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The following should posted as a warning not to do business with the firm found on GOOGLE to purchase a paddle boat! To; DirectBoats.com 7-1-06 After placing an order for the 'Pelican' 2006 Energy DLX on May 12, the following chronology occurred in dealing with your inept company; I specifically told JOHN that I was going to our summer home in Cashiers, NC and would only be there from May 21-June 2. He assured me that THE PADDLE BOAT WOULD BE DELIVERED BEFORE JUNE 2. I explained that the delivery before I left NC was a condition of the order. On May 29, I called to see why ABF freight had no record of the shipment from Canada. She told me she would check into it and call me back. (NO CALL) On May 30 I spoke to Roger Lowe, who told me that the shipment was on the way and he would exert his influence to see that it arrived by June 2. He was to call me back with the status. NO CALLS WERE RECVEIVED! We left NC on June 2 as planned and returned to Florida. I spoke with Gwen and asked that the order be cancelled. I asked for Roger to call me and arrange for a credit since the purchase was charged to my visa. On June 15 ABF called to arrange for delivery to NC. I told them to return the boat since there was no one there to accept delivery. I called Gwen again to ask that Roger call. NO CALLS WERE RECEIVED! On June 15, I lodged a protest of the $1196.00 charge to my VISA with the above explanation! Capitol One Bank has creditred my account and debited your account for the charge. The credit was completed on June 30. Today I have made a formal complaint to the Attorney General of the State of Georgia, Better Business Bureau in your County, Google search engine where I fotnd tour website, Yahoo which has a link to your website, Visa International, and Mastercard International. I hope some of my actions cause you to intraspect how you mistreat your customers and causes you some financial PAIN! You have caused me aggravation and wasted time which I find offensive and unecessary! I do not expect an apology or reply since your track record is to IGNIORE PROBLEMS & CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS. You cannot continue to operate your business in this fashion without consequences! I hope the consequences are PAINFUL!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
No delivery dates are ever guaranteed on delivery because it is out of the directboats.com hands. Freight carriers charge more than boats to guarantee delivery dates. This option was refused by the customer... Customer got a full refund and went completely insane reguarding his order. If you have a birthday party or vacation planned around the delivery of a built to order boat... don't order it, pick one up locally or have a freind sign for your boat when it arrives. This customer obviously didn't have any freinds.
I cant believe that a company could be so unprofesional! Making comments about a customer being "completely insane" and "having no friends". I would never order anything from DirectBoats.com!
Believe it. They don't let actual customers post reviews on their website because they know what will happen. Then they call BBB and Yelp fake. Sorry, but I tend to believe the reviews I see.
I am having problems with this company as well! This is the 2nd time the motor has burned out and caused burn marks on my hand due to it. The first time, they gave me a new boat and now they are refusing to do so, saying the warranty is up. They are aware of this problem and say they have gone to a cheaper company for their boats, so the warranty no longer applies! I am going all the way with this one!
I have not received my boat yet, however I FINALLY have a tracking number. I was to be called back several times by the company, but never was. They didn't even return a call about shipping costs, when I was inquiring about the boat. I hadn't even purchased it yet, I was just curious! (I should have seen the red flag)
I ordered on the 13th and it shipped on the 22nd. However, they must have crappy communication with the factory, because when I finally got a tracking number and the name of the carrier, the boat had already went to 2 cities and is now in transit to the next terminal. That was the 26th. So for 5 days, they couldn't tell me where my boat was or even if it had been shipped. Also they said they shipped the oar brackets and oar locks separate from the boat. No tracking number. I did more research and found out that there are other places to find the Bassmaster Baby Bass, which is the one I ordered. I will say that the reviews on this boat are outstanding. I believe the quality of the boat will be great, I just went through the wrong distributor.
Not sure why we as a broker of boats are getting blamed for boat manufacturers warranty periods being up? First D in Georgia complained about getting a free replacement boat? Then she said something about a motor burning up... when, what manufacturer, how old was the boat, did you expect a free motor three years after you didn't put oil in it? Are these real or just posted by our competitors? We answered the last one on our site under boat buyers guides, didn't see it had been posted in two places until now.
This is our response to the last complaint.
