jeffrey b Qbs

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Verified Reviewer
| map-marker Seattle, Washington

Fairly frustrated after sign-up

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Original review Jun 28, 2021

Watch for the bait and switch. It was pretty clear that we were interested in the lowest-level membership.

The sales guy overstated the benefits of the membership, especially with regard to reservations. With a limited schedule, this issue is key to us. The reservations are already very limited, and we found out they were worse than we thought, basically nixing our hopes of taking boats on occasional short weekend camping trips. Also, both the sales guy and the online-training guy made it seem like they'd be super flexible on scheduling on-the-water training.

Well, not when we actually got in touch with the person who handles that issue. I was wary of the value of a club membership, and my assessment of that value had dropped since we started looking into it.

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User's recommendation: watch the details; also, if you are limited to mostly weekends, be cautious

1 comment
Guest

After a season in the local club, I'm adding comments: It's been a generally good experience. The club is friendly and well organized.

The docks guys are great. We got out about 18 times this season, which made it worthwhile. The only significant downers are the expense (but there are really no practical alternative for us at least), the limits on weekend reservations/overnighters, and the risk of weather-forced cancelations, which is just a part of boating (but it can suck if your schedule is not terribly flexible). We managed to do one 2-night camping trip via a boat this season, but that was hard to arrange and somewhat lucky.

In GENERAL boat availability has been very good. And the boats have mostly been very good. If were had a more flexible schedule, it would be even better. We also did our first two "reciprocal" reservations, as two different Florida locations.

One of those was great, and one was so-so, but in both cases the club was cool/helpful/friendly. (There is no charge, other than fuel, for reciprocal reservations.)

Anonymous
map-marker Naples, Florida

Need to cancel membership

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No issues, I just bought a boat. It did become a little difficult to book a boat considering other members, weather, etc. But overall, I enjoyed the membership.
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Margrette M

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Verified Reviewer
| map-marker Lake Park, Florida

Outstanding Operation Great Boats Freedom Boat Club of South Florida

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Outstanding Operation Great Boats Freedom Boat Club of South Florida
Outstanding Operation Great Boats Freedom Boat Club of South Florida - Image 2
Outstanding Operation Great Boats Freedom Boat Club of South Florida - Image 3
Freedom Boat Club here is awesome. Not only do you have unlimited use of the fleet of new boats, the staff is outstanding and service is remarkable. The club is always looking to make things even better - not surprising as the owner is a retired Marine Colonel and Iraqi war vet. Most recently, they added nearly 3,000 new reservation opportunities for us members - at significant cost to the company and most impressively, not something they had to do! They are adding new boats to their fleet weekly - all new! We have over 100 boats to choose from - unlimited use from Stuart to Pompano and easily reserved reciprocal use at over 250 other locations! So worth the money! Thankful to be part of FBC.
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User's recommendation: Outstanding Company and Service

James R Msb

Poorly Managed and Operated Location

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Rude owner. Rude Dock hands. Very poorly run. The Galveston location is way more professional and customer friendly than the Clear Lake location. Sent complaint to corporate 3 moths ago and have received no responses. This location is a definite waste of money in my book.
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Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution

User's recommendation: Join and go to Galveston location

steve c Qwe

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Verified Reviewer
| map-marker Madeira Beach, Florida

Terrible Experience, Stay Away

They accused me of stealing a boat, WOW, Slander, and Libeled me in a written email. Terminated membership. I see the same exact wording for others from the same internal Person, at Tampa Franchise. Madeira Beach seems to be the location that complains about Members to Tampa Corporate - then they terminate Don, without,discussion. waste dD at\them,
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Loss:
$3500
Cons:
  • Not reputable
  • Dean iverson - not an honest person
  • Asked to discusss

Preferred solution: Full refund

User's recommendation: waste of money, they are not honest or reputable.

