"Houston ACK store
1. Horrible hours. Start at 10 am & close early too. Are they lazy or what?

2. Sold me incompatible Thule parts that do not match one with the other. This was even after waiting a week for the part and still was an incorrect part. Did they even bother to check if all matches? Hell no! They just want to rip off your money!

3. They do not have a contact number for each store in Houston and Austin and a email address for each store in Houston and Austin to solve issues. Guys: "I have news for you is the year 2020 !!!"

4. You cannot leave a message to solve issues because their voicemail simply disconnect after machine's speech. Guys: "I have news for you is the year 2020 !!!"

5. If you are a minority member, you better ask the guy with dark skin because otherwise "May God have mercy on you!". This apply to at least the Houston store. And YES: This still going on!

The Houston ACK store also neglected to tell me that i need to buy keys for the Thule Rapid Traverse Foot set. Thank goodness for REI.
"

"I have been ordering from ACK for 6 years (18-25 orders a year). Used to be a great little company. Back in the day...they had great customer service, support, and shipping. Now they are a big company and my experience this past 12 months...not so good. Delayed orders (2-3 weeks when their website says the items are in stock). Orders missing items. Wrong items shipped. Won't respond to my emails. Won't return my calls. I hate to say this but I am through with them. Enough is enough! Bye ACK! "

"Wow, I didn't read the reviews of Austin kayak and canoe before my purchase so I'm lucky that my order experience was positive. I got an Engel cooler on sale with an additional 20% off I got for a birthday coupon (signed up their mailing list). Order came 3 days later (Los Angeles, CA), new, no damages to my cooler. I would order from them again."

"The new ocean kayak (Frenzy) we purchased came with noticeable defects that should’ve never left the manufacturer. There’s a huge gouge out of the bottom and the handle looks like it was patched in order for it to stay on. We have been trying to contact customer service for almost 2 weeks now with no results."

"I bought a 105 big fish less than a year ago . I got it towards the end of the summer so i never took it out until this year . I had looked it over before I had taken it out , saw no holes . Get out in the river and it starts sinking on me . pull it out and there is a 1 inch hole in the upper pontoon part where its painted black . I contacted them, told them about it , sent pics . I even have a card showing the YAK was made less than a year ago . They are telling me there's nothing they can do , its past the warranty ! I will never buy anything from them again ! I bought new to keep from buying a used one that might have a hole in it . Now i have a new one with a hole in it . "

"I purchased a kayak from ACK thinking everything was great. I looked forward to getting it into the water for some heavy fishing, right!! Below is the email I sent to their customer service department since it should give you a good idea of my experience.

Sir/Mam,

I purchased the limited edition Feel Free Lure 11.5 from subject location. When I purchased, the salesman installed everything. About an hour after leaving, I got a call from the manager stating they had left off a part to the pedal drive. I drove another 1&1/2 hour round trip to have it installed. I asked them for the box that held the overdrive which they had thrown into the dumpster. They got it out, gave it to me but the rubber closures were missing. At first use I noticed that the rudder would not self straighten to the neutral position. I called the manager who stated “they’re all like that” I debated about it for a bit then was shuffled to the install person who reiterated what the manager said. I called Feel Free (Elliot) to inquire and was told that the manager was incorrect. Elliot attempted to walk me through the rudder adjustment but soon discovered that the adjustment mechanism was never installed. Elliot sent me a new Overdrive case, entire steering system, missing Alan wrenches, spare sheer pin, and scupper plugs. Once I got on the water and pedaled a bit I was happy that I received the alan wrenches because one of the pedals fell off, the one I had to originally go back for (remember the first part of this message?) luckily it didn’t go overboard!

I wanted to send this information for your knowledge and use, regardless if it matters or not.

I was truly ecstatic about getting a new kayak and now only look back with regret. If I could, I would return everything and go a different route. I only know 2 people looking for new kayak and I surely didn’t recommend ACK for their purchase.

Regards,
"

"I placed an order for $70 worth of various kayak setup accessories in March. A couple of weeks went by and I received an order cancellation notice and refund."

"Placed a kayak order with accessories. No updates, no customer service. Horrible company. Contacted them via email to find out what was taking so long with my order, and did not received a response. I follow with another email to cancel order immediately which to my surprise received a response the next day saying order cancel and no further explanation given. Seems that they really don't care if you buy from them or not. Purchase my kayak someplace else. Do yourself a favor and do the same."

"One of the worst online shopping experiences I've ever had. I placed an online order for a paddle board with ACK and received a damaged shipment. After shipping the damaged product back, I was promised that a replacement would be sent out right away. I hadn't heard anything regarding the order after waiting 2 weeks and decided to give them a follow-up call. The rep explained to me that the order was on it's way and that it would arrive in the next few days. Another week had passed and still no sign of my order. When I called back I was told this time that there was an 'issue' with the order and that they would look into it further. Days had passed without a call back from them. Again, I followed up and was told this time that the order was hung up with the shipping company? I followed up with the shipping company and was told my order had been held due to an 'invoicing issue' with ACK and that it couldn't be released until this was taken care of. The issue was finally taken care of by ACK after threatening to return the order to them. My replacement board finally arrived almost a month after placing the order. Worst customer service ever. I would highly recommend ordering from another vendor."

