The Toy Shop of Eagle River, LLC — Local services in Town of Lincoln

My experience with this business was excellent... until they claimed that I returned their pontoon with damage. It went COMPLETELY downhill from there. Please read in its entirety to be warned on why NOT to do business with this company.

During the boat inspection, their employee had mentioned some issues with the boat (mostly minor) that existed before we had even driven off with the boat. One of the issues that was mentioned was a dent in the front of the boat. Me, as well as the other 3 passengers, heard him mention it.

When it came time to return the boat, all went smoothly, the boat was docked at the exact return time, and I arrived at their facility to let them know it was returned at the correct spot. They then emailed me that I "unfortunately returned their boat with damage" and that they would assess the damages and invoice me the cost. There was a picture of the dent they were alleging we caused included in the email.

I attempted to email them back that their employee mentioned a dent during the inspection and wanted them to at least explain what damage their employee was talking about in relation to ours. The picture they sent only included enough to show one part of the boat and only the damage they were focused on. I received no response for the day.

The next day they emailed a printout of the usual cost of replacement for various parts of the boat as well as what . Then they listed what they were going to charge us for damages claiming they were going to save us money by fixing it mostly themselves without taking it to a repair shop. No mention was made of the damage their employee informed us of during the inspection. No explanation of what already existed vs what they were accusing us of. No before and after pictures. No pictures of the rest of the boat. Just "here's damage to the boat, pay for it" with no discussion. I responded, again, asking that they address the damage their employee mentioned during the inspection and that we don't believe we are responsible for the magnitude of the costs they were asking. The charges incurred were $700+. Oh, and they casually threw in that there was propeller damage without any pictures or mentioning it in the previous email.

No response again to my 2nd email.

Then, the final email came today, with a charge to my credit card for the price they originally quoted. No one called during the entire time, very important to remember. No one responded to my emails I sent. Not one discussion was had before they charged me. Only their emails alleging we caused damage, that we were to pay for it, oh and by the way, if we disputed it they THREATENED that we would be charged the FULL price of the repair plus rental time that the boat was unavailable.

I then had to call and really hash out my frustration. I was greeted with an immediate corporate tone once they had determined who I was, and no apology, no explanation of their failure to communicate. The excuse for no email responses? That's a "different" email address they don't actually receive for 2-3 days. WHAT??? Why are you leaving it in your signature line of your emails for this then? She then claimed she tried to call me twice! And that there was a woman in my voicemail message!!! I received no calls, no voicemails, and I'm a man. CLEARLY, no call was made. She even correctly cited my phone number, so why no calls??? When I questioned the lack of communication, she claimed it was my fault because their email was in the waiver I signed. When we first rented the boat. That I RECEIVED NO COPY OF.

This business clearly has no qualms with blaming damage on people without going any extra distance to maintain communication before charging them insane amounts of money. If you're going to allege someone caused damage, you MUST have preferred method of contact in your email, preferred time frame you wish to be contacted before charges will be made, and ACTUALLY CALL THE PERSON YOU'RE ACCUSING.

I'm sorry to be wordy, but please learn from my experience and go with...

The Toy Shop of Eagle River has been the best place in Eagle River to rent your fun recreation toys for 7 years. Good prices, friendly people, and amazing products. this place should be rated 5 stars hands down. They have helped my family with atvs, sleds, pontoons, and jet skis and I would never go anywhere besides The toy Shop of Eagle River.

*I also wanted to point out how the bad reviews on here are all based on the weather and trail conditions. They have control over how the trails are or weather it's raining, if you have time to write a questionable and negative review you should have time to check the weather before renting.

Linda Newberry

DO NOT expect much for ATVing, 85% of trails are dirt firetruck roads, and asphalt roads, SHARING THEM WITH auto, trucks etc. almost ran into an 18-wheeler, logging, in 1 area. When they gave us the map & showed us all the roads NOT ATV TRAILS, we didn't want to waste our money, & said we didn't want to go, but they couldn't get hold of the owner to give us our $100 deposit back. I base my vacations around ATV rentals WITHOUT tour guides, this was our cup of tea, no tour guides, BUT... When I made the reservations for my husband & I 9 months ago they said by August we will have miles of ATV trails available, these WERE NOT traditional trails, but dirt roads used by other vehicles, not fun when you don't know if you are going to run into a car around the corners. When I talked to the owner the next day, to at least get a $100 credit because it was misrepresentation when we made the reservations, Eric said this was leaps and bounds for them, that back 9 months ago, they had nothing. MY POINT!!!! They had numerous opportunities to tell me. They were quite happy to change the reservation 3 times due to weather, because they didn't have any other reservations!!! So Erics point of, "we had this reserved, couldn't rent it out," didn't pan out, there weren't any other customers wanting to rent ATV's and we certainly didn't see ANY OTHERs out on the roads anywhere!!! He could have done the right thing & given a credit for such a miserable time, but now I will have to dispute it with my credit card company!!!

Jelena Avramovic Jelena Avramovic They mislead us that trail is good, so we wasted 6 hours of out time driving...

I leave this review to spark a conversation regarding customer service.

My family and I have partnered with the Toy Shop since 2019, using it for our holiday vacation in Land O’ Lakes and our experience has always been fantastic.

This year, through an unknown error, the booking for the trip was two days off, and the pick up day was scheduled the day we are leaving.

I recognize this is a holiday weekend and I recognize my own fallibility and that I may have made an error in booking, however, when trying to discuss if there were any alternative options (say equipment not picked up or cancellation, or maybe knocking a day off of the rental to meet me halfway on eating the whole cost) the tone of the woman at the counter was standoffish and rude. It was clear she went to an aggressive defensive state immediately. Short, condescending statements of, “it’s on our website. There’s nothing I can do, everywhere is a two day minimum. Even if people don’t pick it up we don’t rent it to others.”

I think a tone of grace and patience over combative smugness is the correct approach.

A last and important point, when I ordered and paid for this rental on May 17th, I received no confirmation for Toy Shop or from the booking app. I was not notified until days before the pick up of the pick up date, which would have been too late for me to do anything about any error anyway.

Thanks again for your partnership over the years, as often with companies, Toy Shop is great as long as everything goes right. However, if there’s any hiccups, which is where customer service truly has the ability to shine, I’m afraid the Toy...