Our group reserved canoes a couple weeks out to do a training for a Boundary Waters expedition. The night before our reservation, they emailed informing us the reservation was cancelled, because the person who registered was a minor (17). So we got an adult to place the reservation on what appears to be their we portal. Had to make the reservation an hour earlier, which caused several folk to miss it as they were still at work. But turns out they are the real winners. Because those of us who went over early just got to talk to the manager telling us that they close at 4:00 and there are no canoes, and the reservation clearly was not with them. Who was it with? "Colorado Watersports"... well that is us, no reservation showed on their system, so they demanded to know WHO we made the reservation with, who did we talk to... https://www.coloradowatersports.com/ They claim to have no control over the web site. It lets me make a similar reservation for tomorrow. From which I conclude you should never make reservations with that web site as it is not for rentals at Colorado Watersports at Chatfield. Note: they made no move to get a canoe as they don't want canoes going out that late. Literally all the employees were just sitting around doing nothing except try to prove we don't have a reservation. Clearly they did not want our business. They did not provide any canoes as promissed. Do yourself a favor, look elsewhere. read more

Colorado Watersports - Reservation being made just now, looks like the one we think we placed for them being closed already at 4:00pm. - Paddleboarding Near Me

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Wouldn't give us a refund even though they would physically let us inside the park due to it being overcrowded. Waiting in traffic for an hour just for the rangers to tell us they aren't letting anyone else in. The equipment rental company wouldn't even refund us! "It's against company policy" then maybe update your bogus policy read more

I tried to rent two kayaks online for 6/12, but the website was down. I called to try to get help and reached a person who checked that the website was down, and would hold two kayaks for me at 3 p.m. on the 12th. I arrived on the 12th, after having paid entry fees to the park, and discovered that no kayaks were held for me. I was told I was out of luck, too bad, only registrations done through the website were valid. No apology, no offer to make things right, for something that was clearly the responsibility of your business. If kayaks could not be held in the way that I was told that they could be held, then I should not have been told they could be held. I rented two kayaks for the 13th at 3:30 via credit card and was told that I would receive an emailed receipt. I did not receive an emailed receipt. I arrived on the 13th, after having paid entry fees to the park, and was told that no one was being allowed out onto the water due to the weather (lightning had been spotted). Well and fair. I was told that I could either wait or take a rain check. Well and fair. I decided to cancel my rental. --The website had been down. --The verbal agreement to hold two kayaks for me was not honored. --I had not received a receipt for the second rental. And no attempt to contact me, or, presumably, any of the other rentals affected by the weather, had been made, as far as I could tell. I decided to cancel because I no longer wanted to do business with Colorado Watersports. I told the employees that I would like to cancel my rental, and mentioned that I had not received a receipt in the first place. The employee had entered the incorrect email and had not checked that it was the correct one on the 12th. She sent a cancellation notice (which I received). The charges have not been reversed on my credit card, however. As I was leaving, the employee apologized, not for the website being down, the reservation that was not honored, not for her typing the incorrect email address or being so callous on the 12th (it was the same person that I spoke with on the 12th and 13th), not for the inconvenience, not for paying twice to enter the park to go kayaking, but for the one thing that was outside her, or the business's control: the weather. The behavior of this business has been consistently unprofessional, with many missed opportunities for politeness, convenience, and courtesy. read more

Came here through the groupon option to do the 2 hour kayaking experience. Perfect for an introductory kaking experience, the water isn't too deep and the boats/jets passing by don't create too much waves. We girls working upfront were very sweet and let us choose the option between a two person kayak or two separate kayaks- something that didn't seem clear to us on the groupon or the website. They taught us the basics of kayaking and were overall very friendly. We wished the website gave a little more instruction on how to redeem your groupon and an appropriate time to redeem it. After fiddling with the website for 15 minutes we decided to just drive there and talk in person. We saw they had openings for rentals at 3pm so we wanted to use our 2 hour groupon for the 3 pm time slots. Since they closed at 4, they wouldn't let us use the full 2 hours that we paid for on groupon, we could only use one hour. We would have chosen a different time to come if it had been explained on the website or the groupon when they took their last 2 hour reservation. As I said before, perfect for introductory to kayaking- just wish the website was a little easier to navigate. read more

My daughter and I rented kayaks this morning. The reservation process online is easy and the people working are very pleasant. I would say the only thing to keep in mind is the line to actually get into Chatfield - if you don't have a state park pass its an easy 20 min to pay to enter the park, if not more. However, that has nothing to do with this organization. It was fun and price was reasonable and we will be renting from them again. read more

