Freedom Boat Club Overview
Freedom Boat Club has a 3.2-star rating, derived from feedback provided by 89 customers. In the Water Transport category, it secures the 6th position out of 145 companies.
Rating
Contact Information
Website
freedomboatclub.com
Phone
(888) 781-7363
897 E Venice Ave,, Venice, Florida, 34285, United States
Freedom Boat Club Reviews
Anonim
Concerned consumer
You people who belong to FBC are nuts!!! $6000 to 10000 initiation fees are crazy, plus your going to pay $300 to 500 a monthly dues?? Totally nuts!! Then you pay for gas, your responsible for any damage and still cant get a reservation..I understand the convenience if youre living half the time in a warm climate, but really!! Buy a used boat that you can use anytime, arent held to time restrictions and enjoy yourself.
Jerry
Rogue employee canceled my membership illegally
I am a member of the freedom boat club in good standing, and have been for over three years, the terms of my membership included a $4400 buy in followed by the monthly dues. Since the membership entails a very large $4400 Buy in, one of my most important questions that I asked was that my membership could never be terminated under any circumstances by the freedom, boat club unilaterally which I was told could not happen under any circumstances. Also, I was sold on the ease with which I would always be able to get a reciprocal vote reservation at another location with no issues whatsoever, Fast forward to yesterday, Tuesday. April 25, 2023, I called the dock located in Fort Myers Florida to see if they would have boats available the following day Wednesday, April 26, which they did, they had 10 boats that were not reserved available, I then went into the reservation system, which has recently changed in order to create a reciprocal reservation, and it would not allow me to do so, so I called my local doc where I signed up for the membership in Tarpon Springs, and spoke to a couple people there who were kind enough to call over to the Fort Myers location and reserve a boat on my behalf, mind you I have done exactly this, with no issues whatsoever more than 15 times in the past, the reasoning for the trip to Fort Myers was a short, romantic getaway with my fiancé, to celebrate our one year anniversary, and all hotel and dining plans were coordinated around getting a boat for a couple hours in Fort Myers. A couple hours later I received a phone call back from the gentleman that stated that I could not get a boat after all because the reservation had to actually be put in the system 24 hours prior, I explained to him that I had never had that issue previously, and that if I couldnt get a boat, it was going to create all sorts of problems with my plans, he referred me to the customer service phone number which I called, I spoke to a manager by the name of Tiffany Pelo, I explained to Tiffany that I had made plans around this boat reservation, that I had done exactly this on 15 previous occasions with no problems whatsoever, and the further I have spoken to the dock hand at the dock in Fort Myers, who assured me, there are more than 10 boats available, and that my problem could be very easily solved if anyone actually wanted to do so, at the end of the call, I fully accepted the fact that they would not help me and reconciled myself to telling my fiancé that we would not be getting out on a boat. At 10:52 AM I received an unsolicited . Unwanted and unexpected phone call from a phone number marked no caller ID, I answered the call, and the woman identified herself as Vanessa with freedom boat club. I told Vanessa that I had already reconciled myself to the fact that they were not going to help me with my issue, even though it was an easy fix. Therefore, since this was an unsolicited and unwanted phone call, I really did not want to continue on the call unless the call was for the purpose of fixing my problem, this woman, by the name of Vanessa, then proceeded to be extraordinarily abrasive and rude towards me, at no time did I raise my voice curse, or anything of the sort, I simply reiterated to her how easily my issue could be resolved if she wanted to, towards the end of the conversation, and completely out of left field, and for no reason, she threatened to terminate my membership with the freedom, boat club , obviously, this would be completely illegal, but under the circumstances of being contacted from a blocked phone number by a person that refused to identify himself that proceeded to speak to me in a very rude and condescending matter, very, very bizarre??? because of the manner in which I was speaking to her, to reiterate, at no point in time did I curse yell, or anything else, in fact, the entire conversation was a very organized and logical explanation of what my problem was, and how easily she could fix the problem, if she chose to do so, and further, how I had no issues doing the same thing 15 prior occasions, , as I still had absolutely no idea who I was really speaking to, I again asked for a last name, title, contact information, etc. and she refused to provide any of it and we terminated the call, a call, which I did not ask for, did not want, and came from a blocked phone number. To my horror a little bit later at 11:07 AM I received an email from a generic freedom boat club email address that could not be responded to notifying me of the suspension of my account, again , no emails, names, titles, direct phone numbers, reasoning for the suspension, or any other pertinent information was provided From: FBC Reservations Date: April 26, 2023 at 11:07:07 AM EDT To: jdorr2002@***.com Subject: Account Suspension Notification Hello Lawrence Dorr, This is an automated courtesy email notifying you that your FBC account has been suspended effective immediately. Please contact your home club or member experience center if you have questions regarding your suspension. Thank you,Freedom Boat Club
