Balsam RPM

We've used this marina for years. They're the quintessential small town business: always knowledgeable and go out of their way to help us.

Rented a pontoon boat right at the end of the season with some friends for a fishing day on the water. Boat was in pristine condition, staff were great and easy to deal with. For the life of me I can't understand what negative reviewers are talking about? This was the easiest experience with no nonsense whatsoever.

Balsam Lake absolutely has some shallow and unpredictable areas to it, so if you don't know the water you should run the Navionics app on your phone or tablet for accurate charting - then maybe you won't damage the propeller? It's not rocket science, folks. Balsam RPM are great to deal with and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Staff are excellent and easy to deal with. They are very knowledgeable with with any boating questions I have.

People don't get much more rude than this. No idea why someone would actually let these people run a business. Will never be back again

After being rudely told they were too busy to service my kawasaki due to covid, forgetting to call me back after assuring me they were waiting on a driver to pick up my machine, I was expected to remain calm and polite because the woman on the phone was "having a bad week". Sweetheart your company cost me 3 weeks of work with your running me around, covid is a thing for everyone and a tornado just went through my town. If anyone notices there has not been a single positive review since the new owners took over. Stay away. Oh and by the way. You cost kawasaki 30 grand in motorcycle purchases with your rude unprofessional behaviour. I guess I should thank you.

Called on the holiday Monday with a problem. I get that it’s a holiday and that people are busy, but when someone tells you they will get back to you - twice, after two calls on the same day hours apart - and doesn’t, and doesn’t bother to follow up in the next 4 days it shows me that they don’t care - and I don’t want to to business with companies like that. Anyway, I went elsewhere and got what I needed.

Only reason I give it more that one star is that I used to frequent this place before it changed ownership and the techs were great.

ATTENTION! WARNING!

Worst experience ever! You might as well buy a boat with how much it cost to rent one here.

Shouldn’t even deserve one star, brought my jet ski in as it’s a new battery and keeps draining dead and the screen flashes battery. It also is making a whining noise at a high rpm but apparently “everything is fine! ” Never called me to say it was ready had to do that my self to, told the mechanic to take it in the water to hear the noise, says he did and doesn't hear anything wrong and checked battery nothing drawing power just says my display screen is busted. They charged me an hour and half labour to do nothing as I got it back to the cottage and the battery was dead and it won’t even run! Do not go here unless you want to waste time and money with people who clearly shouldn’t be working on equipment!

We rented a boat from Balsam RPM and it will be the last time my friends and family use their services. When we were signing up to rent their boat, they were extremely nice. The worker who is supposed to show us damages to the boat prior to releasing the boat to us, did not. In particular he didn’t show us the propeller’s condition. When we returned the same worker told us the propeller was brand new and now it has some damages, he said we would have to pay for it because it’s the first time the boat went out with a new propeller. I disputed this and the manager who came out to speak with the worker where I over heard the boat had been rented prior to us renting it out. The propeller was in fact not new, the last person who rented it could have damaged it. I asked the manager if he thought it was their policy not to show clients the propeller prior to the boat being rented and check only when it’s back? The manager told us that I shouldn’t have signed the contract if I didn’t check. The manager in no way acknowledged their employee needed training to make their clients feel comfortable when the boat goes out by showing the propeller to clients. Instead it is their policy to hide propeller from clients and then claim damages and charge clients. A $300 boat rental turned into a $500 boat rental because of an employee who lacks training and a manger who thinks it’s okay to stick people with hidden damages.

Unhappy with my rental here. The boy who showed us our boat did not show us properly the full details of our boat. When we returned our rental they charged us $200 for a propeller we did not break. Coincidentally, before heading out the boy told us "the propeller is brand new so if you break it we'll know" which was a lie because the boat was rented out yesterday. When we asked for proof that the propeller was not broken by the previous renter their proof was word of mouth from the same boy who gave us the rental which just shows unorganization from the marina.
Management was extremely unreasonable and lenient with their staff on how they demonstrate customers their rentals.
The purpose of my review is to warn anyone renting to make sure you check everything if you plan on giving these scammers your money!

Derek and the team have been awesome. Straight forward friendly and very helpful with any question

30 year customer LOST, terrible experience on service under new management. Priority here is sales and not service, boat sat for 9+ weeks and was continually deferred for sales priorities. Office staff and mechanic were good to work with but were clearly being directed by local Manager to defer service work over sales.seems like commissioned sales are a priority. First time the boat went in for a repair it wasn't even water tested and it died at my dock, $450 charged for nothing. Took almost a month to replace a computer - had to take it out to HB Cycle to program the key so they don't even have the right tools. Another month goes by and literally nothing done, Eventually took the boat away for service at reputable dealer.lost most of the seasons use.

Booked a pontoon boat on the Wednesday before a long weekend, was happily surprised it was still available. Initial call to discuss with Bri was a super easy process. When we showed up we were on the water within 15 minutes after loading some of our stuff and signing the papers, the guys who helped us get set on the boat made sure we were comfortable. We were setup with a 3 week old pontoon boat, it was a smooth ride with plenty of space for the 7 of us on there. They also have detailed maps of Balsam in case you need it.

The price was a little bit more than you might find at another marina, but after this experience I'd definitely go back to RPM.