First: we hoped today would be a small reprieve of the life we have been living during this pandemic to kayak on Chatfield Roxbrough Cove. Second: Heather (I think that was her name) was greatly accommodating. We left early to make our time (arrived to the area 30 min. ahead of that time). The car line was long. After I realized we would be late based on that, I called thinking we would be 10 minutes late. She answered and said that we could have 12:00pm time for the full hour or they would get us in the water as quickly as possible. I told her I thought we would make it (I was wrong, really wrong). We, finally, arrived with only 20 minutes left. I asked if we could still have the 12pm time. She kindly accommodated. I know, based on the website, that they have been pretty booked. She explained that they always want guest to have a great experience. We did! Thank you! It was an hour. Yet, it meant a lot. We calmed. We laughed as a family. Thank you! read more

Two experiences with Colorado water sports- my kiddo was in the first camp of the summer. Safe, well staffed and fun! Hubby and I enjoyed the moonlight paddle board this past Saturday. I agree the web scheduling was a challenge. I didn't mess with it too long! I called Friday for the Saturday reservation, left a message, and was called back later that day to schedule. Save yourself frustration and just call! The staff is friendly, and kind of laid back (which some may perceive as negative, but hey they're water rats not concierges) we didn't need instruction, but saw them working with several adults on the basics as needed. The equipment is great and safety felt like a priority. Great experience. Talk to Audra if you need a little hand holding, or extra attention, she's amazing! Remember the whole point of relaxing on the water is to chill and possibly hang with some great people!!! Don't let yourself get too worked up about technology and it's challenges. It's watersports! read more

I received a Groupon for Christmas. Now that it's nice weather I've called 3 times to schedule a session. And have never received a call back. Today I called to schedule and finally someone answered the phone, to find out that I need to book online. When I get online to schedule there's no spot to redeem my Groupon so I call again only to be told I need to get on a different link to redeem my Groupon. Why wouldn't this be put in my Groupon instead of a number to call that never responds to messages. When I finally get to the correct spot on their website the navigation on the site is impossible and there are no available spots for me to select. I won't be redeeming my Groupon but wouldn't recommend supporting a business that sells Groupons that they don't intend on honoring. read more

Not able to review for their actual kayak rentals.... because we never got that far. On a MON I went to their website and followed the instruction on reserving a kayak. Our need; there was to be a family group of 7 renting 5 kayaks the following weekend morning 5 days away. For my portion of the group I needed only one yak for a couple hours. Filled in the info online, prepaid the deposit, and then called their phone to let them know what day and time of the rental, all per their online instructions on how to reserve. My first call was at 1:55 pm on MON. After negotiating their call menu I pressed 3 to reach their office. Phone rang and rang. No answer. Second call was at 2:52 pm same day. Again no answer - and I let the phone ring for at least 3 mins each time I called. 3rd call was at 4:38 pm. Again, no answer. The next day TUE, another family member booked the same way online, She too tried to get someone on the phone to advise the day and time of the reservation - again per their online instruction for making a reservation. She had no luck reaching anyone either. On that TUE I called starting at 8:07 am and stopped at 4:08 pm. I made 4 calls that day and finally reached someone on the last call. Xxxxxxx who answered the phone told me that he could not help me and appeared that he did not have time to talk to me on the phone. Rudely he said to just email my questions "whatever they are" to info@coloradowatersports. Even when I asked him if there was anyone else that could help me in this reservation, I was told to just email - which is not per their online instruction on how to reserve. Really frustrated in the way I was handled after finally reaching someone with the company, I hung up and sent an email as he directed asking if we could be confirmed for that next weekend. In following up with my relative that evening, she also had a similar experience with Xxxxxx. He basically treated her and told her the same thing I experienced.. The next day, WED, I still had not heard from the company, so I tried again to reach someone at their office via phone since it was obvious by that time my e-mails were not being either received or responded to. I made 4 more calls to their office with no answer for each. The last call was about 6:45 pm. THU morning I sent an email to the company at the provided address from Xxxxxxx telling them we are cancelling our reservation since at this point, they must either already be completely booked for the upcoming weekend, or they no longer were doing business, or whatever. We went ahead and booked our family outing elsewhere with another company with immediate results and confirmation. I then called the transaction company and disputed the original deposit charge which I was told would happen inside of 24 hours. 1 hour later on THUS, after my relatives and I all cancelled our reservations with Colorado Watersports, I receive a call from Nikki asking to now confirm my reservations. I asked her if she received an email from me previously with all the inquiries I sent, as well as the cancellation email from an hour ago. She said I needed to call them first and she did not know if any email was received and still wanted me to confirm. I chuckled and then relayed to her my experience from the last 4 days and why we cancelled - also as to the rude and business/customer condescending attitude of Xxxxxx once we did reach a body with their company. Don't know if it's genuine apathy, short of staff, bad coverage when key employees are out, business email disconnect or whatever. The very least someone could have done was to put an answering machine or service on their phone line so that someone, other than Xxxxxx, could followup their online reservations in a timely manner. Hell, Google will do this for you for free. read more

