We searched online for a boat rental company for the Hot Springs Area and Great White Rentals was…read morethe first site to come up. We read the reviews and assumed since they were all so good and their website looked good they were a legit company.
We called and talked to a nice lady on the phone a week prior to us coming to visit for a week long vacation with 6 of our grandkids. Let her know we had a pontoon and would like to rent a nice boat to spend 2-3 days on the lake tubing, skiing, and riding around while we were here. I asked about the two nicer boats on the website and she said they had some really clean boats and she could get us 8 in one no problem. So reserved the premium one over the phone.
When we arrived the next week they called the day before and requested to be paid the of the amount in cash. I thought this was strange for a company, but agreed and went to back to get cash for the next morning. (First red flag)
When they arrived with the boat it was a 22 year old tri-toon, very weathered, and let's just say, well used. (Second red flag) Seats ripped, awning held together with bungee cords and straps, rear ladder was bungee strapped up, horn was broken, so we have a whistle, interior lights broken lenses, radio didn't work, the anchor was an 8 pound mushroom anchor you would use for a johnboat, would certainly not hold a 24' pontoon. The life vest they provided were just as old as the boat. We only had 4 we could use old of the 10 they sent. There's no tow bar to pull from, so the drivers says yeah you will have to tie onto one of the toons, really???
I expressed my frustration with the delivery driver, which went no where, I called the office and talked to a lady who said she had only been answering phones for a few months and had never actually seen the boats. (Third red flag). I asked at this point was this a company or was this just individuals renting out their boats and cabins? She answered just individuals, they don't have an actual office. She advised she would get with the owner of the boat to see if they can do anything but they didn't have any other boats available.
By now I'm frustrated but I have 6 grandkids ages 13-8 looking at me excited to go boating and waiting to get on the boat. They could care less what it looks like or if it's going to leave us stranded, they just want to go. lol
I go ahead and take the boat and make the best of what we have throughout the day.
When they pick up the boat I was expecting a little humility and at least an half ass excuse, but all I get was "sorry this wasn't what you expected, thank for re ring with us though".
We check on other rentals in the area the next morning and found that they actually have newer boats and are quite a bit less expensive. I also went back and reviewed their website to see if I missed anything and over reacted. What I found was a couple of the reviews were from the delivery guys family, the delivery driver is actually in the pictures. So I wonder if the 23 reviews are actually real at this point.
Moral of the story, don't stop doing research when you find a good website or good reviews. Keep checking around, we paid 730 dollars for a 22 year old worn out boat and motor for 8 hours and could have gotten a 2 year old boat with a bigger motor, for 520 dollars at 2 other rental places right down the road.
If you're renting your own equipment that's great, just be upfront about it !
