Road River-rentals Reviews

Me and my partner rented this van for 4 days in September for a trip to Cornwall. First impressions of the van was what should be expected for the price i.e a bit tired looking. When being shown around by Lee we noticed it wasn’t cleaned to a high standard, dirty floors, cutlery and plates. After a thorough clean we enjoyed the vans facilities for the 4 days with no hiccups. We returned the van a bit later than planned due to traffic (which was communicated to Sarah.) After chasing for the £300 deposit to be returned; Sarah finally informed us that there would be 2 deductions:
-£25 She claimed the van was unclean inside and out.
In our opinion the van was returned in a cleaner state than when collected as we spent a good part of the last day cleaning it internally. There was no mention in the websites T&C’s of having to return the van externally cleaned!
-£100 for late return
This was news to us as it wasn’t shared during Lee’s initial induction. And further shocking as Sarah failed to mention it when our return time was shared with her, or upon our “late arrival” This charge is detailed within the websites T&C’s but i can’t help but feel was not communicated for monetary gain and quite frankly sneaky.

The above tarnished what was a great break and I would certainly not recommend Road River Rentals to anyone.

Having previously hired a VW T4 campervan (from a different hirer) to attend a small festival we frequent each year, we decided that a T4 would again be the perfect vehicle to take along as a young family of four. Using the camperbug website, we sent off several enquiries to a few owners who’s vans fitted our needs. Lee from Road River Rentals got back to us promptly, and whilst they were located a bit out of our way, the van suited our requirements at a competitive price and so we sent over a deposit to secure the booking.



About a week before the hire, I contacted Lee to arrange payment of the balance, and to discuss pick up/drop off times. Lee was extremely accommodating, and was happy for me to pick up and drop off the van at times that suited me.



The great customer service continued when I received a text from Lee on the morning of the pick up to remind me of the paperwork that I needed to bring along to satisfy the insurers. Lee was waiting for me at the time we agreed, and took me through everything I needed to know in order to make best use of the van over the weekend, including how to put up the awning. I inspected the exterior of the van to make sure that he was aware of any existing knocks and scrapes, and then set off on my way.



The van was perfect for our two-night festival, and kept us out of the rain on what was a very soggy weekend. At about 16 years old and with over 100k miles on the clock, the van was in better condition than you would expect. Pretty much everything still worked as it should, and the leisure battery/solar panels meant that we could use the fridge, lights, and phone charging sockets all weekend without having to start the van once. The kids slept up in the ‘pop-top’ roof happily, and my wife and I were comfortable in the main bed, which easily converted from the rear seats. As we were only using the van for two nights, and spent most of our time enjoying the music and other attractions at the festival, we didn’t properly ‘move in’ to the van, or make full use of everything, but did use the stove to boil a kettle each morning without trouble. The only things that we found to be broken or not working were a torn water carrier (though there was another) and the table. The table works by inserting a metal pole into a cup shaped recess in the base of the van, and then fitting the table top, which had a similar recess in its base, over the top of the pole. We had no sooner set this up than it fell over, the screws fixing the ‘cup’ to the floor all popping out. Fortunately there was also a foldaway camping table in the back of the van, although this did not fit inside so we were forced to sit in the awning, but this was no major problem given our needs.



On the day of returning the van I let Lee know our ETA for meeting him, and we took the van home to empty our belongings and tidy it up. For all the mud over the weekend, the inside was not too bad, but we swept it out and wiped everything down. We then realised that we had misplaced one of the beakers from the van, and could not find it anywhere.



