Ocean Stinger Charters

BEWARE OF OCEAN STINGER AND CAPT. JESSE GAWLIK: (I would post with ZERO stars if it was possible)... Trip was booked with Ocean Stinger Charters - Captain Jess Gawlik out of Wrightsville Beach, NC Marina (trip was scuttled & re-booked due to rough seas) . A couple months past the trip date... A random charge of nearly $1000.00 USD appeared on my credit card, months after booking a trip with Ocean Stinger Charters. Captain Jesse Gawlik avoided my calls and emails until I mentioned that I had no choice but to charge-back against the appearingly fraudulent charge. The reasoning Captain Gawlik gave for the charge made zero sense, he claimed it was a mistake and would be refunded immediately. Then later that week Captain Jesse explained Ocean Stinger could not refund the money in whole, but he would need to pay it back in 2 payments by the end of that week. End of that week came and went and still no refund in full. After multiple attempts, multiple excuses, double-talk, phone calls, emails, and time... 3 weeks later I finally received the funds in full (I received the refund back in multiple installment payments (I believe 3 or 4 total refund payments over a 3 week period). When trying to cancel the follow-up trip (due to the Captains poor judgment, and weasel like actions and reluctance to refund my card immediately for the funds he “mistakenly” charged to my card, and was never authorized to take) Captain Gawlik said there wouldn’t be a refund (despite what Ocean Stinger posted refund policies said). So, the charge was disputed with the credit card company. Once the charge was disputed, Captain Jesse went to great lengths to change Ocean Stingers refund policies “on-the-fly” during the dispute in order to deny the any refund. We have screenshots of the changes and the dates the policies were changed. We lost the dispute due to the fact that a debit card was used rather than a credit card (buyer beware!). Forward to today July 2020 - Captain Jessie from Ocean Stinger Charters has made zero attempt to return ANY of the money for the trip. This trip was and $1800.00 loss!!! Beware before you give your credit card information to Captain Jesse Gawlik from Ocean Stinger Charters. In addition to the seemingly nefarious billing charges by Ocean Stinger… The order of the boat itself was in bad shape, their was zero room in the cabin to sit if we wanted to due to scattered equipment, tools, etc. The bathroom was being used as a closet and had to be cleared out before we left dock, with a warning that the toilet didn't flush "but we could still use it anyhow" or just "use a bucket or pee off the deck". One member of our crew also pointed out when we returned, that not once during the trip (which was on a very rough ocean and trip had to be aborted due to violent seas) did Jesse or any crew member mention to any of the passengers where personal flotation devices were located, or even if they had any to begin with? Fish with Ocean Stinger at your own risk!!