Martha
Ghosted
We have been members for a year. Even though we are part time residents of Florida we pay the full year. We felt it would be worth it. We even bought a condo right next door to the Loggerhead Marina where the Freedom Boat Club had boats. So convenient. Then one day we went to get our boat and all the boats were gone. They pulled out of Loggerhead in Lantana and did not say a word. No explanation, just gone. They sent us a note saying we would have to go to Riviera Beach or Pompano to get a boat. With taffic that means over 45 minutes. Before we walked next door. This is totally unacceptable. We joined because of the convenience. We are senior citizens, we do not think it is acceptable to just ghost us. We have tried contacting everyone for an explanation and future plans. Nothing. Completely ghosted.Ghosted
eric
Lack of availability
Original review Apr 16, 2023
Company has truly grown beyond fleet capacity. With paying upwards of 400+ a month and the 5k joining fee, it is entirely too hard to make reservations. If you only want to book two weeks out and go out twice a month you might as well just pay the $300/day other rental places have available. Takes years to make worthwhile and before you know it you just dont reserve because its a pain to always plan when to go out boating. Was hoping it was more like owning and the freedom to use when desired. Nothing like paying a bunch of money for them to say sorry we're booked! Lol just rent daily unless you want true freedom then buy. This isn't great.
Cesar
This company is a SCAM
After receiving a response for my review - The company claims its not the same Freedom. This is exactly what I was mentioning. The company has a way of changing its name to protect itself from dropping members. They do this every few few years. See media files below. BEWARE of anything with FREEDOM BOAT, FREEDOM YACHT, or anything with FREEDOM. Its all the same. BEWARE OF THIS SCAM!!!
Cesar
SCAM - Freedom Yacht and Boat Club, Inc. / FBCG, LLC
Freedom Boat Club is a SCAM!!! After a few years of membership and paying all dues, they suspended my membership. My original payment was well over $19,000.00 in addition to annual dues. Freedom Boat Club has a SCAM going on to suspend members. The main company has many franchises throughout the Nation. They have a way of restructuring, rotating principal officers, and/or modifying in order to drop members. Their attorneys response letter stated Freedom Yacht and Boat Club, Inc. is a completely separate and independent franchise from FBCG,LLC. and that Freedom Yacht and Boat Club, Inc. was no longer operating, as a courtesy to these members, FBCG, LLC has agreed to service these contracts, at its sole option, while attempting to negotiate new agreements with FBCG, LLC. Later in the attorney letter from Down Brill Whitehead Law Firm, they state FBCG, LLC has at all times the right to suspend and/or terminate Freedom Yacht and Boat Club members privileges. I would not want anyone to experience what I had to with Freedom Yacht and Boat Club, Inc. BEWARE! They are well versed and has great legal representatives (Attorney) to combat anyone who attempts to challenge Freedom Boat Club once they drop you. BEWARE!
Cesar
Warm Members of a Scam
Freedom Boat Club is a SCAM! They offer lifetime membership. I bought the lifetime membership and enjoyed the club for a few years. I never missed a monthly payment and paid the origination fee in full when I joined (19k). After a few years, I called the reservation office to reserve a vessel and I was directed to the office manager. The office manager was agitated (dont know why) and proceded to inform I was no longer s member. I was shocked. They did not elaborate on why and hung up. I called back next day and they informed my membership was suspended. After much research, they are a franchise and the main company owners rotate positions every few years in order to drop members. They restructure the organization and drop people once they reach their number. I lost over 20k.
John
Boat Availability
Freedom Boat Club is a complete rip-off! When we joined many years ago, it was a decent deal and it worked. However, what started out as a great product got consumed by corporate greed. The terms and conditions for reservations materially changed and boats were generally not available. Most of the reviews on Better Business Bureau (BBB) are very accurate and do not need to be rehashed here. Just go to the BBB website and read the reviews there. Please don't believe the BS spewed in the Freedom responses.
