This is the 2nd time I've rented from Ski Patrol. I had a good experience last year on one of their pontoon boats, but we rented an 18' Bayliner this year for an 8 hour day, and we had a terrible experience.
Within the first hour and a half we ended up stranded in the middle of the lake when the boat wouldn't start. We were towing a tube (which we also rented), and we turned the boat off every time we switched riders. Each time we restarted the boat, the ignition switch kept getting looser and spinning around, until one of the times it never caught and we couldn't get the boat started. Finally, it just completely fell through the dashboard to the backside of the dash and the front of the ignition switch popped off onto the floor.
Not knowing what to do, we called the office for help. They said they could come out to get us, but that it would be over an hour before they would be there, and I had 4 little girls between the ages of 2-8 on the boat with us. While I was on the phone with them, one of the people on the boat figured out that if you hold the ignition switch from the back, push it through the hole in the dashboard, and turn the key from the front, that we could get the boat to start. Panicked and stressed out with a toddler crying in the background, I told them I needed to get the kids back to the campground and that I would call them back when I figured out what I was going to do because they had also told me that they didn't have another boat and that they would work with me on the price since I was driving a broken boat.
I got the girls back and decided that I would continue driving the boat since I had about 20 other people that had been looking forward to this rental for the last several months as we've been planning this given the discount I believed I was getting in exchange for not having a fully functional vehicle. Since I wasn't bringing the boat back early, I didn't think they needed to hear from me and I thought we were on the same page. However, when I returned the boat at the end of the day, things went from bad to worse.
The man that took the boat back from me just popped the front of the ignition switch back onto the switch in the dashboard, called it "fixed", and made it seem like I was being dramatic that the boat had fallen apart on me in the middle of the lake. Then when I went to talk to Jamie, the woman taking care of billing, she refused to give me the discount I had been promised for the inconvenience and trouble on the water because they were only planning on giving me a refund if I returned it right after I dropped the kids off at camp (no one ever mentioned this on the phone earlier in the day). Then, while I was standing there, the man who had put me and 3 other people in the boat at the beginning of the day felt it necessary to come over and tell me I had taken off in the boat without listening to his instructions, like this was all my fault. And let me tell you, he did not say he had instructions. We were all on the beach together for about 15 minutes before he loaded us into the boat, pushed us out where we were deep enough to lower the motor into the water, and walked away.
I was absolutely amazed at how they treated me when I got back with the boat that evening. I thought I was coming back to compassionate people that were going to help me out after a stressful experience, but instead I was received by a group of people who wanted to make the whole thing my fault. It was entirely uncalled for. I've been coming to Lake McConaughy for over 35 years, and I've always had lovely experiences with people in the community. This, however, was a nightmare. They were rude, unprofessional, uncaring people, and I would never knowingly let anyone I know rent from them without telling them about my encounter with them. They do not care AT ALL about their customers or their boats. Avoid Ski Patrol and rent from Big Mac...
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