Review your
NZ campervan experience

On the morning of the 3rd day of our 15 day rental, the campervan broke down with a transmission problem. We were towed to Whitianga, where we were stranded for 4 days. After the mechanic declared bankruptcy on a timely repair, the company brought us a 20-year old loaner vehicle. We proceeded with our trip, booking whatever last minute lodging was available. After a week, the company told us that no suitable campervan would be available. During this period, we were clearly told by the company rep that we would be refunded for when the campervan was broken down (consistent with T&C), they would cover some of our lodging, and the use of the loaner would be free. After waiting 2 months for our refund, we were told that we would not be refunded for part of the period we were waiting for the campervan to be repaired, they would not cover any lodging, and they were charging us a rental fee for the loaner. We ultimately had to file a complaint with the NZ Dispute Tribunal to get this resolved. The rental from Euro Campers was the worst experience we have ever had with a company in the tourism / hospitality business anywhere in the world.

We rented a Campervan from MAUI for a 5 weeks NZ trip in November-December. What should have become a trip of a lifetime was badly influenced by the very low quality of service and product of MAUI. Their main fault was delivering the wrong campervan! We had explicitly booked the MAUI Ultima for 2 persons. The choice was based on the usable seating area up front so you don’t have to convert the bed in the back every day. They delivered the Ultima PLUS. This sounds like an upgrade and that’s also what they made us believe…but it isn’t. The plus means an extra bed in this seating area which in summary makes this entire arrangement unusable. When complaining, MAUI hides behind their small print which basically states they can supply you whatever interior lay-out they fancy. Really bad! And that’s not all by a long way: State of maintenance: • When we picked up the camper it was clear this was an “experienced” model. It had quite a few dents and evidence of heavy usage and was not very clean inside. After 1 day it appeared to have a leak. Water was continuously dripping from under the sliding door. As we were still in the neighborhood of Christchurch we went back to THL and they repaired the leak. This has cost us all in all nearly a day. • Later we also discovered a leak in the shower. We never found the source but the floor of the shower/toilet is always wet and everything you put there also. • The boiler is producing lukewarm water at best. • The furniture is of an abominable quality. Everything is making noises all the time. Nothing fits well and looks like very old and heavily used Ikea stuff. The locks on the cupboards are of a weak plastic which develops cracks. On one drawer this gave way and it went through the camper while driving. As we were in the neighborhood of Queenstown we went to the THL center there and they repaired this (they knew the problem very well). This costed us again quite a few hours. • Most locks on the outside doors for gas etc. are sort of broken. E.g. the door for the gas bottle needs a lot of wiggling before the lock will turn. • Inventory is bad. It’s a random collection of stuff. Broken and blunt knives, Cracked an leaking mugs, Bad pans etc. • The front table is highly unstable. • There are zero tools. Hence every problem like the falling apart furniture becomes a big problem. Design/execution of camper: • The upper cupboards have a sort of “rolling doors” which is a problem. Not only do they rattle constantly, they slide into the back of the already tiny cupboards pushing out the content. • The bed is too small. I’m 1.80m tall and don’t fit in the bed. • The sink in the kitchen is so small it’s basically unusable. • There’s no inverter in the camper. Hence when not plugged in there’s no way of getting 220V, not even for small usage like charging a laptop etc. In my opinion quite ridiculous in 2024. Service THL: • Nobody seems really interested in “customer happiness”. E.g. when I asked in the Queenstown office if we could get allowance to drive the (in their documentation forbidden) Crown range road (it was good weather, we had an appointment with friends in the Cardrona Hotel and we knew much larger campers also drive this road) the answer was literally a rude No. No friendliness, no question why, just this is the rule and that’s it. • When the plastic lock was repaired I found another cracked one a few days later. It was clear nobody had been interested in delivering a good product, just repair the problem and get rid of this customer asap. • A few days ago we got an email about harsh driving. They actually were accusing us of harsh driving in a so called “courtesy message for our own safety”. Let me be clear that we drive safely. Funny to hear from other Maui camper drivers they received the same email. • The table of the extra outside chairs and table is laughable. It’s the most flimsiest tired old thing you’ll ever see.

