Paddling Michigan — Attraction in Munising

My daughter and I recently took a 3-hour kayak tour that launched from the beach. We were rather disappointed. We notified our guide, Jim, that we had never kayaked before, and he told us that it shouldn’t be a problem. Our group picked our kayaks at random as directed by Jim. He informed the group that we could not use the rudders. He did not assist us, but another group member did. After launch, my daughter and I struggled a bit at first, but then we got our rhythm. I noticed that our kayak kept veering to the right, and we had to work hard to go straight. Also, I kept sliding down in my seat (I was sitting in front). I asked my daughter if she was sliding, but she was not because she had her feet on the footrests. I did not have any footrests. I would have notified our guide, but we could not catch up to him. Jim shared some information throughout the tour, but did not make a point to include everyone in the group. He seemed more interested in chatting with a select few. During the tour, my daughter became nauseous. I informed Jim and asked if our kayak could turn around and head back. He told us to paddle ahead to the next group and return to shore with them. We caught up to the next group and began our return with them. The guide did not introduce himself and was more interested in chatting with others. I did notify him that we were inexperienced. I also asked him about a place to put my feet. “Oh, those are foot pedals and are not necessary. We are kayaking and we use oars.” It was rather condescending. Throughout the tour, the guides asked us, “Are you guys ok?” but never really interacted with us. They did not provide advice or suggestions. As we neared the shore, there was a bottleneck of kayaks waiting for assistance to approach the shore. Even though my daughter was feeling ill and we were inexperienced, we were one of the last kayaks assisted to shore. And, actually, we were not even assisted. Unfortunately, our kayak got caught in the waves and was forced onto shore, and it tipped over on its side. The guides approached us, laughed a bit, and said, “you will have to get out for me to pull this to shore. I can’t pull it with you in it.” It took me a bit to get out because the waves were strong and I have vertigo. As I got out and stumbled, a guide chuckled and said, “Are you okay?”. After I got out, my daughter was not assisted. A large wave hit her and tipped the kayak again. The guides in our area thought it was funny and kept laughing. The only comment made was, “Wow. That’s a lot of water in my kayak!” When I asked for assistance retrieving items from the kayak, I was met with irritation from a guide. No one checked in with us after getting out of the kayak. I had been looking forward to this adventure for the past few years. My daughter was nervous about being on the water, but I convinced her it would be okay. Now I completely regret that. I think given our lack of experience, we did great, especially considering we were given a faulty kayak (that was mentioned in another review) and zero instruction or guidance. Throughout the tour, the guides asked us, “Are you guys ok?” but never really interacted with us. They did not provide advice or suggestions. This is from a previous review from 10 months ago. “Our kayak didn’t have footrests for the forward person, wanted to constantly go right and the company seemed to avoid letting people use the rudders. When we tried to tell the guide that we were struggling with it he downplayed the first complaint and ignored the second.” Company response: “…this is not the norm. We do our best to maintain and fix kayaks on a regular basis to make sure they are in top shape….” Apparently, this concern was not addressed nor was the kayak fixed. My family is from the Upper Peninsula, and I have spent many summers and winters enjoying my time in the Keweenaw area. This is the first time I traveled to Pictured Rocks. I was so excited for the kayak tour, but I am now utterly disappointed and let down. I will take my...

After reading these reviews I am concerned about what lies ahead, however I have already spoken with an attorney and will use him if the need arises should these people continue to ignore our request for a full refund as offered.

We paid $1108.96 for an 11 person kayak tour. We were also aware of their cancellation policy but knew we would have time to reschedule should the need arise. The cancellation policy itself is very poor and puts the company at an advantage. How many people might be back up there within a year to use their rain check? To many, that isn't even an option so as a warning, buyer be warned.

We had to drive almost 2 hours to get there on time and arrived 10 minutes before we were supposed to be there. Three young men sitting at a table explained to our group that they rarely cancel a tour, maybe twice a year, but today was one of those times (too windy). One of them explained that we had three options. One was a full refund (we all heard it), the other two options were to reschedule or get a rain check.

Seeing as our weather was going to be nice during our time in the area we had already scheduled other events so rescheduling was not an option. Getting a rain check was not an option either as none of us will be there again for some time and we certainly aren't going to drive that far (about a 7 hour drive), just to kayak. Seeing as their employee's, agents of the their company had stated we could select a full refund as an option, all of us chose that option. One of the guys asked the person who had put these charges on her credit card to fill out some paperwork to start the refund process and she was told she would get an email with information in 2 days. I even asked for something in writing but they said the email we would receive would suffice. I am a business man and despite my uneasy feeling with that statement, I let it slide, shame on me.