Diana
Overall availability of boats
A couple of months with my membership and it is out of season in Florida and I cannot book at boat in my location two weeks in advance, sometimes any location. In season there will be no boats available and maybe get a Saturday once a month. This is not acceptable. They keep taking memberships but don't increase their fleet. My advice, do not join the Freedom Boat club. The sales team is not telling the truth on what is needed, the cost the insurance, etc. Something has to be done to get them to stop taking a membership unless someone drops off just like a country club.
William
Hidden membership termination fees, poor reservation system
We had been members for five years at Burnt Store Marina, Florida. It was a fantastic club under the direction of Jon Giglio, that is until he sold out to the stogie Brunswick Corporation. Monthly social gatherings were cancelled, the 20:1 member to boat ratio gone by the wayside, and the reservation system became clogged with over-bookings. After three years of continuous disappointment, we decided it was time to stop the bleeding and walk away from our sizable membership fee. Instead of allowing a mutual parting of the ways, the heavy-handed Brunswick organization misled us into cancelling at the end of the following month in which we had intended to cancel but failed to inform us that that month wasn't eligible for rentals due to it being outside our six-month rental window. Then they informed us that there was a 60-day cancellation period, and we would have to pay an additional three months before they would allow us out of our contract. Of course, we stopped payment on the auto debit of our bank account, but they duplicitously attacked our debit card on file for "fuel purchases only". We will undoubtably end up in small claims court rather than roll over for an additional $900 loss. Be very cautious with this snake of a company, read the fine print of the contract knowing that they can and will screw you over given the opportunity. You may contact me at capn.dragonfly"at"gmail.com for a complete briefing. Bill Kennedy
Michelle
Great Experience
So my family just planned a trip to the Florida Keys, when I went in to try and book a reciprocal reservation for Islamorada, it said they were all full. I instantly reached out to Freedom regarding my situation and after just 2 emails, I received an email back that they were able to get us a boat, although I thought for sure we were going to be out of luck. Freedom has been very responsive to all our needs and very flexible. We have been members for 8 years and plan to continue to our membership long term. We have been very happy! -Michelle
Susan
Questions
Questions :::::::::::::::::::.::::::::::::::::::;;:;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;4444****..:., Xxxxxxxxxx
David
Resolved: Buyer Beware
Updated by user Jul 07, 2021
Company fixed the issue and I have been provided with partial refund.
Original review Jul 02, 2021
Freedom Boat Club - Buyer Beware. Just a heads up for anyone even considering Freedom Boat Club to not believe anything the salesperson says and do not think for a second the owner Dan Lund will even return a call or email. Recently I joined the club based upon the answers that I was given from Mike Kenney the sales rep for FBC. He absolutely lied to me about several questions because apparently, they cannot compete with the competition. I happily joined because I have been in other boat clubs and always had a very good experience. It turns out Mike lied to me and when I reached out to the owner, he just ignores me. They want your initial deposit then want you to go away. There is no other explanation. I have contacted the corporate office, and the local owner Dan Lund and neither will respond. It has been almost three weeks now. I tried to give them plenty of time to do the right thing but it is obvious they have no intentions of doing it. So, I wanted to give anyone a warning to get everything in writing that you are concerned about because it is obvious, they will say anything to make a sale.
jeffrey
Fairly frustrated after sign-up
Original review Jun 28, 2021
Watch for the bait and switch. It was pretty clear that we were interested in the lowest-level membership. The sales guy overstated the benefits of the membership, especially with regard to reservations. With a limited schedule, this issue is key to us. The reservations are already very limited, and we found out they were worse than we thought, basically nixing our hopes of taking boats on occasional short weekend camping trips. Also, both the sales guy and the online-training guy made it seem like they'd be super flexible on scheduling on-the-water training. Well, not when we actually got in touch with the person who handles that issue. I was wary of the value of a club membership, and my assessment of that value had dropped since we started looking into it.