I took a my first sailing lesson today! YESSSS! I was looking to try a new outdoor activity and in my search for companies that did kayaking lessons I came across Colorado Watersports. Exploring their web site (www.coloradowaterports.com). I was delighted to find the link to the "Ladies' Sailing" program. I thought. "Hmmm, that's interesting. I've always wanted to learn how to sail I just never thought about doing in in Colorado." As I researched the company reviews and cost I was all in. The company seemed to have a solid reputation and I thought I cost for a two hour sailing lesson at $40.00 couldn't be beat. When I arrived I was greeted warmly by the staff and got right to work with instructions on how to get everything prepared to get on the water. It was a beautiful day with temperatures in the low 80's. I went by myself hoping there would be a person at the class I could work with and was delighted to find three other women there and ready to sail. Very diverse age ranges and all levels of experience. I was able to team up with a young lady that was taking her second lesson and we had a blast. Everyone with Colorado Watersports and the other women sailing could not have been more welcoming and supportive. Nikki, the director, was our instructor and she was awesome. She is a very good teacher. Funny as can be down to earth and relentless in her patience and positive reinforcement. An experienced competitive sailer herself you immediately feel confident you're in great hands. Loved learning from her! There hardest part of the experience was actually convincing myself that I could do it and showing up. I am in my mid 40's, an average weight (5'8, 140lbs), not in any real "athletic" shape. I'm healthy and active but wouldn't consider myself strong or particularly coordinated. I never felt like I couldn't do anything that was necessary throughout the entire lesson. From setting up to get into the water to actually sailing to practicing a capsize and recovery to breaking things down when we were done. I had no idea what to expect and was totally surprised at how easy it was. Not that there isn't a lot to learn and it takes a while to get the actions of balancing the boat and working the ruder and sails. It feels a bit like trying to tap your head an rub your belly simultaneously at first. Trying to learn the basic movements and timing your actions so the sails catch the wind and remembering to steer the boat had me and my sailing partner laughing till we were in tears. Absolutely a blast! As we progressed through the lesson, I discovered a feeling of both freedom and accomplishment as we figured the little things out and discovered how to really make the boat SAIL. Learning the fine touch of steering the boat and anticipating when to "tack" (turning the boat into the wind as the sails change sides and learning to shift your body from one side to the other "smoothly"-lol) was exhilarating. It was a swell of, "HEY! I'm sailing! And look, I'm turning! And look, I haven't fallen out of the boat yet! Wahoooo!!". It may not have always looked "pretty" but hey, we were doing it! I would recommend this experience to ANYONE. Male or female, young or old, any reasonably healthy and "somewhat" coordinated persona can do this. It was a blast and the key to me now planning to return to another class next week (yes, I'm hooked) was the brilliant and fun instruction I received from Nikki. The registration was simple and I always felt I was safe and in very competent hands. FYI- if you DO have question or concerns, you can email Nikki (info@coloradowatersports.com) for more information before you decide to go for it. She and I exchanged several emails before I signed up. She is quick to respond and extremely helpful. Again, love this lady and Colorado Watersports runs a terrific program. Come sailing, you'll love it! read more

My wife purchased a Groupon stand up paddleboard beginner class for the two of us. She had trouble reserving the date on the Web site provided by Colorado Watersports. She kept getting error messages that the registration page could not be found and similar errors. She called and left a message and emailed the company about five days prior to the date we wanted. The next day, Audra emailed her to tell her to give her a call. Audra set up the reservation by phone, so it was probably a good thing we didn't try to make the reservation the day before. The lesson was very good. The instructor, Caroline, was very nice. We are now glad that we got the basics and feel confident we can rent boards and go out on our own. read more

Found this company through Groupon for 2hr paddle board rental. We had a great experiencer overall. The only reason I gave it 4 starts instead of 5 was because the online scheduling system is way to confusing, and the employees did not show up until 10am exactly. So no need to go early, they literally don't arrive until 10am (or 8am depending on the season). read more

Way overpriced and the equipment sucked. They also "required" that we wear life jackets while on the water which was less than thrilling. They also said on the phone that we could rent at the gravel pond which is inaccurate. Would not rent here again. read more

