Dream Catcher Charters — Local services in Key West

I'm disappointed that due to Covid-19 my trip was canceled. I was charged a $30 cancellation fee even though Key West was closed. No boats could go out. My deposit was refunded but had to rebook on the spot to avoid the cancellation fee. Next May would have been the earliest I could return and to keep my deposit that long was wrong. Their cancellation policy applies until there is tourist evacuation scheduled. I'm sure my situation complies. Calling me a bully because I don't agree with your policy is laughable. I wish the call was recorded so you could hear how your office manager treated me.

Below is email exchange between the captain and I via email.

On Jun 19, 2020, at 12:07 PM, "Steven@dreamcatchercharters.com" wrote:

Hi Brian, I have reviewed your Booking with us.. First off, thank you for the mention on the Better Business Website.. Secondly.. I don't appreciate you bullying and threatening my office manager. Over 30.00 and a company policy that was plainly spelled out. Quote “I can’t wait to destroy your business” And several others that we have documented. For that you should be ashamed of yourself. She really took it hard as she was upholding a company policy that is her job to do and had no authority to change any of it. Yet you decided to bash her anyway. Last.. We have been in business for over 20 years. We have never had anyone ever be as vindictive as you have been over a policy that they were aware of. Apparently you cannot imagine the number of cancellations we had due to Covid. Well over 500. No one else had issue with our cancellation policies at all. In fact, many were very sensitive to our situation. Since you have taken it upon yourself to attack us already in your desire to “Destroy Our Business” over 30.00 I will remind you that this is our very well spelled out cancellation fee. I understand that this probably does not make you happy.. Based off your very aggressive, documented behavior, I get that. However your tirade led to my office manager take a half of a day off due to being emotionally stressed by your very rude comments while she was just doing her job that has cost our company far more than your desire of 30.00.. I'm sure you can imagine that made me unhappy as well.. Let's call it even. Capt. Steven Lamp

MY RESPONSE No problem Steven, just so you know Gennifer wasn’t too friendly as I was being facetious. Emotional stress, wow, sounds like a cop out to me especially since I called around 4pm. I understand you’re a great business man with a long history, and you’d side with your employees. Bullying, maybe you should have listened to that call before making an assumption. Key West was closed and I’m sorry I can’t help out with your over 500 cancellations. Maybe that cancellation fee kept you “afloat.” You still don’t seem to understand the trip was cancelled because you couldn’t go out. My Delta flight didn’t charge me a cancellation fee because they weren’t flying. You were going to be getting over $3100 from me and I was prepared to rebook once I knew my fellow fishing buddies schedules but was waiting to see how this was handled. That question has now been answered. Yes I might have prematurely jumped the gun on the BBB but that was solely because Gennifer wouldn’t tell me who I needed to ask for an exception. Her response, go to the website. $30 isn’t going to break you or I Steven but the principle is the problem. There are plenty of boats down there to use just like there are fish in the sea.

MY ADVICE,...

Due to COVID-19 virtually closing down the Keys for two months, we were extremely fortunate to get a 2-person, ½-day charter with Dream Catchers on short-notice. We hoped to go tarpon fishing for the first time, and after reading many reviews, we requested to go out with the owner (Capt. Steven Lamp). Surprisingly, we got everything we wanted, and went out June 3rd. When we arrived, Capt. Steven gave us our safety briefing, and showed us the weather radar on his phone. At our first spot, we caught a mutton snapper. At our second spot, we saw several tarpon. Capt. Steven persisted to the point of putting the bait right on top of them, but they weren’t interested. He suggested we move on to another spot but gave us the option to stay and keep trying for the tarpon near us. We said we hired him as the expert and would go with what he thought best. It wasn’t that long after arriving at the third spot, that I reeled in a Jack Crevalle, and my husband hooked a tarpon. He fought the 85-pounder for over 45-minutes with Capt. Steven’s guidance. When the fish was at the boat, and Capt. Steven reached down, the leader snapped due to the fish’s tail hitting it so many times during the fight. Needless to say, my husband was extremely disappointed he was unable to get a picture with his first tarpon. Other than missing that picture, we had a great experience fishing with Dream Catchers. We have fished with many guides in several countries, and until you fish with a “next level” operation, you don’t realize what you’ve been missing. There were so many things that impressed us about this operation. Genn made the reservation process easy, Dream Catcher’s boat fleet was immaculate (the only boats in the marina kept out of the water on floating docks), the rods and reels are top-quality equipment, and the speed of our boat made it possible to reach fishing spots in our 4-hour charter that other charters may not have been able to make possible. I think what impressed us most is how Capt. Steven put the customer first on everything. He asked our opinion on music, on boat speed, how long to stay at a spot, tried to get professional-quality pictures of the tarpon jumping (who refused to jump but once), cleaned our fish in a downpour when we got back to the dock, and even helped put a rain jacket on my husband while he was fighting his tarpon and light rain started. With that level of customer-oriented service, combined with exceptional guide skills/experience, we are not surprised Dream Catchers is so successful and respected in the Keys. When we come back to the Keys, we will certainly go with...

My family and I were looking forward to a fishing trip while on vacation and based on the reviews for the Key West area I chose this company. Unfortunately, what we thought we booked and for the cost the experience was not equivalent. I booked the trip a week in advanced, 4 adults (my self, my husband and my parents) 4 hour afternoon fishing trip. When booking I explained only three of us would be fishing and my mother would be along for the scenery. I emphasized our desire was to catch fish to keep for dinner (we are by no means seasoned fishermen but have been on charters before and have enough knowledge to know what to expect). Upon arriving at the marina we were asked by our guide if we were there for the snorkeling trip. Hearing this was concerning and it became evident there was lack of preparation and communication. We did our best fishing with what was provided and unfortunately we were unable to catch anything to keep for dinner. Our guide was friendly enough, the boat was clean and well cared for. The reason for this review and poor rating comes from not being provided the experience we booked. We paid $600 dollars (plus credit card fee) for a 4 hr. fishing charter that we feel was not prepared with adequate bait on the boat. The morning after our trip I called Dream Catchers to express our concerns about the experience. By the end of the conversation I was made to feel as if I did something wrong when booking. Overall, I did not write this review to discourage anyone from booking with Dream Catcher, when reading their reviews it appears they have some fabulous guides working for them. This review is to give the company honest feedback and review our experience. I encouraged them to have their guides call the customer the night before the trip to discuss the details and maybe our trip would have been different if this...