Richard D Eij
map-marker Bokeelia, Florida

Child safety and boater education ,rentals equipment for safety

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Found one of there members stuck on sand bar yesterday with little children ,no chart plotter depth finder tried to help pull them off but stuck too bad ( no safety instruction or preparation) went to the rental location and informed the representative there they confirmed no tow boat or boat us memberships on there boats and thought how can you rent to people and let them not be 100% safe and responsible to keep there rentals from being somthing that could cause life and injury to be at risk the expense of safety versus the risk and quality company risk management makes one wonder if marine patrol knows there lack of safety practices
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Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution

User's recommendation: Purchase the boat US or tow boat policy ,make sure you know the waters and have a chart ,chart plotter on boat or your phone to show shallows or under water dangers

Anonymous
map-marker Port Saint Lucie, Florida

Lack of boat availability

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Look...this is a great deal if you are FBC. They get $3 to $5k up front, but then the customer finds out you have to wait 2 weeks for an available boat. The customer churn in this club is huge. The boats are average when you can get them, but Carefree boats are far superior with Scouts, Sailfish and Yamahas.,,not the awful Mercurys (because FBC is owned by Brunswick, who owns Mercury!) The thing I hate is that Brunswick censures negative comments about the club. You never get the truth. comments any nagativ negative comments
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User's recommendation: Buy a boat or go to Carefree.

Anonymous
map-marker Pompano Beach, Florida

I think it's important that people know what the are buying into.

Hi everybody...I joined the FBC in Jan of 2020. I was told by the salesperson, Dustin, that boats were readily available.

As a regular fisherman, that was important. After that, I saw them run an ad campaign saying "any boat, any time". Folks, it's just not true. It isn't, and I am disgusted that I fell for the honestly, slick words of the Dustin guy.

I had to wait 2 and 3 weeks to get a boat for most of last year.

Then, because they sold so many memberships (think about the number of $4k initiation fees they got!), they moved to 3 reservations per day, meaning your boating trip was a max of 4 hours long.

I have moved on, and I just feel so bad for people, like me, who will be sucked into this ruse.

They are also owned by the bowling ball people (Brunswick) who are primarily interested in revenue, not necessarily client satisfaction. The are so adamant about it that they censor negative comments from their very own customers.

Look, if you don't care about booking a boat 3-4 weeks in the future, then maybe this works.

But, for a fisherperson, no way this is anything but a get your money scheme.

As a businessman..,churning your client base for the initiation fee makes sense. That's what they did with me.

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Loss:
$7000
Anonymous

Mutiny in the So Florida chapter

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Everybody just needs to know that the So Florida chapter is rising up against Dan Lund, "the Colonel" he calls himself, for the policies he has implemented. Because he has sold soooo many memberships, many with "covid" discounts, he has had to reduce the time of each reservation to 4 hours. There are now 3 reservations per day on the log. How would you like to be a fisherman trying to get 5 miles offshore and back, and fish, in 4 hours!! FBC, along with Brunswick Corp, the owner, have shut down, CENSORED, , all negative comments and actually shut down the FBC chat room for independent comment, They only allow "share" if the subject is positive for the FBC. In my opinion, they are running some kind of scam I never imagined when I signed up. If you are a weekender with kids who want a day on the water like they promise....."any boat, any time"....truly..,just forget it, It's a lie. I have quit the club and taken my lumps. I am going to Carefree, who has had a fishing boat available everyday last week. I checked. \Integrity..,you either have it or you don't. In my opinion, FBC is misnamed. There is nothing "freedom like" or "American" about this company or Brunswick, the owner.
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Loss:
$6000
Pros:
  • Concept

Preferred solution: Full refund

4 comments
Guest

Totally bogus review. Not reality.

Clearly just trying to hurt a great small business. Woke Cancel culture not welcomed here!!

Margrette M
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1996245

Totally Agree! Wish there were more small business owners with Col Lund's integrity!

