PRECISION MARINE SVC & BOAT

I literally cried in the office, it was that bad. I've rented from Precision Marine before. Got a good boat. No issues. However this last time I rented a pontoon, the experience was shockingly different and extremely disappointing. I'd buy a boat before I'd ever rent from them again. Here's the story... Upon signing the contract, we were warned that we must have the boat back by 4:30pm sharp or there would be a late fee. Fair enough. We hopped in our boat and took off. I noticed that the motor was a little funky. I'm not a boat expert but I've rented from them before so I could tell the difference. When I tried to increase the throttle, sometimes the boat would speed up and sometimes it would just make lots of noise. Anyways, it was my friend's birthday and we just wanted to cruise around and swim. We weren't out there to race around the lake like speed demons so I wasn't too concerned. Had I known how much trouble this misjudgment would cause, I would have went back immediately. Anyways, we spent majority of our day docked at a public dock off Saguaro Lake where we swam and picnicked. At 3:50pm, we got back in the boat and set off by 4pm. 30 minutes to return and we're, at best, 4 or 5 miles away. Shouldn't be a problem. Wow, did that boat motor take a turn for the worst. At full throttle, it took us 45 minutes to get back. By 4:30pm, we had a "search & rescue" boat from Precision Marine following us. The man driving the boat even drove up next to us and waved at me as if to say "hurry up". At which point I yelled, "this is as fast as it will go!" I was maybe going 7 miles an hour, and even that is generous. PS. none of the gauges worked so that's why I'm doing the math. The whole time I'm thinking, they won't charge me the late fee, this isn't my fault. The motor is clearly struggling and we're lucky it even worked enough at that point to get us back to the office. Nope. The employee back at the office said the owner called him and told him that he MUST charge me the late fee, no exceptions. I calmly tried to explain myself and about the motor breaking down and us struggling to get back and he said I needed to pay and get off the dock before he called the sheriff. Cue tears. I was not yelling or doing anything to warrant that kind of response. Once I started crying from the build up of emotion that came with struggling to get the boat back in 120 degree weather, being told I would be charged a $135 late fee for being 15 minutes late when it wasn't my fault, then having an employee threaten to call the sheriff because I tried to explain myself, the employee apologized and said he wished he could do something and he was heartbroken for having to charge me. He tells me "he's just an hourly employee and he has to do what his owner says." He promises me that he works the next day and he will personally see to it that the boat is taken out for some kind of inspection and if there really is an issue, they will refund me the late fee. Great. That's all I wanted. There was no doubt in my mind that there was something wrong, that they would see that and like good, level-headed people, they would refund me the late fee and I would continue to go back there for years to come. He told me to call them back the next day at noon. And, the story proceeds to get worse. First call: owner isn't in, they need to take a message. Second call (2 days later since she never returned my call): no one at the Saguaro office is picking up, Canyon Lake employee tells me to call back later. Third call: everyone is out of the office until Thursday (4 days from now). Hmmmm... says their open 7 days a week online. Now, I'm sure they're just giving me the run around. I flat out ask the employee if the owner will actually call me back and he says "to be honest, I don't know". I'm literally dumbfounded. I've always been an easy going, will accept the faulty boat, happily eat a messed up food order, never even written a review-type person. But, every part of this experience is beyond messed up. Don't rent from Precision!