"Ordered a key fob for Powerpole. Online description didn’t indicate that there was more than one model. Unit I received was not compatible with my Powerpole. Austin C and K did not offer to pay for postage covering returned item despite the lack of clarity in their catalogue. Not an earth shattering problem just a warning to be careful when placing ur order or better yet, do business elsewhere"

"I recently purchased a spray skirt from Austin Canoe & Kayak, honestly based solely on price. They were quite prompt... accepting payment! Shipping was another matter. I promptly received email notice saying my order was shipped, but it never showed up in the UPS tracking. Finally, the day before it was supposed to arrive, I received a PARTIAL refund with no explanation, leaving me to wonder if the item was ever even in stock. And finally, to add insult to injury, we had to call to request they also refund the shipping charges that were never even incurred.
"

"My wife has a Hobie Revolution 13 and thought it would be nice to try a sailing Kit.The site said 15% discount on first order.The sail being the most expensive item was ordered first.The pontoons and Sail rudder next.We got the Pontoons and waited two more weeks before calling to see when the rest was coming.No one had a clue and told me they would get back to me.That never happened.Could not give me an idea and no one seems to keep track of their orders.If you like waiting on hold for several minutes each time you call this is the place.Waited another week to check back and they said maybe next week.We wasted a month of good weather dealing with this fiasco.I called the place where we bought our kayaks in Pacific City and they had the sail kit,rudder and furling kit in stock.We did not get a 15% discount or what we needed form ACK.Those letters seem so apropo now.Please don't waste your time with this store."

"would think twice before buying anything from these guys. At first glance this company has very competitive pricing, but if you live out of state ( I live in Florida) I would urge you to think twice before ordering from these guys.
On 7/6/18 I ordered a big fish 120 from these guys, the order when through without a hitch, about an hour later I get an e-mail stating the kayak is on back order, fine I can deal with that but why does it take me having to call them wait on hold etc. before I can actually get an answer to what's going on with my order.
My kayak arrives on 7/24/18 I unwrap it, look over the kayak and I don't see any visible damage or anything that looks out of the ordinary. I take the kayak out for the 1st time on 7/28/18 and about a mile or two into our trip my kayak starts taking on A LOT! of water. My friend and I stop and drain what seems to be a half full of water kayak. I thought it must be the drain plug, so we drain it and tighten the plug and headed back to where our cars were. We had to stop 2 more times because the water was coming in so bad the kayak was actually listing to one side and it was a mere inch or so from the water coming over the sides.
But yet again I'm here today having to call these people and wait on hold and explain the situation over again. I'm sure they will rectify the situation in the end (or I could always just dispute this with my credit card company) either way I'm sure it will get handled but I would urge you if you don't live within driving distance from these people, just spend the extra money locally y ld me he would forward the necessary paperwork to have another one shipped out to me, I'm cool with that!! It was the 28th of July and I had a non refundable trip coming up on the 4th of Aug. I did not receive the new kayak, nor did I receive any information on what's going on with my replacement...I spoke with the rep at 3 waters who makes my kayak. The rep who deals directly with warranty problems and the 1st thing he said was "oh you got it from Austin Kayaks? sounded like a sigh" He stated he would have had no problem sending me out another kayak, that same day as a matter of fact. I should be enjoying the $1000.00 plus dollars I spent on a kayak and showing pictures from my trip but all I have is a kayak I wouldn't even stick in my pool, a credit card balance for a broken kayak and I'm also negative $300.00 for the trip I was not able to take because they sent me the Titanic!!!!!!!!!
But yet again Im here today having to call these people and wait on hold and explain the situation over again. Im sure they will rectify the situation in the end (or I could always just dispute this with my credit card company) either way Im sure it will get handled but I would urge you if you don't live within driving distance from these people, just spend the extra money locally "

"I am very pleased with the customer service I received from Austin Kayak!
I recently bought a Yeti 50 Cooler from Austin Kayak and got it at a great price. I discovered about a month later when I went to use it that the drain leaked no matter how much I tightened the drain plug. It left a puddle in my kitchen after I tried to tighten it twice when using it for beverages. It was fine for a day but when the ice slowly started to melt, I started noticing the water on the floor. I contacted Austin Kayak by email and they did get back to me. Since I already owned a couple of other Tundra coolers and had no issues with those, I sent them pictures of the threaded drain in the leaking cooler and those of another Tundra I owned. When comparing the drains on the Tundra's, it appeared that the drain was not cut properly in the Yeti 50, preventing it from compressing the gasket on the drain plug.
Austin Kayak sent me a RMA Fedex label and I followed their instructions for returning the cooler. They reimbursed my account after receiving the item with no issue whatsover.
In the future, if l decide to buy a kayak, I would have no problem purchasing one from Austin Kayak. I think their prices are competitive and in my case, they provided excellent customer service.

Thanks Again!





"

"Bait & switch masters! Ordered a C-Tug kayak dolly with sand wheels, which is $30.00 more than the standard wheel model. Austin sent me the standard wheel model. When I contacted customer services, with a picture of the box, indicating that this package does not include the sand wheels, they apologized and said they would send me the return shipping labels and ship the correct model once they receive the incorrect model. After following up with them 2 days later indicating that I have not received the return labels, they asked if I would remove the dolly from the box and send them pictures of the wheel. They said "so they can confirm that the dolly was incorrect and not just the printing on the cart. I took pictures of the wheels and forwarded them to Austin. The following day I received the FedEx labels and returned the cart that day. So far it has been 9 days since I ordered the cart.
Now comes the next challenge, getting my money refunded. After checking my credit card statement after 6 days, the refund had not been made. When I called customer service, I was told that they were sorry, however there were a lot of returns and they would get to mine in the next several days. After repeated calls, speaking with supervisors, etc. I finally received my refund , 22 days later. I have the feeling that if I did not keep calling for my money it could have been another 3 weeks, or more, before i received my refund.
Buyers should be aware that this is not an honest company to do business with."