Canada RV rental pitfalls , CANADREAM can be CANANIGHTMARE

Blindspot
Blindspot Forum Participant Posts: 2
edited July 2013 in Your stories #1

Time and Place :Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June and July 2013

Conditions: National disaster and mandatory evacuation of camp sites

What RV rental company did : CHARGE US FOR A NEW UNIT

We had rented a unit from CANADREAM.  This company has a fleet of 900 across Canada (200 in Clagary). The unit was old, the grey tank leaked at one third full so we had to dump every day and could not drive far into National Parks without extra planning. The furnace would only work when hooked up to powerso we could not keep warm in no power sites (we had 3 inches of snow on June 21st for 3 days), it was single paned so condensation was horrendous.

Anyway, we continued but were then stranded in Kananaskis country by mud slides and washed out bridges and then evacuated by helicopter 4 days later.

We still had 17 days rental left.  Canadream then decided to profit from the situation, when Albertans and Calgarians were helping left right and centre Canadream insisted we rent another unit and forfeit the rental of the first unit.

The front desk staff had their hands tied by their President who is a rogue and exploited a situation. He had dozens of vehicles available but exercised no good will or compassion.  DON'T RENT FROM THEM.

Also, most companies will pre authorise a deposit of $750 for rental, standard practice, BUT CANADREAM ACTUALLY DEBITS THIS AMOUNT FROM YOUR CREDIT CARD STRAIGHT AWAY.  So think on this, they have a fleet of 900 vehicles, say at worst 50% are on hire, thats 450 * 750 = $ 337,500 (aprox 200 000 quid) that is sitting in their bank account getting interest at the guests expense.

This company had rented 25 uits to the CC UK and the group leader was horrified at the way we were treated. Alas as an individual we have no clout, but be warned if you use CANADREAM you could be left paying off your credit card balance for years to come :(

Comments

  • Hazel
    Hazel Forum Participant Posts: 185
    edited July 2013 #2

    Hi Blindspot

    Very sorry to hear about your troubles with Canadream. The Caravan Club has never rented outfits from Canadream and we have no plans to do so in the future. They are mentioned on our information sheet on our website, however, we say "The companies and organisations
    listed below have not been vetted or inspected by the Caravan Club"

  • Blindspot
    Blindspot Forum Participant Posts: 2
    edited July 2013 #3

    HI Hazel,

    Thanks for comment, hope it helps people in making holiday choices, the big rental companies are daunting to deal with when things go off track.

    Regards

    Blindspot

  • 4wheelsonmywagon
    4wheelsonmywagon Forum Participant Posts: 3
    edited July 2013 #4

    We rented a 32 foot MHA motorhome from Canadream in Vancouver and were pleased with the experience. But we only had a cracked windscreen which we had insured against so no problem. As regards the credit card situation, they do take the $750 and give it back
    at the rental end. This does result in charges for the transactions, out and back in and, of course, if the exchange rate plummets you won't get as much back as removed so I wasn't too happy about this practise and I think it cost us around £45. They wouldn't
    accept cash for this. Apart from that we were pleased with our rental. I can sympathise with Blindspot as it appears the experience wasn't what you would expect or hope for. As he said, Canadians are generally very helpful and pleased you have visited their
    country so the experience isn't in keeping with this generalistaion.  Canadream is owned by Apollo who are a world wide company, I think USA based, it may be worth writing to them for redress.

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