Margrette M

We have been members for six years, love the club, love the new reservation program and appreciate the Colonel, not only for his service to our country but for finding a way to provide us with 3,000 more boat uses with this innovative new system. It is truly remarkable that the owner is willing to spend significantly more money to open up all these new reservations and he didn’t have to do it!

The review is grossly inaccurate in so many ways. We have unlimited use and unlimited call ins.

You can easily have a boat 10 hours or more. FBC has a great staff, great boats and is so worth the money!

Margrette M

I have

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Anonymous
map-marker Pompano Beach, Florida

I'm not sure, but i think it's about awareness?

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Nowhere near enough boats. $400 per month to get one or two usages.That's how they make their money. Even the Pres of the chapter says it's about selling memberships, and that's it.
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User's recommendation: stay away! Do NOT give them an initiation fee! I tried to get my money bac after 2 weeks and they refused. THey sell hundreds and hundreds of memberships and kdon't update the boat inventory. Peo0ple then walk away afterbeing duped. BE CAREFUL! INSIST ON A TWO WEEK WINDOW FOR REFUND>

Anonymous
map-marker San Diego, California

Constant issues with broken boats and club franchise owner accusations

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I have been in FBC (San Diego location) for a few years now. Initially it was great, you could always get a boat in a reasonable time frame (a few days to a week). Now it takes weeks if not months to get a fishing boat. Nothing was better than using someone else boat and not having the headaches of owning your own boat. Which I did own my own boat for 3 years in the past. However, the last year or so this location has been getting worse and worse. Before I start my rant I want to put this out there. We are paying members to a club that just happens to provide boats for use. If you have a business, you need to conduct routine maintenance on them to prevent them from having the problems below. If this was a rental car company they would go out of business. You dont have these types of issues with rental cars. Additionally, we have a boat at my work and we dont have any problems like this. Obviously certain problems happen but not at the constant pace that this club is having. The problems started mainly with the fishing boats. 1. The bait pump/tanks wouldn't work or would stop working while in transit and all the bait would die, so not only are you out $50 for bait but you can't really catch a lot of fish with dead bait. 2. Raw water hoses on some of the boats don't work or there is no hose on the boat. 3. This hasn't happened to me personally, but Ive been told recently by 3 different people that the engine died or wouldnt start when they were out fishing 30+ miles offshore and were pretty much stranded until they could hail someone on the radio and/or get sea two out to them. 4. Radios sometimes dont work, which is a huge safety issue. 5. Specifically on 08 Sep 2020, the Club owner accused me of having a boat on the bay with loads of people and not socially distancing. He asked me to explain this and sent me a link to a news story. What he didnt do was pay attention the facts of the story, it was reported on labor day (07Sep) but the date of the party and infraction was the day prior (06Sep). He accused me and wanted me to explain why I had so many people on the boat and why I wasnt social distancing. He found out it wasnt me and only said thanks for your patience, No accusations. WTF did you just do, you accused me of it? 6. The boat club charging more for gas when you already replaced the amount of gas you used. Additionally, they didnt tell you they charged you they just did it with no notification. If anyone has the corporate info, I can get ahold of to get some traction on this that would be great. Thank you in advance.
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User's recommendation: Don't give the club your money or business unless you just want to cruise a bay or lake.

2 comments
Guest

i would be an unhappy camper also. thanks for the information

Kathi Wnk

1.Bait Pumps: I am terribly sorry for your experience with the bait pumps on our boats. Over the last 24 months we have tested new brands of pumps to see which one can handle the constant usage in the club.

While we are still looking for the perfect pump (and that might not exist), the pumps we have on the boats are the best on the market. The Bait Sentry from Shurflo. This pump is a mag drive system which last longer and is less susceptible to clogging. Our policy is that the fishing boats must have a working bait pump before departure.

If a pump breaks down during your trip, we will happily replace that pump at no cost to the member. That is the value in the club. Changing a bait pump at a dealership can cost over $500.00. If a pump is not working before your departure, we will try to get you on another boat.

