GoBoat Kingston — Local services in London

Want the experience of a wealthy boat owner that owns a house on the river without the hassle of all the costs and responsibility that comes with it? Then GoBoat is your thing. What a lovely experience we had. It was my wife's birthday so I thought that I would give her a 1-hour boat ride experience as a present (as we both love being out on the water). Didn't know what to expect. I chose a weekday with the hopes of it being quite on the river and luckily it was. It was a sunny day as well (although a little windy) so that was on our side as well. We came on time to our pre-booked appointment but as they say that you should be there 15min earlier to give you an instruction tutorial, the GoBoat employee (who I got only his initial of G) was kind enough to push back our time and give us the full hour (however, this could only be done as it was a quiet day); so get there at the 15 min allocated time before your scheduled departure! G was great at explaining everything and it was rather quick. We got in the boat and it was rather easy to maneuver and handle (the boats go at a top speed of only 4 knots so don't be scared of going too fast). The boats are clean and well kept and they even wiped it down before departure for Covid purposes.

We had such a lovely experience and it was a great way to spend 1 hour in Kingston. We even brought some food and ate it on the boat (as you are allowed). I recommend also buying the captain's hat as well at booking as it just makes it even more special and amusing to wear it while on the river (my wife in the picture).

All in all, we would definitely do it again, this time with the children as it was a really fun experience. If the cost is too high, bring some friends with you (you can fit up to 8 people I believe) to split the cost and have a good time together.

See you soon at...

Unfortunately what we hoped to be a lovey day and memory, was completely ruined by an arrogant manager at the Kingston site.

Our boat was extremely slow and we reported this by telephone whilst we were on the river. We were asked to check the voltage and wattage on the motor and the guy on the phone agreed that it was unusually very low. Other boats of the exact same style were passing us on the river and they also had more people aboard!

We rang in advance to warn them that we would not meet our return time as it simply was so so so slow.

When we finally returned to the drop off site we decided to report this to the manager on site to see how he would deal with our problem on the day. We were met with a very arrogant manager, who when he finally realised we were standing there waiting to talk to him, was unappreciative of our problem, as in his words said it was pot luck on the day how the boat would run! We were in shock, and on many occasions gave the manager an opportunity to soften the misery of our boat trip by offering us some kind of discount on our next trip, or just something to apologise for the poor experience ?? Nothing ! We openly and clearly said that because of the issue we had and also the managers useless ''Couldn't Care Less'' approach to our problem, we would simply not come back! - This fell on deaf ears!

So the end result, because of how the manager dealt with our problem and a complete lack of any form of customer service skills, we simply felt that this attitude represented the company GO Boat - we don't care if you come back or not!

We...

We had made a reservation with GoBoat in advance, expecting the boat to be ready at our scheduled time. Upon arrival, we were asked to wait for couple of minutes, which wasn’t an issue. However, once we boarded the boat, we were immediately hit by a dreadful smell — something between rotting waste and damp rubbish.

While receiving the safety briefing, we asked whether there was a nearby bin area or something similar that might be causing the smell, but the staff told us there wasn’t. When we asked what could be the cause of the stench, the response was simply “I don’t know,” with no attempt to investigate or resolve the issue.

We set off on our two-hour trip, only to realise within five minutes that the smell was actually coming from the boat itself. Clearly, something had gone wrong — perhaps it hadn’t been cleaned properly, or something had been spilled.

We ended the trip roughly 45 minutes early, as we simply couldn’t stand it any longer.

That said, I want to highlight the company’s excellent response after I shared my concerns. The team investigated the issue thoroughly, identified the problem in the boat’s structure, and handled the situation with maximum courtesy and professionalism. They offered a full refund, which I greatly appreciated — and more importantly, I felt that my feedback was truly heard and acted upon.

It’s genuinely encouraging to see a business respond in such a responsible and respectful way. I’m glad to have had the opportunity to positively contribute to improving their service, and I hope future customers will benefit from the steps...