Having had reservations cancelled at the last minute with another company for a van with a failed transmission, I asked this owner if his van had two beds, one for me and my dog and one for my teen. He assured me that yes his van had two beds, a queen and a dinette that converted into a bed. This was not the case! The second “bed” was a table that lowered to bench level and the “mattress” was a 1/4” hard mat. There were two sleeping bags: one was substantial, the other Not. The queen bed was a DIY so poorly designed that to get it pulled out and fit correctly was exhausting and stressful even with two strong people. Before we left, the orientation and test drive took two hours, so our trip started off late. By the time we finally arrived at the campground it was getting dark. Unfortunately, the inverter started beeping at an alarmingly loud level. When we figured out where it was coming from we shut off the power button to stop the noise. Having no idea what the device was or the consequences of shutting it off, we anxiously awaited a text back from the owner. A half hour later he texted back to wait until morning to see what it would do. The next morning, waking on the rock hard table “bed” having hardly slept trying to keep warm with the inadequate sleeping bag, we anxiously tested the inverter. Luckily it seemed to have fixed itself. We struggled to get the “beds” put away, and set off on our next destinations, weary from the stress. The sliding door was really hard to get closed all the way and kept locking in the almost closed position, making it very annoying every time we had to open/close it. The van was very loud and felt what I imagine to be like driving a garbage truck. I had no faith that it would make it through our five day trip. The second day, a message displayed on the dashboard, “Brakes showing wear, take to the work shop”. After texting the owner, he suggested we take it to Les Shwab. We were far from a Les Shwab so drove with trepidation all the way down there. After inspection they told us it might be a faulty message. The stress made our beautiful trip into a stressful nightmare. I returned the van with a bad taste in my mouth for so called Mercedes Sprinters that are actually Dodge Vans. I do not recommend renting this beast of a vehicle!!
risposta di Peter & Tracy
RV OWNERS BEWARE: I strongly suggest NOT renting your vehicle to Angelique Puccio. She behaved in a dishonest and vindictive manner at the completion of her trip despite our efforts to be supportive, fair and honest at all times.Here's my attempt to set the record straight with facts: The orientation/hand-over for her four-night trip went smoothly and took 90 minutes (not two hours as the renter claimed), which was the amount of time I had communicated in advance that it would take. The inverter alarm issue that occurred on the first night occurred due to the renter leaving the hot water switch ON after turning OFF the vehicle's engine which I warned the customer NOT to do during orientation. I responded to the renter's concern within a half-hour and suggested turning OFF the hot water which resolved the issue with the alarm. During orientation, I took the time to demonstrate proper technique for setting up the bed sleeping systems and the location of a mattress pad and extra blankets that the customer forgot to use which would have lessened the issue with not being warm/comfortable enough. The brake wear issue was beyond my control and while it did cause the renter stress, it didn't adversely impact their trip aside from the time they needed to take to have it inspected for safety along their route (I credited the customer $58 for their time due to this inconvenience). Sprinter vans are metal boxes on wheels that weigh over 8,000 lbs so as a result they DO drive/sound more like garbage trucks than passenger cars. I can't apologize for that...it's basic physics.Angelique returned the van later than expected with less than half a tank of fuel despite having signed hand-over documentation promising to return it full, and she made no mention of this fact. Once I brought this to her attention and stated my intent to collect $75 in payment for the cost of 12.5 gallons of diesel fuel required to fill the tank, she threatened to submit a critical review. Vindictive? Yes. Dishonest? Yes. My experience with this customer has made me question my desire to rent my vehicles.