Pine Knot Marina — Attraction in Big Bear Lake

I made our reservation on June 14, 2020 for an 8 hour Pontoon rental for Saturday, June 27, 2020. We stopped into the marina the day before our rental to ask questions about fishing and what could be brought on the boat. Upon arrival, we were told that no reservation could be found for me and they were fully booked. I pulled the reservation up on my phone, plus the text message I had received from them on June 25, 2020, stating my reservation included life vests. The desk clerk said my name sounded "familiar" but still could not find my reservation. I asked for her to pull up the text message that was sent from their office phone, but was told they just got a new phone the day before and all text messages were no longer available. 😒 Knowing she made a mistake, she offered to give us the rental for the following day of our confirmed reservation with a $50 discount and could do nothing more. After speaking with my group, we decided we would take the offer and go out on Sunday. Big Mistake! Sunday was cold, windy, and the lake was super choppy. We were told that because of the high wind, all boats needed to be returned for the day. We were out for just over 4 hours. We paid for 8 hours. When asked what they planned on doing for us, they said we needed to speak to the owner and they would issue us a voucher. As I stood there on the dock waiting for the owner to come talk to me, who never came over, I was finally told to speak to the gal in the office. All she did was credit the difference and charged me for the standard 4 hour charge. Due to her negligence from the beginning, she failed to book our reservation, we missed the best boating day on Saturday, our rental time was cut in half on Sunday, and I paid full price of 4 hour rental. I will never rent from this establishment again. I am a small business owner, and I am appalled about my treatment as a paying customer.😤👎 Unfortunately, I can now relate to some of their customer's...

BEWARE!! BEWARE!! If you want to be charged full price to be stranded in the middle of a lake. Get a rental boat from Pine Knot Marina Center. On the 4th of July we rented a boat for 8 people to watch the fireworks. Boat was sluggish and wasn't operating most of the afternoon. We were told not to turn off the boat, which we didn't. It died about 10 mins before the fireworks. Luckily we were with friends who are locals and they stayed with us. We called the marina multiple times NO ANSWER. The fireworks ended before 10pm but we continued to try and reach someone to no avail. Didn't get a tow back in until after 11pm. NO ONE WAS LEFT ON THE LAKE BUT US AND THE PATROL BOATS. Cold and wet we told the guys who came to pick us up we would deal with it in the morning. They stated no one was there to help us anyway. I called the next day and the next day and left messages. I asked for someone to call me back. I finally after two weeks left a messages stating I would be turning it over to my attorney. Got a call back from a nice girl who took my story and said she would have someone call me back. 2 days later I got a call from a guy who stated he was the one who picked us up and that he said he was home by 11am. THIS IS A COMPLETE LIE and impossible, 8 people were in the boat, every single person can attest to what happened. I told him that I wasn't expecting all my money back for the entire time but that I wanted 2 hrs returned to us for the inability to use the boat and for being stranded on the lake. He told me he would call me back. NEVER HAPPENED! Terrible customer service! I do not appreciate...

Absolutely the worst experience we’ve ever had in Big Bear. We booked a jet ski rental at Pine Knot Marina despite seeing so many negative reviews online. When we called ahead to ask about those reviews, they told us not to worry—that they weren’t real or only rare situations. Unfortunately, everything written in those reviews happened to us exactly. • They took our entire deposit without explanation, claiming some vague “reason” that was never clearly communicated. • There was no damage to the equipment, yet they refused to explain why we were charged. • The staff and management were incredibly rude and dismissive—they wouldn’t even provide names when we asked, and the manager was the worst of all. • Instead of professional customer service, we were treated with disrespect and arrogance.

As residents of Orange County who frequently visit Big Bear, this was by far the most unprofessional and disappointing experience we’ve ever had with any rental company. We will never rent from Pine Knot Marina again, and I strongly advise anyone considering them to...