Again, our policy is to have the bait pumps working before departure. 2.Raw water hoses: This has been a challenge and we are working on a solution! My sincere apologies. There are no excuses for your boat to not have a wash down pump.

Thanks for your feed back on this! 3.Engine failures: During the summer of 2020 we had unprecedented usage. Every year we have a small percentage of boats being towed. Typically, they are member beaching boats and the tide goes out on them and then the boat is stuck on the beach.

Others include members trying to start a boat while it is not in neutral and/or the safety lanyard not being attached. This year, like other years we had some boats being towed from offshore. These tows were not associated with lack of maintenance, they were associated with manufacturer defects. Just like buying a new car and having a manufacture issue.

The good news is that this year our usage:towing ratio is less than half than it was in previous years. Also, each boat has a Sea Tow membership so if there are any problems Sea Tow comes to your rescue and the member does not need to pay for the towing. (Other clubs and rentals do not offer this benefit) We have spoken with each person who has been towed to get details on the incident and fix any internal issues. We buy brand new boats and service them regularly, sometimes each fishing boats gets serviced 4 times per month.

That is four 100-hour services conducted within 30 days that cost over $750 and there is no cost to the member. Unfortunately, even with consistent maintenance on brand new boats there will be an issue that requires a tow. That is why we have Sea Tow memberships. I am happy that you have not personally experienced this, however if you do the Sea Tow membership is there for you.

4.Radios inoperative: Our offshore radios must work before a member takes them out. We check them during the check out process. If a “mounted” radio does not work for some reason, then we provide a handheld. We also have “early checkouts” where our staff is not present during the check procedure during an early morning departure at 5:30am for example.

During this checkout if your radio is not working, I recommend not going offshore without a back up radio. When we prep a boat the night before for an “early morning checkout”, we check the mounted radio. I will be the first to admit that I have personally done this and then come back in the morning to a radio that was not working. Salt water and electronics can be a real challenge.

We are looking into the radios being mounted in a better spot, if needed. It is mandatory that all members on a “Early morning checkout” test their radio before departure. If for some reason it is not working, we recommend members have a back up radio, cancel the trip, or wait for our staff to arrive at 8am to fix the problem. Again, the benefit is that the members do not have to pay for the repairs.

5.The accusation: I personally remember this situation. I sent a news link with a picture of one of our pontoon boats with too many people on it and it being part of a massive beach party to multiple members asking them to explain what was going on. I only had a news link with an estimated time that put the pontoon boat in that situation over the Labor Day weekend. With so many eyes on our club during this COVID pandemic, we are hypersensitive to any members doing things that make the club look bad and are breaking the rules.

It was in no means an accusation and you told me during our texting that it was not you. Others said the same thing and after some time one of the members admitted it was them. Admittedly in hindsight I wish we would have been more sensitive to our members who do not break the rules. My sincere apologies for this interaction.

6.Gas: There is a “fuel counter” in each boat that calculates the fuel used during the reservation. These fuel counters are calibrated each year. Unfortunately, sometimes the venting fuel systems on our boats do not allow for the actual fuel used to be replaced in the boats. This has been an ongoing issue and we have no problems with members fueling as much as they can, and we charge them for the difference without any extra fees.

I personally on many occasions have tried to top off a 100 gallon tank on a new boat that would only take 92 gallons. Then after some venting and “burping” the remainder could be added. When you signed your Freedom Boat Club Agreement you also signed a Credit Card form that authorized Freedom Boat Club to charge your card for “Fuel, fees, and damages”. The receipt that is automated states the date and gallons associated with the charge.

I will speak with my management team on a solution for better notification. Thanks for the feedback. Based on your review we are willing to waive our 60 day notice policy in the club if you would like to leave. We are also not for every boater, based on your type of boating it sounds like you might be a boat owner.

A lot of our “hardcore fishing” members leave the club after 2 to 4 years to buy a boat. They do this so that they can buy the exact boat that they want with the exact equipment that they want. We have helped many of these members find a boat after they leave the club. I will extend that same curtesy to you.

