S K Watercraft Rentals Inc

Review: S K Watercraft Rentals has alleged "engine problems" upon the return of their (decades old?) pontoon boat and took it upon themselves to repair said problems at the expense of me - the customer. We took extreme care of their pontoon boat during the period of our rental. Specific "repair" needs were not notified of this customer with options of repair. Instead, they had a (mechanic?) person of their own choosing fix said problem and pin this $314 bill upon myself. I never authorized such repairs and would have gladly have had them repaired/analyzed with my own boat mechanic in an acceptable time period. Desired Settlement: A refund or credit of $314 to my credit card.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2013/09/05) */

The Pontoon boat that the customer rented was a 2001 Pontoon 'Pleasure Island' with a Mercury outboard engine. He had it in his possession for 5 days and 4 nights (8/15 to 8/19) to which he informed us he and his party were camping on an island on the Columbia River. The unit in question has been regularly rented all summer and has not had any engine troubles. All of our boats receive regular service and check ups and our staff confirmed that there were no issues with the unit before the customer rented it.

When the boat came back the engine was clearly not in the same condition as it left because it was vigorously shaking in a manner it had not been before. Furthermore, the engine would stall out and die after only a few minutes of use. When the unit was diagnosed by a mechanic it was determined that the engine was stalling because the engine coolant system had rocks and sand in it, which is caused by running the engine in extremely shallow water/on sand. It is common policy and practice to highly caution all customers of the risk they take by taking our units to shallow water and beaches due to the increased risk of damage. All customers are made fully aware that any and all damage that they cause to the unit they are responsible for, which the liability agreement the customer signed before his rental clearly states.

We are a seasonal business that is only open a few months out of the year. Although we understand our customers do not indent to damage our units it is vital we repair them in a timely manner. Therefore, every day a unit is not rentable due to damage we lose valuable business. We are not trying to charge [redacted] for anything more than the damages he is responsible for.

Review: July I took my wife and three kids on one of the rental boats offered. Mind you my kids are 12, 10, and 3. In the middle of the Columbia River the boat made a weird noise. I shut it down and called SK, they asked me to idle the boat back to the dock. SK pulled the boat out of the water and found a small stick in the propeller area. SK tried to remove it with a pen and send me back out but he couldn't. 5 days later I am charged for a replacement part. I spoke with one of the kids on site and he agreed that something doesn't make sense, that there is no way damage occurred. I asked for two things: 1) for a manager to call me back and for the part that was damaged. I received a phone call from another kid. Nothing.... I received the invoice for the part, but I wanted to see the part if it was truly replaced and the damage. This was disputed with my credit card company and SK just waived the contract in my face so there was nothing that could be done. However, doing more research and reading more comments on line this appears to be a pattern with SK. If I truly did damage the boat I would take the ownership. I have boated for over 20 years. I immediately shut the boat off when this stick was sucked into the propeller. I firmly believe I was charged for the part in place of them charging me for a full day rental. I was charged a half day rental and to make up for it they charged me for a part that was never replaced. This is fraud. Poor customer service. This apparently is not the first time for SK.Desired Settlement: I just want the charge of $313 returned.

Review: On August 19th I rented a pontoon boat from SK Watercraft for a friend's birthday. I paid cash for the rental itself, and used my credit card for the $500 deposit. The man we had drive the boat is a fishing boat captain in Alaska, and he most certainly knows what he's doing. We had a fine time on the boat, there was nothing wrong with the it the entire day. But then once we pulled back into the dock at the end of the day one of the employees took over driving it to park it and all of a sudden the boats rudder wouldn't work anymore, it seemed jammed. The employees told me it was probably fine, it seemed like something wrong with the boat, not something we did. He said they would have to send it to a repair shop though and that based on what they determined I might be charged for the repair. I told him that we did absolutely nothing out of the ordinary that would have damaged the boat, and that it had to be a malfunction with the boat itself. I also said I wanted to be informed of what the repair shop said, and I wanted to see something in writing before they tried to charge me. I never received any word from them, and on August 30th they charged my credit card for $424.95. I tried to call them, but have not heard back at all. I have 11 other people who were with me who can verify we did nothing wrong, and that the boat worked fine until the employee handled it. I have also since read review after review of this place on Yelp, and it seems I'm not the first person they've done this to. They have a pretty good scam going. One of the reviews was even from a former employee who stated the same thing. Desired Settlement: I want my full $424.95 reimbursed. The damage was absolutely no fault of mine.