Disappointed with a local kayak shop

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Chaz
TKF 2000 club
TKF 2000 club
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Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2003 2:08 pm
Location: Copperfield, NW Houston

Disappointed with a local kayak shop

Post by Chaz »

I have a Necky Looksha IV fiberglass composite sit-inside kayak that I am trying to sell. About 2 1/2 years ago, I put it on consignment with a local kayak shop for $1800 ($3600 new) with another sea kayak. The first kayak sold and I used the proceeds to buy a Hurricane Skimmer. The Necky didn’t sell, so I kept checking in periodically with the kayak shop to see if there was anybody interested in it. This kayak shop is a good hour drive from home, so I physically do not get up there very often. The last time we were there, we noticed that there was water in the kayak and it looked like it had been used. We asked and were told that they were allowing somebody that was interested in it to paddle.

Finally, this week, we decided we wanted to be done waiting. We called up the shop and told them they could have it for $700. After a long discussion in which he mischaracterized our kayak as being a Kevlar instead of a fiberglass kayak, and we were told Necky was going out of business, and that we wouldn’t be able to sell the kayak on our own, he thought about it and said he would talk to the owner and he will get back to us. We called again this morning and asked how the conversation went, and basically given the runaround. We told him we would come up today to pick up the kayak, And then he called us back and said he could offer us $650 for the kayak, but they would have to mail the check to us. When asked why did we go from $700 to $650, he said, that was much as he could off for a consignment kayak.

We arrived at the shop. When we went in to look at the kayak, it was clear that the kayak have been used heavily and abused. There were scratches in the bottom, mud inside the kayak, and the luster was gone from the seat, like it had been left outside. In addition, the right rudder cable was broken. When my wife went over and asked the guy to tell her about the broken cable, he sarcastically said, “What broken cable???” But then he walked immediately to the side of the kayak where the broken cable was. He said, oh, it’s just pulled out of the shrink wrap and tried to put it back together. My wife and I decided that the sooner we got out of there, the better. As we loaded the kayak onto our car, we saw a lot of scratches on the bottom that weren’t there before.

We were disappointed in their bad marketing, their misrepresentation of the kayak, and the multitude of stories we got in our final two days of interactions. They showed no pride in the sport or the business. I won’t post the name of this business but I won’t darken their doors again.
EasySix
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Joined: Sat May 20, 2017 10:16 pm

Re: Disappointed with a local kayak shop

Post by EasySix »

Name the shop or else why is this posted?


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TrailChaser
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Re: Disappointed with a local kayak shop

Post by TrailChaser »

EasySix wrote:Name the shop or else why is this posted?


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Chaz
TKF 2000 club
TKF 2000 club
Posts: 2988
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2003 2:08 pm
Location: Copperfield, NW Houston

Re: Disappointed with a local kayak shop

Post by Chaz »

Fair enough. It’s Southwest Paddle Sports.
EasySix
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat May 20, 2017 10:16 pm

Re: Disappointed with a local kayak shop

Post by EasySix »

Thanks for the warning.


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Chaz
TKF 2000 club
TKF 2000 club
Posts: 2988
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2003 2:08 pm
Location: Copperfield, NW Houston

Re: Disappointed with a local kayak shop

Post by Chaz »

With all fairness to SWPS - your experience may be different from mine.
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