Rant: wasted $350 on an airboat tour that never left the dock

Booked a ride with a guy in Soldotna last summer who claimed he ran tours daily on the Kenai River. Showed up at 10 AM like he said and he was just sitting there with a half empty beer. Said the engine had a fuel issue and he'd fix it in an hour. Four hours later he was still messing with it and I finally asked for my money back. He got defensive and said no refunds, so I had to file a chargeback with my bank. Has anyone else dealt with these fly by night tour operators up here?

2 comments

2 Comments

william_taylor27d ago

Man, that is rough. I had almost the exact same thing happen to me but with a fishing charter out of Homer a couple years back. Guy took my money, we got maybe twenty minutes down the bay before he said the battery was dead and we just floated there for three hours while he drank Coors and blamed the weather. I had to threaten to call the troopers before he finally agreed to a partial refund. The real problem up here is anyone with a boat and a Facebook page thinks they can run a business. No regulation, no oversight, it's like the Wild West. Next time I'm sticking with the big companies that have actual offices and credit card terminals, not some guy operating out of his truck.

joseph_coleman27d ago

So you're really gonna act like a guy cracking beers at 10 AM and fixing his own engine is somehow the same as a PROPERLY run business? Look, I get that you had a bad time, but the whole "Wild West" thing is EXACTLY why Alaska is still Alaska. You want some corporate tour where they hand you a laminated safety card and charge you double for a hot dog? Go to Disney World. These little guys are the ones who KNOW the river, who'll tell you where the salmon are biting instead of some script about glaciation. Yeah, sometimes you get a drunk with a dead battery, but that's the RISK you take for a real experience. If you wanted a guarantee, you should've booked through a hotel desk, not answered a Craigslist ad.