Lee did not initially realise that I was outside with the van once I had arrived, but was apologetic when he noticed, and was as friendly as previously. I opened up the van, pointed out the failed table fixing, the torn water carrier, the missing beaker, and also the awning ground sheet which I had left out of the bag as it was muddy and the weather had not allowed me the opportunity to wash it off myself (I could not have dried it). I of course offered to pay to replace the missing beaker, or to pay for a new matching set if required, which Lee accepted. He was unconcerned about the water carrier, and we discussed how it would be relatively simple to repair the table fixing with some more heavy-duty bolts. Lee had a look around inside and outside, but understandably advised that his wife would check that everything was okay before releasing the £300 deposit I had paid. Whilst looking around, Lee noticed that the armrest of the passenger seat would not remain in its normal horizontal position. This was something that I had not, and would probably not have noticed if it was this way at the start of my hire. However, I believed it was plausible that one of the kids had stood on it as a footing to get up to the bed (the only way of getting up to the bed is to climb on the seats), and therefore implied that I would be happy to meet the cost of repairing this. Lee then thanked me for my business and we went our separate ways.



Two days later Lee contacted me by text message to let me know that everything was okay with the van, with the exception of the missing beaker and the broken armrest for which a replacement was being sourced. I thanked Lee for updating me, let him know the beaker had been found and that I was happy to either post this on or pay for a replacement set, and questioned what exactly had happened to the armrest. Lee then gave me a call and let me know that his mechanic was aware of the inferior nature of an internal metal part that can easily shear off with a certain amount of weight on the armrest. I agreed that the kids must have put their weight on it and thanked Lee again for keeping me in the loop.



The following day I received a call from Lee to tell me that the armrest could no longer be sourced from VW (unsurprisingly due to the age of the vehicle) but that his mechanic might be able to source one at a cost of about £130. Lee then told me that if his mechanic could not find one the other option was replacing the entire seat, at a cost of around £250. At the thought of potentially losing my entire deposit for the sake of a broken piece of metal the size of a 50p piece, I consulted Google for some answers. It quickly became apparent that this was a very common problem with this particular van/seat, and there were numerous sources of advice and discussion about the solution to this problem. It was clear that this was a simple fix for anyone who owned a screwdriver, and there were a range of established manufactures of aftermarket parts who could supply an improved version of the substandard original part for about £5. I quickly sent a message over to Lee to point this out, and suggest that I would be happy to travel up and perform the repair myself to save him any trouble. Lee replied that he would take a look. I then sent a follow up message repeating that it was clearly a common problem, that the original part was in fact inferior, and suggesting an occasion to call round and replace the broken part for him.



The next day I received the following,



“Hello David,

Due to the fact that they do not make the genuine original replacement does make it a bit of a awkward one, of course what was on there is the original genuine Volkswagen item and a replacement can be sourced.

Where I take on board your point that they have a problem, theres also my point that I had no problem with it, till you returned it.

Replacing it with a non standard Volkswagen part, a pattern part made for a genuine market of very popular vehicles, probably mass produced in a 3rd country, could be worst for my future customers, as we have no track to the stability of this after mark cheap replacement.
Therefore i am retaining the cost of a new one at £109. + vat and the replacement charge of £25 as stated in terms and conditions.
Also the customer that has hired the camper is not happy so i have reduced her hire by £10 a day which therefore i will be deducting the amount from your deposit.

£130.80. Arm rest
£25.00. Replacement charge
£40.00 Reducing hire customer
Total deduction £195.80
Total refund of £104.20

Regards

Lee”



£200 for a broken metal ring - lets say I was unimpressed.



I might be wrong, but it now felt like I was being ripped off – and Lee had seemed so genuine. I’m sure I don’t need to go into too much more detail, but a £40 discount for a faulty armrest! On the passenger seat! For a weekend! It doesn’t stack up. Based on that rate I must be due a couple of hundred for the faulty table we suffered with.



Lee himself had told me that the original part was inferior, and where is he suggesting the original parts are made? There is surely no reason to doubt the quality of such a replacement part. It’s a single piece of metal, no moving parts, no safety issues, it is a stamped piece of steel which, based on the opinion of a significant number of T4 owners online with the same problem, will be stronger, work better and last longer. Surely I’m being made a fool of, surely they’ll just replace the broken part and keep my money, maybe it was already broken! I don’t know how I must have come across so naïve.



I don’t think there’s anything I can really do about this apparently brazen attempt to deceive me of my money, so I thought I’d share my experience in the hope that others make a more informed decision. Although I might be shooting myself in the foot as at the time of writing I still haven’t received the £104.20!