What a horrible experience! Let me first start off by saying that over the years I have spent…read morehundreds (maybe even thousands) of dollars floating & camping @ Gypsys. I have 3 kids under 9 that are small enough to sit on a kayak with an adult. Most of the time my husband & I rent 3 kayaks, a $90 rental. On this occasion we had friends with their own kayaks floating and we decided to rent a tandem kayak instead, a $60 rental, and let 2 children ride with the friends. Upon arrival, I asked my husband to pull up to the stairs & drop me off so that I could check in. It's the bus turn around area, there appeared to be no other customers present except 1 other person in our party, my knee was killing me, and it wasnt a big deal. However, the young man driving the bus didnt think so and was quick to reprimand. I explained my husband was just dropping me with my injured knee off so I could check in. The young man with his super trooper shades then repeated himself and continues to tell me about it being the bus turn around and how we aren't supposed to drive there. It was a no harm, no foul situation and I really didn't feel I needed a lecture as my husband was just trying to help me avoid any extra knee pain. My first indication of the rudeness I was about to encounter.
The owner Jerrid greeted me when I walked in the office. He tells me I had to pay the take out fees for my friends kayaks. Friends boats, not mine. I tried to call my friends but couldn't get through so I paid the fees for the boats that weren't mine, $15. Then he tells me each of my kids has a $20 shuttle fee adding up to $60. According to the website, this is the fee per person for shuttling boats, but now he is telling me its for shuttling 3 small kids, all less than 50lbs each, on a bus going 3.5 miles with their parents. We went from a $60 rental to $135 to cover my friends boats docking there and shuttle(bus) fees for 3 small kids without boats. I tried to explain that we had never had shuttle fees for my children & I felt at least one of them should be included in the $60 rental, as they had never charged me extra for shuttling them with 3 kayaks and I have ALWAYS been upfront about taking my kids. I mentioned the really nice blonde haired lady that worked the office in the past & how she knew the situation. Maybe that's what set him off, as I suggested she was his wife and he is divorced. Or maybe it was just that I wasn't willing to hand over $75 more to him on a slow, end of the season day bt this is when he began raising his voice & talking over me. He proceeded to tell me how I have been stealing from him if I had not paid his shuttle fees in the past. Lets call them bus fees as there was no boat shuttling involved here. I said I would have my friends at the kayak park come get my children, no big deal. He continued yelling at me and slamming things, not just in front of his children that were in the room but he followed me outside, slamming the doors in his establishment, and yelling at me in front of my children. He literally yelled that all I 'had to do was be kind'. He yelled it! Stop for a second a check yourself Jerrid. I wasn't treated with an ounce of kindness from the second we pulled in. Jerrid slammed the door of his office so hard that it was felt in the stairs on the other side and my family said you could see the windows shake. All because I wasn't willing to pay the excessive fees he presented & found a reasonable way to save $. He then tried to tell us to all get on the shuttle after having a temper tantrum about shuttle fees & me being a thief. As it turns out, my friends had already paid that $5/boat fee. Ironic bc he accused me of stealing from him. When informed, Jerrid threw cash at my friend & told him I wasn't welcomed back & he's going to "put my name in the computer". Jerrid you can put it in the computer, write it on a wall, sketch it in some stone, but there is no way I will EVER support your establishment again. He's clearly unstable. Jerrid & his staff have a lot to learn about being gracious to their customers.