Online booking was clunky and disjointed. We booked with Colorado Watersports but the confirmation came from Victoria Sailing School. Signage in the park was good, but once we got to the parking lot it was a little difficult to find the boats. The kayaks were big and bulky because they use the same boats for single and tandem. Seats on the board are crap. After paddling for an hour we took the boats back to shore and the three staff members (who were not doing anything) didn't offer to help haul the boats back to the truck. I will never support this "business" again. read more

A friend and I went kayaking with Colorado Watersports. What a fun time! Erica was very helpful and friendly. Having only been kayaking a couple times, I had some questions and Erica patiently and professionally took the time to talk with me. Colorado Watersports has lots equipment. Next year I'm going to try canoeing and paddle boarding! What a fun way to spend a sunny Colorado day! read more

I've tried renting from them twice and the experience has been horrible! I've tried calling multiple times over different days as well as emailing them. So disappointed this was the only option for Chatfield. read more

Horrible customer service. The one girl opening was incredibly rude. So badly to the point we just said forget it and left. Don't waste your time with this company! read more

Had a good time ... Hardest part was finding the place. Look for the big trailer to the far right of the parking lot

Very bad customer service the two teens at the front could care less and offered no help they just stayed on their tablet and phone .. I wouldn't suggest anyone use this rental service read more

Website booking stinks. No answer when you call, and no call back when you leave a message. Had to get a refund for two Groupons! Do yourself favor and book with Colorado SUP Sports! read more

We used a Groupon for two hours of paddle boarding. My kids got their boards and no instruction. My kids like to get into the water and back up on the boards. Had they been told that the paddles would sink I think they would have been careful to make sure they kept them on the boards. Long story short one paddle sunk and they charged me $75 to replace it when you can buy the exact on on Amazon for $45. A little bit of info on the equipment your using from the teens working there would have been nice. They do get two stars because my kids did have a good time prior to the loss. read more

My family and I went today to Colorado Watersports using a Groupon. We had a great experience! The staff was friendly and efficient and we had a great time. My only tip would be to arrive early the parking lot does fill up fast. read more

We paid to get into the park with the purpose of renting Kayaks at Colorado watersports. When we went to inquire about the rentals, a young girl in charge informed us that in her opinion it was too windy to take the kayaks further down the lake. We were restricted to a small area. We were very disappointed with this because there was only a small breeze. She appeared to be disinterested in obtaining our services. She did not get up to greet us. we had to walk over to her table while she was eating. Poor customer service read more

My boyfriend and I were down in Denver a week ago visiting my family and decided to rent kayaks one day. It was awesome. We packed a little picnic and had lunch on the beach. The Kayaks were brand new and the staff was so friendly. If you're looking for a nice summer day, I definitely recommend it :). read more

I purchased a Groupon that is set to expire Oct 1st for SUP lessons for me and my daughter. Because my fighter suffered an injury in early When, this is the soonest we could use the Groupon, but was unable to book online because the lessons are only done until Labor Day (not specified on the Groupon) on the groupon), I emailed the company. A week later, no response so called. No choice mail- only directions are to email. So now I have a Groupon that I can't use, for a business I can't contact. Which is interesting since on YELP, they responded to a customer with a similar issue staying that the phones are set up with voice mail and they respond to email within 48 hours. I am extremely disappointed in the lack of response. Not only am I out the money but can't get my daughter the SUP lessons either. What a crappy way to run a company. Not only does Colorado Watersports look bad, but so does Groupon. read more

With a Groupon, the price was great and the reservation was easy to make. Once we arrived, they processed us quickly and we were out on the water before we knew it. The equipment worked great and we had an easy, wonderful time making our way to beaches around the lake. Was such a lovely day - will definitely be visiting CO Watersports again!!! read more

I took the paddle board instruction class and had a great time. The instructor, Nikki, was very helpful to everyone, explained each step clearly and was observant of all participants. She gave many helpful hints and made sure toward the end that we had fun by challenging us to races, learning how to pivot the board, etc. by the end all of the class was comfortable paddle boarding and my friends and I are planning to now go back and rent boards and go out by ourselves. Well worth the price read more

Rented a tandem kayak using a Groupon. The online reservation system was easy to use. Kayak was OK quality - no compartment to lock your things in though. Saw many water birds. The view was gorgeous. Had a good time. read more

The sailing class for women is wonderful! Various ages and levels of experience and yet the Instructor/Director Nikki meets everyone's needs, is very supportive and makes it fun! Best of all, she gets us in the dinghies and on the water quickly, so that for most of the 2 hours we sail. I learn a lot and it's a great experience. The class is very reasonably priced and you can rent boats cheaply as well. read more