We have many boats for sale now and if you find a boat that you would like to buy, we can help with checking it out. Unfortunately, we are not a rental car company as our product is in salt water and has completely different maintenance issue. The value of the club is that you will not ever have to pay for those maintenance issues. My sincere apologies for any lack of “Hassle free” that you have experienced.

You have provided some solid feedback and thanks for your comments. Corporate can be reached at 888-781-****

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Grace B Xnb

Discriminatory Policies

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I was shocked today by Freedom Boat Club's discriminatory policy of mandatory masks while outside. My husband explained he has a medical condition which prevents mask wearing; the staff's response was uncaring and discriminatory.
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Cons:
  • Discriminatory policies and rude staff

Preferred solution: Rethink discriminatory policies and train staff for better customer service.

User's recommendation: Do not recommend.

Richardxxxx C

This review is from a real person who provided valid contact information and hasn't been caught misusing, spamming or abusing our website. Check our FAQ

Verified Reviewer

Make sure you are open losing your large deposit

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There are not enough boats especially in season and the company will not refund you if you're not happy. They need more Cruising/Fishing boats. They have the best flexibility for people. Also, should have more boats when people need it especially in season when people need it. The formula for boats to people are not in ratio when looking at it from a distance The reservation system needs work as well. Good concept but not a good business practice by the company Once you sign, it's too late. They should be more flexible on unhappiness.
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Preferred solution: Full refund

User's recommendation: Be careful

4 comments
Capt D

Mr. C, Thank you for the feedback regarding current availability.

This has indeed become a challenging year. With our new vessel order at a trickle due to factory slowdowns/shutdowns, our membership base eager to get back out on the water after so much time under restriction, the lack of a set school schedule leading to an unusually high daily usage rate by families, and the constant strain on our fleet creating more maintenance issues than usual, it has simply created a dwindling supply but an increasing demand. However, we have taken action to compensate for this.

As of now, we've reopened Tuesdays for reservations instead of just maintenance, extended the daily hours to 7 pm, and purchased over 20 more vessels from suppliers outside of our normal supply chain to ease the load until our factories catch up! All of these measures have begun to have a discernible effect as I am beginning to see more vessels available upon scanning the reservation site going forward (excluding this holiday weekend, of course).

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Capt D

Thank you for your reply I hope tomorrow boats will help especially during season Also it would help to allow fishing on deck boats to get more people to use them besides the bow riders which are in short demand all year

CaptDean I
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1866800

You're right. Actually, those Starcraft deck boats are no longer being acquired due to the limited type of boating you can use them for.

However, you may have noticed many more of the 23' Hurricane deck boats lately which are perfect for what you're looking for. Great for spreading out in the sun and relaxing and/or fishing at the same time! We have just had six of them roll through our prep depot for bottom paint.

They are being distributed now. I didn't catch which locations they were each going to but keep your eye out for them.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of CaptDean I

I just saw the hurricane,the only issue the live bait well doesn’t work and they use it for a cooler. Even if they cork it and do not have an aerator,that’s ok or just brink a bait bucket. That’s fine too I think in busy season more capabilities the better to allow more people to have boats and less wait time Naples is a busy spot and needs more boats and less wait time all year round

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Anonymous
map-marker Venice, Florida

Very happy for three years

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We have been members for three years and have never had a problem with boats, staff, etc. Our sales person was upfront about costs and we had no surprises. Yes, in "season" it can be challenging to get a boat, but not if one plans ahead. We have used five different FBC locations in our area and were pleased with all of them.
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User's recommendation: Join!

Anonymous
map-marker Tavares, Florida

Ripped off!

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no oats are available in Miami
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Loss:
$3000
Pros:
  • Getting out on the water
  • Staff
Cons:
  • No boat availability
  • Dislike

Preferred solution: Full refund

1 comment
Guest

Uuu