Milligan’s Island Boat Rental

Horrible customer service, bad attitude, stay away from this place, especially when going with family, would not allow us to rent 2 jet ski’s for 4 people and the young kid wanted to fight when asked for a refund.

Had a terrible experience here with my entire extended family. We rented a pontoon boat for $ ²⁵⁰⁄₂ hours and the lock on the front door of it broke in the middle of our trip. The boat flooded and all our shoes got soaked. We called the company for help and they were condescending and unhelpful. Eventually we got the engine to turn on and returned and were charged $ 20 extra dollars for breaking the door since we were driving «too fast» even though we were going slowly at the time. I would defintely NOT recommend this place. Terrible service, terrible quality boats, and prices that are just such a rip off.

Yeah, ya know, we didn’t have a great experience here. I’m not a fan of writing not so good reviews, but we really can’t recommend this place.
While everyone there is nice, (I swear this whole town is run by teenagers) we rented a powerboat our first day in Lake Geneva and they gave us their «nicer» boat. $ 195 for a two hour rental which wow, is sticker shock for sure, but what else is there to do and the point of being in Lake Geneva is being on the lake, right?
The darn thing stalled out on us 4 times, much like everyone else’s reviews. We had lots of trouble getting the darn thing started and once we did it puttered and sputtered and wouldn’t get up to speed. But then it would, then it wouldn’t, then it would die. We forgot the name of the place so we couldn’t call. Ya know, mild panic, what if we can’t get it started and get back in?
We finally got the thing back to them, told the girl in the bitty boat house and she kinda shrugged and said, ok, and? Did you tell the kid over there, she asked. Yes we did. «All right,» shrugged again and looked at us blankly. No apology, no offer of some money back for our troubles, no thanks for giving us your business anyway, no we’ll give you a discount if you come back. Not that we would have, considering there are lots of other rental places which is why we didn’t pursue it. Nope, nothing. Just a shrug, eh, whatever.
One star for just having boats I guess, one star because at least to start they were nice.
Soooo, take your hard earned dollars, skip down the block and go over to Leather Lips instead which is what we did.

Saw past reviews, and my experience was nothing like that! We got our boat quickly. It was very clean and fit my group of 8 comfortably, with room to spare. The workers were very helpful in getting us started at the beginning and docked when our time was up. I would recommend this place to anyone.

I wish I could give this place zero stars. Terrible service with a racist undertone.
We had a reservation for 12 people over the 4^th of July weekend. When we go there they told us the pontoon we had booked was broken (they never contacted us either). They offered us a 10 person pontoon as a replacement. When I asked what the other 2 people should do, I was told they would have to find something else as they cannot get on the pontoon. I asked how long it could take to fix the 12 person pontoon, or if we could get jet skis for the other 2 people. The reply I got shocked me as she said «I have rented to people like you and it’s not happening again»!
You could imagine my surprise to this response. I asked what she meant and did not get a response as she got aggressive and agitated!

Very scared by the prior reviews. We booked ahead of time — in April — for an 8 hour boat rental with a driver. The person who organized the trip got a call in June saying we had missed our appointment. This was a problem since they called at noon on a Sunday in June, when our rental was at 2 on a Saturday in July.
Once we actually got there, everyone was attentive and quick. Our driver was very nice, pointed things out and answered questions. The boat itself seemed clean and well maintained.
Although from the prior reviews (and admittedly, mine) — there appear to be some logistical issues, I would recommend the service — just make sure to get all proper confirmations both verbally and in writing.

I wish I could give this place zero stars. I have never had a worst experience with boating or customer service in my life. First off, I’m not sure the boat they gave us was safe. It kept making strange rumbling noises and then would turn off right in the middle of the lake. When we first went out, the staff had to try 5 time to start it. It took THREE of them to figure out how to get it started. When the boat would suddenly stop in the middle of the lake, it took over ten minutes to get it started every single time it shut off. We thought we were gonna be stuck in the middle of the lake! When we finally got it started, we headed back and were twenty minutes late. The manager was so rude, it was shocking. She pretty much told us we were stupid and that we lied about problems with the boat. After yelling and swearing at us for about five minutes, she says that she tried to call us, but got no answer (we have T-​Mobile and pretty much don’t get service anywhere). Our answering message is of our 14 month old son and she was MOCKING HIM. Who the hell makes fun of a baby? These people are definitely not professionals. GO ANYWHERE ELSE. ANYWHERE AT ALL. I would rather try to float on the lake in a bathtub than waste more money on this joke of a business.

You get what you pay for. I tried to save $ 25 by going with this company instead of Marina Bay (which is the marina next store.) Stupid me. We reserved the boat from 11 – 3 and arrived by 10:30am to make sure we got everything settled and were on the water by 11. The place was closed when we arrived (despite that the answering machine said they open at 9.) At 10:45 we started calling other places, figuring that no one was coming. At 10:55, the guy shows up. I’m not trying to sound rude, but the guy came off as a total beach bum, pot-​head. In all fairness, he was very nice, but who shows up 5 minutes before you have an appointment? We were obviously their only customer that morning/​afternoon, which should have been a hint for me. He apologized for not being there earlier to wipe down the boat from the spider webs and whatnot. It wasn’t terrible, but anytime you’re by the lake, you know how quickly those bugs can come back… so it should have been done. The credit card machine didn’t work, so we didn’t end up getting on the lake until 11:20am. The pontoon boats looked much older than the boats from Marina Bay next door, but they were in ok shape. The fold-​back cover was broken and taped, but it wasn’t a deal breaker since we weren’t using it anyway. What made me really mad was that the radio didn’t work. It sucks to be on the lake for 4 hours without any music! You’d think they would have given us some money off for this, but they didn’t. We did have problems starting the boat at one point (and since my parents own a boat, I know how to start one, so I know it wasn’t just me) but it ended up starting after about 5 minutes of trying. It worried us for a few minutes though!
We ended up having a great time on the lake, but I don’t think I would recommend this place. I haven’t rented from any of the other places on Lake Geneva, but I would try somewhere else before I go back to this place.

I would give this place zero stars if that were an option…
I rented a boat from here over memorial weekend 2009, because they allow dogs. too bad the owner is an a**hole. his boat turned off while my family and I were in the middle of the lake. we tried to turn it back on, but it wouldn’t work. some locals were nice enough to pull us into their pier and try to start the boat themselves, but they had no luck, and they had the same kind of boat, so they knew what they were doing. we called Milligan so that they could help us out, and the owner got on the phone, basically called us idiots. We called him a second time to make sure they were sending someone out to at least pull us in. The boat safety patrol came by, and they tried to start the boat to no avail. Finally the owner shows up, does something to start the boat, and drives off all pissy. We drive the boat back an hour before our time was up, not wanting to chance it turning off on us again. He threatens us, tells us to get our fat asses off his pier (I was 6 months pregnant at the time). I told him that he is extremely inappropriate and that I could call the police on him for harassment. I should have because later that night we got a phone call from the police dept giving us a ticket for indecent behavior.
The owner may have been having a bad day, but to treat a paying customer the way he did is uncalled for. I hope you think twice before renting from this company.