Jetski flipped twice on rental is it normal?
I’m trying to figure out whether this was user error or if I have a valid reason to ask for a refund. I rented a jet ski on a river near the beach while on vacation. I’ve ridden jet skis twice before on a private lake and never had any issues. The jet ski I was given did not look terrible, but it did seem like it had been used as a rental for a while.
At the start of the rental, it felt slow getting up to speed. The speedometer was in kilometers, so I couldn’t really tell how fast I was going, but the company advertised it as 110 hp and capable of around 50 mph. I was not riding aggressively, taking sharp turns at high speed, or doing anything reckless.
After a few minutes, I was idling near a family member when the jet ski started tipping and I fell into the water. I stayed calm and tried to reboard from the back, using the handles, but the jet ski kept tipping over. I eventually managed to pull myself up and slide forward onto the seat, but it felt very unstable. I assumed maybe that was normal and continued the rental.
Later, I flagged down the rental staff member who was watching us from a boat because heavy clouds were coming in and we wanted to head back early. He insisted we finish the rental time, even though I said we were fine going in early. Around that time, I fell in again. When I tried to climb back on from the rear, the same thing happened: the jet ski kept tipping over. I eventually had to get onto the staff member’s boat and then jump back onto the jet ski from there.
On the way back to the dock, the jet ski also seemed to struggle getting up to speed, and my family members were passing me without any issue. Does this sound like normal jet ski behavior, or could there have been something wrong with the rental? Should I ask for a refund, or should I just assume it was my own fault and take the loss?
