The owner of the RV filed a wrongful claim against us, and is wrongfully withholding our security deposit of $1,000.Below are the details of the facts:At pick-up on August 6th:
- When we went to pick up the RV, Dale T already came across agitated and repeatedly talked about his disapproval of renters, and informed us that he was no longer going to rent it out on the Outdoorsy platform going forward.- While inspecting the vehicle, Dale T discovered that the oven was not cleaned by the previous renters, demonstrating that he in fact does not have a good grasp of the condition of the vehicle.- Dale T told us that we must return the RV in clean condition, even though we had paid $100 in cleaning fee. We also discovered areas of lacklustre cleaning, such as dirty carpeted areas, dustyness, and the aforementioned dirty oven.- The above put us in a very stressed out mood, which is the last way anyone would want to start off on a vacation.During the trip:
- On August 15th, while inspecting the RV during a gas station visit, we noticed that the outside vent cover for the propane unit had gone missing over the last hour of driving (as it was not missing at our previous stretching stop), most likely due to bumpy roads under construction. We hadn’t touched the vent cover during the entire trip.- My husband and I spent hours cleaning the RV, bringing it up to a higher cleanliness standard than when we picked it up, despite having been charged $100 for cleaning fee.- During cleaning my husband noticed that the oven handle was loose. We never operated the oven, as I previously mentioned that it was dirty at pick up.At drop-off on August 17th:
- Dale T appeared agitated upon my husband’s arrival at the lot and failed to make any conversation. He immediately started inspecting the outside of the vehicle. Dale T asked Peter to move our van parking in the RV's usual spot so Dale T himself could back the RV into the parking spot. Before my husband even exited our van for the final inspection, Dale T yelled to him, “Looks like you hit something. You dented the canopy track. Check the photos”. My husband inspected it and failed to see any damage on the rear upper driver side canopy track. Dale T couldn’t find the photos, but insisted it was not damaged before and needed to be repaired. When my husband said that he never felt or heard any impact that would cause this damage, Dale T said sarcastically “Of course you wouldn’t hear anything”.- Dale T asked us to pay $130 to replace the propane vent cover. My husband explained to him that this was the result of a bumpy ride, but Dale wrongfully accused that our kids played with the latch.- My husband told Dale T about the oven door at drop off to ensure he addresses it. Dale T himself volunteered the reason to be bumpy roads and vibration shook the door handle loose.- Dale T withheld our $1,000 security deposit with the following message on Outdoorsy platform: "Damaged rear upper driver side canopy track. Missing hot water tank cover. Oven door handle broken. Renter does not agree anything is his fault."Our issues with Dale T's accusations are:1. About the propane vent cover: we never operated or even touched it, therefore are not responsible for it falling off. (It's analogous to how a renter would not be expected to check that tires are bolted on correctly before starting to drive the RV, and would rightfully expect that they would be and stay in working order.) The fact that the vent cover fell off during normal operation of the RV is purely a wear and tear item. Dale T paid no attention to this latch or cover during the initial walk-down, so it wasn’t expected that it be inspected regularly.2: About the canopy track: It was highly suspicious that Dale T honed into that very much out-of-sight item immediately, as if he already knew it was damaged and was looking to pin it on us. My husband looked at where Dale T was pointing, and could not even discern any visible damage. Any perceived damage was so small that it can be reasonably expected that had the canopy track been damaged prior to pick-up, we would not have noticed it. We move to suggest that there are two possibilities:
a. A previous renter damaged it, and Dale T missed it during his previous drop-off inspection, and only noticed it when we dropped off. Now Dale T is insisting that not only was it damaged, but that it was caused during OUR operation, falsely accusing us of colliding with something. The previously mentioned missed detail of the oven being dirty, shows that Dale T may not be as observant as he claims to be, and may have missed the canopy track damage caused by previous renters.
b. A previous renter damaged it, as we did not observe the damage upon pick-up, Dale T is only too happy to lay the blame on us in order to use our security deposit to pay for the repair.3. About the oven door: Even Dale T himself said that it must have come loose due to vehicle vibration. We never even operated the oven, let alone to the point of making it loose. It is again purely a matter of normal wear and tear during normal operation of the vehicle.4: Why did Dale T charge us $100 for cleaning when he repeatedly insisted that the RV had to be returned in clean condition, and gave it to us in unclean condition to begin with? We suggested cleaning the outside of the RV twice, and he insisted that it’s not required.Unfortunately for us, Dale T is no longer going to rent his RV on Outdoorsy's platform, so he does not need to care about us giving him an honest but negative review. Therefore he's using this last opportunity to leverage our security deposit for his own upkeep of the RV.We vehemently disagree with Dale T's assessment of damages, and request the immediate release of our wrongfully withheld security deposit of $1,000 and the cleaning fee of $100.
