Needless to say, I was pretty pissed at the condition of the houseboats we rented. Rather than re-write what I've all ready written in a letter to the boat rental, you can find it below. It's long I know, but it was actually fun writing it. Before sending it off, I spoke with the General Manager on the phone to find the correct address to address my letter. I also asked him for the address for the corporate office and his boss in Philadelphia. He responded by stating, "e-mail me the letter and perhaps we can work something out." So I did.
Robert Knowlton, General Manager
Boat Rentals
Dear Mr. Knowlton,
After over a year of planning, on July 8, 2018, my
wife and I rented two 59' Discovery XL houseboats for a week long family
gathering. Eighteen members of our
family had been looking forward for this vacation with great anticipation.
After checking into the office at the marina, our instructor
Bob gave us a walkthrough of both boats explaining how different systems
worked. We first looked at houseboat
#54. When it came time to see if the
engines turned with the wheel, we encountered our first of many problems. When Bob turned the wheel the motors turned
in one direction but not the other. Bob
called someone over from maintenance to fix the problem while we checked out
houseboat #59. We did not see what the
maintenance man did on the boat, but he was there for about 10 minutes.
When we left the marina, it was almost impossible to
steer the boat properly. My adult son
was at the helm and could not keep the boat on a straight course. I was watching this from our private speed
boat. He told me via the radio that the
helm wouldn't respond properly. Going
through the cut he hit the side of the channel with the front of the boat and
became sideways in the channel, monetarily blocking other traffic. After exiting the cut, I boarded the
houseboat and took over the helm. I have
piloted many boats, sail, power and houseboats and have never experienced a
helm that was so unresponsive. It took
at least ten turns of the helm to make the boat respond, then it would turn in
the desired direction and keep turning until I turned the helm ten or fifteen
turns the other way. Only then it would
respond. The only way I was able to
control the boat in a proper manner was to turn the wheel back and forth very
rapidly or use the throttles. Only this
way could I keep it on some semblance of
the desired course.
Needless to say, we didn't want to return through
the cut, so we went and found a suitable beach for a campsite. I attempted to call the marina on numerous occasions
over the next several days, with no response on the radio. Dead area or bad radio, I don't know. We also didn't have and cell coverage.
We had planned on going further up the lake on our
trip, but decided not to because I felt that due to the condition of the boat
it would be unsafe. I also felt that
even if the steering was fixed, I couldn't trust the mechanical condition of
other systems on the boat as it was apparent to me that they are not maintained
properly. We decided for safety sake to
say put in one place, not something we had originally planned to do.
We made a trip into the marina to pick up someone
and I went into the office to speak with maintenance. A clerk took down a couple of my many issues
and called maintenance on the phone so I could speak to them. Now,
I'm the first to admit that I was upset with the situation and was a
little hot under the collar, but I was never abusive to your staff. When I said something about the missing
screen door and suggested that it should have been replaced before renting the
boat, I was told, "we don't do that during the season". I said then that perhaps they should have
gone to Home Depot and get one, the maintenance guy said it's too far. I said something like, "Well, that's not
my problem." At this point he said
I needed to speak to a manager and he hung up on me.
I then spoke with a woman manager in the office who,
after learning of my most important issues, the steering and air conditioning, said
she would send someone out. She took
down my cell phone number, which was useless as I had no service in camp. No mention was made of when this would occur,
but since it was early in the morning, I assumed that someone would be out
soon. Well that didn't happen.
About three in the afternoon, with no one arriving,
I climbed to the highest point near camp and got service for a phone call. After being transferred several times, I
finally was connected to the houseboat office and was greeted with a recording
to leave a message. I did, but wasn't
going to stand on some hilltop waiting for a return call that probably wouldn't
happen. Never did receive a message or
call.
Finally about 6 pm or so, Jeremy from maintenance
arrived. Besides instructor Bob, he was
a ray of sunshine and for the first time dealing with this problem we were
speaking to someone in your employ who actually seemed to care about our
plight. He knew relatively quickly what
the problem was and fixed it. He told me
that the normal, stop to stop turn on the helm should be 6 to 7 turns, not the
10 to 15 that I was experiencing. He
also checked the air conditioning in the other boat (#59) and confirmed that it
was not working properly and he would find the person who could fix it and send
them out. The air was fixed the next
day.
The bottom line is that after over a year in
planning, spending approximately $13,000 for two deluxe houseboats, which by no
way meet that standard, our family gathering was soured by your ineffective
ability to maintain you fleet in a proper and safe manner. For you, as one of your employees told us,
it's turn those boats around and ignore the problems. According to your employee, they are not
given sufficient time to do the required maintenance before turning the boat
over to the next renter.
Since the steering was fixed 4 days into our
vacation and the air conditioning on the 5th day, I propose to you that we are
refunded 50% of the cost of the houseboats.
This makes perfect sense because if both problems had only been on one
houseboat, we would have had at least one good boat.
This situation was very dangerous and could have very
easily injured someone or in the worst case scenario, killed someone. It was obvious to me that you just want to
turn the boats around and overlook both minor and major maintenance issues. In your case, the dollar comes before the
safety of your customers.
I wish I had read some of the reviews on Trip
Advisor and Yelp before giving you my business.
If I had I would have rented from another company. Perhaps you should read what people are
saying about your service. It might be
an incentive to improve.
Finally I would like to suggest that a log of some
sort is kept on each houseboat and customers should be encouraged to log
defects they have found, thus enabling you to make timely repairs. The log should stay on the boat so customers
can see for themselves if you are keeping up with your agreement to provide a
"deluxe" houseboat, which in this case you did not.
It is my intent at this time to use every social
media source that I can to voice my displeasure with your company and it's
service. You're gonna get someone
killed.
HOUSEBOAT #54
Overall in bad shape, dirty, worn out
Steering inoperative after being told it was ok
No screen door on front slider
Broken Blinds
Missing blind in head
No mouse traps (we had mice)
Numerous loose or missing bolts, nuts and screws
When air is on, little or no air coming from rear vents (air
worked a little)
Tape residue on walls
Broken light over island
Oven door broken
To shelf on refrigerator door is missing
No lift ring on rear deck
Coffee maker doesn't work, two hours make a pot
No stove top coffee maker
HOUSEBOAT #59
Overall in bad shape, dirty, run down
Air conditioning didn't work, blew air that wasn't cooled
Torn screens
On single wide mattress on top deck. Asked for more and was told none available as
they are custom made.
No mouse traps
Beach ramp is missing the stop that keeps it from sliding
all the way our on one side.
Torn and deteriorating canvas on rails
Numerous loose or missing bolts, nuts and screws
Ceiling fan in salon does not turn at full speed
Tape residue on walls
Broken window shade in rear head
Exhaust fan in rear head doesn't work
Door on BBQ broken
Drinking water spigot in rear head does not reach into the
sink and flows onto the Pullman
top
No stove top coffee maker
"So, what happened?" you ask.
Well, the next day at the appointed time I got a call from Mr. Knowlton, who gave me the opportunity to vent a little more. He didn't make a lot of excuses, but that no longer matter to me as he accepted my proposal to refund 50% of the houseboat rental fees. To top it off he also refunded the fuel for the affected houseboat to the tune of $500. Not too bad and I was satisfied with the outcome.
I still posted a bad review on TripAdvisor and Yelp, and corporate will get the same letter I sent him. My advice still stands, never rent from this company.
Oh, and I sold the speed boat today and made a profit of $250, not too shabby.
EVERYTHING COMING UP STRAWBERRIES