The next day we were back in the area for our other scheduled event and stopped in there. We were told that the GM was out but to watch for an email. No email ever came until the person who used her credit card wrote one and then received a reply from Gayle to reference the cancellation policy. Subsequent phone calls get the same response, the GM is out but will call you and of course, no response yet.

I suspect they have no intention of providing a refund. First thing I am going to do is have the credit card charges disputed as I can see where this is going after reading these reviews. Secondly I am going to ask my attorney to send a letter asking for a full refund. They provided no service, offered us a full refund, then have begun to ignore our requests for the refund.

I will then use every available option via the social media to let as many people as possible know how this company does business. They made over $1100.00 that day for doing nothing and it simply is not right. If this is the way they do business, they shouldn't get any business.

I'll follow up and note how this turns out, however I strongly suspect that when the credit card company gets the details and summary, we will all be seeing the money back in our pockets.

Happy to report that after we filed a dispute of charges with our credit card issuer, we had our money back within 4.5 days, much quicker than the 14 days they told me we would have to wait. Guess filing the dispute moved things along a bit quicker.

I suggest that they revise their refund policy to mirror what the boat cruise does. Their policy is weighted in favor of them. If the weather is bad, it isn't their fault nor the customer, however it shouldn't be set up so that someone who may never be back in that area or has no other time loses their money. It's no one's fault, but it costs the customer and they...

Here are the multiple things we truly had problems with from your kayak group. When we arrived at the beach, we were sent out with two guides who lived locally, one of which who had worked for Uncle Ducky’s for two years, and NEITHER had never gone on the west side of the island tour. The kayak skirts we were given had ripped waterproof lining that meant water from the nonstop rain gushed in during the trip. The kayak we were first put in had broken foot rests. One of the guides said we could try another boat, but “Uncle Ducky’s doesn’t really take care of the equipment.” This was evident when the only other boat that we were given out of a row of kayaks to use had a broken seat back, but had foot rests that could be adjusted. They gave us the “safety talk,” but only remembered 3 points. One was to stay 6 boat lengths apart, no farther. We launched and waited for them. The 1st year guide was telling the 2nd year guide he was not going to paddle since he was “called in to work, but he shouldn’t be there.” As a result, we spent a lot of time just waiting for their boat. We were two 40 year old women. Two 20 year old guides should not have had a problem staying with us. They gave no directional guide to where we were headed, what we could look at, any information on the island we were paddling towards, and would often just hang back far behind. There was no indication of where we were headed. They didn’t tell talk to us about the trip at all. Our tour guides told us they “had no idea where we were headed on the tour since they had never been on the tour.” Never been on the tour. We agreed to go on a tour that ended up being led by guides who had no idea where we were going. They guessed back and forth where we would stop for lunch, which was only solved when they saw an earlier kayak tour returning and radioed to ask where the beach was.

For hours, we stopped repeatedly trying to find out where the guides went when there were no other boats besides ours to lead. And for hours, we tried to engage them in conversation. The 2nd year guide was friendly and at least tried some conversation. We tried asking them questions about the lake and island and were told “We don’t have any stories, but we would if we were on the good tour.” or “We’ve never done been, so we don’t know. We could tell you if we were on the good tour.” Eventually, we ask them to tell us stories from the original tour, to which we were told “Oh, I don’t remember.” At one point, the 1st year guide said “We have nothing to talk about.”

By the time we reached the halfway point and stopped on the beach, we were cold, felt like we were put on a tour just to bring in money to Uncle Ducky’s, and a complete inconvenience to the 1st year guide who wanted to be off. We were customers who were worth little effort who were paying to go on a kayak trip where we were placed in kayaks with skirts that were all broken. This later issue of the equipment being broken was exacerbated on the way back when the waves and wind picked up and the rudder was not engaged on the kayak. We spent the trip alone with the guides far away paddling only on the right hand side since we would spin otherwise. This added on to the 1st year’s comment on the beach that Uncle Ducky’s “doesn’t take care of their boats.” Eventually, they paddled close enough to us to ask them which beach we were aiming for. At this point, they paddled ahead to shore. Again, much farther than 6 boat lengths away. They got to shore and the 2nd year guide stayed, but the other one left us behind...