Camping on a river island is a magical experience. The only sounds around us overnight were the... read more
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WI River Outings
715 Wisconsin Ave, Boscobel, WI 53805-1373
Open today: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Review Highlights
“A Bucket List Experience a Short Drive from Home”
W5177PGlaurag
“Excellent Outfitter”
Used them to shuttle for a trip from Sauk Prairie to Wyalusing. They were responsive and patient... read more
christinec622
, Arlington Heights, Illinois, United States
josephlD1070YK
11
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Bluenoser-Smith
1
Without a doubt, the highlight of my experience was my proposal to my girlfriend (now fiancée)! WRO staff offered their best advice to make this possible. Thank you for a trip that we will never forget.
Constructive criticism: we both really like the morning for paddling, and although we selected your earliest time-slot for departure (10am), we unfortunately were not able to hit the water until 12:05pm. We would have enjoyed the first day a lot more if we were able to start earlier.
Date of experience: July 2021
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Rikk W
Rochester, Minnesota
1
I may come back with a better review but they botched it with Covid. Told me to call back 2 weeks before we wanted to schedule our trip, planned around the date only to find out they could not accommodate us. It could have been handled better for sure.
Date of experience: August 2020
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Daisygrl74
1
via mobile 
I have rented from WI River Outings many times and it is a great company, however, I was a little disappointed that it was never mentioned to me at the time of my reservation that there would be no shuttle service and the price was not reduced to reflect that. I know times are rough considering the current pandemic and I appreciate them protecting the safety of their employees. Great company and I will continue to use them!!
Date of experience: July 2020
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
A645OZmiker
21
This trip was completed during the pandemic and my expectations of good customer service weren't high. It's with great pleasure that I'm able to post that the folks at WI River Outings were very communicative and responded to my many texts, emails and phone calls quickly and in a very friendly manner. In person, they were very helpful and worked hard to accommodate us before sending us off into the world of river water and sand with a smile and a wave.
At the end of our 3 day paddle they were at the boat landing before we loaded up the car and again were very friendly and asked questions about the trip and laughed through stories of some of our adventures.
Combine all this with they huge amount of helpful prep info they have on their website and it's easy to say they upgraded a great trip to awesome.
Date of experience: June 2020
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Heidi S
3925
via mobile
Read and understand your instructions carefully because if you miss your shuttle, it is an hour and a half till the next one.
I had a brain fart which caused us to miss our first shuttle. No big deal. We got pushed back from9:30 to 11:00.
When we got to the boat doc, we dropped off our gear and my husband. there was no pit toilet or port o potty. My kids and I needed a bathroom. If I would have taken them to the bathroom, we would have missed the next shuttle. So I called to say they would need to shuttle me and the kids. I was told that could not be possible, that only the driver was allowed per instructions.
So I had my teens walk back to the boat launch, and I drove to the shop.
By this time, I just wanted a refund, because I was upset over this poor service. They had me talk to Scott, the owner. I explained what poor service this was to not allow my kids on the shuttle due to the bathroom policy. He said that if they would have allowed it, then they would have all sorts of people showing up with their gear and people and wanting to be shuttled.
For the amount of money we paid, they should have been more accommodating.
I strongly advise you to find a difference place to rent your gear from.. one that puts service and customers first.
And to top it off, there was plenty of room on the shuttle for the kids. Especially after the owners poor reason for not alllowing it
Date of experience: August 2019
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Scott T, Owner at WI River Outings, responded to this reviewResponded September 1, 2019
Heidi,
It sounds like your day got off to pretty rough start even before heading to WRO and I'm not sure how much responsibility we're supposed to take for that as a business. I'm sorry that you got a late start pulling out of your driveway.
Yes, we run shuttle times. We HAVE to. We have over 200 canoes (plus another 50 kayaks) available for rent. We have 4 15 passenger vans available to move those customers and boats upriver. I don't expect you to understand but 17 years in this business has taught me a few things...one of them is the need for shuttle times - and stick to them. If we don't have shuttle times there will be chaos and customers waiting hours for a ride upriver.
For 16 of our 17 years, we have customers drop people and gear at the put-in and ONLY the drivers come to Boscobel. If we had to move EVERY paddler and their MOUNTAIN of gear, we'd only be able to move a trip or two with each vehicle and again...customers would be waiting for hours to get a ride upriver OR we'd need a fleet of vans that would boggle the mind. If you feel we're "expensive" now.... The reason there was even a chance of there being room on the shuttle when you were taken upriver is because of this policy.
Regarding the customer service you received:
- You booked a trip that provided detailed email instructions on how to get to the landing and then to the our shop
- You received multiple emails leading up to the day of your trip
- I believe every one of your phone calls was answered on Saturday morning - a busy day in the rental business
- We happily moved your arrival time from 9:30 to 11.
- Because of the state you were in when you arrived at our shop, you were put on a shuttle ahead of some customers that had arrived before you
- And, since you're still on the river as I type, you will also get followup emails asking how your experience was and how we can improve (no need to respond to those, you've already made it clear)
I'll admit, I don't understand how you cut the 11 AM shuttle as close as you did when you were just going to miss the 9:30. I don't understand the route you took to get to the boat landing that didn't pass a single gas station or fast food joint between Madison and Gotham so your teenagers could use the restroom. And we've received a 1 star review from you for things we had no control over.
Please check our other reviews, we've made quite a few people happy with their trip. After all of this, and having a trip under your belt, I hope you'll considering coming back or at least paddle with another outfitter - this river is too special and you had great weather and water levels during your experience.
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC.