Tui Campers NZ - worst experience of my travel-life
Let me tell you a story of the worst product and customer experience in the world – Tui Campers in New Zealand!
Me and my family (wife and 1-year and 3-year old kid) decided to go to wonderful New Zealand, but unfortunately decided to rent from Tui Campers – I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH NOT TO RENT FROM THESE SCAMMERS. More below:
1. General state of van
OK, we knew that we had rented an older model (2011-2015 unspecified model), but the van was in pretty bad condition. Not properly functioning kitchen, broken bits and pieces and wasn’t very comfortable to drive. With that said, the price was lower than other rental agencies, so guess you get what you pay for.
2. Breakdown and waiting time
The van worked ok until the last day when driving near Hamilton and the clutch suddenly stuck to the floor, couldn’t switch gears and thus could not drive any further. We got towed to the side by some nice people and called Tui and roadside assistance. First, we had to wait two hours for roadside assistance to tell us that the some clutch-a-mangingy had leaked its’ fluid and couldn’t be repaired on the spot. Tui told us to get to towed to the nearest campsite, but as we were flying out the day after and was fairly close to Auckland, we asked to be towed there. Sherri from Tui told us she would look into that… And as it was approaching 5pm when they close, she assured me she would have it sorted by then. As the clock approached 5pm, I called them numerous times and finally got a hold of David that told me that Sherri had gone home for the day. Wow, what a nice customer service! David told us he would get a hold of a tow truck and that we would be reimbursed a day’s rent as well as transport to Auckland, just asked that we kept taxi receipt. We then proceeded to wait and wait and, in the end, had to tell David and Sherri that we were leaving the van behind with keys inside as we had now waited close to 6 hours and with two small kids, this was just unacceptable. Just as we were getting into the taxi, the tow driver showed up.
3. Verbal abuse and accusations
The day after I went over to Tui in Auckland to meet with Sherri and sort out the van and refund. I told Sherri that I had the receipt for the taxi, and she immediately lied to my face that they would only refund a day’s hire – less than the cost of the transport to Auckland. I balked at that and then the complete and utter abuse started. Examples (caps lock for underlining her anger and tone of voice): I KNOW WHAT I SAID – ARE YOU CALLING ME A LIAR! I WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS ABUSE (she was the abuser). I TRIED TO HELP YOU EVEN ON MY TIME OFF. YOU NEED TO SHOW ME APPRECIATION. And it went on and on, at the end I had to crawl and beg just to get a refund that would cover at least the transportation. She also accused me of not emptying the toilet block, however had done exactly that in the morning – ARE YOU CALLING ME A LIAR, SHERRI?!!!?!? (sarcasm may occur)
4. Lies and refunds
Then came the process of actually getting the money back. On the day, Sherri said she had initiated the refund for “corporate to process”. That process then took roughly two months, numerous unanswered e-mails and even lies that they had initiated the transfer. Finally, the said they would transfer, and I got the money.
Never ever, ever rent from this company if you hold your life and sanity dear!
11 gennaio 2024
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