Last Saturday my alumni association had a group kayak event at this location. I have never been kayaking so the idea appealed to me. I booked three slots and tried it out. As the reviews of several people on Yelp point out, the equipment is old and worn out! I would like to further add my experience: I picked a one-person kayak and took off. Little did I know there was a crack in the hull! So about half way into my journey, my kayak slowly filled with water and became unstable and turned over. I fell into the water and tried to board the kayak by turning it over and of course I couldn’t. So I found myself swimming to a dock. Kind of scary when this is all happening. Other kayakers retrieved my water bottle, sandals and my “rented” kayak and paddle board. I partially lifted the kayak and drained it of water until I could completely get it out of the water to fully drain it.
After searching for my contents, I noticed that my wallet was missing (found it in the water floating later) and my smartphone was wet even though I placed it in a zip-lock bag (which they conveniently provide). My leg got cut in the process of climbing on the dock and my right foot got a few splinters inside while walking on the dock. Once back in business, headed back to inform the workers of their defective kayak. Now is when it got interesting for me: The young man that saw me pull up said that I somebody took out the defective kayak and that unlucky person was me. My question was why would you even put out the defective kayak out there? I mean “a busy day with an alumni school group coming and let’s put out all kayaks that are available!” No offer of compensation of any sort.
Later in the afternoon, I returned and wanted to speak to a manager. INo manager available. But I talked to an older gentleman worker and mentioned about the defective kayak. He said “yeah, I heard about what happened to you and am sorry.” He went further to explain that “That kayak in its condition was for a lighter person like a kid.” I weigh about 170 lbs and was surprised to hear that. I said why don’t we go and look at it. Let’s turn it over and sure enough, I showed him the crack in the hull. He claimed that that crack just happened today. I am not disputing him on that because I did not know for sure. I mean, cuts to my leg, splinters in my foot, dead smartphone, and overall scary experience and all I got was a simple, half-hearted apology. This kayaking with their poorly-kept equipment is NOT SAFE!
There was no offer of any compensation, voucher, or anything other than an apology after talking to two of their employees and no manager to be found! Finally, I asked for a voucher or something and got a $20 voucher. In review: BAD EXPERIENCE + CUT LEG + TWO SPLINTERS IN MY FOOT + DROWNED SMARTPHONE (in its “protective” ziplock bag) = $20.00 voucher + half-hearted apology.
Workers do not care or are not trained in customer service. So much could of gone wrong. What if that was your teenage kid on that kayak? What if that was someone who could not deal with it? I question the safety of this organization and the steps they take in dealing with the public.
Kayaks On the Water Reviews
Last Saturday my alumni association had a group kayak event at this location. I have never been kayaking so the idea appealed to me. I booked three slots and tried it out. As the reviews of several people on Yelp point out, the equipment is old and worn out! I would like to further add my experience: I picked a one-person kayak and took off. Little did I know there was a crack in the hull! So about half way into my journey, my kayak slowly filled with water and became unstable and turned over. I fell into the water and tried to board the kayak by turning it over and of course I couldn’t. So I found myself swimming to a dock. Kind of scary when this is all happening. Other kayakers retrieved my water bottle, sandals and my “rented” kayak and paddle board. I partially lifted the kayak and drained it of water until I could completely get it out of the water to fully drain it.
After searching for my contents, I noticed that my wallet was missing (found it in the water floating later) and my smartphone was wet even though I placed it in a zip-lock bag (which they conveniently provide). My leg got cut in the process of climbing on the dock and my right foot got a few splinters inside while walking on the dock. Once back in business, headed back to inform the workers of their defective kayak. Now is when it got interesting for me: The young man that saw me pull up said that I somebody took out the defective kayak and that unlucky person was me. My question was why would you even put out the defective kayak out there? I mean “a busy day with an alumni school group coming and let’s put out all kayaks that are available!” No offer of compensation of any sort.
Later in the afternoon, I returned and wanted to speak to a manager. INo manager available. But I talked to an older gentleman worker and mentioned about the defective kayak. He said “yeah, I heard about what happened to you and am sorry.” He went further to explain that “That kayak in its condition was for a lighter person like a kid.” I weigh about 170 lbs and was surprised to hear that. I said why don’t we go and look at it. Let’s turn it over and sure enough, I showed him the crack in the hull. He claimed that that crack just happened today. I am not disputing him on that because I did not know for sure. I mean, cuts to my leg, splinters in my foot, dead smartphone, and overall scary experience and all I got was a simple, half-hearted apology. This kayaking with their poorly-kept equipment is NOT SAFE!
There was no offer of any compensation, voucher, or anything other than an apology after talking to two of their employees and no manager to be found! Finally, I asked for a voucher or something and got a $20 voucher. In review: BAD EXPERIENCE + CUT LEG + TWO SPLINTERS IN MY FOOT + DROWNED SMARTPHONE (in its “protective” ziplock bag) = $20.00 voucher + half-hearted apology.
Workers do not care or are not trained in customer service. So much could of gone wrong. What if that was your teenage kid on that kayak? What if that was someone who could not deal with it? I question the safety of this organization and the steps they take in dealing with the public.
Overall experience = “D-“