My family and I booked a two hour ATV rental with Sun Buggy as the highlight of our trip to Pismo Beach and California.
We were told to be there at 8:30 to be able to leave by 9:00 but the leaving time was delayed till 10 because of a high tide (understandable - you can't control the tide).
They transported us to the ATV pickup spot by 10:30 and we were ready to leave for the dunes by 10:45ish. As we were driving off on our ATVs another family (who we went with) had one of their ATV's stop working almost immediately. Our family made it 15 minutes down the beach when my son's also stopped working. Because we were on the same size ATV, I swapped with him, called the dispatch, told them my location, scanned the QR code so they could find me and waited the 20 minutes for them to show up with a tow buggy to pull me back down the beach to the rental area.
I was quickly re outfitted with another ATV and sent back out.
By the time I rejoined my family it was 45 min later so I only had an hour of riding left on the dunes. We stayed in the area that they advised us to stay in if we wanted the company to be able to help us quickly because I was worried about one of us breaking down again and didn't want to spend time waiting. After 50 min my second ATV stopped working. I told my family to ride back because our rental time was almost over. I then again called the dispatch, told them my location, scanned the QR code so they could find me and started waiting.... and waiting .... and waiting....
When my husband got back to the rental area he texted and asked how I was doing. I said no one had come yet. He spoke to the group at the rental area and they said that they were sending someone out to me. After 1 hour and 15 min of waiting in a cold wind I called dispatch again. Dispatch said they knew I was waiting and said someone should have been there already. I waited another 20 min for someone to finally show up. They said one of the switches must have gotten bumped, flipped a switch and the ATV was fine to ride back. They also said they'd been a few minutes away the whole time but dispatch didn't let them know I was stuck.
Ultimately, I only spent 1 hour of a 2 hour rental riding and over 2 hours waiting/getting towed.
By the time I got back to the rental area it was 2:00 pm. So our 2 hour ride took ,all in all, 5.5 hours and our panned afternoon activities were ruined.
I asked if I could get a partial 1 hour refund because I only got an hour of riding in (never mind the 2 hours of waiting) and they said no, I could only get a voucher for me to do it again. We don't live in the USA so a voucher is useless to us.
I felt like it was a total waste of time and hundreds of dollars worth of sitting waiting. It might have been fun if I'd gotten more riding in with my family instead of waiting with broken down machines.
I will also add that their machines breaking down seems to be a standard. When I was towed back in the first time, the crew working there was trying to find another ATV for someone else who's ATV wasn't working and the one worker said to the other - 'nope, all those are done' and pointed to a group of 10+ ATVs that were all not working properly. The fact that they don't give refunds only vouchers tells me they'd be out of business if they gave money back to everyone who had an experience like mine, and I'm guessing there are lots. I guess having people waiting and not riding also saves them paying for gas.
It is understandable that that environment is hard on machines and they break down. I didn't have an issue with breaking down. I did take issue with the 'voucher only' policy and having to wait hours to be helped. After our first breakdown I asked if my family could have an extended 20 minutes of riding to make up for the 45 minutes I was out and they said no, but I could have a voucher. After I waited 1.5 hours for help after my second breakdown I asked if I could only pay for a 1 hour rental instead of the 2 hour rental (which I thought was reasonable) and the answer was no, voucher only.
Net net — if you win the roulette of getting a functional machine you might have fun .... or you may spend your vacation in a cold wind waiting hours for help.
Одговор домаћина
Jan 2025
Dear Customer,
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you faced during your rental. However, we want to clarify that the starting issue with the ATV was due to the safety cut-off switch on the handlebars, a standard feature on all ATVs which you must have missed during the orientation. This was not a mechanical failure but an operator error. We believe it's unfair for our company to be rated poorly for this reason. We invite you to come back for another ride, now that you are aware of this safety feature. Thank you for your feedback, and we're sorry for the frustration caused on this visit.