- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Coffee & Tea |
- All
Purks Place
Category: Active Life Boating Boating [Edit]
1038 Bala Falls RoadMuskoka Lakes, ON P0C
(705) 762-5311
- Good for Kids:
- No
One review for Purks Place
1 review in English
-
Review from MacRae O.
8/25/2009
If I could give negative stars, I would award them to Purks. Purks Place has been in Bala for eons, but surprisingly, they don't seem to care about their reputation. Dishonest customer service.
We visit Bala every summer and used to go to Purks on occasion. We always found the service brusque and surly. Not the way you want to be greeted when you walk into a shop.
But the real reason we will never set foot in Purks again, didn't come until two summers ago. Our boat sank in a storm, and we found ourselves suddenly in need of a new one. Rather than purchase one hastily, we decided to rent a boat for the season while we shopped around for a replacement. Since Purks is right up the lake from us, we called for a speed boat rental. When we told our lake neighbors and fellow lifelong cottagers our plan, they advised us we were making a huge mistake: "Purkis is dishonest," they said. "We rented from them a couple summers ago, and they charged us for 'damages' to the boat that never occurred. Steer clear!" they said. We didn't listen.
We paid C$1,000 for a week's boat rental. Fairly standard. We received a very well-used, run-of-the-mill, scratched and worn, smallish speed boat. We walked around the boat like a rental car with one of the employees looking for damages that were all noted before we drove away, including some loose stripping.
When we returned the boat, Purkis' teenage grandson came out with us to go over the exterior of the boat. Sure enough, just as our neighbors warned, he informed us that there was some stripping on the side that had come loose and that we would be responsible for paying for it. Husband told the guy that the stripping had been loose when we rented the boat, that they had noted the damage, and that we had been particularly careful with this boat the whole time we had it. The grandson said he would have to talk to Purkis when he returned to the store the following morning, but for the time being, we would not receive our deposit back and would be charged for the stripping. I've never seen husband more livid than he was that evening over the false accusation of damaging the boat.
We received a call from Bill Purkis himself the following morning. He informed us not only would we be charged C$1,000 for the week's rental, we would not receive our deposit back, and we would indeed be charged to replace the stripping. We told him we refused to pay for the stripping, as the damage had been incurred before our rental, but Purkis told us that he had our credit card and was going charge us anyway. He was rude and condescending.
We called our credit card company and issued a charge-back on the grounds of a fraudulent charges from Purks, so Purkis did not receive one dime of our money. We have not set foot in the place since that summer, nor will we ever again. Lifelong cottagers know what they are talking about, and good businesses cater to this loyal crowd.Listed in: My Muskoka, No.
