Gilbert Marine

GO ANYWHERE BUT HERE. Brought a boat in for a look over and tune up as I had just purchased my first boat, two months and $1000 later the boat ran worse then when it was dropped off. Owner Nelson instructed his staff to lie and say he wasn’t on site as his children were sick or allow me to water test it at their ramp when I picked up the “finished” boat. But when I called back 5 minutes after paying my bill and leaving with my boat Nelson magically appeared back on site. He met me at the public ramp and told me the boat sounded and reacted good to him and told me to “just go drive it”. I decided not too. $1200 at a different private mechanic and the boat ran well, That mechanic told me if I had driven it when Nelson told me to I would have blown my motor due to the POOR workmanship done by him and his staff.

BEWARE – I believe that they count on renters being unfamiliar with boats in order to blame their faulty equipment on novice drivers. Because we are boat owners where we are from, and familiar with engines, we were not fooled. Still did not get any money back despite only asking for a partial refund for very reasonable complaints regarding our boat breaking down. I have never had anything close to this level of poor customer service - it was shocking.We rented a houseboat for a week. On the day our boat broke down Nelson Gilbert and employee took 1.25hrs to get to a destination 30min away knowing our boat was broken down and drifting to an island/shoal and we had kids on board. Luckily we were towed by someone else to our dock. Nelson refused to allow us to stay on the boat while they worked on it, and told us two completely false reasons why the boat was not working. We later determined that the engine would not start because we were sent out without enough gear fluid. The employees filled the gear fluid, but then claimed the engine was flooded (which makes no sense for a boat that hadn't been started for 2 hours) and said we drained the battery (but there is no reason a functioning battery wouldn't hold a charge because we had been running the engine for 2 hours before it broke down and the battery would be charged from that). I believe that they normally throw jargon around and fool novice renters. They quickly developed serious attitude when we challenged their obviously incorrect assertions. They would not even engage in a discussion about our complaints. The service was beyond unprofessional.I realize the location is ideal to rent from, but that is their only positive aspect. Take the time to go a bit further.

RENTERS BEWARE!!July 2022- We have not received our deposit back. The damage was fully covered under warranty which has been confirmed through 2 different sources and yet they kept our deposit. This establishment has a moral obligation to return my money and they have chosen not to.....Update: July 2021, Nelson has not spoken with us since we rented the vehicle despite repeated attempts over the past year to have a conversation with him. We went to Gilbert’s in person yesterday to peacefully negotiate with Nelson in order to try to settle out of court and were treated with hostility by Nelson. The damage deposit is provided by the customer assuming the company will “ACT IN GOOD FAITH” and return it if the customer doesn’t cause any damage!! We did not cause the damage, we put in all the time and effort to secure the part under warranty for Nelson and yet our money has not been returned. We have no faith at this point.OUR CASE:We rented a Waverunner watercraft from Gilberts Marine for a full week in August 2020 and was requested to return the watercraft each night of the rental period by 6pm and return to the marina each morning at 9am to pick it up again. One of the issues that we have with this policy is that we have no way of knowing if the marina staff or family ride the watercraft after 6pm yet we are 100% responsible for any damage to the vehicle during that week.At the time of the rental, Nelson Gilbert explained to us that the driver wear a bracelet attached to a lanyard which slips under a spring-activated pin. The pin will retract and the vehicle will come to an immediate stop in order to avoid injury or any other safety concern or risk to the Waverunner.On Aug 15, 2020, without provocation of any sort, the safety pin popped out and flew into the water. the Marina said it was our responsibility to get it back to them!This unit was brand new. Gilberts charged us $1024 to replace the part. We insisted that it would be covered under warranty and that this was absolutely not any fault of ours. There should be an innate trust that the vehicle rented should run properly without a breakdown.Gilbert Marina has provided a follow up letter dated Oct 27, 2020 explaining that the part was not covered under warranty by Yamaha. There was no proof of the decline of warranty coverage or of the value of the part in question.A friend then followed up with his contacts at Yamaha. He found no evidence that Gilbert Marina or anyone from that organization had even inquired about this warranty from the dealer, or Yamaha.Yamaha was 100% willing to cover the part under warranty as expected.Our friend informed Gilberts of the agreement by Yamaha for warranty coverage at which point Gilberts called us to report the news. Gilberts is still withholding all of the $1024.47 until the part is installed and has stated they will still be charging the cost of the labour to install. Yamaha has confirmed with us they are willing to cover the entire cost of the installation provided it is installed by a Yamaha dealer.Our feeling is that Gilbert is benefiting from the warranty and is also taking our deposit in order to profit from this incident.It is now mid March 2021 and we still haven't received a refund. Another Google review shows that another couple is having the same issue with Gilbert.

