Purk's Place

If I could give negative stars, I would award them to Purks. Purks Place has been in Bala for eons, but surprisingly, they don't seem to care about their reputation. Dishonest customer service. We visit Bala every summer and used to go to Purks on occasion. We always found the service brusque and surly. Not the way you want to be greeted when you walk into a shop. But the real reason we will never set foot in Purks again, didn't come until two summers ago. Our boat sank in a storm, and we found ourselves suddenly in need of a new one. Rather than purchase one hastily, we decided to rent a boat for the season while we shopped around for a replacement. Since Purks is right up the lake from us, we called for a speed boat rental. When we told our lake neighbors and fellow lifelong cottagers our plan, they advised us we were making a huge mistake: "Purkis is dishonest," they said. "We rented from them a couple summers ago, and they charged us for 'damages' to the boat that never occurred. Steer clear!" they said. We didn't listen. We paid C$1,000 for a week's boat rental. Fairly standard. We received a very well-used, run-of-the-mill, scratched and worn, smallish speed boat. We walked around the boat like a rental car with one of the employees looking for damages that were all noted before we drove away, including some loose stripping. When we returned the boat, Purkis' teenage grandson came out with us to go over the exterior of the boat. Sure enough, just as our neighbors warned, he informed us that there was some stripping on the side that had come loose and that we would be responsible for paying for it. Husband told the guy that the stripping had been loose when we rented the boat, that they had noted the damage, and that we had been particularly careful with this boat the whole time we had it. The grandson said he would have to talk to Purkis when he returned to the store the following morning, but for the time being, we would not receive our deposit back and would be charged for the stripping. I've never seen husband more livid than he was that evening over the false accusation of damaging the boat. We received a call from Bill Purkis himself the following morning. He informed us not only would we be charged C$1,000 for the week's rental, we would not receive our deposit back, and we would indeed be charged to replace the stripping. We told him we refused to pay for the stripping, as the damage had been incurred before our rental, but Purkis told us that he had our credit card and was going charge us anyway. He was rude and condescending. We called our credit card company and issued a charge-back on the grounds of a fraudulent charges from Purks, so Purkis did not receive one dime of our money. We have not set foot in the place since that summer, nor will we ever again. Lifelong cottagers know what they are talking about, and good businesses cater to this loyal crowd.

Everything was closed at 9 except timhortons..

Great place with friendly staff, go out of their way to meet your needs!!! No minnows only have worms.

We go for kayak rental, price is acceptable, around $20 for 3 hours. But the customers services is very poor. The owner( the old man) is mean AF, extremely rude to us. Keep telling us to off load at the dangerous area( the area which passed the dam warning signs). And he keep yelling as us. Can't say he is bad but he need to control his temper.

A nice place with a lot of charecter. It is on the expensive side and the dock is very hard to launch out of for beginners like us. The canoe rental was $29 for 3 hours and $39 for the day, which is not that bad. The location is right by the Bala Dam. Great view from the lake.

Small selection for a small store but they have all the necessities. Super friendly and helpful owners and staff, my regular stop for worms throughout the summer

Every time I come here when they’re “open” they’re not.. I don’t understand.

Great experience, we were a group of 6, rented canoes, owners were nice and friendly