Anonim
Lack of boats
I've been reading some of the comments about the lack of boating opportunity at FBC clubs. Here is a chat room exchange from the FBC SW club. This is from the members private chat room. The FBC chat room gets scrubbed by the bowling people that only allow positive comments. This looks to be more accurate. UNless you have money to throw away, stay awayUn Robert Herterick · MhttnnaShriScpSh oa5 atan nooo7S:4usolu9n reAMgd · So once again I'm bringing up boat to member ratio. Every time I look for a boat I can't find anything available. I live in Estero and use the Bonita Beach location as my choice and where I originally signed up. Everything booked solid for more then a week. How can you decide you want to boat unless you book weeks in advance. I had a boat yesterday but the weather was cooler and cloudy and actually windy then what we enjoy so I had to cancel. This has become very frustrating and FBC doesn't seem to care when you reach out to them about your concerns. Comments Malinda Fouche Yes and the memberships just keep being sold. Which I totally understand to an extent. But very hard to get a boat, especially if your not totally flexible with days. · Reply · 2w Stephanie Ramirez This is definitely an issue in season here in swfl for sure. One of our complaints also. We go out of ft Myers or up out of burnt store too but havent been able to at all unless re reserve weeks in advance, then are dependent on weather. · Reply · 2w Ken Baugess Supposed to be 10 members per boat. Seriously doubt that is true now. I would like to see something from FBC about what they are doing to fix the problem. · Reply · 2w Rich Peabody I agree. I enjoy pontoons and they are virtually unavailable. I just booked a boat for 11 days from now and looked at 4 locations and had to settle for a deck boat. There were offshore boats available at all 4 locations. I know that when John Giglio See More · Reply · 2w Mary Louise Knoch I know its been an unusual year with memberships increasing because of covid. I understand the number of boats is increasing. But where can they dock more boats? We are not getting the reservations like we were promised when we bought memberships. I h See More · Reply · 2w Robert Herterick Author Spencer Peterson-Withorn Lucky or the only one with a afternoon reservation available. I did see one that had a partial available. · Reply · 2w Gary Hebding I keep picking my 4 allowed dates and hope for the best. I missed 4 times by 1-2 days. Its frustrating to have a great day off shore one day before your nasty weather day. I did go out Tuesday and the water was literally dead calm 8 miles out of Veni See More · Reply · 2w Robert Herterick Author Spur of the moment? How about you figure next week you want a boat.... Waitlist is the only thing available. Not a single opening. Then the day before or the morning of a few boats open up. Already have plans. And that is a problem. Everyones booking u See More · Reply · 2w Gary Hebding Unfortunately thats how the game is played right now. I sure would like to hear your remedy to make it better and get the policy working for everybody. · Reply · 2w Gary Hebding 18 miles out of Venice in the Gulf, so beautiful May be an image of twilight and ocean · Reply · 2w Robert Herterick Author Right now?? · Reply · 2w Gary Hebding That was on Tuesday · Reply · 2w · Edited Abby Piatti Reid It's the same at Cape Haze and Ainger creek..finding a boat now that it's in season it's next to impossible and frustrating · Reply · 2w · Edited Jeff Kraft Abby Piatti Reid Im also out of Cape Haze. Never have a problem. Just book 2-3 weeks out. Some days you have perfect weather, sometimes you have to cancel due to weather. Cant control that! · Reply · 2w Abby Piatti Reid Jeff Kraft we usually don't have problems getting fishing boats but pontoons we have to book 4 weeks in advance.. · Reply · 2w Kelly Schnobrich Prusha incredibly frustrating!!! Until enough members quit/complain or new people stop signing up it will just keep being like it is. They are making $$$. More of us + same # of boats = more profit for them. See More · Reply · 2w Dawn Kurtz We signed up last May. They said no problem getting a boat but do need to plan in season. Weve been pretty lucky getting boats when want. We also check the app everyday to see if anything cancels to change a boat if didnt get desired one. Way t See More · Reply · 2w · Edited Robert Herterick Author Dawn Kurtz I see your posts all the time. And we've discussed this before. I believe you put a lot of work into getting boats. But if you just want to set something up and don't feel like having to log in all the time then it's very frustrating. I thin See More · Reply · 2w Dawn Kurtz Robert Herterick yes agree. We do put a lot of work into it. Agreed shouldnt have too either. We get frustrated as well. Trying to book a boat 3 weeks out and not getting preferred locations or boats. It would be nice if FBC addressed the issue. · Reply · 2w Robert Herterick Author I do believe members need to speak up to FBC about how we feel. It's not what I signed up for. I choose this club over 2 others because of locations. · Reply · 2w Gary Gallo I agree. We signed up almost a year ago and one of the selling points the Freedom sales team hammered was the 10 to 1 member to boat ratio. No new boats have been added at our home club but there are plenty of new members according to the dock staff. W See More · Reply · 2w Robert Herterick Author I'm 100 percent sure that since I joined a year and a half ago or so that the members have increased greatly and not enough boats have been added. · Reply · 2w Marole English 100 agree. Impossible to get boats! We need a plan. If members get together to complain, we should be heard. · Reply · 2w Ron Long Marole English Im in · Reply · 2w Kyle Hunter Yep, I agree. We joined in June. $5500 to sign up and $300 per month for Monday-Friday no weekends. Cant get a boat to save my life. See More · Reply · 2w Angela La Salvia Smalley Kyle Hunter we just joined 5,500. And 300 month · Reply · 2w · Edited Kyle Hunter Angela La Salvia Smalley Weekends? Or only weekdays? · Reply · 2w
Francis
This club is not what it appears to be.