Two weeks ago, we rented a campervan for two with THL, and from the start, we faced multiple issues. The stove didn’t work, and despite being told something was wrong, they couldn’t provide a replacement campervan. This resulted in us losing an entire day of our trip. Later, we discovered the hot water and shower drain were also malfunctioning, and the vehicle had several other problems, including a faulty side door and a warning about the driver´s airbag pressure. After two days of trying to get assistance, the company suggested we drive to a workshop an hour away, wasting another afternoon. When we returned the camper, they promised a refund for the inconvenience and campsite fees, but once we left, we received no refund and were blamed for the vehicle’s poor condition. This was an incredibly disappointing experience, and I would not recommend renting from THL.

The campervan was fine. However we did get a chip on the windscreen less than 25mm in diameter on a tarmac road near Kawakawa. This highlights the worst of THL bureaucracy, it is not covered by the most expensive insurance option so be aware. We reported immediately to roadside assistance who specifically told us not to have it fixed even though we were happy to do so. When we return we were given a bill of $508 for a new windscreen as their workshop said it was unfixable. Bit of advice for others, if this happens to you have in fixed on the road yourself by a reputable windscreen repairer and don’t ring roadside assistance.

We rented a Campervan from MAUI for a 5 weeks NZ trip in November-December. What should have become a trip of a lifetime was badly influenced by the very low quality of service and product of MAUI. Their main fault was delivering the wrong campervan! We had explicitly booked the MAUI Ultima for 2 persons. The choice was based on the usable seating area up front so you don’t have to convert the bed in the back every day. They delivered the Ultima PLUS. This sounds like an upgrade and that’s also what they made us believe…but it isn’t. The plus means an extra bed in this seating area which in summary makes this entire arrangement unusable. When complaining, MAUI hides behind their small print which basically states they can supply you whatever interior lay-out they fancy. Really bad! And that’s not all by a long way: State of maintenance: • When we picked up the camper it was clear this was an “experienced” model. It had quite a few dents and evidence of heavy usage and was not very clean inside. After 1 day it appeared to have a leak. Water was continuously dripping from under the sliding door. As we were still in the neighborhood of Christchurch we went back to THL and they repaired the leak. This has cost us all in all nearly a day. • Later we also discovered a leak in the shower. We never found the source but the floor of the shower/toilet is always wet and everything you put there also. • The boiler is producing lukewarm water at best. • The furniture is of an abominable quality. Everything is making noises all the time. Nothing fits well and looks like very old and heavily used Ikea stuff. The locks on the cupboards are of a weak plastic which develops cracks. On one drawer this gave way and it went through the camper while driving. As we were in the neighborhood of Queenstown we went to the THL center there and they repaired this (they knew the problem very well). This costed us again quite a few hours. • Most locks on the outside doors for gas etc. are sort of broken. E.g. the door for the gas bottle needs a lot of wiggling before the lock will turn. • Inventory is bad. It’s a random collection of stuff. Broken and blunt knives, Cracked an leaking mugs, Bad pans etc. • The front table is highly unstable. • There are zero tools. Hence every problem like the falling apart furniture becomes a big problem. Design/execution of camper: • The upper cupboards have a sort of “rolling doors” which is a problem. Not only do they rattle constantly, they slide into the back of the already tiny cupboards pushing out the content. • The bed is too small. I’m 1.80m tall and don’t fit in the bed. • The sink in the kitchen is so small it’s basically unusable. • There’s no inverter in the camper. Hence when not plugged in there’s no way of getting 220V, not even for small usage like charging a laptop etc. In my opinion quite ridiculous in 2024. Service THL: • Nobody seems really interested in “customer happiness”. E.g. when I asked in the Queenstown office if we could get allowance to drive the (in their documentation forbidden) Crown range road (it was good weather, we had an appointment with friends in the Cardrona Hotel and we knew much larger campers also drive this road) the answer was literally a rude No. No friendliness, no question why, just this is the rule and that’s it. • When the plastic lock was repaired I found another cracked one a few days later. It was clear nobody had been interested in delivering a good product, just repair the problem and get rid of this customer asap. • A few days ago we got an email about harsh driving. They actually were accusing us of harsh driving in a so called “courtesy message for our own safety”. Let me be clear that we drive safely. Funny to hear from other Maui camper drivers they received the same email. • The table of the extra outside chairs and table is laughable. It’s the most flimsiest tired old thing you’ll ever see.