Although they carry several, the brand I ordered from the company is Bassmaster, the model is a Bass Baby. (not sure about that, the boat mold was originally built by connect a dock, then purchased by bass hunter boats, sometimes, boats are built for us to exclusively sell them with a different name on them, in this case as far as the name here is the link to the item http://www.directboats.com/bassbaby.html) I have not received my boat yet, however I FINALLY have a tracking number. I was to be called back several times by the company, but never was. (we never promise to call back our customers, only the freight carrier is to call when it at your nearest terminal, the day before delivery) They didn't even return a call about shipping costs, (the shipping costs are posted on our web site on this boat? it's currently 99 dollars to the continental US, it has always been that much, maybe he was talking about another boat quote?) when I was inquiring and I hadn't even purchased it yet, I was just curious! I should have seen the red flag. (you didn't see the 99 dollars shipping cost?) I ordered on the 13th and it shipped on the 22nd. (on the short time of the lead time posted of one to two weeks? So no problem with shipping) However, they must have crappy communication with the factory, because when I finally got a tracking number and the name of the carrier, the boat had already went to 2 cities and is now in transit to the next terminal. That was the 26th. So for 5 days, they couldn't tell me where my boat was or even if it had been shipped. (did we promise a tracking number? we are not the carrier, or the factory, only promise you will get a great boat at a great price, maybe because we answer the phone and say we will try to get a tracking number for you if you ask for one we are to blame, I admit, we shouldn't have tried to help maybe, most people appreciate it.) Also they said they shipped the oar brackets and oar locks separate from the boat. No tracking number. (boat manufacturers sometimes make mistakes and run out of their supplies, they don't build oar locks and brackets, were they late on getting those to you, I doubt it, they probably went to an extra expense to get them to you in a hurry.) I did more research and found out that there are other places to buy my boat. Some dealerships exist as well.(So that is our fault to, yes we have competitors, didn't we have the best price, did we charge sales tax, didn't you get a new one in a box instead of an older one that has been climbed on by a bunch of snotty nosed kids?) I WILL say that the reviews on this boat are outstanding. Out of about 20 reviews, only one person had a bad one, (watch out on those ratings, many times they are ratings posted paid advertisers, your better off to study the boats, and ask knowledgeable sales people or read, like on our web site the buyers guides, not to say that the competing boat manufacturer may not post something negative, just simply saying watch out banking on product ratings) but after reading his post, I think he was a bit rough on the product. (how do you know, you haven't gotten it yet, well... we don't sell cheap Chinese imports, and all manufacturers we sell are USCG approved and US liability insured) I believe the quality of the boat will be great, I just went through the wrong distributor. (why? because this is posted by our competitor iboats.com?) In conclusion, I haven't found anything good about this company posted on the internet, (did you really look?, or do people just complain online, we don't pay companies to give us fake positive ratings, they call all the time and ask us to pay them, we have rejected this concept but our competitors have not, this partially how we keep our prices down.) except testimonials on their website. All I have found are complaints. (where did you find these complaints, were they valid, where are they? only on iboats.com I assume, if this is even a customer.)
(So in summary if this is a customer, the boat was ordered got there on time, a couple of parts were short and shipped UPS, but got there timely, the boat was of great quality... got a tracking number issued from us, also should have had a call from the freight carrier, always got people on the phone, even in the on-season, got a great price, we don't usually get beat on that. Seriously what is the problem, aren't you now happily catching fish?)
This company sucks! Just read the tone of their posts. They are dismissive and down right mean when someone tells the truth about their shady business practices. As far as trying to explain away all their bad ratings as "mean ol competitors" the should perhaps attempt to do an honest days business instead of swindling money from hard working people, then yelling at them when they complain that they were taken advantage of. I for one will never order from this place. I called a few times the other day to speak with their sales team, there are only two people in sales. One is the so called owner, Roger Lowe and the other one was John. As far as I can tell, this company has 5 or so employees and none are in customer service. Buy somewhere else and give this crappy company a wide birth.
Bobby
We purchased a pedal boat and asked that it be delivered before a certain date - it was a week late. We also called to confirm thisThe customer service people are not very nice and when I asked for a discount for the trouble, they said they would not do anything for me. They also said if I wanted to return it, I would have to pay for the original shipping, the return shipping, and a 25%-50% restocking fee. This is a horrible company with ridiculous policies. They have a ( D- ) BBB Rating ! Buyer beware !
