[jimmy D]

Originally Posted by rockchalk76

Please forgive me for posting here (and for the length) as I am not a Villages resident. However, my parents ARE residents and I felt obligated to share an experience that they (and I) had in dealing with 1st Cart Rental so that hopefully a few of you might be spared a similar experience.

A little background, my parents bought their place in The Villages back in March. They spent a few months in the spring in The Villages and then went back home for the summer. Then a few weeks ago they flew back down to Florida to spend the month of October there before the holidays. Since they were going down I thought it was a good opportunity for me and my daughter to join them so she could see her grandparents and we could go to Disney World for a day or two.

My parents had yet to purchase a golf cart of their own by this time and had been renting from various companies in the spring and were planning to do so again for October. Like many of you they saw 1st Cart Rental’s ad in the newspaper and called them up and arranged for a cart. My mom’s feedback to me later was that they were so much cheaper than the others which is why she chose them. In hindsight, what my mom should have done was to check this company out on Yelp or on a site like this to see if there were any complaints/issues that others have had…..because cheaper certainly isn’t always better!

Anyhow, the owner, Marc, delivers the cart and everything seems fine. It’s a nice cart. Clean. The problem starts when the windshield falls off the front of the cart. My dad, myself, and a friend of mine are playing golf at Havana and as we’re making the turn the windshield of the cart falls off the front of the cart and, as we’re driving at the time, we have no choice but to then run over it and basically destroy it. We were in the parking lot at the time so besides the three of us there were at least three or four other players who witnessed this as well.

How can that happen you ask? Well, unlike most other carts that I saw around The Villages (because I was very observant of it after this happened), the windshield was not bolted on to the roof supports. It was simply held on to the supports with plastic clips. My dad and I picked up the windshield and the pieces of plastic that had broken off, put them in the cart, and finished our round.

My dad then left Marc a message on his phone relaying what had happened. What happened next still boggles my mind.

The next morning as I’m finishing breakfast with my daughter the doorbell rings. My dad is out running errands and I’m home with my daughter, my mom and a friend. I answer the door and it’s Marc. I tell him my dad is not home and he starts by telling me that my dad would have to pay for the windshield and that he deals with a lot of people and my dad is the first not to “own up”. His mannerisms and speech are very aggressive and confrontational right from the moment I open the door. I explained what had happened and that it was clearly not our fault for it falling off. He questions my account…so basically calling me a liar to my face. Things quickly got heated. He asks me to show him the cart so I open the garage door and we both go in. I again explain what happened, and again I’m told that wasn’t what happened. At this point we’re both basically yelling at each other and I tell him to get this cart out of here and get lost. He gets in the cart, backs it out, and puts it on his trailer and as he’s walking to his truck he says “come out here in the street big boy and I’ll beat your f*cking a$$” and then tells me “I’m a vindictive mother f*cker so don’t be surprised if you come home six months from now with a rock through your window”. That is verbatim as I will never forget that. He then gets in his truck and roars off.

Before some of you criticize me with something like “we’re only hearing one side of the story”, “it’s your first post what’s your agenda?”, etc. please note that this is not the first time on this same site where someone has posted a negative review of this company and its owner. Do a quick search for the following posts for the others:

"Stay away from 1st Cart Rental"
"Golf Cart Rental Ripoff!"

In short, I do have an agenda and it’s simple: I am appalled by this guy’s behavior and don’t want anyone else making the same mistake and don’t believe he should be allowed to continue doing business with Villagers. After reading these other reviews it’s clear he has no respect for his customers and is in the business of taking advantage of Village residents if it serves his purpose. I am a police officer in Colorado and see all manner of deplorable human beings on a regular basis and this guy is certainly right up there. I’ve advised my parents to file a police report and would certainly encourage any of you with similar experiences to do the same. As for only hearing one side of the story, he’s certainly free to post a response but I highly doubt he will as he’s a bully and a coward.

Rockchalk what part of Ks