We had rented a 6-person campervan for 4 weeks. It drove fine, but everything rattled inside when we drove and made so much noise that we had to shout to communicate. It was unbearable to sit at the table in the camper while driving because of the noise and the shaking of the camper. We had no experience with campervans so it was a surprise that sitting in the back of the camper was so uncomfortable! At the same time, several parts became loose and defective, see the list below. We contacted Maui, but they would only come and look at it if we got to a bigger city, which we didn’t. At the delivery in Auckland we demanded compensation, we couldn’t get that as we hadn’t driven to a bigger city and let them try to fix the faults. We paid a lot of money to rent the campervan, so of course we expected it to be in order. We would not recommend Maui! Errors in motorhomes: – Table by the sofa group is completely loose at the bracket in the floor, cannot be screwed down, screws just turn around – Upper cabinet doors fell off, cannot be put on, screws just turn around -Loose handles on pots and pans and pot lids, some rattle off while driving and cannot be tightened properly -Small taps’ tangible fall off so that the water cannot be opened/closed – The fridge lock keeps coming loose and must be put in place before the fridge can be closed -Water in the bottom of the cabinet under the microwave -Water comes out on the outside of the camper when bathing -The elastic holder for one bottom plate in the double bed has fallen out of the wall -The toilet opener has stuck several times so that the hole for the cassette cannot be opened/closed -Toasters have always had loose sides inside, so it is difficult to get the bread up and down in the residue

am following up on your email in response to my request for compensation. You apologize for all the problems we encountered but that is not enough. The compensation amount of NZD 1000 is SCANDALOUS. It\\\’s a joke! Your attitude shows that you have no respect for your customers. I reserved and paid well in advance for a Britz Wanderer 4 berth vehicle for the amount of NZD 14,095.73, or NZD 542.14 per day. I should have received a premium vehicle due to the very high price. I remind you of the problems: 1. I did not get the vehicle I reserved and paid for well in advance. 2. The replacement vehicle, a Maui Cascade, which I did not choose, had numerous problems from day one: – Pull left – Engine alert messages (exhaust alerts, ABS brake alerts, AD blue almost empty) – Water drains blocked from the 1st day – Door falling – No AD blue 3. I had to return to Auckland at your request. I requested a vehicle exchange and you refused. You told me that you had resolved all the problems (see point 2). You just fixed the door and THAT\\\’S IT!!!! As a result, we spent 26 days in a camper van in which we could not 1. shower because the water was not draining so we had to go to campsites 2. fears due to engine alert messages, 3. wasted time (vehicle not ready, then having to return to Auckland, then numerous contacts with your assistance services 4. irritations By your fault our vacation was ruined !

Avoid this company because they will ruin your holiday. We booked this through a 3rd party company who had really good ratings. If we had checked out the reviews on Kiwi Campers before booking, we 100% would have gone for a company that actually cares about its customers and the product it provides. The van we rented was marketed as luxury and deluxe. It reality basic is being incredibly kind. It is old, rusty, smelly, uncared for and quite frankly disgusting. It shouldn’t even be marketed as a basic camper van because basic functions a camper van should have it doesn’t or they don’t work. They was blood stains all over the curtains, the bedding provided was stained and smelly, the fridge/cooker wasn’t provided to us clean and it is clear they never actually flush through or clean out thoroughly the cassette or water tanks. Even when everything was empty the entire van stank which meant we had to have the windows open at all times to help dissipate the nauseating smell. I could list the many many other problems with the van which are anything but luxury. To top it off their customer service was awful. We emailed them 2/3 with our stay to list our issues and they replied with a passive aggressive email saying we should temper our expectations of any compensation, rather than asking how they could fix these issues for the remaining of our trip. Whilst we didn’t experience anything horrific like the other reviews, my advice would be to stay well clear of this company if you want to enjoy your trip in NZ!