I purchased a pedal boat from Direct Boats and got the best price I could find anywhere. Delivery was a little slow but it was due to the 4th of July falling in the middle of the week. The delivery company called before they made the delivery driver assisted with unloading. It is a great quality pedal boat and the customer service representatives were very helpful during and after the sale. I can only speak on my experience with Direct Boats, but I would highly recommend this company. Bob 7/2012
I purchased a pedal boat as well from this company and received within the two week lead time that the sales rep stated. The staff was very professional and helpful when I called for tracking. I am only speaking from experience and will definitely do business with directboats again.
verall Im satisfied with my purchase with DirectBoats.com. The ease of purchase and customer service were the most likeable qualities of making my purchase with DirectBoats.com. They offer several payment options and you can change your billing or shipping information quite easily by writing them a quick email or making a five minute phone call. Their customer service department was good about relaying the current status and location of my order throughout the shipping process. DirectBoats.coms prices were not bad but not the best either. I did manage to find lower prices elsewhere, but stuck with DirectBoats.com because of their stated quick processing and delivery time. My first trip out in my new canoe was very enjoyable, thanks DirectBoats.com!
Plain and simple, I have ordered seven boats over the last ten years from this company. I have had a few hickups but they took care of them. We don't have a boat dealer in my town so this is it. I play with them then get tired of them, then sell them. They are very nice people and I hate to see them being put down.
I bought a pedal boat from them 7 weeks ago. It arrived damaged last week. I called in for help and was told that I had to take it up with the freight carrier. I then asked to speak with the sales person only to be told he was out. I have called several times to resolve this issue and am getting more and more angry. I wish i had never done business with this company. I am close to calling my credit card company and letting them take care of it. As the one guy said this place has a D with the BBB, i wish i had listened. On a related note, Dan21's post seems like it was made by the company. He says directcrap.com like 10 times. From the dealings I have had thus far, posting fake reviews seems like par for the course. Proceed at your own risk.
We recently bought a boat through this company. We are happy with our purchase It was very easy to make the transaction and the whole thing went off very well. The sales team gave us good advice about the receiving the merchandise from the freight company and they were courteous and helpful when I called and asked a couple of questions. I would like to see them implement an online tracking feature, similar to some of the other online merchants Ive done business with. That would be good information for the customer and should cut down on calls. We had a couple of smaller items missing in the package, but that was a problem with the packaging of the boat. We called the boat manufacturer and they made everything right. Again, it was a good experience and I would do business with DirectBoats again.
I was about to order a boat through this company and read his attitude. He lost our business!
You dodged a bullet. :-)
Most of these reviews are from an ex employee from back in 2006 he was furious he got fired and was excellent at getting to the top of the search engines. He has admitted to to another former employee that he did this. He claims he forgot how to remove these false statements. We have attempted to contact the web owner, they don’t respond. Please know that for nearly 20 years DirectBoats.com has provided top quality customer service and these reviews are simply made up.
The response is the same, always the customer's fault. This company makes up stories and blames things on other people instead of taking responsibility for their horrible products.
Sorry but Cara Camilli ordered a trailer which the website gives a complete description of what to expect which she got but decided to charge back her credit card without giving the product back. Every thing she describes in her complaint is explained before you purchase like the bunk sizes, assembly required, and if she would need assistance offloading. Again we would be happy to offer a refund but you have to give the product back.
