I had a similar experience to many of reviews listed here. The woman on reception was friendly, and…read morereasonably flexible when it came to the deposit (we didn't have a cheque book with us on holiday, so they took a reduced deposit in cash). She also (unprompted) gave us an extra half an hour on the booking, which we appreciated.
There was, however, a EUR10 fuel surcharge added to our bill, which was not mentioned on their price list (I'm not sure under what circumstances one is expected to use a motor boat without fuel, but it felt a lot like a hidden charge, Ryanair-style). This added over 10% to the cost of hiring the boat for the morning.
The boat itself was an absolute dog. I've done some sailing, and I know roughly what to expect. We hired one of the 'sans permis' (no boating licence required) rigid vessels, with a six hp outboard motor.
The main problem was the motor, which was ancient and prone to cutting out or refusing to start. It smoked alarmingly in neutral, and made a generally unhealthy noise. However, it survived the first hour of the booking until we anchored in one of the calanques and switched off the engine. This was our first error 45 minutes later, the engine refused to start. Repeated attempts to coax it back into life (choke in, choke out, throttle on, throttle off) didn't work. Eventually, after about 20 minutes of trying, it spluttered back into life.
We headed for another calanque, and it cut out en route, while under power. This was worrying, as were now floating, dead in the water, about 20m from the rocky shore, with a motor that refused to start. Fortunately, the sea was pretty calm and we were able to maintain our position. After another 20 minutes, I managed to get the engine started again, and we made it to the next calanque, where we dropped anchor next to several other boats.
Again, after an hour or so of being stopped, the motor refused to start. We were helped by a nice local, who saw our problems starting the motor and came on board to help. He was an experienced sailor and was shocked at the appalling state of the engine, which he described as very old and not fit for use. He managed to get it started again, and told us to complain to Loca'bato, the port authorities and the police. In his opinion the boat was dangerous and should never have been rented out. He also recommended we head straight back to Cassis harbour, which we did.
Upon our return to Loca'bato (by now about half an hour late after the various problems), we told them about the problems. Tellingly, no one looked in the slightest bit surprised by the problems we described. Nor did they look like they cared, which was shocking. The 'salt' who got our boat ready at the start of our trip just stared at me when I told him about the problems we'd encountered. It was pretty shocking, and contributed to making what should have been a lovely boating expedition very stressful.
In addition to the problems with the motor, there were several other indicators that the boat was poorly maintained:
1. The canopy was missing two of the ropes to attach it to the body of the boat. This meant it was only flimsily held in place, not sufficiently for it to be raised while under power without fear of it flying off.
2. The life jackets were ancient and missing the fastenings, which meant they had to be hacked together in a worryingly botched fashion.
3. The boat wasn't supplied with any lines (ropes) to moor with. All it had was a small anchor.
I can't recommend this company I have serious concerns about their attitude to safety, and their response to our issues was completely unsatisfactory. We were lucky the sea was relatively benign and that we had time to rectify the problems.
I've never been moved to leave a negative review about a business before, anywhere, but I was pretty shocked by what I encountered at Loca'bato, and would warn other people who are considering using their services to approach with caution.
