HERE IS THE SHORT STORY:
My son and I had a great day of canoeing with friends on the famous Brazos River in Texas. But had an horrible experience with the canoe rental company that we used. They advertise one price on their website and then hit you up for (next to required) additional fees once you are there and trapped, run a CASH business, and have ZERO customer service leaving unhappy customers with minimal recourse.
HERE IS THE LONG STORY:
My son and I joined a few friends today for a canoe trip down the Brazos River. We spent about 6 hours leisurely working our way down the 10 mile section of river that we had pre-arranged to tour.
Our entire group booked our self-guided canoe trip through a company called Rochelle’s Canoe Rental in Graford, TX, which was to supply the canoes, paddles, and (for a required additional fee) a shuttle ride at the end of the day back to their facility where are cars were parked.
When we arrived, we were greeted with the information that we still owed and other $60 in CASH (beyond the $20 deposit that was mailed in advance on a $30 single day rental fee . . . . which by my math left only $10 owed) totaling $80 for the day. It was “explained” to me in that kind of “I don’t give a shit about you . . . whatever . . . who’s next” manner that the additional fees were for parking, canoe paddle rental, life jacket rental, and the “required” shuttle fee.
Of course this establishment only excepts CASH (State Comptroller, Susan Combs, you might want to look into this), and since I brought minimal cash with me so as to not have to leave it in the car or loose it on the river, I asked the pleasant folks at Rochelle’s where I might find a ATM machine (thinking they might actually have one . . . silly me) and the nice lady behind the desk (with out looking up) pointed to the north and said, “7 miles that way, or 6 miles that way”, changing her point southward. “NEXT”
My son and I left the shack to discuss whether to go forward with our day’s plans or cut our losses when we ran into the rest of our party. After a short discussion with them, I decided to make a dash to the cash machine while the rest of the group stalled.
After arriving back with the cash and getting paid up we were off for a great day on the river. Due to recent rains the river was up just enough to minimize the typical mid-summer portage points along the way. All-in-all, the river had a nice currant and minimal wind which made for mostly easy going, a relaxing time, and a great break from the 100º Texas summer heat.
“Now . . .”, as the great Paul Harvey would say, “. . .for the rest of the story”
We arrive at the designated 10 mile take out location around 2:40 in the afternoon with only one other group already on shore. We beached our canoes and secured our paddles and life vest and headed up a hill to a phone to make a call to Rochelle’s (A call that Rochelle’s had asked us to make so that they could have an idea about how many would be waiting at any given pick up time.) to inform them that we were at the end and ready for pick-up on the 3pm shuttle . . . . you see . . . . Rochelle’s also made a point to tell us that they pick up only on the hour with the last pick up at 5pm (“after that yul be campin’“). The nice lady from this morning let me know (in a kind of to busy to be bothered with your call kind of way) that the shuttle would be arriving at 3.
Other groups continued to arrive at the 10 mile out point over the next 15 minutes leading up to the arrival of the shuttle (a total of about 40 people were now waiting). Each group bringing there equipment onshore and securing it on their own, much like we had, and then found a shade tree to wait under until the shuttle would arrive. Just about 3pm, a pickup truck arrived hauling trailer. The driver got out and let us all know that we needed to “get” their equipment and canoes loaded on the trailer and that a van would be alone in a minute to retrieve us. Once their equipment (which we paid to rent) was all loaded, a van arrived and it was open season to try and pile in to this one 15 person passenger van. No order, no taking those who arrived first, no consideration for those with small children, nothing, just a free for all. Behind the van was a second pickup truck with a bed full of canoe paddles and life jackets, which was offered to anyone who didn’t want to wait for the next shuttle, (presumably at 4pm) and fight with all the new people who will be continuing to arrive at the 10 mile out point over the next hour hoping for a ride.
Our group of 6 quickly dove in the bed of the truck. After all, it had steel rack so we assumed we would be somewhat protected . . . just in case. (yes, there is more to come). One of the people from another group that was unable to fit in the van and unwilling to ride in the bed of a truck asked if the van would be right back and if so, how long. The drive said, it was up to the boss but the soonest someone could be back would about 30 min. Adding, as he jump in his truck, that they only promised to pick up on the hour. NICE!!!
So we were off, on our mandatory $25 shuttle ride, headed back to our starting point where our cars were parked. It was a high speed ride down the back roads of Texas, kickin’ up dust and holding on for dear life all while the (air conditioned) van behind us kept beeping his horn and trying to get our drivers attention at every cross road and stop. As the 6 of us joked about what could be the matter and why our driver wasn’t responding, one of our group theorized that we might have a flat tire because of the slight thumping noise. No worries, by this point we were flying down a state highway. For some strange reason half on the road and half on the shoulder. ?????
BANG . . . . . BLOWOUT
The driver gets the truck stopped and over to the side of the road and get out saying, “What the hell happened?” Discovering the blowout he decided to try and limp up to a gas station about a 1/2 mile up. After driving for several hundred yards on the rim and leaving shredded rubber and groves in the hot asphalt in his wake, we forced him to stop and asked to get out and walk the rest of the way. (This was done for 3 reasons: #1 we felt that by getting out we would minimize the load on the rim, #2 we could walk the remaining 1/4 mile faster, and #3 we didn’t want to be in the bed of his truck when someone rear-ended him as he crept along.)
About 10 minutes after we arrived at the gas station a new pickup arrived to retrieve us. That’s right, not a van, another pickup. Our driver quickly took his spot in the cab of the “rescue” pickup . . . . but not before retrieving a 12-pack of Bud from the front seat of the truck he was driving.
Back into the bed of the new truck, sans roll cage (but not before they transfered all the paddles and crap for us to again sit on . . . nice of them to think of us), for several more miles of Texas county side whizzing and bouncing by.
Once we made it back to Rochelle’s we proceeded to the office where we were to collect our deposit checks. That all went smooth, but when one of the other customers asked for a refund on shuttle or a very least a cold drink “on the house”, the nice lady at the desk told us, “the drinks on ice are $2 and the cold candy bars in the fridge are $1.”
Did I mentioned that it was 103 degrees during our little back road adventure?
So what have we learned. Sure I could have walked away in the morning and given up my non-refundable $20 deposit check (with my signature, address, and account number on it) but I figured we were there and the additional charges may have been my oversight having not read Rochelle’s website close enough. (Well, I have now, and there is NO mention of parking fees, paddle rental fees, and life jacket fees.) Plus, Charlie and I were looking forward to our time on the river. Sure we could have been “D**khead Dallas” folks and demanded an A/C van like the lucky 15, or that they take people in some semblance of order, or that they provide enough vans to transport all those people that they require to fork over $25 CASH for said transportation, or that they apologize for the overcrowding, or offer some sort of refund (at very minimally the shuttle fee), but no we chose to give them the benefit of the doubt, hoping they would offer, hoping that they really were thankful that in this economy folks were choosing to spend their limited funds at their business, or hoping that they cared about anyone that might think about using their company again.
At the offer of the $1 candy bar, I lost hope.