No Integrity, Honesty or Shame
Becker's has failed us too many times & I knew better than to try and rent a couple Kayaks from them. They nearly ruined an adventure that had been planned for 7 months for a 8-day trip at the end of a 12-hour trip.
The way that Lothar (the owner) works is that he knows that you have few if any options. He has you over a barrel and exploits that situation to abuse you. If you fight back or argue, he can just cancel your booking (maybe retaining a fee?) and you are stuck since Bowron Lake Lodge or Bear River Mercantile would be hard pressed to bail you out (that is if you even know of them). Our last trip, I saw a couple that had their plans for an adventure destroyed by this man -even though they had paid reservations. That's why I should have known better.
I had reserved some Kayaks, called a few days in advance to notify him we would be arriving late (which you are required to do). Yet upon arrival he started asking why I called to say I would be late (I tried to explain that one never knows on a 12 hour drive if you can make it on time). Then he starts asking why the kids wanted Kayaks, they should just Canoe. I told him that they had canoed last time and wanted to Kayak this time, that's why I reserved & paid a deposit. He wouldn't come clean and admit that he had failed the reservation by not having Kayaks. He offered me a Canoe claiming it was the same, however, our group has canoes & if he had called the day before or emailed or when I had called told me of the problem, then we could have brought our own. You see, he doesn't act to even try to mitigate his failure. He had some lame excuse about not knowing when the boats would return -they could return late etc. But that has no bearing, his company took my reservation & deposit, but failed to deliver and that's really all that I care about. This isn't some rental car or something you can make due on. If Lothar doesn't know how to make sure he has Kayaks for customers he has promised them for, then maybe he's in the wrong biz?
I decided to try Bowron Lake Lodge & Bear River Mercantile (along the lake front) first before I brought the other adults from our group in & try and force the issue. Fortunately, the other 2 came through with a Kayak each and Bear River had 2 carts.
A few things about Lothar, he yells at people to leave the office if there is more than 1, especially kids. He doesn't feel an obligation to fulfill promises. He ridicules you (seen this happen to other customers) and belittles you. He knows you have few options or no options. Though you might think that the reservation office in Quesnel is nice and helpful (they are) Lothar has said that they don’t know what they are doing and it means nothing.
If you don't want to take a chance on a ruined adventure, time off from work for nothing, or arbitrary change in your plans, then I warn you to stay away from Becker's. If you don't mind being treated like a little kid, abused intellectually, being helpless etc. then you might like to try Beckers. This is from our group's experience in 3 trips over the last 7 years.