This business is a total scam. I joined the Bay Area Sailing Club after I took a class from the Bay Area Sailing School. (Sacketts Sailing is the parent company of both). Members are supposed to get lower rental rates but that is about the only benefit of the club. I also got a coupon for a free charter since I a class.
They never have any boats available. The free charter was a total scam as it was only for one particular boat and you could only reserve it one day in advance. I tried 5 different times to use the ""free charter coupon"" and the boat was never available.
I had several other bad experiences. I had one boat reserved for several months in advance for the Kemah boat parade and then they called me two days before the parade and told me it was broken. They gave me no notice at all. The only time I managed to actually charter one of their boats I found that the sail didn?t fit the mast and the lines were completely tangled. After spending hours trying to get things untangled ? our time was up and we had to come in. We live over an hour away from Clear Lake and drove all the way there to find that they would not let us go out due to winds. They winds had been strong all morning. They should have called everyone who had reservations and let them know that they would not let boats go out. We wasted two hours round trip driving there and back.
The membership fee was $100 and the monthly fee was $25. After all these bad experiences I decided to cancel my membership. I called and left several messages in Feburary and March but nobody called me back. They continued to charge the fee to my credit card. I finally sent an email in April. All I wanted was for my membership fee to be returned along with the monthly dues. I offered to let them keep the rental fee I paid for the charter (with the tangled lines and sail that was too long for the mast). They agreed to give me a refund but then they wanted to then charge me the non-member rate for the charter. TO DATE I STILL HAVENT RECEIVED ANY REFUNDS FROM THEM EVEN THOUGH THEY SAID THEY WOULD CREDIT MY CARD. BEWARE ? DO NOT JOIN THIS CLUB, RENT OR BUY A BOAT FROM THEM!
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