I was with a group of nine tubers on Saturday 8/25. We waited two and a half hours before we could get on a boat to be taken up a river. That was irritating but forgivable knowing that sometimes business demands can be unpredictable. Once we were taken up the river we were told that because of the wind, we may not be able to really float downstream but that someone would be back up to check on us and give us a tow if we wanted. Upon getting ourselves out onto the river, a few of our companions could hear their tubes leaking air. Between three deflating tubes and continuing to get beached, we were ready for that tow after being stranded for more than two hours. A few other groups were dropped off after we were, but not as far up the river as we were, and none of those boats made the extra effort to drive to us after dropping them off to see if we were ok. We flagged several boaters who had rented equipment from Rivers Edge to ask them to send someone up for us when they got back, but no one did. We finally found a couple on a private boat kind enough to call Rivers Edge for us—as we did not bring cell phones out on the tubes with us.
A boat was sent up to get us. Upon returning, we inquired about some sort of refund for all the trouble—mostly due to the deflating tubes and were told that nothing could be done because the owner wasn't there and we would have to call at a later date.
When our organizer called on 8/27 and talked to the owners, she was told there were no refunds and called a liar. The owner stated that the tubes were fine, which is odd considering he wasn't tubing with us to witness this. He also said he was right down the beach from us and that plenty of people had been sent to come get us but that we did not want to come back. If plenty of people were sent, we would not have had to flag down a stranger for help. Also, if he was right down the beach from us, why were we told the owner was not there at the end of our trip?
We are extremely dissatisfied with our experience and the lack of sympathy and effort to reconcile what happened.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
September 1, 2012
Stephanie,
That Saturday was our busiest to date! You were 9 of nearly 300 tubers to go out!! It is not possible to send out 300 people at once, so you did have to wait your turn. But you knew that when you went out.
We did not call you a liar. We have 4 guys running the tube trip. Since we cannot control the wind or current, we have them check on everyone. Occasionally people will want to be towed back if the wind and current aren't moving them along and they don't want to be out past the 2-4 hours allotted time for the trip. Your group was checked on by each of the guys working here. I don't believe all 4 of them singled out your group and not the other 287 people who went out and had a good time that day.
We filled up the tubes you deflated and they are still just as plump as when you went out in them.
You made good on your word that you and your friends would bad mouth us if you didn't get the full refund you demanded. I'm sorry, but all we could offer you was a voucher for another time, which you rudely declined.
(since it is just your group fill up this well intended sight, i will probably post the same rebuttal to each...)
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