Ellijay River Outfitters THE TUBING TRIP FROM HELL: ELLIJAY RIVER OUTFITTERS Ellijay, Georgia
To better inform the public, I would like to tell everyone about our tubing trip with Ellijay River Outfitters aka The Tubing Trip from Hell. First, let me start by saying that my husband and I have been going tubing every summer for about 5 years now. It's a great way to beat the summer heat in Georgia. We have gone down the Etowah, the Toccoa, the Chestatee, and the Chattahoochee.
Today, we started out late in the afternoon on our way to Helen and decided we were running too late so we would find a closer destination to take our children, ages 5 and 7, tubing. We were directed buy a man at a gas station to Ellijay River Outfitters. Upon arriving we were not that impressed with the facilities. They're floats and life vests appear to about 10 years old. The actual facility looked like an old country house in the middle of a field. The only people around to help us when we arrived were 3 teenagers. Trying to make the best of our afternoon, we shrugged this off and decided they were probably just a small company with a tight budget. We then gave a teenage boy $40($10/tube) to go tubing down the Cartecay River.
Starting out down the river was tough. The tubes we had were not blown up all the way and they caused us to get stuck in just about every shallow spot we came across. So, my husband stopped and got out and blew them back up. The section of the river we went down was very similar to a small creek that my husband and I go fishing on sometimes. It didn't look like a river at all. The water was also polluted with trash floating along the banks in various places all the way down. The water was also very warm for a river in Northern Georgia. We have, however, been going through a heatwave in this part of the country in the past week or two. Still, just before the take out we saw a 3 foot long water moccasin, in the water, hanging from a log, in the middle of the river. This of course scared my children and I very much. We were very thankful to see the take out just ahead.
When we got up to the road where the company was supposed to pick us up there was no one there. Keep in mind I said we have been going through a heat wave here. The temperatures here have gotten up to 106 degrees and have stayed over 100 degrees this week. We waited almost 40 minutes before I finally got my husband to flag someone down on the highway so that we could borrow their cellphone. We got the phone number from one of the tubes. After speaking with someone there it still took 25 more minutes for someone to get to us.
On the way back to our car, the bus driver told us she was very sorry but they hadn't even told her we were out there. They forgot about us! She said the owners of the company were very good people but they were out of town right now. We asked her if the people we gave our money to were there when we got back to the place we put in at, and she said no, but someone was there at their second location. We then drove to that location and asked the person there for asked for an at least partial refund and were told there was nothing they could do about it because the owner of the company had already been given our money and they didn't have it there. Funny how they got that money when they were out of town, isn't it? The person then offered us a free trip down the river.
I wouldn't go down that river again if it was the last river in the world! Let alone rely on those people to pick us up again! Their business practices are as disgusting as the polluted river they send their customers down.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Common Sense
Ellijay,Georgia,
United States of America
To Clear Up Any Misunderstanding
#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Thu, July 05, 2012
To begin with, this incident should never have happened. Apparently there was a miscommunication between the office and the bus driver giving the proper pick-up-time. This has never happened before, and hopefully, it will never again. Every business is made up of people, and all humans make mistakes. Still, there is no excuse for what you and your family went through.
The river is a natural thing, we have no control over what creatures are on the river. It's theirs, we merely are going on the land and river where they, the animals, have always lived. We do have water snakes, but no water moccasins (water is too cold), but still, snakes are a bit scary, especially for kids. Snakes, spiders, birds, insects, bugs, fish....even a couple of cows...they're all there. It's a different trip for each person. Some times you see something, sometimes you don't. We just can't control what you may see.
We also can't control what people do on the river. There are several other outfitters who put people in the river, and some private individuals who have their own kayaks and enter from their own property. Lots of people float/kayak/canoe this very river, and their are landowners on both sides of the river. We, of course, can't control who may litter in or on the banks of the river. Some of our guys do go down the river on kayaks every couple of days, after we have all our customers out, and pick up anything they see in the river, whether it be on rocks, trees that hang over or things we see under the water. We are not allowed, however, to go onto the banks of the private landowners to retrieve anything. We try to be stewards of the beauty of what is around us.
The river level goes up and down, depending on how much rain we get in this area. We also have no control over the temperature of the river. We are sorry the size of the river is not what you are used to, however, that is a natural thing too. We can't know your expectations, we can only offer what is available naturally in our area. To insinuate that we have any control over any of the natural things about the trip we offer is giving credit where it is not due.
I also am sorry our office is not up to your standards, and that you weren't impressed. We are not out to impress, just to serve our customers. It suffices fine for us at this time. Our goal is to get customers in and out of our office as soon as possible and get them to the river, which is what they came for, and for them not to have to hang around our office for very long.
