointing experience out of this whole situation. He was completely unprofessional, and I felt like I was arguing with a child. He threw his arms up and shrugged his shoulders in a way you would when you tell someone "oh well, I don't know, I don't care" way. He blamed us for the lack of help/service and lack of promptness from their staff. He said that when my BIL showed up, he didn't make it sound like it was an issue that needed to be dressed promptly or ASAP. My BIL had told James we were be there until Sunday, so James assumed they would fix and repair all the boats issues after it was returned on Sunday (today). This assumption and his customer service skills are atrocious and lacking. He obviously has no compassion or care after our money has been paid.
There were many faults from this company during this whole trip. If things were done with a little more care and concern, this situation could have all been avoided.
1. When we took off and the employee noticed the AC wasn't working, he (or upper management) should have radio called us to follow up to ask if we got it to work.
2. They could have answered 1 of our dozens of distress calls.
3. They should have followed through and sent someone to us on Friday when we had our family member drive to the dock to physically ask someone in person to send help.
4. James could have at least apologized and heard our concerns and issues and addressed them.
I understand problems and issues with renting anything can arise, but I'm not even writing this review based on that, nor did I even address any of those issues to James when we checked out-- like how the boats were so old and worn out, spider and bug infestation (webs all over), broken swim up ladder, container of marijuana found in one of the bedroom cabinets. I really wanted to just address the basics that should have been working and provided to us on the houseboats for the amount of money we spent, which was over $9,000. Our fridge and AC should have been working properly and they should have responded to our calls for help! Our experience with this company was absolutely horrible and we totally feel ripped off. After they take your money, you are basically on your own!