Complaint Review: SeaTow Boat Towing - Annapolis Maryland

 I normally wouldn't post a stay away from thread but our situation was horrific and nearly deadly. DO NOT USE SEATOW TOWING: read my story. I'm beyond disgusted and disappointed with SeaTow in Maryland. I am a newbie boater but I own and operate my own automotive shop now for 10 years so I know a thing or two about business and some things come before business. My wife and I and my children were out in the Severn River fishing last week when our boat lost spark due to a faulty lanyard cutoff switch (unknown to us at the time). After several attempts to remedy the issue the swells started to rise to 3-4' and we were getting slapped around a good bit. So I grabbed my phone and immediately called for help. The police put us in contact with SeaTow to help get us out of the dilemma we were currently in. Of coarse my main concern was to get my family to safety and I made that perfectly clear to them. However my wife and I were met with a stern "you need to pay us $320 first with a credit or debit card and we will keep it on file before we come out there. We charge that per hour and starts the time we leave to the time we get back." First off we did not have that kind of money on hand let alone our credit cards with us out on the boat. I informed the guy of that and the fact we had an infant on board along with 4 children and my wife and I. We were met with a cold shoulder and "we need payment first". I told my wife to hang up the phone and I tried to scream for help to other boaters. We got a call back from them asking us if we were able to get money for them or borrow someone's credit card and my wife told them no. By this point I yelled at them to clarify for me that they were choosing to put MONEY over the safety and well being of my children and my wife and I. He said he could not help me unless we paid them. Well let me tell you what...I understand there is a business to run. I own my own too for the last 10 years but there is something called ETHICS and MORALITY. Some things are supposed to come above money. If it was smooth, windless and mild swells on the river it wouldn't have been so bad but we were getting knocked around hard as the boat nose was smashing under the water from the enormous swells. So yes safety was a HUGE issue. I have NO respect for ANYONE who puts money in front of human life. If they got us back to shore I would have not only blessed them with what they were asking but I would have given them more. But again I didn't have them on me. However they chose GREED over what is the right thing to do much like an empty person with no soul would do. See when someone does something so wicked like that I don't get revenge....I become vindictive. I know ALOT of boaters and have many friends in the Yacht clubs up in their areas. I have friends in the BBB and Consumer Protection. I personally like to leave feedback on RipOffReport.com for companies who commit atrocities especially heinous acts of disgust. The actions of SeaTow company were so egregious is was border line grotesque. So what would have happened if the boat capsized and we went in and one of my children drown? I will tell you this much; his life would have ended. Since he had a chance to save them but chose the almighty dollar as his God and sacrificed their safety for a buck he would have paid dearly! Luckily I had another option. I called the U.S. Coast Guard who immediately came to our aid. They got to us within 12 minutes. By the time they got to our boat, it was being slammed on the starboard side of the boat nearly tipping it. It was so bad that through the night our boat anchor broke off (and the line sheared off) and it coasted 8 miles south of the Severn River where we were rescued. Now as if that wasn't bad enough that little creep at SeaTow had the unmitigated gull to call my wife and I up the following day and ask if we still needed their help. I held my composure together and said no when deep inside I wanted to verbally tear that soulless waste of life to pieces. I have NO respect for him or the company. The fact SeaTow has someone working for them like that and even supports them for making such a choice makes me infuriated, full of wrath and provoked to rage. Next time we go out I will be d**n sure to have a back up plan to my back up just in case. I will be sure to spread the word to all my boating friends to use someone else and I may even look into starting my own boat towing company and under cut the jobs to run SeaTow out. I don't know yet but we will see. The BBB will be contacted as well as Consumer protection and several boating forums. RipOffReport.com will most definitely have a written review about SeaTow in Maryland. I will end with this. I understand they have a business to run. I understand they all have a job to do, employees to pay and rules to follow however there are situations that can arise that directly require special circumstances to demand exceptions. HUMAN LIFE is an exception and if they are greedy that they put paper with dead presidents on them over the life of children then quite frankly there is not a place in Hell, Hades or the Lake of Fire hot enough to burn them to ashes.