4TH UPDATE: July 13, 2021Gilbert’s will not reply to any of our correspondence. We have recently learned of two other incidences like ours-one of which has a review here. We have paid a lawyer and are still in small claims court.3RD UPDATE: April 28, 2021They are still holding our deposit and have not contacted us.2ND UPDATE: January 8, 2021They are still holding our deposit. DO NOT rent from this marina. We have tried unsuccessfully to contact them and all we have received is an email and photos showing damage that we did NOT cause. We have been contacted by another renter in our area via FB and they are in the same position. We have begun legal action and will be taking them to court. Don't risk this happening to you. There are many marinas on The River in this area. You may have no problems but if you do, the hassle is NOT worth it!UPDATE:It is now November 6, 2020 - this issue is not resolved and they are STILL holding our $2,500.00 deposit. They have finally answered our email and have said that they are waiting for a part. Please look at the photos I submitted - it was a scuff on the paint. A touch up and a new sticker would be the most that was required. Please do not rent from this business.Wave Runner Renters BEWARE! I will begin by saying that our Wave Runners were new, ran well and were lots of fun! We thoroughly enjoyed our day on The River and were planning our next rental when we returned. That's where the good" ends. We unknowingly scratched the paint on one of our Wave Runners (see photo). We DID NOT do a walk around with staff before we went out so we had to accept the fact that they said it was not there prior to our rental. We thought that it possibly could have happened at a floating dock in Rockport so we accepted the blame for the scratch. PLEASE look at your machine before you take it out and note any existing damage! We had to leave a $2

Have been getting my supplies for my boat here for the last two years and still can't get over the great service. I've ordered parts and always get a call back when supplies come in. Very polite and helpful. Will always be my go to marine supply store, even though it's a 45 min drive to get there.

Great people! Good boats to rent, good place. Really, the people working there made our experience great. Theanks a lot! I will go back!

We rented seadoos here. They were in great shape and the friendly staff gave us easy to follow instructions for using them (it was our first time). The whole rental process was painless and we had a fantastic time on the water! This has to be one of the best places to rent in Ontario, both because of the great service and the awesome waterway.

Very run down and unsafe facility. The son Nelson was rude and ignorant to us. Also found out he’s not qualified to do mechanics especially at the rate they charge. this has to be the worst place on the river bring lawyer if you plan to rent or have service done he is a crook

Edit in response to the owner’s message: My father, not brother, does not share the same name as I do. There is no way you could have possibly known that he was my dad and with that, discredits your entire point with this situation. On the message your employee left on my phone, she admitted to you having known that the boat had been damaged the day before. You told her not to call and warn us prior to leaving Montreal. She called at 11 am when we were just getting into Brockville (reservation started at 10am) to tell us the boat wasn’t available anymore. This is the issue. Your refusal to apologize or offer any solution except giving us a 2 person boat when we were 4 with our camping gear does not count, and you know it. Secondly, the problem last year was that a 4 person boat had 2 people in it and a 40 lbs dog (How is that overloaded?). It then broke down in the middle of the river. Don’t bring my dad into this when the whole issue was you cancelling the reservation after the start time and you not telling us the day before that the boat was damaged. You had offered him credit for the situation last year and refused to honour it, costing my dad money. Of course he was annoyed with your refusal to help in the TWO times you ruined his vacations. Don’t you worry about us coming back, I would never waste my time and money like this. I will continue telling everyone how horribly you manage your business and your refusal to assume any accountability or basic decent customer service. Good luck with your business.They cancelled my reservation an hour into when my reservation started, after I was just getting into Brockville from a 2 hour road trip.No compensation offered for the wasted time, gas and campground that I won’t be able to get to without a boat.

Experience was perfect. From booking to return, there were no surprises. The whole team was very friendly andprovided great advice for locations to visit! They went out of their way to make sure our trip was a smooth and happy one!Price was very reasonable, though the pontoon we rented was starting to show its age (but mechanically ran very well!)