We booked Lenny’s Camper with Camplify for 12 days and returned it in less that 24 hours . The owner knew his camper very well and provided a great video and an excessive handover, but it didn’t change the issues we encountered. We h ave limited camper experience, figured that the issues could be due to that but it wasn’t all on us. The camper IS NOT user friendly!!! No confidence in the camper when you are supplied jumper cables and multiple spare batteries, with 2000km round trip and a road side assist number, we didn’t believe the camper would make it. The camper was super noisey, there was no way we could have enjoyed leisurely laid back trips between stops, the camper couldn’t lock, the privacy screen was basically unusable, the hydraulic bed jammed. Going to dispute tribunal, never using Camplify again and DEFINITELY do not recommend hiring Lenny’s Camper!!

Avoid this company. I know why people get angry and stay angry with McRent! We had a terrible vehicle and terrible service. * There was a warning light and dashboard message saying there’s an error with an airbag. Surely this makes the vehicle unsuitable for hiring out?! * The dashboard around the gear selector was loose. To select a gear, I had to hold the dashboard in with one hard while moving the gear lever with the other. This is very far from ideal when manoeuvring. * Only one loudspeaker worked, and that one was falling apart with the grill coming off. This was particularly frustrating as we wanted to listen to audio books while we travelled but we were unable to listen to anything at all. The audio module showed an error message about wiring problems. * The satellite dish didn’t work. It beeped, made noises like a motor is moving, then displays a red ‘error’ light. So no TV, no radio, no music, no audio books. * None of the steering wheel audio controls worked, but I guess that was unimportant as we couldn’t hear anything. * The dining table was badly damaged. We found out why the table has so many holes in it when the cupboard over the table opened as we were driving and the contents of the cupboard fall out onto the table. (Yes, there’s another hole in the table now) * One of the hinges on the toilet door was snapped. (The top one) That put additional strain on the remaining hinges * Seats were badly stained, especially the driver’s seat * Only one out of the three USB ports worked, meaning it was very difficult to charge our devices. * The fresh water hose didn’t have the correct fitting to enable us to get fresh water! We had to buy new fittings at our own expense. It took ages and MANY emails to get a VERY small offer of compensation. People need to know how bad McRent’s vehicles and service are. Yes, I’m angry with them too

These guys are the Jetstar of motorhome rental. Horrible quality and customer service. This was my 4th campervan rental in NZ & by far the worst. Unlimited kilometres is irrelvant when they make you pay 11 cents per km that you travel! This is an unidentified cost when you book, so be sure and factor that in. The girl who checked us in was a clueless idiot. Thank god for the instruction manual to actually show you how things worked in the van. We were unable to use the shower or hand basin after a couple of days as every time we did there was a massive leak in the pipes. Only then did I notice the veneer peeling off the wood, indicating previous water damage. This is obviously a problem which had plagued our van before. We were provided no compensation for a van with no shower facilities that we had paid extra for. Clueless woman could only act incredibly clueless about the whole thing and try to sweep the problem under the carpet and say that she’d have to ask about compensation. Of course we never heard anything. The internal heating system reported an error if you tried to use it off gas. So it was useless when free camping. The fridge was a good size and had a very good size freezer. The van drove well and cruise control was a blessing. And the bed was a good size and very comfy. The van was quite new but suffered from a very cheap & poor quality fit-out. The staff were amongst the worst I’ve ever dealt with and the hidden additional costs leave a very bitter taste in your mouth.