However, I understand that you are upset also over something we could have controlled. Lots of people that go on the trip that you went on just play in the river or sit under the bridge until they see the bus coming. That allows for extra play time for the kids, especially. In fact, we have been asked to leave and pick them up the next time we came so they COULD play more. But that was not your desire, you wanted to leave right away, and the fact that we weren't there promptly was our error, and there is no excuse for it.
I assure you that if I had been there, things would have gone differently. Our goal is for each and every person we put in the river has a grand time! I assure you we didn't "forget" you, if the driver and the office had communicated properly, this would not have happened. Neither the bus driver nor anyone at our office is a teenager, not that it should matter. No one at our office has authority to give refunds without my authorization, and I was out of town. I was not aware of the problem until I arrived back, but I was made aware of it as soon as I got to the office. I only wish you had given me the option of talking with you about this before you made everyone else aware (even before I was aware).
As you are aware, once I found out about this, a refund was given promply. I just want everyone to have a good time when they get on the river. Our business practices are to the highest standards, and your experience is not at all what we strive for. In fact, as I said above, this has never happened before (and it shouldn't have for your family), but one person's experience does not make what we do disgusting. We are sorry that you did not enjoy our clear and beautiful Cartecay river, and we understand that you may never get a chance to come back to tube our beautiful river, but we would always welcome you back, to give us a chance to serve you, and give you a good, fun experience.
Common Sense
Ellijay,Georgia,
United States of America
To Clear Up Any Misunderstanding
#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Thu, July 05, 2012
To begin with, this incident should never have happened. Apparently there was a miscommunication between the office and the bus driver giving the proper pick-up-time. This has never happened before, and hopefully, it will never again. Every business is made up of people, and all humans make mistakes. Still, there is no excuse for what you and your family went through.
The river is a natural thing, we have no control over what creatures are on the river. It's theirs, we merely are going on the land and river where they, the animals, have always lived. We do have water snakes, but no water moccasins (water is too cold), but still, snakes are a bit scary, especially for kids. Snakes, spiders, birds, insects, bugs, beavers, fish....even a couple of cows...they're all there. It's a different trip for each person. Some times you see something, sometimes you don't. We just can't control what you may see along the way.
We also can't control what people do on the river. There are several other outfitters who put people in the river, and some private individuals who have their own kayaks and enter from their own property. Lots of people float/kayak/canoe this very river, and their are landowners on both sides of the river. We, of course, can't control who may litter in or on the banks of the river. Some of our guys do go down the river on kayaks every couple of days, after we have all our customers out, and pick up anything they see in the river, whether it be on rocks, trees that hang over or things we see under the water. We are not allowed, however, to go onto the banks of the private landowners to retrieve anything. We try to be stewards of the beauty of what is around us.
The river level goes up and down, depending on how much rain we get in this area. We also have no control over the temperature of the river. We are sorry the size of the river is not what you are used to, however, that is a natural thing too. We can't know your expectations, we can only offer what is available naturally in our area. To insinuate that we have any control over any of the natural things about the trip we offer is giving credit where it is not due.
I also am sorry our office is not up to your standards, and that you weren't impressed. We are not out to impress, just to serve our customers. It suffices fine for us at this time. Our goal is to get customers in and out of our office as soon as possible and get them to the river, which is what they came for, and for them not to have to hang around our office for very long.
However, I understand that you are upset also over something we could have controlled. Lots of people that go on the trip that you went on just play in the river or sit under the bridge until they see the bus coming. That allows for extra play time for the kids, especially. In fact, we have been asked to leave and pick them up the next time we came so they COULD play more. But that was not your desire, you wanted to leave right away, and the fact that we weren't there promptly was our error, and there is no excuse for it.
I assure you that if I had been there, things would have gone differently. Our goal is for each and every person we put in the river has a grand time! I assure you we didn't "forget" you, if the driver and the office had communicated properly, this would not have happened. Neither the bus driver nor anyone at our office is a teenager, not that it should matter. No one at our office has authority to give refunds without my authorization, and I was out of town.
I was not aware of the problem until I arrived back, but I was made aware of it as soon as I got to the office. I only wish you had given me the option of talking with you about this before you made everyone else aware (even before I was aware). As you know, once I found out about this, a refund was given promply. I just want everyone to have a good time when they get on the river. Our business practices are to the highest standards, and your experience is not at all what we strive for.
In fact, as I said above, this has never happened before (and it shouldn't have for your family), but one person's experience does not make what we do disgusting. We are sorry that you did not enjoy our clear and beautiful Cartecay river, and we understand that you may never get a chance to come back to tube our beautiful river, but we would always welcome you back, to give us a chance to serve you, and give you a good, fun experience.