Complaint Review: ELMONTE RVs

My wife and I had planned. RV holiday in the USA and catch up with old friends. Recently friends of mine hired a RV in USA and highly recommended it, unfortunately I didn't go with their recommendation of another company. Day 1 pick up Elmonte RV from Vegas depo, RV had for sale sign attached to mirror, I thought not a good sign. Took one and half hours standing in line to do paperwork for hire, charged me $30 to pick me up from airport as well. Temperature was 116 degrees, they gave me Broom bucket and towels etc to put in van in blazing sun, then walked off for me to load myself,later realizing no cooking utensils.

I drove back into Las Vegas pick up family, noticed vehicle not running well, called office they told me to call roadside assistance, I was only 10 miles from depo. Called them saying I'm bringing back RV, they said couldn't help today, closing in 5 minutes, RV died in Vegas peak hour traffic at this time only drove 15 miles in total if that , we had no water and air conditioning was not working in RV, we had no water as we just picked up vehicle, it was turning into a dire situation, no water no way to locate us.

Call Elmonte relayed situation , no sympathy, to our situation, asked them to come pick up my family , my daughter suffers from a condition where she panics easily and we had trouble calming her. A nice gentleman pulled over and helped up, wish I took his name to thank him for what he done for us. Got to Elmonte depot at 5:30pm people still in office, lied about no one going to be there. Said have to wait till tomorrow lunchtime to get another vehicle, then mechanic said innocently we have this one. It was old but larger.

I asked could we be refunded in full and I cancel my booking as I just had a bad feeling about this company, they refused a refund, my god I only drove 15 miles in this van and lost first day of hire as I was sick with fever, so they got a day free...After refusing to Refund me in full, I took the longer older van as we did not want to spend another day in the heat wave in Vegas . Drove all night north to higher ground for cooler nights, arrived after midnight, I hate driving at night but had no choice. Woke up to find shower curtain broken, door to main rear bedroom falling off, could not use it, Blankets were old and very thin, Blinds to windows bent, handles missing off draws, wind handles on ceiling hatches broken , unable to release, vehicle dirty . Vehicle handled like a wet sponge, it was terrible and exhausting to drive.

We persevered we the vehicle trying not letting this vehicle get us down, we had paid good money for this vehicle, I know , I own a rental car company in australia.. Too cut a long story short the vehicle was faulty, emergency brake did not work, RV rolled back hit a pole, I thought I took out extra insurance on hire and also thought it was their problem anyhow due to maintenance issue, only to find Elmonte extra cover ain't worth a pinch, they don't cover insurance for rear damage, oh my god what a shonky company it gets worst. I thought to myself get a quote on damage, was quoted $350 to repair bumper damage..

But wait there is more here, I was so over the vehicle as gas alarm would go off randomly then was going off every 5 minutes, it was wired to van so I could not shut it off, septic couldn't dump, valve was faulty and wasn't closing properly , each time hooking up hoses you would get 4-5 litre dump at your feet, the smell was horrendous and embarrassing when at RV parks. I was over the vehicle, I kept making calls waiting for up to 20 minutes to be attended to on phone, I said I was returning vehicle a day early at Salt Lake City, after 2 phone calls and many emails to camper travel.com who I booked through it was agreed to drop off day early no charge and that they would refund me and give me a inconvenience refund.. .

We left RV in SLC and thought all will be well, only to find our $1000 security deposit taken and was quoted $2400 repair bill for bumper bar.. I told them about the quote I got , only to be ignored and no refund. What a unscrupulous company. This whole experience with Elmontes old, worn out , faulty RV leaves a bad feeling with us, we haven't had a holiday in years as we run 2 business and timing with business partners difficult. I saw other well maintained RVs and spoke with other hirers on our journey, we certainly got not only a Dud vehicle but a Dud company. Even Hugh at Hughs RVs  where I  dropped off the vehicle in SLC said vehicle should not have been in the fleet.

When I brake down cost it worked out at $570 per day when including site fees and fuel, it's not value for money by any means. My advice to anyone wanting to rent a RV in USA DON'T deal with Elmonte RVs and if using a booking company , ask who are they booking you with, because o certainly don't want to end up with Elmonte RVs as we did. I have made 2 calls to there office prior to writing this article, but the managers will not call me or respond by email. Not one response from them, DON'T DEAL WITH EMONTE RVs, you would have rocks in your head if you did....by the way when waiting at depot to pick up RV, I notice several peope complaining about various issues...ELMOTE