We ordered a Laker pontoon boat from this company in June, and I absolutely believe the responses you see from this company on this forum are 100% theirs. While we were on vacation in July, they called to say they would be delivering the boat IN TWO DAYS (on Friday). I explained that we were out of state and our flights wouldn’t get back until that afternoon and that we might not be back in time for it to be delivered that day. Crystal then asked if we could do Saturday (the day after) and I said yes, that should work. She said okay. Then, I get a voicemail Thursday afternoon saying the driver will be delivering our boat on Friday. We had already discussed this; so, I called back and told Crystal that I couldn’t understand why I had gotten notice of the boat being delivered on Friday after we had discussed the situation already and that the delivery should have been scheduled with me in advance of the driver being en route with it. She said with an attitude that that’s what she did the day prior. Whatever. Anyway, once we got the boat, the Bimini top had holes rubbed into it from the hooks which had no protective covering on them, the strap that holds the ladder broke as soon as we went to use it, and there is a big dent in the side of the boat. Initially I had noticed the Bimini first and contacted the number that came on the warranty information with the boat and spoke to a man named Todd who said to send him photos and he would follow-up. I didn’t hear back from him after several days, so I followed-up with him, and this time he said that since I had ordered the boat through Directboats, that I would need to contact them. So, I called them (I got Crystal again) and explained about the Bimini top and that we had also noticed that when we turned the boat to face the other side of our dock, we saw a big dent in the side of the boat. Additionally, when we went to pull out the swim ladder, the strap that secures it just flat-out broke. I was told that the strap and Bimini replacements would be shipped and that She was going to have John Roberts (the salesman) call me the following week to discuss the dent. Almost a month has gone by and We have neither received the replacements nor heard from John, so I called back today and talked to (you guessed it) Crystal - again. She tells me that she was going to track the shipment of the Bimini and strap and placed me on hold to do so. She came back to tell me that she would have to “look into it” (so no tracking information at all and they clearly didn’t ship anything). And this time she decides to tell me that the dent is just how the boat is made and that it is where the pontoons are put together. I said, “no way is this where the PO toons are sealed together”. She then emails me a photo of a boat with a dent in it as well (after I sent her one of our boat) and says this is the way they are made. I believe this to be total BS. And if true, why was this obvious issue with their Laker pontoon boats not disclosed? We never would have bought this boat had we been told there would be a big dent due to how they poorly manufacture it. I asked that the salesman call me and of course he still has not called me back. I would advise people NOT to do business with this company or with Laker Pontoon boats. Attached is the photo of the dent in my boat (blue), and the photo she sent back to me (red). Unbelievable.
The photos would not load, but I would be happy to send directly to someone.
I could not locate a personal watercraft trailer locally so I went online. I found this boat dealer which showed high reviews on it's website (that's because they don't let actual customers post their own reviews). I ordered a trailer and all seemed very easy and upfront. But the description and shipping details were very misleading. First of all, the website states assembly required but doesn't state "how much" assembly. It's been over a month and I still can't get the thing put together. The dealer told me I needed a drill, but neglected to tell me I would need a lift gate for delivery, a fish stick for light wiring, a sledgehammer to get the frame parts to fit together, both metric and standard sockets for nuts and bolts, impact driver and wrench for frame bolts, rasp to clear out the galvanization clogging holes, hacksaw to cut the PVC piping to the correct size (used as bushings on leaf springs), pliers to remove wiring connectors and reconnect them, skill saw to reduce the 8' bunks to 6' that they are supposed to be, staple gun to reconnect the carpet to the bunks after reducing the size, and the most egregious item... vaseline so that the nuts would thread onto the bolts. The parts list shows over 300 pieces and the instructions are written so poorly that I had to take one full day to decipher and rewrite them. There were so many parts that when I showed the guy that was originally going to help me put it together, he said oh wow and backed out. As I tried putting this thing together I started to get really upset. I paid almost $4000 to get this thing to my house and now I can't even use it. To top it off, there are no torque specifications on any of the nuts/bolts for any part of the trailer or wheels. The dealer states that it will hold two 3 seat PWCs, but I have major doubt and don't even want to try it. I contacted AMEX and told them that the description of the trailer was not anything like how it arrives. The dealer is, of course, fighting the charge back. But if they were any kind of reputable company, they would have posted pictures of how the trailer kit actually is packaged and what skill level is needed to put it together. In fact, this should not be sold to consumers, rather it should be sold to boat dealers to put together and then sell to consumers. They knew they were sending this thing to a woman in a senior community and should have said something to me up front. I know they didn't care and just wanted to make a buck (at my expense). In addition, just try to call them... ring, ring, ring, answering machine. It takes 48 hours to get a call back if any. The last thing that really upsets me is that this trailer kit cost $4000 to get to my house and a Zieman J2B double trailer, welded, put together, with a metal box, metal fenders, and jack included is only $3400 to get to my house. It just blows my mind that I actually fell for this terrible product and company. Someone needs to shut them down. Argh. Oh, and I know they will put a rebuttal to make themselves feel better, but it won't be accurate/real. This company is a sham.
Sorry but Cara Camilli ordered a trailer which the website gives a complete description of what to expect which she got but decided to charge back her credit card without giving the product back. Every thing she describes in her complaint is explained before you purchase like the bunk sizes, assembly required, and if she would need assistance offloading. Again we would be happy to offer a refund but you have to give the product back.