A woman went viral on TikTok after exposing a jet ski rental place that apparently denied her family access to one because they don’t speak English.
Yuli (@uuul.02), who posted the video earlier this week, said that she and her family ran into difficulties renting jet skis at Destin X Jet Ski/Waverunner Rentals in Destin, Florida. In the nearly three-minute clip, Yuli further elaborated on the predicament she and her family faced.
“If your first language is not English, don’t come here,” Yuli said.
@uuul.02 I wanted to make this to bring awareness. It was very frustrating and humiliating to go through this and would not want anybody to go through the same. #jetski #destin H20 Destin X Jet Ski/Waverunner Rentals – Departing From Destin Harbor#greenscreen ♬ original sound – Yuli🌅💛
Five years ago, Yuli and her Venezuelan family moved to the United States. They currently reside in Texas, she said, but were vacationing in Florida. On July 27, Yuli said her family arrived late for their jet ski appointment. Consequently, they had to reschedule for the next day and arrived “an hour early” to fill out paperwork.
The content creator was there to serve as a translator for her family, but said she ran into issues when she told an employee that certain members of her family—who were supposed to drive the jet skis—didn’t speak English.
“‘If they don’t speak English, you’re not going to be able to rent the jet skis,’” the worker said.
Yuli said that there was nothing explicitly stated in the store’s rental policy prohibiting non-English speakers from driving jet skis. And Yuli said that her family had already paid for the jet skis—which were over $400 each. Still, the worker canceled her family’s appointment and told them “you guys are not gonna get your money back” since they didn’t cancel 24 hours prior to their appointment.
In an interview with The Daily Dot, Yuli said that her family ended up receiving half of their refund. She said she had to contact the rental place seven times, however, in order to get that money back. In a statement, Yuli said that she shared her story on TikTok to “create awareness about places like this so other non-English speakers can [avoid] situations like what me and my family went [through].”
The Daily Dot reached out to Destin X Jet Ski/Waverunner Rentals via their online contact form. The TikTok amassed 3.6 million views as of Tuesday evening, with a number of viewers expressing outrage on Yuli’s behalf.
“Get yourself a lawyer girl,” one viewer wrote.
“I commented on all their [videos] because I had the time today,” another shared.
“Just know we all went to their page to raise awareness on this issue,” a third person commented. “So sorry you went through this.”