Updated by user Dec 12, 2020
In the middle of a Class Action now.
Original review Nov 12, 2020
First day in the club. Alafia location: It took going over 3 boats to fine one useable. I didn't have a problem fueling up at this location. Second outing was out of Clearwater with the Slide Pontoon. Pontoon was not cleaned which I took care of. Did not have a problem with fueling at this location. The dock help were very helpful and I don't have a problem with them other then not cleaning the boat. I made sure I was back on time. Third outing, Madeira Beach location. Took a 22 ft Seafox out and had problems with here. Was going to have the boat for 3 days and had to return it because of the live well and other issues not working on the boat. Went back to the same location to check on another Seafox and it had the same problem. I'm still waiting on the repairs. Tarpon Springs: Picked up the 26ft SeaFox and there were a lot wrong with this boat. William and the other mechanic (Sorry don't have his name at this point) had to come out after I went over to the Madeira Beach location because the repairs could not be made. Both mechanics were very helpful and was able to fix 90% of the problems that day. I lost a day fishing here. The following day we are on the water and having a great time when we had to anchor on a honey hole so at this point I'm very happy then an hour into this we lose the anchor line. After looking at the Stainless steel front housing I now can see why we lost the anchor. Some how the housing has been damage to the point it cut the anchor line. Not an easy task. I had not problem fueling up with this location. Forth outing, Clearwater picked up the Slide Tri-toon (which is under powered by a long shot, top speed was 20 mph) and had a great time. Other then having to fix the anchor line, it was a great trip out. No problem with fueling. Fifth outing, John's Pass No problem picking up Tri-toon ( loved this boat top speed was 35 mph and great for tubing with the kids.). I told the dock help I will take care of the fuel and do little repairs that was needed. Found the gas cap off when I got home and found other problems that I fixed. I spent the day at the sand bar and used less then 5 gallons of gas. I topped it off. I told the dock help about the problems and told them about the fueling. They said thank you and not a problem. Later that day I get a charge for 3 gallons of gas. Why? Steve called me on Sunday to explain to me that this is how it is done at this location. Prior to this nothing was ever said. So I have to pay for fuel twice. Why? I have spent roughly $50 in tips for a grand total of 5 trips out. Why am I tipping for service not up to par? In this span of time I have spent more then $200 in fuel roughly. Now it seems I am being told by Dean this is the way it is but not the way I was told prior to sighing with this company. All this can be over looked and we can move forward but these problems have to be addressed. Fueling by contract I am allowed to do. Cleaning of the boats should be done by the dock masters and not by me. The basic maintenance needs to be done. I should be enjoying my day. This is way I joined. Would have been the 6th outing: With all the problems I canceled the plans to use the Tri-too ant the Tampa location Hula Bay. 1. All of these problem are because of basic maintenance not being done for what ever reason. 2. From what I can see from the sandbar, I had to help 2 other members with basic anchoring. No reason for this. People need to be trained on how to use a boat. Please have some one look into this. I have sent pics of all the problems to the dock masters involved. Oct 21 to 11/1 2020 span of 11 days. I'm missing a day when I took a deck boat out of the Madeira Beach location, was told I used a gallon of gas and was charged later $7 why? The charges is why I want to fuel up myself. It is giving me a red flag on how things can be over charged for. I'm still waiting for a response to this issue. I am not looking to get out of the club. If we can fix these problems I would be very happy with the club and it is what you promised when I signed. Thank you, Then corp sent this to me. Good morning Mr. Bragg, Per our conversation on the phone, it has been collectively decided your membership will be terminated immediately for the following reason Failure to adhere to the Rules and Regulations. Member has used language or has behaved in a manner which is unbecoming to the FBC Member. Member not adhering to Check Out procedure Member continuously states frivolous legal action A refund in the form of a check will be processed in the amount of $5,178.80 dated for November 6, 2020. Pierce Pondi Director of Human Resources Freedom Boat Club of Tampa Bay 150 Rainville Road Tarpon Springs, FL 34689 727-946-**** (Office) 727-597-**** (Cell)