Boat ED

Long time boater here. I signed up for this service to get my boaters card, now required to boat in CA. Did not finish the training in the allotted time frame@ 90 days. I didn't even realize I had a time frame to finish an online course. I called customer service to see if I can get reinstated to finish up the course that I already paid for. The guy told me I was a crook for asking for something for free, a service I already paid for "lol". They took away my access and are requesting I pay again. Who is the real crook here?
Its not about the money for me its about service...
Update, Boater-Ed is 100% the crook here. There are company's offering free education and testing. All you have to do is pay for the card through your state... What a joke

Edited Review
When you get your temporary card, they tell you it expires in 31 days. You can count on them to take the full 31 days to send you your card. That's what they did with me. I did receive it but they took more times. Did they tell you it will take. Typical for the government. Maybe hire more people. It seems like everything I do with the government in Illinois takes longer than it used to, or should. One thing you will notice once you become a boater is that most other people need to take this course. They don't have a clue what they're supposed to be doing. I have seen many people swimming with the flags out and thought wow I could've read them over. The course has a lot of great information and I do recommend it to everyone even if you don't on the boat. It helps anyone on the river or lake.

Original Review
After a month no card and no working chat or "Contact Us".Are they for real.No response. Good course but no card.

The course is well made, covers all good topics. As for as what can be done to improve... The interactive parts are not very user friendly on mobile devices. They should also have a timer with countdown to get an idea how long the course is to schedule your sessions around your day.
But all in all it's only about 2-3 hours straight through. You can stop whenever and continue

As as suburb kid, I was never coached on the intricacies of boating. While some of my friends had boating certificates, I had "missed the boat on that opportunity". Thanks to Boat-Ed.com I was able to catch up on some essential boater safety knowledge. I learned a lot about boating which sparked a passion for me to learn how to drive PWC, pontoon boats, etc. I am grateful for this course.

Update: after a week of calling/emailing/messaging, I did get through to this company through their fb page and have now received my card (though there's a typo on the card)

I ordered two certification cards, but boat-ed failed to deliver. I griped and griped and finally got the cards months later. It's odd how the company delivered on the hard part, but failed on the easy part.

The interactive scenarios are a little cluncky in that the graphics and the direction could be updated a bit. I think if the programs were updated you could do a lot more scenario based training which will help with the learning process by putting the boater in the situation. Other than that aspect, I think this is a terrific product and I am recommending it to everyone who I know looking to get into voting in NH.

The website has technical issue that prevent me from taking the exam. Without the exam and certificate, my $79 has been wasted. This is day 3 since I requested help, but no one seems to be working the help desk. (The course itself was very well done, but this is useless if users cannot access help or take the exam for certification.)

Very informative and covered a variety of topics related to boating. I went into the course really only looking/needing to learn more about personal watercrafts but I'm glad I received an expansive amount of information about other vessels. However, the course was a lot longer than advertised. It took me 6 hours to complete the lessons, study questions, and exam, when the instructions said it would only require 3 hours.

Boat-ed's course for my California Boaters Card (CBC) was professional, detailed and organized. I couldn't have asked for anything more, the curriculum, the illustrations and animations were excellent and I learned several things I hadn't known before. I've sailed for over 50 years (started age 6), taught sailing and have owned my own sailboats and felt this class was very informative and educational. I highly recommend it - first cabin all the way!

The boat ed course is well developed and written making it easy to understand and complete. I feel that it is pretty comprehensive and covers most of the topics that the average beginning boater should know and understand. The only thing I would add would be a means to review the exam results by the student to understand where they may have come up short and to study the correct response. For me that would be very helpful.

At first I was a honestly a little annoyed at how long the course was. After completing it however I have a much broader knowledge of boating and safety. I have been a boater and fishermen for over 40 years and thought I knew everything there was to know about boating and water safety. I realized I was wrong and am happy to say I really appreciate the easy to follow instruction of the course as well. I can say know that I am definitely going to be a safe more confidant boater. Thank you boater Ed for providing this fantastic educational tool!

Too much repetition. I. e. Wearing your PFD
Some questions on the final were not covered
In the course.

I have been using the Boat-ed program for the boater safety card and have found that the timer on each page is set FAR TOO LONG and in order to proceed to the next page you must wait... and... wait... until the timer has expired. Unfortunately, the time that needs to elapse before the user can move to the next page is such that a normal reader will have completely read the page well before the timer is up. I would use another provider in the future.

1st of all, its a public lake and I don't need the government or state trying to keep me safe. Mind your own! This is a solid money grab! Pay an extra $15 and save yourself 90 minutes. Screw you guys!

This was a fun and informative course with alot of detailed information. I am new to boating and learned so much. Only thing missing is some basics on boat mechanics and functionality. A quick overview on how to drive and maintain the vessel would be nice. Perfect course for anyone wanting to get started.

They where very efficient in every little step. Although being annoying during studying it is very important to not certify people that aren't eligible. Great job Boat-ed, I look forward to doing more courses with you. Congrats!

The educational program is very detailed and well illustrated. There were animated parts to test your knowledge at certain points in the program. The added video clips about certain topics was very helpful. I think it was a good idea to have the mini tests after each section. The overall test at the conclusion of the on-line course is very helpful in preparing for the actual examination. I highly recommend the Boat-Ed.com course.

I found the course content relevant and interesting, but the design is very outdated. The microlearning videos are very good---brief, cover the relevant learning objectives, and do so in an intertaining way, but the animation and multiple choice quizzing slows down the learner and are more of a distraction. There is a lot of redundancy between sections and a streamlining of the course would increase engagement and effectiveness.

Having led a corporate global learning department in a regulated industry, e-learning courses are undergoing great change, as learners expect learning experiences more like NetFlix and YouTube---brief, solve my problem, and move on. Research is showing better design has better business results. WOuld be happy to discuss more if desired... kenneth. G. *******@comcast. Net

Tons of information presented in an easy-to-understand way. Highly recommend! I learned so much even though I have been out on the water before. I thought I knew the laws but it turns out this course was very helpful, especially with defining all the different signs you see while boating.

The navigational section and fire extinguisher section could be more extensive in order to properly retain and commit to memory. The final sections were purely common sense and I flew through them as I expect anyone else would. The final charge of $10 was confusing and took a lot of back button and time to search for a reason as to why additional payment is needed. Most people will assume the $34.95 in the beginning is the one and only payment. An explanation and better instructions to acquire the verification ID # would make it easier.

I wish all boaters would take this before they get on the water. This is excellent training well organized and great checks.

The course was set up very user friendly so you can always track your progress and save it without worry of losing any progress. Made it very smooth when obtaining my boating safety certificate!