TERRIBLE - this experience was shocking to say the least.
Larry - shame on you. Your horrifying attitude shows how miserable you are as a person. I am appalled at how you treated our group of 6 young women. Especially considering the issue was due to YOUR own mistake, lack of communication and just overall poor management. You should not be running a business or interacting with humans.
I booked a 20 foot pontoon on 4/19/22 for a rental date of 6/18/22 as a surprise for my friend's 29th birthday. (I would like to note - we had two girls fly in for this weekend from California and Chicago). Our party of 6 arrived at 12:10 for our 12:30 reservation (reservation asks you to arrive at least 15 minutes early).
When I went to check in, the young man working the register looked like he was about to have a panic attack. I soon realized that was because his manager (Larry) gave our boat to another party that morning and told them to be back an hour after our reservation was booked (told them to have the boat back by 1:30 but our reservation began at 12:30). The earlier reservation's boat did not start that morning, so they gave them our boat. We understand that these things happen. Our issue was that no one called us and that there was no apology, rather one of the most hostile reactions I have ever experienced. They knew this issue existed at 8AM, so why wait until 12:15 when I am checking in to say something? We planned our whole weekend around this boat rental. Larry said we can 'just extend our reservation into the evening', like he was doing us a favor, not once apologizing.
The really frustrating part is that there was rain predicted that afternoon and the only sunshine lasted through about 1:30. So we had anticipated paying over $400 for our 5 hour rental, only able to enjoy about one hour of sunshine between 12:30 - 1:30/2. But when attempting to check in, were told that we would not be on the boat until 1:30 which turned into 1:45 - the time kept getting later.
I went to chat with my party that was waiting outside of the shop to process what I was told. Two of my friends came back in to talk with the employees. There was a 'manager' between the man that checked me in and 'Larry'. He addressed us at the counter, stuffing chips into his mouth. As soon as my friend asked why we did not receive a call, he snapped, shouting across the store - "I am so short staffed and don't have time to f*ucking deal with this. I am going to get Larry so he can tell you the same f*cking thing! How about we just refund you your f*ucking money?!" To which my friend responded, "That would be great!". If you are so short staffed, why didn't you take the appropriate action to call us when you knew this was going to be an issue rather than waiting to deal with it when we arrived? Its management 101 and a monkey could have handled this situation better. Had you made that call in the morning, you would not have had to address me at the counter while shoving chips in your mouth and could have taken a proper lunch break? Rather than screaming at me while I was calmly asking for a solution that we could agree on.
Larry acts like this so of course, his employee thinks it is ok. This made everyone in the store SO uncomfortable. This interaction made me cry immediately (I guess I don't do well with people yelling in my face?) so I gave my card and ID to the two girls with me and went to wait outside.
After mulling it over - we decided that we had been disrespected and just wanted to get refunded and not have to deal with these awful people any farther. When we followed up and told Larry we wanted a full refund, he said, in front of other customers, "I am sick of your whining, I will just give you a refund". WOW THANKS LARRY!
End of the day, Larry and his little angry side kick met us with hostility because they knew they had made a mistake and rather than make it right, blew up on us when we questioned them.
I want to say I feel bad for the other employees. To the younger man and woman behind the counter - you deserve better in your workplace and should not be treated the way I saw Larry speak to you. He also should not be setting you up to fail like this. I know it was his decision to give away our boat and you had to sit in the uncomfortable environment that him and angry side-kick-chip-boy created for everyone involved.
DO NOT RENT FROM HERE- I WISH I TOOK THE REVIEWS MORE SERIOULSY!!!
Also last note - I have been in customer service for over 15 years and this is the first review I have ever written. I am very good at working with difficult people, but could have gotten farther with a 5 year old throwing a tantrum than these two 'men'. I too, am currently short-staffed and extremely stressed at work, but would NEVER speak to someone like this - especially a paying customer! Holy heck! read more