DirectBoats.com
reviews and complaints

On 2/23/22 I received a quotation from DirectBoats.com for an Old River DLX Canoe including shipping. The price was $1,750 plus $699 in shipping.

I asked and was told that the lead time was 2 - 3 week for the canoe to be shipped. I placed and confirmed the order on 3/2/22 and paid in full.

On 3/17/22 I checked in to see how production of the canoe was going and was told that the canoe was schedule to leave the warehouse at the end of March.

That's a month after placing my order, not 2 - 3 weeks.

On 3/30/22 I was informed that there was a delay -- the canoe they made had a defect and the molds had to be reworked and the canoe remade. I was told at that time there would be a follow-up with a new delivery schedule.

After checking in again, on 4/7/22 I was told that Direct Boats was in the process of scheduling a shipper to pick up and deliver the canoe. I was told delivery was schedule for 4/12 - 4/13, and that the driver would contact me to confirm an ETA.

By 4/12 I had not heard from the drier so I reached out to Direct Boats for the name and number of the driver so I could reach out. On 4/13 I was given the name as Dave with Garrett's Transport, so I called Dave.

I spoke to Dave and he reported that my canoe was put on the wrong truck and there would be an additional delay in delivery. He said it would be delivered on 4/14.

4/14 comes around and no sign of Dave; so I called him and no answer. I called Direct Boats to find out what was going on and they called the shipping company to find out.

Direct Boats called back to report my canoe was stolen! Direct Boats assured me they would do everything they could to build and ship a new one as quickly as possible. They would "burn the midnight oil" and expedite it. Upon hearing this I asked if it would be another three weeks out and was told "no" we're going to get this out in a week or two and get you taken care of.

That was 4/14.

On 4/21 I follow-up after not hearing any news and after a few emails I'm told on 4/25 that the warehouse manager has confirmed that a new canoe will chip by Monday 5/4!

So much for expediting. I informed Direct Boats that I wanted it delivered by 5/4 otherwise I wanted a refund as it's already been 7 weeks since I placed the order.

After another week of asking for updates I was told on 4/29 that the canoe went out for bid to leave the warehouse on Monday (5/2). I called Direct Boats to get more details and was told they were shipping via UShip and that I would have the canoe by Sunday 5/8 (Mother's day).

I informed Direct Boats that if I don't receive it by then, on Monday the 9th I'd like a refund.

After hearing nothing by Friday the 6th, I reach out to Direct Boats via email to check the status. No response. Sunday the 8th comes and goes and no canoe.

On Monday the 9th, I received an email form Direct Boats that the shipper did not pick up the canoe, and then asking if I want to proceed with the refund. I said yes.

After nine-and-an-half weeks and the fabrication of THREE canoes, Direct Boats failed to deliver. I was told that my refund was being processed and it would take several days.

This whole experience was a terrible disappointment and waste of time.

We were mislead and given several different stories about the status of two pedal boats we ordered.

We were promised 4-6 weeks. It is now 12 weeks and I have emails saying they or at least one was ready to ship 6 weeks ago.

Bottom line… very difficult to reach the customer service Dept, but the empty promises are just a big waste of time.

Will be filing a dispute with credit card company.

I ordered an old river canoe for this website. What I received was an american eagle canoe without the additional seat reinforcements I paid for. You might as well order directly from american eagle and get what you want for half the price. After contacting them they played the victim! How could our builder do this!

Web site had a package deal on kayaks. Order was placed and payment was submitted. The account was charged, ( luckily did not have credit limit raised and the charge was denied ). Two days latter I was contacted by phone and was told that the Kayaks I ordered were not available. They did have other products. Of course the choices were more money, and in my opinion much cheaper quality. I believe they are practicing bait and switch.

Main Points : 1. Hair trigger accelerator : Extremely dangerous and a liability.
2. No power to move even slowly, I was not looking for
speed, but I did not want standing still either..
3. No range, after a ¼ mile of painfully slow moving, the
motor sputtered and gave out. I let it cool, same thing after
a short distance. I tried it several more times, same thing. After that I gave up and paddled in.
4. Heavier than advertised, but I could live with that.

Conclusion : 1. This contraption was improvised from 95 % of a weed whacker. I checked at Home Depo and the lower portion from the motor down is identical to a weed whacker. At the end of the shaft they slapped a small propeller which is pointing down, instead of being horizontal like my electric motor, or any marine propulsion system would be.

2. This weed whacker trolling improvisation is incapable to push even a small kayak, because the coil is to weak, that is why the motor gives out too, after just a short distance. Its ok for weed whacking, because there are pauses, but not for consisted running. The controls on the handle were also adopted from weed whacker hair trigger accelerator, OK for weed whacking but not in open waters.

Details :

I bought this 2 hp gas outboard trolling motor to replace my electric trolling motor to give me farther range to travel. I was so excited to get it because it was supposed to be only 20 lbs. But it weighs 23 1/2 lbs, which is a big deal for trolling motors. Like I said, I could forgive them for the weight difference.

I followed all the instruction carefully, lovingly braking in the motor, because I planned to keep it for a very long time.

HAIR TRIGGER ACCELERATION:
Finally, I mounted it on my 9 foot Malibu Mini-X, 40 lbs kayak just like my electric Minn Kota electric motor. Again, I was very careful to warm it up, and then tried to slowly accelerate, but when I did that the kayak jerked forward almost knocking me out into the water. Luckily, there was no one near, otherwise I would have hit them.

NO POWER :
Next thing, with extreme care I accelerated, but the kayak barely moved. No matter how much gas I gave. It made the noise though. Now they advertise that the motor supposed to move up to 750 lbs. My Malibu Mini-X weighs 40 lbs, I weigh 162 lbs, my motor mount about 20 lbs, and my paddle 3 or 5 lbs, total of less than 230 lbs.

NO RANGE:
No travel range, after a ¼ mile of painfully slow moving, the
motor sputtered and gave out. I let it cool, same thing after
a short distance. I tried several more times, same thing, After that I gave up and paddled in.

DIRECT BOATS:

I called Direct Boats and explained the problem to a lady named Jeanna ?, and wanted to return the item. She told me that it can not be returned, and said I should have read the FAQ, where it stated that. I did not know that I had to have a lawyer to buy an item to look for all the cleverly disguised hidden disclaimers.
I even offered to exchanged for a real trolling motor even if costs a little more, but with no avail.
They asked me for picture of the motor and setup, which I did within 20 minutes. I called them and verified that they have received the pictures and if they needed anything else. I have not heard from them since.

It is apparent that the product is not what they advertised. In fact it is dangerous and a liability. I could not even sell it on Craigs List for fear someone could get hurt. If it was a product as advertised, there would be no needs to return it.

Note to Consumers: I ordered two Emotion AdvatnEdge kayaks from DirectBoats.com a couple weeks ago. The webiste says that most orders ship in 2 weeks. I placed my order over the phone, and specifically asked the customer service representative if the boats were in stock. He said, "Yes, your boats are in stock and will ship in 2 weeks or less." After 2 weeks passed I sent an email request to track the progress of my order. I was emailed a couple days later and told that my boats were not going to ship for another 3 weeks. As it tunrs out, the boats were not in stock and are actually in production. By the time my boats ships it will be 5+ weeks from the time I placed my order. This might not upset me, except for the fact that I asked at the time I placed my order and was told they were in stock. If you are interested in getting a boat for the summer I would suggest you order it from somewhere else!

Note to DirectBoats: Your customer service representatives are not engaged and poorly trained. I am very disappointed that I was provided with misinformation when I placed my order. I hope you take this feedback seriously and take measures to train your staff and improve your business practices.