Dave at Mariner Sails saved my buddy's experience

I have bought 5 kayaks from Mike Stovall at Mariner Sails. Unfortunately for us (but great for him) Mike is now retired. Because of Mike and Aris, I recommend Mariner to everyone. So naturally, when my buddy told me he was looking at getting a tandem kayak for his family and asked me about some Amazon.com brand I had never heard of, I insisted he go in and look at Mariner before buying anything like that online.

So fast forward to today. Buddy calls me and asks if I want to go over there with him so he can take a look. We get there and we're looking around and by buddy starts talking to the first sales guy we see, telling him he'd like to get some prices of some of their tandem models. My buddy then told him up front he wasn't looking for anything pro, just something to get his family on the water. So the sales guy tells him he'll have to go get the price sheet so he could get a price for one that's "more in your budget" and walks to the front (my buddy hadn't even mentioned a budget to him at all!). We wait a few minutes and finally look around the corner to see the guy talking to another older couple about the Hobie Pro Angler that's setup towards the front. Guy never bothered to come back to help my buddy. My buddy looks at me and says "I guess he didn't think my budget was big enough". lol

So we end up looking around a little more until Dave comes by and asks if we need any help. For the next 30-45 minutes he helped my buddy out with prices and now he'll be going back in the next few days with his wife to buy the new Wilderness Systems Tarpon 135T.
Thanks for your help today Dave. I was going to feel real bad if I talked up the shop to my bud and then we had to walk out of there after the first guy. (I didn't get the first guy's name but he's not on the meet the staff page of the website).