Carefree Boat Club was founded in 2002 with the goal of providing the joys of boat ownership without any of the hassle. The franchise organization operates over 90 locations globally and managers over 4,000 members. In 2016, two southwest Florida locations began using PaySimple to streamline their payments and billing processes. In return, their revenue increased by 28%
Today PaySimple supports 23 Carefree Boat Club locations nationwide.
Background
In 2016, Laurel and Perry Bower took over the Cape Coral and Fort Myers, Florida Carefree Boat Club locations. Avid sailors, their goal was to bring the pleasures of boat ownership to more people across their community.
Carefree Boat Club is built on the notion that boating is a great hobby but owning a boat just doesn’t make sense for most people. With one monthly fee, their members have full access to the local fleet and can take out a boat whenever they like without worrying about slip fees, insurance, maintenance, repair, taxes, towing coverage, winterization, and depreciation.
Challenge
Coordinating billing, reporting, and payments for two growing locations made for choppy waters in the beginning. While Perry was busy handling the fleet, the employees, and their customers, Laurel was tasked with bookkeeping and payments.
This meant accounting for all the different types of payments and transactions they received, from recurring to one time payments, ACH payments to credit card swipes. To monitor the growth of their business, Laurel needed a system that could work seamlessly and pull custom reports as needed.
“The best thing about PaySimple is that I can customize it to fit my business, not the other way around.”
Laurel Bower, Carefree Boat Club
Solution
Luckily, Laurel had some help. The previous owner of Laurel and Perry’s Carefree Boat Club locations used PaySimple to guarantee calm seas when it came to their administrative tasks. In addition to the software the Bowers inherited with their business, they continued building a relationship with PaySimple’s customer success manager, Synthia, as well.
Synthia helped Laurel get comfortable with using a merchant account system and trained her on our point of sale system, ACH payments, recurring billing, electronic report catalogues, custom reports, and so much more.
“Synthia was with me every step of the way. I’ve used many other subscription-based companies in my life, and it can be really frustrating when there is no phone support at all, just email. With PaySimple, I get to talk to someone who has gotten to know my business and really cares about it!”
Laurel Bower, Carefree Boat Club
This hands-on approach didn’t end when onboarding was complete. Synthia’s continued support ensured that Carefree Boat Club’s payment system fit their needs, even as they grew their business. They now collect monthly recurring membership dues from their members. For customers and owners, this ability to set it and forget it is essential. Likewise, PaySimple’s online payment forms make it easier to collect initial payment information from new members.
As Laurel continued to work on expanding their business and learning PaySimple’s platform, she quickly realized that PaySimple provided much more flexibility for her changing needs. With Synthia’s help, Laurel customized each item within her point of sales system and can now quickly pull reports or send invoices and receipts out to customers in a few easy steps.
Perry even uses the mobile app to collect different payment types right on the dock for things like fuel, damage reimbursement, and other charges that aren’t billed regularly.
“The platform and itemization of the point of sales system is very user friendly. So much is automated and the things you want to happen, happen quickly and easily. Most importantly, I’ve never had issues getting money—which is the most important thing.”
Laurel Bower, Carefree Boat Club
With the help of PaySimple, Laurel and Perry say their revenue has increased by 28% in their southwest Florida locations. They look forward to continuing to grow their business—possibly opening more locations in Florida—knowing that their ability to process payments online and keep track of their books means nothing but smooth sailing ahead.
Today over 20 CareFree Boat Club locations use PaySimple. To learn more about recurring payments, payment forms, mobile app payments and other key payment features of PaySimple, contact us today. Our team is happy to help you with your unique payment needs.
